Chapter 19
Skylar
Even though Anthony had acted weird as hell all week, he’d still been loving and attentive too.
I decided to trust that he was going through something.
I’d left it up to Bri and Kaylee to plan our girls’ day.
They’d done it up big and booked us the afternoon at the spa.
It wasn’t a night of drinking, so I was happy with it.
I loved girls’ time but wasn’t up to partying quite as much as my best friend. Kaylee had a liver of iron.
As we sat in a mud bath, Kaylee squinted at me from behind her clay mask. “Why have you been so quiet today?”
I shrugged and patted my mask to see if it was dry yet. “No reason. Just enjoying the relaxation. I can practically feel the toxins leaching out of my skin.”
“No, something else is eating at you,” Bri said. We hadn’t been friends all that long and already she knew me.
I sighed. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
Kaylee squealed and sloshed toward me in the large mud pool. “I knew there was something juicy to tell!”
“Okay, so he has basically committed himself to me. He’s talking about marriage already.
Picking up where we left off. The whole nine yards.
” I sighed and relaxed against the pillow at the back of the tub.
“He’s tentative and passionate. Dominating and careful of boundaries.
” I sighed and basked in the new relationship feeling.
By the time I finished describing what he’d been like without giving up any dragon secrets or specifically describing his girth, they were swooning against the sides of the tub too.
Bri sighed. “I’m so ready. It’s been long enough. I left Hayden’s dad three years ago, and I want someone totally opposite from him this time. Someone sweet and attentive who doesn’t party much and isn’t prone to sleeping around.”
I gave her a sympathetic look. “You need a homebody. Someone settled.”
She nodded and sighed. “That sounds perfect.” We sat in the mud for a minute. “Mostly I want someone who wants to be a father. Or even if he’s got a kid or two of his own. Like a modern-day Brady Bunch.” I hoped such a man existed because Bri was a catch. Any man would be beyond lucky to have her.
“Not me. I’ll take the party guy that you don’t want. I don’t want to settle down. I’ll be a fun auntie for Hayden instead, will that work?”
Bri grinned. “That sounds perfect. Then when I’m ready to cut loose, I can go hang with Auntie Kaylee.”
We finished at the mud bath and headed next door in our robes for our manicures and pedicures.
They settled us in incredibly comfortable massage chairs.
We weren’t talking much with the nail techs in the room.
A woman walked in who looked very familiar.
She settled into one of the chairs across from me and caught my eye several minutes later.
She smiled, and her eyes turned to onyx and gold before returning to normal quickly.
She was a dragon. And still, she looked so familiar. Her smile deepened and I caught a flash of fang. Who was this woman? Her smile was nasty and in no way friendly. “Hi,” she said in a haughty voice and as soon as I heard it, I knew who she was. My rideshare driver. “I’m Tessa.”
“Yes, I remember you. You’re…” I pursed my lips a little as I continued, letting the words roll out of my mouth as if they tasted bad. “Friends with Anthony, aren’t you?”
She smiled again and this time I definitely saw a flash of fang. A little fear trickled through me. She breathed in deep through her nose and closed her eyes as if savoring a scent.
Oh, shit. She smelled my fear. That bitch.
“Yes,” she said. “We’re old friends.” The way she said it was so suggestive I wanted to go over and rip her damn fangs out of her head.
But fuck, I had no idea what dragons were like in their human forms. Probably, she would have kicked my ass.
The hairs on my arms raised and she continued.
“I’ve heard all about you.” Her gaze dragged up and down my body as if judging every inch of me. “Apparently, people exaggerate.”
I snorted. I wasn’t the type to be bullied, even if she could’ve beat me to a pulp.
“Oh, really? How odd. I’ve never heard of you.
” Of course, I had, but she didn’t need to know that.
I cocked my head and gave her a fake sympathetic look that was all catty.
“I imagine I wouldn’t if someone wasn’t relevant enough for a conversation.
” I bit my bottom lip and wrinkled my brows, daring her to say something else.
Her face reddened. Oh, yeah. She was furious, but fuck all, I didn’t care. Dragon or not, that bitch needed to know her place. I leaned forward. “It’s really not becoming of a female to allow her jealousy to be so apparent. It makes you look desperate.”
Tessa rose to her feet. “You’re going to regret pissing me off,” she said in a low, fierce voice.
I did feel a little trickle of fear, but I made sure I appeared unfazed.
I waved one hand at the witch and turned back to my girls, who looked shocked.
Well, Kaylee looked like she was about to jump to my aid, but I wouldn’t have expected less from her. When I looked back, Tessa was gone.
After the spa, we headed back to my place where we relaxed a while before heading out for a night on the town. Our dinner was spent mostly discussing Tessa.
Kaylee waved her arm as the server set chips and salsa down in front of us. “I’ve run into her a time or two. I don’t know much about her. Just that she’s super catty. But then, I don’t know much about anyone in the cult.”
“Please don’t call them a cult. They’re just a group of friends.
Like us but bigger. Besides, I’m not concerned with Tessa.
I’m sure if she were important, Anthony would’ve mentioned her.
” He had, but he’d told me he’d take care of her.
I’d have to mention it to him that she’d been hateful again.
Now that I knew she was a dragon, I disliked it all the more.
But I was out with my girls, so I pushed her from my mind and enjoyed the night with my two best friends.
As the night went on, the tipsier we got.
I made sure to keep it on this side of tipsy.
I was in no position to be getting drunk.
The longer I stayed in a slightly inebriated state of mind, the more I worried about the whole Tessa thing.
And all of the rest of it. Could I really be married to a dragon?
Could we have babies? Not that I was really concerned about that, considering my reproductive history, I’d long ago come to terms with the fact that I’d likely never carry a child of my own.
But what if Anthony expected a baby? I know he’d said PCOS wasn’t the end-all, but what if it turned out I definitely couldn’t have one?
Would he want to have one with someone else like Bret had?
The doubts hit me like I was a punching bag.
His parents had been concerned for a reason, what if they were right?
After we spent some time dancing, we ended up at Jace’s bar.
Luckily for my recovery tomorrow, I was still only slightly buzzed.
Bri and Kaylee were far past the point of sober, so I decided it was best not to drink anymore that night to keep an eye on my girls.
As I got them set up at the table, I looked around and spotted Tessa talking to Jace.
Oh, come on. I rolled my eyes because of course, she was here.
But then Tessa turned and there was a look on her face that screamed predator.
She walked toward the stairs that led to Jace’s VIP section.
Something in me pushed me forward, and since the girls were giving their orders to the server, I stood.
“I’ll just take a soda,” I told her. “Be right back.” I headed toward the stairs, just buzzed enough to be courageous when probably I should’ve been cautious.