Splish Splash
Kit/Kat
B eep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
I groan when the alarm goes off, my entire body aching as I shift slightly. The painkillers Dank gave me wore off while I was sleeping and they make me too loopy to take them during the daytime. Any other time, I would consider emailing someone to take the day off, but after the announcement yesterday…
Nope, I can’t be seen as weak.
Sighing, I look up at the ceiling, smiling when Dottie scurries up and peers down at me happily. “Hey girl…”
The kinkajou chitters softly, dancing a little on her hind legs. I don’t know why she’s so excited, but maybe she’s trying to help me stay positive. I pet her gently a few times, wincing at the pull on my healing scrapes, bruises, and injuries. It’s a miracle I wasn’t burned, so I guess I should be thanking someone—demon, deity, whatever—for that.
“Rise and shine, Kit Kat!” I blink as the oddly cheery voice of my roommate echoes in the dorm as he bustles in. He walks over to my closet, yanking a uniform set out and places it on the bed nearby. Salem also grabs my shower basket, making my chest fill with alarm until he sets it down next to my clothes. “You have thirty minutes to get decent for our big Triclinium appearance. I won’t repeat Jasper’s words, but you’ll want to look sharp.”
Is he fucking kidding me? I look like shit microwaved.
A groan slips from my lips as I slowly push to a sitting position, hoping the world doesn’t start spinning. When it doesn’t, I let out a long breath of relief. I’ll be able to stay upright in my damn classes without someone supporting me. That’s a fucking miracle, and I’ll take it. “Salem, you are way too chipper for this time of day.”
“You just need some caffeine, Kit Kat. Now hustle up so I can help you to the showers. I’ve got breakfast and snacks all packed up for you and Dottie.”
I frown at him, confused by his sunshiny ‘mama bear’ routine. “You made things for us to take so I don’t have to eat that food? Why?”
“Because you’re hurt, dude, and no one should have to survive that shit on empty while nursing wounds. Don’t be dense.” He ruffles his bed head messy black and white hair, making it look ridiculously hot—and I didn’t think that was possible. “Come on. I’m sure the others will crash our gates if I don’t get you in there soon.”
Son of an ale-swilling goat-man.
Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I grunt but wave my hand when Salem gets closer. “No, no. I have to do some shit myself. I don’t like feeling… dependent… on people.”
His eyes widen and he looks sad for a moment. “You really had a number done on you, man.”
“Lucky me,” I mutter as I prepare myself for the pain, then I slowly lift up until I’m on my feet. The ache intensifies and I have to plant myself in place firmly to make certain I don’t sway. “The Universe just loves giving me challenges to rise above.”
Dottie chitters again, scampering on the floor as she waits for me to move. I realize I’m not quite steady enough to do so on my own and the panda demon gives me a crooked smile. He holds his arm out for the kinkajou, who climbs him like a tree and positions herself on his shoulder.
I might be jealous of my companion animal; how weird is that?
When I don’t move, Salem pads over to me, giving me the other arm to hold onto. “You’ll have to grab your stuff, Kit Kat. I’m more concerned about making sure you get to the bathroom. Everything else is icing, you know?”
Nodding, I swallow my discomfort as I scoop up the clothes and basket. It’s light enough that I manage okay, so I look up at him. “Okay. I think I’ve got it.”
Together, we shuffle towards the door, exiting my room and making our way across the living area at snail speed. I hope I get less stiff as the day goes on or I’m going to have a lot of trouble in the hallways and from professors. Since Jasper fucking obliterated the assholes in the study room and we’ve not heard a single word about them, we can’t mention my attack to the administration or anyone else.
“Did Jasper say if he’d found anything out about the…” I drop my voice even though we’re on our own floor. “…bodies?”
Salem grins at me as we walk towards the bathroom. “That’s a good question, Kit Kat. You’re a lot more cognizant than last night. Although, off-his-tits Kit is pretty awesome, too.”
Oh, no. What did I say? Or do? Fuck.
The demon seems to sense my fear and he laughs softly. “Don’t worry. No one saw you do anything stupid and O made sure you went straight to bed. You’re safe.”
“Thank fuck for small favors,” I grumble. “I’ve never been high in my life and I have zero clue what crazy things I’d do or say. I don’t… remember… a lot from the hospital in the past, so I don’t have a frame of reference.”
A shadow flickers over his face and I carefully squeeze the bicep I’m holding onto. Salem rumbles next to me, and I get the feeling he’s going to press for more information about my attack at some point. “Well, the birdie and I escorted you to your room then tucked you in. It wasn’t hard to imagine you wouldn’t want anyone interrogating you in that state.”
Now I definitely owe them some sort of reward; Jasper could have asked me anything.
“That must have made him really pissy. You guys did me a huge solid,” I say softly.
He winks at me playfully, then stops to pull open the bathroom door. “I’ll take a K. I. O.U for it.”
Damn these guys for being interminably hot, and stupidly clever. I suck in a deep breath as the voices echoing from inside the bathroom carry. “I guess it’s time to see how well I do standing on my own.”
“But I can?—”
Uh… fuck no, you can’t. I’ll die on the spot.
“Are you okay in there, little demon?”
Slash’s question makes me freeze up and I hold my breath so I can hear whether or not anyone is coming close to my stall. When I confirm that they’re all still doing their own thing, I go back to scrubbing my skin hard. I feel like there’s a layer of filth I can’t access with the loofah and spicy soap, but I know that’s not true. It’s the same feeling I had after the incident and no matter how hot the water, or how strong the scent of the body wash, I didn’t feel clean for months.
My shrink damn near locked me up when I burned myself with bleach wipes trying to get him off.
Suffice it to say, I know why I’m acting like this. but engaging my logical brain when my anxiety and PTSD are flaring is really difficult. If I’m doing okay, I can think like this and try to talk my lizard brain off the ledge. It’s when I lose control of the animalistic part and go feral that I need to be watched. I should probably talk to Oriel and Salem about how to tell I’m headed in that direction before I wig out.
“I’m okay, big guy. Thanks for asking.”
A huff bounces off the walls, and Oriel’s low tones get closer to my door. “I wanted to give you space, so I’m not bothering you, Kit Kat.”
“Same,” X and Anton chorus in unison and I blink.
What the hell is with all of them this morning? This isn’t the Sound of Music.
Shaking my head, I go back to scrubbing until my skin is pink and angry, then I finally give in. I close my eyes, sinking into my mind to push the fear and fury from the attack into a closet until I’m alone. I can’t allow anyone to know how affected I am, even the guys, because we don’t have the luxury of time. The announcement this weekend opened up a whole different can of worms that we’ll have to face, plus this harebrained scheme makes my ass twitch.
How am I supposed to pretend I’m a guy dating these guys? I don’t even know how to be a girl dating them.
I let that question roll around in my mind while I finish washing my hair with cold water. The icy blast helps neutralize my stinging skin as I think about how I’m going to play this shit. If I wasn’t even a tiny bit attracted to them or pretending to be a boy, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But alas, that’s not my situation so I can’t let this playacting get too realistic. After all, even if some of them did find me appealing, I’m not a guy. They’ll be furious when they find out my secret.
“Okay, Kit, you just need to be careful and cautious. Don’t let them get to you,” I whisper to myself as I grab the towel to dry off.
“What was that?”
The growl makes my eyes widen and I wrap the luxe bath sheet around me tightly as I tiptoe over to peek through the crack in the stall. I was right—that was His Royal Pain-in-my-Assness, Jasper. My breath hitches as he passes by only clad in a small towel barely clinging to his hips. His tatts and scales are on display with water trickling down his huge, muscled back.
I’m gonna pass out, no lie.
When no one notices my peeping, I cut my gaze from the huge, impressive dragon bully to the others. X’s lithe form is willowy with compact, cut muscles on pale skin like that vampire on Buffy. They’re hot in a way the others couldn’t dream of, while Salem and Slash are beefy and stacked. Wiping my mouth just in case, I scan for Anton, noting he has an oddly athletic form—like a swimmer, and Zav is smaller, but definitely built for speed and stealth.
Oriel’s swirls of tattoos are even more gorgeous than Jasper’s and every inch of him is covered in art that would make a tattooist on Earth weep. He looks like an avenging angel of darkness now, so I can’t imagine what he looks like half-shifted.
I am so fucking screwed.
A thought occurs to me and I back away from the crack, dropping my towel to look at myself with a frown. I’m okay, I suppose. My boobs are decent when unbound, but I’m not a model, and I have a lot of scars. They’re from a lot of different things, including the incident, but I know this look isn’t conventionally attractive. I won’t get any open-mouthed gapes from guys, regardless of whether they’re demons or humans.
But that’s not why I’m here, nor is it why we’re doing this stupid game of pretend. I just need to survive, not hook a sex partner. It doesn’t matter that I’m damaged goods because they can’t see through my damn clothes anyway.
“Fuck, Kit,” I grumble as I pull on my boxer briefs then wriggle myself into my binder. “You’re losing your focus.”
The sound of a palm slapping against my door makes me jump and without thinking, I slam my palm back on my side angrily. The intake of breath from the demon outside my stall is quick, but then comes out in irritation. “What are you in there talking to yourself about? Why does it take you so damn long? Do I need to send Oriel in to help?”
“ No! ” I shout quickly then realize how insane it was. “I mean, I’m fine. Go away, Jasper. I can talk to myself if I want. It guarantees I hear less bullshit, anyway.”
There. That should teach him.
The huff of indignation makes me grin, but his feet on the floor give away his path. “Fine. But you have five more minutes before I send someone in after you. Pray that it’s not me.”
“Fuck off.”
My retort is full of resolve, but his words make me move quickly despite the aches it causes. I cannot have some well-intentioned demon come bursting into my stall to find my boobs hanging out. Yanking my clothes on, I get everything back in my basket and open the door, slowly moving toward the sink like a little old man. Salem blinks, rushing over to help me despite my batting him away.
One peek of that barely clad set of guys is enough and now I have to look them all in the eyes—fuck my life.