21. Vi
vi
. . .
Rustling woke me up, my eyes opening slowly as I looked for the source of the noise in the half-dark of the neon-lit room.
Dana was just pulling her shirt over her head, her tightly curled hair standing up at angles from lying on the pillow.
“Hey, Mozinho ,” she whispered as Elsie rolled, snuggling into my side with a cute little wheezing snore.
I don’t even know what the word means, but I love the way it rolls off her tongue.
“Is that you calling me lazy or something?” I asked with a sleepy chuckle.
“No. That’s me calling you… sweetheart.”
Damn. Okay. Surely it was too early to be this smitten already. A grip, Vi! A single one!
“Where are you going?”
“Early meeting,” she murmured, bending for a heated kiss as she stowed her phone into her pocket. “Believe me, I’d rather still be beside you.”
I hummed against her lips. “What for?”
“Nothing interesting.” She sighed. “Off to meet the lawyers and see if they were able to dig up a copy of the will.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.” She stole another few quick pecks before a longer, more lingering kiss. “I’ll likely need it.”
Reluctantly, I let Dana go, waving to her as she opened Kaylee’s bedroom door as quietly as possible, my friend’s snoring drifting from the living room down the hall. She turned with one last smile, blowing me a kiss that I mimed catching before she shut the door behind her, leaving me straining to listen for the eventual close of the front door.
Last night had been…. Unreal.
Images flashed in snapshots of Dana, Elsie, and me trading places, pulling every drop of pleasure we could from each other’s bodies for several hours after Kaylee had passed out on the sofa bed.
I reminded myself to pick up some flowers and a gift certificate for a massage. Kaylee had been overly generous lately in letting me use her room.
Fuck, I really need to get my own place.
But with the money I was saving and the debts I’d already been able to pay off for my mom?I could handle a couple more months crashing on the couch.
Pay everything off, then get a little nest egg set up as a safety net, and then get myself an apartment—hopefully close by.
I’d become rather fond of this neighborhood… Even if I did still miss the sun sometimes.
Elsie’s soft snores teased a fond smile to my face, her body warm beside mine after hours of leeching my heat into her skin, pliable in the early hours of the morning as I adjusted her to rest against my chest.
I wondered what it would be like to watch as the golden hour illuminated her skin in soft streaks of pink and orange, colouring her silvery hair like a kaleidoscope. But Elsie was already perfect to me in the cool glow of the neon lights slipping through the parted curtains, in the revolving perfume and grocery delivery service ads on the electronic billboard outside flicking between hues of purple and green.
I studied her lips, the slightly fuller bottom and perfect cupid’s bow of the top, parted in sleep. And the steady stream of drool that dripped out of her mouth onto my T-shirt that I was sure would embarrass the hell out of her when she woke.
So ridiculously cute.
Peaceful. Domestic in a way that was hard to piece together when paired with the impossibly beautiful woman I’d first seen on stage.
I trailed my fingers down her bare arm, reveling in the smoothness of her skin, the knot of worry that’d been tugging at my chest finally loosened after last night.
Somehow, before I’d seen how it could work, it had still been difficult to believe the coven would be willing to share. That I wouldn’t have to choose between the vampires who had steadily been capturing my heart.
My phone began to ring on the nightstand, and Elsie rolled, pulling a pillow over her head. I leapt into motion, fumbling around in the low light for my clothes. By the time I’d dressed and made it into the hall, my phone in hand to answer the devil device, the bank was already leaving a voicemail. The text-based version of it popped up in my texts, informing me that they really needed to discuss one of my overdue accounts.
Fuck.
This fucking credit card really was the bane of my life.
How the hell was five grand really giving me so much trouble?
I poked my head back into the bedroom to find Elsie sound asleep, her breathing steady and even, hair strewn over the bed in a sheet of silver.
A look down at the clock on my phone told me it was still early, just a little past noon—okay, so maybe not early , but since I was usually working until three in the morning, I could go for some breakfast.
I guess I burned more calories last night than I’d thought.
Can’t imagine how , I thought smugly.
There were coffee pods on the counter, but that wouldn’t solve the breakfast problem. And no one was going to enjoy a relaxing morning if I tried to cook. Smoke detectors and I had a long-standing personal grudge.
I’d have to sneak down to the bodega on the corner to grab us something actually edible, preferably before Elsie woke up for some breakfast in bed.
I resisted the urge to go back for a kiss, worried about rousing her before I could return with a supply of caffeine and carbs. The sweatpants and oversized hoodie of Danny’s I’d tossed on were oversized enough that I wouldn’t need a bra. Not exactly fashionable, but I was just going to the corner and back.
The remnants of our movie snacks and drinks from the night before littered the living room as I padded down the hall and past to slip into my shoes by the door. Kaylee’s loud snoring punctuated my movements, her shirt rucked up to expose her flat stomach. She was the least graceful sleeper of all time, looking more like a caricature than someone actually getting any rest. Something that’d been true since we were kids.
Fondness for my best friend flooded me. She’d really done me a solid by pushing Elsie and Dana into my bed last night. My lips were still swollen from the hours spent wrapped up in each other, and a giddy, optimistic feeling settled into my chest that felt a lot like…
Okay, Vi! Too early!
If I weren’t such a coward, I might’ve admitted to myself what that feeling was. But I was a lot of things: a responsible driver, great at cards, and absolutely a little bitch baby when it came to my feelings.
I grabbed my wallet and keys from where I’d tossed them on the counter last night. The apartment’s door had barely snapped shut behind me when my phone began to buzz in the front pouch of my hoodie, making me groan. Pulling the device free, I didn’t even bother to look at the caller ID before I connected the call, holding the phone between my cheek and shoulder as I locked the door.
“Listen, I know! I need to make a payment, and I will.”
“Do you always answer the phone like that?” Danny asked, their warm laugh drifting through the earpiece.
I groaned. “No… It’s just?—”
“Trouble with the bank?” they offered, tone bordering dangerously close to worried.
“No, Danny. I’m fine. I’m taking care of it.”
“Sure,” they said skeptically. “You know I could?—”
“You could what? Pick up even more hours between shifts at the hospital? I told you I’m taking care of it.”
Danny sighed. “Okay, fine…” A little pause. “I was calling about the game today.”
My feet carried me toward the stairs, the phone jostling a little as I made my way down with my slip-on sneakers making the metal clang. “Born ready! Did you see the seats Ren got us? I looked them up online and they’re fucking prime .” I dragged the last word out for emphasis, the smile in my voice evident.
“You really like her.”
“Yeah,” I conceded. “I really do.”
“Jesus.” Danny’s disbelieving laugh was drowned partially by the hospital pager. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
“What? Just because I’m willing to admit I’m a little?—”
“Smitten? Obsessed? In lo?—”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I cut them off, stepping out onto the sidewalk. A freezing cold drizzle bit into my clothes and left the pavement slick. “But maybe… soon, yeah.”
There was a pause, and Danny’s voice held distrust as it came again through the phone. “Where are you right now?”
“Headed to get breakfast from the bodega.”
“Alone?”
I smirked at the implication. “Yes, but?—”
“I knew it. The same girl from the other day? Dana? Or did Ren stay over before the game?”
“No, uh…” I hesitated, heat lashing my cheeks. “Just a girl from work.”
It was one thing to tell my sibling about my girlfriend , or someone they’d seen me with in person, but Elsie… I didn’t even know what we were to be able to explain it.
What I did know was that Elsie wasn’t just anything. Certainly not just someone I saw and worked with. And while I was at it, none of them were only a girl from work anyway.
Ren and I were, well, together .
Dana and I were… exploring our connection.
Elsie and I were… Elsie and I. Spending time together when we could. Enjoying that time.
And then Juniper…
Fuck me, I need a day planner.
Or maybe I just needed to get an apartment with space for a king-size bed.
“Uh-huh, just a girl?” Danny teased. “Well… I hope she doesn’t mind you ditching her for me and your girlfriend .”
“Something tells me she doesn’t mind at all,” I said honestly. “Pick us up on the way?”
“Yeah. I’ll try not to get pulled into anything too serious at work. I don’t want to miss first pitch.”
We traded I love yous and hung up as I quickly made my way down the street, regretting forgoing a jacket in the February chill.
The bell of the bodega chimed as I opened the door, stepping into the warm hug of its heated interior, piled to the ceiling with products making up narrow aisles. Careful not to trip over an overturned milk crate with a sleeping tabby curled on top of it, I made my way to the back to order coffees and bagel sandwiches from the ancient, grey-haired vampire who manned the counter. Every time I’d been here, she’d always been working. An eternity spent behind a glass case, listening to a crackling opera pouring from a mistuned radio.
While she prepped our meals, I browsed the drink cooler along the left wall, hunting for a bottled blood supplement for Elsie and a couple of sports drinks for Kaylee and me.
I grabbed them and some extra bottles of orange juice to go with breakfast, careful again not to trip over Kibble on his milk crate as I scooched back to the counter to pay in cash.
When I made it back onto the street, a cardboard tray of coffees in hand and a heavy cellophane bag dangling from my fingers, the rain had let up.
It was going to be a pretty nice day after all.
Elsie’s silvery hair was pulled into a sloppy, messy bun, undone in a way I’d never seen from her before as she tugged on her shoes by the door, a tight expression on her face when I swung the door wide, my key still stuck in the lock. Damn thing was always getting stuck.
I set the tray of coffees on the entry table, the little plastic bag with our breakfasts hanging from my wrist with the crinkle of plastic.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I called with a smile, my expression faltering at her hurt expression. Confusion pulled my brows together, my hands going up placatingly. “Don’t worry, I made sure to get you a top-up too.”
Her crimson eyes flicked up to mine in surprise before moving to take in the three coffees and bag.
“Oh!” she said with an awkward little laugh, seemingly at herself. “I thought… um...” She rubbed the back of her neck with embarrassment, chewing her lip.
“That I ditched?” I offered with a raised eyebrow. “As if. I do have, like, some sense, you know?”
Elsie sighed. “Yeah… I know. Sorry.”
“I thought maybe you’d like some coffee. And I burn toast, so… it was safer to find you something to eat instead of embarrassing myself with my lack of cooking skills,” I explained with a little shrug.
Rustling from the living room warned me that Kaylee was stirring.
“Oh!” Elsie said again. “That’s really thoughtful, actually.”
I grabbed the tray of coffees as Elsie kicked off her shoes again to move to take them from me. Our fingers grazed.
“I like you, Elsie,” I assured her, catching her forearm. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank god,” Kaylee moaned from the couch. “I’d die without you. And that better be a cheese bagel I smell, Vi, or so help me god?—”
I pulled a foil-wrapped bagel from the bag and lobbed it at her head, mostly obscured by a blanket, her blonde hair sticking up all over the place. “I wasn’t talking to you!”
“Ow!” she protested as my glutenous projectile found its mark, thudding off her skull to drop onto the couch, but my focus was stolen as Elsie brushed against me on her way to the kitchen.
I trailed after her, ignoring Kaylee’s moans of pleasure and the sound of crinkling foil.
“Can we start over?” she asked. “I thought… I don’t know?—”
“I’d love to,” I murmured, brushing my front against her back and boxing her against the counter, my hands resting on the treated wood on either side of her hips. “Good morning, Elsie. Sleep well?”
“G-G-Good morning!” she stammered, turning her head to look at me over her shoulder.
“You didn’t think I was skipping out on you, did you?” I asked in a low voice that wouldn’t carry.
“I… Kind of, yeah.”
“Elsie, I meant what I said.” I pressed a soft kiss to her temple, arms wrapping around her to drag her closer against my chest. “I like you. Honestly.” I sighed. “If I didn’t have plans with Ren and Danny today, the only thing in your future would be a bath with me.”
She giggled, turning in my arms to press a kiss to my mouth, teasing my lips apart with the soft graze of her fangs. “Stupid baseball, never been a fan.”
“Even worse now?” I laughed.
“Much, much worse,” she confirmed. “Though, to be fair, I hate sports.” She made a face, eyes screwing up and lips slanting into a grimace that I gave in to the impulse to kiss away immediately. “But?—”
“Is there coffee to go with this?” Kaylee interrupted around a mouthful of bagel.
I glared at her openly, earning an overly self-satisfied smirk.
Someday, when she was trying to flirt with a cute blonde vampire in the kitchen, I was going to make her life absolute hell. Worse than hell.
“Buuuut, what?” I prompted.
“What kind of girlfriend would I be if I hogged all your time from your other girlfriend?” Elsie said, tugging me closer by the shirt as she leaned back against the counter, taking soft sips from my mouth that I returned with interest, chasing her lips as they trailed to my jaw.
“My girlfriend, are you?” I asked, my voice raspier than usual, heat snaking up the back of my neck with excitement.
Elsie pulled back enough to meet my eye, covering my lips with two fingers as she grinned. “I’ve been your girlfriend, Vi. You’re just too stubborn to say so.”
I nipped at her fingers playfully, thinking of Valentine's Day, before everything went to hell. Buying matching lingerie and screwing like desperate teenagers in a not-so-empty office was a hell of a first date, I’d have to give her that.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” She flicked my nose and narrowed her eyes. “Go at the pace that makes you comfortable. I just thought since, you know…” She hooked her pinky into thebracelet Ren bought me for Valentine's Day and I bit my lip. I’d hardly taken it off to shower since she gave it to me. “If you’d made it official with Ren, that?—”
“Is that a no on the coffee then?” Kaylee whined from the living room.
“Woman! Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“What I see is you bogarting the caffeine, Vi. Now give Momma some go juice and I’ll leave you to your canoodling. Some of us actually have to go to work today.”
Elsie slipped out of my hold with her enhanced speed and brought a cup over to Kaylee, pausing to turn back and wink at me.
I ran a hand through my hair, utterly bemused, thoroughly mussing my bangs before flattening them back down. I’d have to ask Elsie another time which date exactly she thought was the one I became her girlfriend.
It was pretty difficult to buy flowers for an anniversary you didn’t know about.