Chapter 58
Chapter Fifty-Eight
The scorching August sun blistered through the tinted windows of Elena’s bedroom. Zuri could easily think of it as their bedroom. In the near three months since she and Marisol had strolled into the penthouse, they hadn’t left. Hadn’t spent a night apart. It had only taken Marisol a month to give up her apartment, but Zuri had held on to her place.
Proving just how cool with it she was trying to be, Elena had paid the rest of Zuri’s rent for the year. Zuri knew they were both making points, but they were still worth making.
She and Elena had been in the honeymoon period before. They’d mistakenly believed that Zuri’s unchangeable decision to stay a witch wouldn’t bring them down. But they’d crashed in a spectacular shitshow once already. She wasn’t stupid enough to think they wouldn’t trip over the same landmine twice. They were a long way from Zuri relaxing into this. From trusting it.
But day-to-day, Zuri had to admit that things were going pretty okay. Better than okay. Elena was different this time. Less restless. Whether they’d learned through loss or the passage of time, neither of them had the same drive to best the other. To be the unquestionable alpha.
Walking into the closet, Zuri scanned her side of the exaggerated space. Considering the early afternoon was already a fucking outdoor sauna, she decided on a short navy romper.
Fighting a losing battle against humidity, she used enough texture spray to open another hole in the ozone. When her curls were as good as they were going to get, she threw on a little mascara.
If forced, she might concede that Bambi was the cause for their change in dynamic. There was something so disarming about her. Just her presence soothed the wild in Zuri’s soul. No, not soothed. Gave it purpose and direction.
While she finished getting ready, Zuri bit the inside of her cheek. Thoughts of the night before made it impossible not to grin.
Marisol, dripping with sweat, had been so rough with the strap that Zuri wouldn’t be walking right if she hadn’t immediately flashed her pretty wings and kissed her whole body better. She’d never met someone so sweet and so perfectly nasty.
It’s always the unassuming ones , she thought while giving herself a final once over in the mirror.
As if she needed the wholesome contrast to the filthy memory, Zuri found Marisol as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom. Sofia sat next to her on the long, white sectional where Marisol was teaching the prolific serial killer how to crochet. Luna and Loba were at her feet.
“Using those hands for something other than stabbing?” Zuri joked when she approached.
Her hair styled in two French braids, Bambi’s hazel eyes lit up as she glanced up from her work.
Sofia’s smirk was a dagger catching the light. “Surprisingly transferable skills,” she joked before making a quick, dexterous move to weave a strand of yarn into what looked like a scarf for the Jolly Green Giant .
“It’s better stress relief than killing,” Marisol said without a hint of jest. “Right?” She glanced at Sofia.
Zuri laughed. Only Bambi could possibly think she’d curb a vampire’s murderous rage with arts and crafts.
She leaned forward and caught Marisol’s lips in a kiss. “I’m not wearing any hideous matching scarfs for Christmas.”
Marisol pulled her back for a second kiss before whispering, “We’ll see,” and grazing her bottom lip with her teeth.
Fuck .
“I think I messed up the treble stitch,” Sofia said, interrupting them before Zuri could forget why she was leaving the penthouse.
Bambi snagged another kiss. “Call me as soon as you finish and tell me how it went,” she said before turning to Sofia and looking at her work. “Okay, let’s count the stitches.”
Zuri took the tingle in her lips to the fridge where she filled her water bottle and tossed it in her bag. Keys in hand, she stopped at Elena’s office.
Seated behind her desk, Elena was typing away on her laptop. In an oversized black V-neck and tight cuffed jeans, she was effortlessly sexy.
“Where’s Lib?” Zuri asked, scanning the room as she entered. There hadn’t been a day when the tall vamp wasn’t stuck to Elena. She’d probably stand outside their bedroom door at night if she could.
Elena finished something before looking up, attention snagging on Zuri’s bare thighs before meeting her eyes. “Ran down to the club to get something,” she replied while standing.
“Please be more vague,” Zuri joked before dropping her bag in the armchair by the door.
Elena walked around the front of her desk and leaned against it. “Oh, she wants details today. I’m reviewing the ledgers?—”
Zuri cut her off with a kiss, palms pressed to Elena’s sexy hip bones when she held her waist. Elena smiled against her lips, inhaling her like she hadn’t seen her in years, before returning her kiss.
“Ready for today?” Elena rested her arms on Zuri’s shoulders. Her eyes were rich honey cracked into a dozen shades of brown.
Zuri wanted to admit that she wasn’t ready. That after months of dreaming, she was about to find out whether her plans stood a chance. But she didn’t want to breathe life into her anxiety. It was one thing to imagine something, quite another to make it happen. Once it was out there, she wouldn’t be able to hide in the promise of possibility. She’d be forced to reckon with reality.
Reading her silence correctly, Elena cupped her face with both hands and held her in her gaze. “I will spare no expense to get you the relic you need. Whatever it takes to establish your own coven, Zuri, you already have it.”
Heat sank into Zuri’s skin and warmed her chest. She had no doubt that Elena meant what she said. “Big flex,” she said instead of thank you and I love you and I can’t believe I’m doing this . “You know you don’t have to overcompensate just because there’s a younger woman in our bed now.”
Elena’s lip twitched in amusement. “Our bed, is it?”
“Shut up,” Zuri said instead of obviously , and kissed her again.
An hour later, she was sitting in Candela’s living room. Her buzz cut had grown into more of a fade, but was still bright red.
“Alright, let’s hear it,” Avani said when she walked in from the kitchen, three beers in hand. After passing them out, she dropped onto the overstuffed couch next to Zuri.
“We barely see you for months and then you’re all cryptic about a meeting,” Candela said, leaning back in her recliner with the bottle to her lips. “Let’s cut to it.”
Zuri chugged the lite beer like it might have the right words hiding at the bottom. “I…”
“You’re jumping ship to another coven,” Avani said, as if intending to put her out of her misery.
“What?” Zuri furrowed her brow and put her beer on the coffee table.
“That’s her guess,” Candela explained. “I think you’re leaving your heritage altogether to join your vampire wife.”
Zuri laughed, pressure easing from her shoulders. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Are you fucking with us?” Candela narrowed her eyes.
“Bitches, I’m here to ask you about starting our own fucking coven, not abandoning you.” Zuri’s attention darted between them.
“Wait, what?” Candela sat forward, elbows on her lap. “What do you mean?”
“I mean what the hell I said.” Zuri leaned back, confidence growing. “We’re not going to change the triumvirate. We’re not going to save them from themselves. I think our best bet is going out on our own.”
“But how?” Avani set her beer down too.
“Theoretically, it’s not that hard.” Zuri shrugged. “All we need are three witches and a sacred artifact to consecrate the coven ground.”
“And you can pick one of those up on Amazon,” Candela joked. “Maybe we can get Prime delivery and be ready to rock by the weekend.”
“Don’t be a dick,” Zuri snapped, but she wasn’t angry. She was excited that they hadn’t rejected the idea. “That’s obviously the hardest part.”
Avani’s smile started slowly and ended in a grin. “But if you know someone richer than rich and with a couple hundred years worth of connections…”
Candela’s eyes widened. “Z, are you fucking serious about this?”
“What exactly do you think is wrong with me that I would joke?—”
“I need to hear it. Tell me you’re serious right now. Tell me that you really think we can do this.”
Zuri took a deep breath and locked Candela in her gaze. “I don’t think we can do it…” She straightened. “I know we can.”
Avani replied with a thunder clap and a foot stomp. “Hell yeah we can!” She grabbed her bottle and held it up. “I trust you more than my actual sisters.” She pointed the neck of her bottle toward them. “Let’s do this shit.”
Candela stood and crashed her bottle against Avani’s. Zuri didn’t have time to clear the unshed tears in her eyes before she stood and clinked her beer against theirs. “Let’s fucking go.”