The Cherry Blossom Tree

Cherry Chapter Nineteen

 "Kitty Kat."

I woke with such a start I snorted like a wild hog, flopping over onto my back so ungracefully there was a definite possibility I pulled a muscle in my shoulder. I'd never been hungover before, but I was certain this was what it would feel like. My head pounded, my tongue was furry, and my stomach was undecided on whether it wanted to revolt or attempt to resume normal operations.

This was what I got for staying up most of the night scarfing our entire stash of junk food. To make it worse, I'd washed everything down with two bottles of Dr. Pepper. The sugar overload combined with lack of sleep had caught up to me sometime between 4AM and now, and boy was I paying.

"Kaitlynn."

"Huh?" I croaked, and cracked open one bleary eye to peer at the owner of such a deep, husky voice.

Gryphon's face came into focus. Strong jaw line, high cheekbones, black hair curling around his ears, vibrant green eyes lit with amusement, and full lips quirked up into a grin. I gave a horrified yelp and flung myself away from him, completely mortified over the state he was seeing me in. The sheet tangled in my legs at the same time I careened over the edge to land in an ungainly heap on my bedroom floor.

And, seeing as things couldn't get any worse at this point, I gave up the fight with a defeated sigh and just lay there with my head and shoulders on the ground at an awkward angle, my encumbered legs still twisted on the bed.

"Oh, my God," Gryphon said on a chuckle, and I felt the bed dip as he crawled onto it until his hands were braced either side of my hips and his head came into my line of sight, peeking over the arch of my body at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, wondering if my hair looked as tragic as I thought it did. I was too afraid to touch it in case the action drew Gryphon's attention to it. "If my mom sees you in here, she'll probably -"

"She let me in on her way out, told me not to bother knocking on your bedroom door because you sleep like the living dead."

"- freak," I finished unnecessarily, then frowned. "Seriously? She told you to just help yourself?"

Obviously this was not the best word choice given the proximity between my pelvis and his mouth, because Gryphon's gaze dropped to the waistband of my sweats, pulled a couple inches lower than anything that could be considered fashionably acceptable thanks to my bed sheets trying to strangle my legs. Christ, any lower and Gryphon would discover whether I was a fan of Brazilians or not.

"Those weren't her exact words," he murmured as his eyes traced along my exposed hip bones. "But I'm sure they could be interpreted that way."

I wiggled experimentally to see if I could extricate myself from the bed without losing my pants. Feeling the material of my sweats slide at the same time Gryphon hissed in a sharp breath told me that unless I wanted to flash the poor boy, I needed to think up a plan B.

"A little help?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

It took him a moment to drag his gaze up to meet mine, and when he did I couldn't stop the blush that coloured my cheeks. He looked like he was ready to pounce. "Looks like I may not be the only one that needs investigating for tan lines."

"I promise there's nothing much to investigate. I'm from New York. The only tan lines we get are the fake kind you buy at a tanning salon, and that's not really my scene. My butt cheeks are the same colour as my arms. I think. I don't actually go around staring at my butt so you'd have to see for yourself -" I broke off on a squeak as I realised what I just said, and watched Gryphon's eyebrows hit his hairline.