11. The morning after the night before
11
THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE
Archer
Like the coward I was, I snuck out of Micah’s apartment in the early hours of the morning. Dried sweat coated my skin, and the aroma of sex oozed from my pores. As much as I wanted to keep the unicorn’s scent on me, I couldn’t crawl into clean sheets covered in the aftermath of a lengthy sex session.
And last night was a marathon not a sprint. One I’d been not training for—but had been aiming for—since I’d met Micah that first morning. Training. Aiming. I’m a poet and I don’t know it. The silly childhood ditty did little to lighten my mood.
Reluctantly, I climbed under the steaming spray—best time to shower in Sunshine Manor was the middle of the night with an unlimited supply of hot water—and scrubbed off the alpha. Each wipe of the washcloth, every rub and swish of the wet fabric over my skin, dripping with water, brought back memories from the previous night.
His fingers running over me, in and out of the shower, stroking and probing and making my head spin. His mouth on my skin sucking, our tongues entwined, flicking and dueling, not caring who won the battle. And Micah’s voice, with its husky undertones, had been enough to make me cum.
And I’d run away from his warm embrace, and the whispered words which had my wolf mumbling, Safe!
Too late now. I couldn’t stumble back pretending I’d just popped out for a beer. Tears mingled with the pounding water and I leaned against the tiles and sobbed.
Wrong. My beast was confused. He’d done the wolf version of a happy dance when Micah and I had finally stopped the will we or won’t we back and forth. But he didn’t understand how I’d complicated my life and taken the focus off the prize, which was making enough money so I could support my parents.
Having a fuck buddy living across the hall would be great for unlimited orgasms, but that would be all it’d be. A series of one-night stands. As a unicorn, Micah could only mate with another unicorn. He’d told me so himself.
Maybe that was him being kind. His way of warning me he wasn’t relationship material. Being with someone that I couldn’t mate would be living in limbo with one foot in the mated camp and the other unmated.
Not having the courage to tell him I was calling a stop to us, I hadn’t waited until he woke up. Instead, I’d scuttled away. Well done, Archer.
“Owww. Fuck!” I yelled as the water flipped from warm to cold. It could be someone else was awake and taking the hot water. Ryder, perhaps. His love life was more screwed up than mine. Could be Ivor who was constantly worried about his finances? Maybe it was Daire who’d defied his parents? Or possibly Neil, who had a long list of concerns. If I messaged them, would they all respond? We could have a pity party.
Thinking of the phone had me turning it off. Even my boss was asleep at this hour. In the morning, I’d have to check it every five minutes to make sure he hadn’t messaged me, but if I left home early, I’d be at the office and it wouldn’t be an issue.
After tossing and turning for a few hours, I gave up on sleep, made myself breakfast and packed my lunch. With my ear to the door, I held my breath, straining to hear any sounds from the apartment opposite. Nothing.
Go , my wolf demanded. But while I was planning on tiptoeing down the stairs, he expected me to charge into Micah’s apartment and the unicorn would greet me with open arms. Not after I did a midnight flit, he won’t , I explained.
As I’d lived at Sunshine Manor for a while, I knew exactly where the creaking boards were and managed to make my escape without alerting Micah or anyone else in the building. Shame festered in my belly along with sadness as I crept outside and got on my bike. After preventing the sale of the building, I’d looked forward to living at the manor for years. But I’d messed everything up by sleeping with Micah and had no choice but to move out.
Oh joy! After viewing the pits of despair that called themselves three-bedroom apartments with Neil and Ivor, plus my initial battle with estate agents before stumbling onto Daire’s ad, the idea of moving had me leaping off the bike and dry heaving into some bushes.
Micah , my wolf demanded.
I missed him too and it’d only been a few hours. 180 minutes since I’d been in his arms. Who’s counting? Not me. Nope.
As I took a sip of water before getting back on the bike, I allowed myself, just for a moment, to contemplate a future with the unicorn shifter. But no matter how I examined it, I arrived at the same destination. There’d always be something missing for him and that would eventually destroy the relationship. Peddling to the office, tears flowed across my cheeks and the wind whipped them away, leaving my face achy and cold.
I ignored my private messages all day, only answering the ones on the office communication platform, and it wasn’t until my boss had left that I lay my head on the desk and clicked on the texts that reminded me of a line of toy soldiers.
Neil asked if I wanted a movie night, Ivor wanted to borrow a book, and Daire had sent a message to everyone in the Sunshine Manor group chat congratulating us on our efforts the previous day.
The phone clattered onto my desk. “What?” I yelled.
“You okay, Archer?” a head popped up over a cubicle.
“Fine.” I plastered a smile on my face. “A friend sent me a not-suitable-for-work meme.
“Oh,” he nodded. “NSFW. Right.”
I bowed my head and reread Daire’s message. My first thought was he was saying, Hurrah , at Micah and me sleeping together. I had visions of him and the rest of the tenants outside Micah’s door taking bets as to how many orgasms we’d have.
A lot! My wolf mumbled.
That put the first real smile of the day on my face. Yeah, there were multiple. But Daire had been referring to our efforts to stop the sale. My heart slowed from a frantic gallop to a trot.
My fingers trembled as Micah’s name popped up on the display. Adjectives floated around my head as to how he’d reacted this morning. Angry? Disappointed? Relieved? Bewildered?
I opened the text. It was much worse than I’d imagined.
Did I do something wrong?
His words tugged at my heartstrings, assuming they actually existed. I used work as an excuse for why I couldn’t talk. I wasn’t sure I could ever be honest with him. No. Busy at the office , I texted.
As I studied Ivor’s message, I replied with a quick, Could I stay in Daire’s spare room tonight?
Ivor
It’d been nice having Archer spend the night. Daire didn’t question why he needed the room and mouthed to me, “Trouble with Micah?” The three of us had made a quick dinner together and afterwards, Archer had sat on my bed and we’d laughed over the parrot who’d scared people away yesterday. He hadn’t said why he couldn’t go home.
He was gone by the time I left for class and when I was done with college, I headed to work at Ryder’s office. This was the best part of my day. No assignments with deadlines. No worries about making excuses to Daire about being late with my rent, even though he was cool with it.
Except… except when the asshat wandered in like he owned the place. The walls started closing in and I wondered if this was how Neil felt when he went outside.
“Are you Ryder’s latest experiment,” Kellan barged in.
“He’s at a meeting. Won’t be back till later.” I kept my eyes on the spreadsheet I was studying. Kellan had a way with words that lashed at my skin, had my gut twisting and tied my tongue in knots. Breath rattled in my throat as I tried to calm myself by thinking of kittens or fluffy pink clouds.
Go away. Go away , I begged him. I stuffed my hands under the desk so he couldn’t see them trembling.
“I know why you’re here.”
“Okay.” He was pushing me to react and I was. I was a puddle of sweat. Please hurry up, Ryder. Your ex is being squirrely. He hated being late so he’d probably be peeved when he arrived.
“He hates being late.” Kellan plonked himself on the desk and I turned my nose up at his scent, all acidy and sour. “And I’ll tell you a secret. He hates sleeping alone.”
“Our relationship is boss and employee,” I replied even though I’d begun to question if that was true. I looked forward to coming into work and volunteered to stay late when he asked.
Ryder’s aroma was everywhere in the office and it reminded me of a crocheted blanket my grandmother had made when I was a kid. I even imagined him asking me out for dinner, and us going for a midnight run, just the two of us, me admiring his magnificent antlers before giving my wolf his fur.
But he was older than me, more worldly, and he and Kellan were still something to one another. No way he’d pay attention to Ivor, the poor student who he paid in cash.
“I know you’re lying.” Kellan’s irritating voice punched a hole in my daydream. I sighed, wondering what was keeping Ryder. Unless he’d seen Kellan’s car outside and was in hiding. “The tips of your ears are pink.” Kellan stared out the window. “He’s not interested in you. Maybe as a plaything to toss aside after he’s done. He’ll always come back to me.”
“Great.” My one-word response had my wolf rolling his eyes. Micah or Daire would have come out with a smart-ass answer. But not me. I wished I had the guts to tell him what I thought, but I stayed quiet. If he complained to Ryder, I might get fired.
“Tell him I was here.” Kellan leaned in closer. “But he’ll scent me for sure. Always has. Always will.”
“Okay.” He slammed the door. Ass!
I leaped up and opened the door to let more air in, and then grabbed a can of freshener from the bathroom. I straightened papers on my desk. Ryder didn’t like mess and he couldn’t work if anything was out of place .
But I couldn’t concentrate on the rows of information on the computer. At first, Ryder had me lugging boxes and organizing deliveries, and I still did that. That’s why I was studying the stupid spreadsheet. But he’d started asking my opinion about things. I wasn’t used to anyone doing that except in class when I dozed off and the professor made a fool of me.
A car pulled up outside. I sat up straight and tapped the keyboard, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on the sweat stains under my arms, thanks to Kellan.
He strode in. I wanted to glance up as my hands flew over the keyboard.
“What is that stink?” Ryder complained, and then he sneezed. And again. I took a peek. His eyes were streaming and his face was puffy.
I shrugged ‘cause I wasn’t going to say Kellan had been here. F him.
“Something wrong?” Ryder asked. “Other than a funky smell that feels like a bunch of flowers and a septic tank got together and had a baby.” Another sneeze.
As he headed to his desk, I sniffed under one arm. “Nope. Nothing. Just working.”
“You sure?” He wasn’t looking at me but moving the stapler on his desk. “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me.” He ran his fingers over a photo of him and Kellan.
“Yep.” I pounded the keyboard as I pictured me jumping up and down on that photo. “Just doing my job,” I said through gritted teeth.