29. Daphne Double Cheese Sandwiches
twenty-nine
Daphne: Double Cheese Sandwiches
There is a moment in all romantic comedies when an old Cure song plays, and a montage of perfect moments spills out before you, in bursts of feverish kisses, slow-motion laughs, and images of couples whipping up pancakes in their underwear.
Last night was a fever dream, one Thay spent inside my body, pausing only for brief rests and sips of water.
However, today was a new type of pressure!
In Seattle, I only got him in the mornings and whatever time he could carve out in the middle of the day.
But twenty-four hours seemed like a lifetime.
And maybe it was.
I gasped against his mouth when the roll of his hips pinned me to the shower, loving the burn that seared through my shoulders. He adjusted, breathing into a moan as he swirled me in the darkness. Unlike Wolfe, Thay didn’t have to ask. He knew how far to push by the way I breathed.
A soft cry shivered out of my throat when he grabbed my wrist to restrain me, before snaking his massive arms between the slits to hold me under the collarbone.
“Wider,” he demanded, making me wetter… hotter. I all but slumped when he kicked open my legs, spreading me like wildfire.
“Harder,” I begged, when his pressure hit my spine in messy splotches, sending the strangest need down my ass.
If I could have climbed up the wall, I would have. His yummy mix of oxytocin and endorphins broke the gravity in my mind. It didn’t help that Thay was a dopamine addict, loving the work as much as the break. I had never been so sore and utterly complete at the same time. But that was his magic.
“I love you,” I mouthed when the cut of his hips rolled me from the inside.
“Oh, yeah?” he rasped, tumbling and scratching at my chest. “Do you promise?”
“Yes.” My eyelids trembled when his steady pulse turned purple and formed behind my vision.
“More than Wolfe?”
I smiled, attempting to hold on just a bit longer when everything paused into a stunning silence.
“I said,” Thay pulled my hair back, exposing my throat. “More than Wolfe?”
There was no point in lying. I loved Wolfe. In my veins. My mind. My world… he was home. But absolutely nothing compared to Thayor Milo Gavros.
Nothing.
I hated that about him.
Loved that about him.
Loved and hated that about me.
“Yes,” I confessed, and Thay growled, fucking all his stars into me until my mind went raw. Until my legs fell into water… And my physical form vanished, leaving only what he created behind.
“That’s it,” he came, his thighs tensing as he pumped inside me, taking me with him. I let out a breathless scream when he whirled me to claim my mouth, my climax falling into him like a storm. Coming with someone was a sacred kind of poetry, and I loved the way our ink dripped into the Never.
When everything quieted, Thay dropped to his knees, pressing his ear to the rhythm of my heart.
“This is my favorite song,” he wrapped me in his arms, holding me flush against him until we synchronized. “What do you want to do today?” he asked, looking up at me in the dark. We never showered with the light on, stretching the quiet as far as it would go.
“Everything,” I whispered, raking my fingers through his fallen strands.
I already missed him.
“What’s that mean? Ice cream, tandem bikes, sandcastles, and shit?” Thay laughed.
I made a face trying to picture him on a tandem bike! Holy shit, that would be a mess. Not only would he hate it, but we’d end up on the side of the road right after he chucked the fucking thing into oncoming traffic.
“Not the bike,” I laughed, and he smiled, getting the joke.
“Fine,” he kissed between my legs, causing my heart to flutter. “Not the bike. Come on!”
The bedroom was chilly when we entered, and I leaned against the frame, watching Thay step over the sheets we’d kicked off the bed as he searched for his pants.
“Oh,” I bit my lip. “Wolfe is wearing them.”
“What?” he turned, sending me a look.
“Yeah, he put them on before he left. I told him they were yours, but he basically ignored me.”
Thay made a face.
“Fucking wedding present bullshit motherfucking asshole!” He stormed into the kitchen to grab the other backpack and a fresh pair of clothes from the front pocket. He really had been in my apartment. I hadn’t seen him wear that Pretty Hate Machine t-shirt in five years.
“What is going on?” I sighed, smiling at the mismatched socks and the fact that one was mine.
“Remember the time you sent me the recording of you coming all over your phone?” He grinned, pulling up a pair of flannels that slung low on his hips.
Shit, he would not be wearing those for long.
“Vaguely,” I glared. “Why?”
“That evening, Zade Carden delivered a message.”
“Wait? Zade Carden, the Reaper?”
When we were younger, his guild had tried to recruit him, but Thay passed when they told him the only way I could stay with him was to join the order.
“Yes.” He smirked. “I can’t believe you remember that shit.”
“Thay! He attempted to take you from me. Of course I remember.” Thay’s eyes softened. “What the hell does he want?” I asked, moving into the kitchen and pulling on the black dress I had laid out to dry.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. He sent the message in a fortune cookie, and with everything going on, I couldn’t deal with it. And I know Wolfe had eyed me fucking with it more than once.”
“What do you mean?”
“I kept the damn thing in my pocket, but I never cracked it open.”
I blinked. “So he left you here to find out what you’ve been hiding?”
Thay smiled.
“No. More like what I’ve been avoiding. Rinley’s playing both sides; Blade got shot. You went to Maine; Lyla is dead, and I fell apart. Wolfe’s entire world is on fire, and I don’t think he can take any more surprises.” Thay paused. “But that doesn’t make him any less of a prick.”
“You really don’t know what it could mean?”
Thay shrugged, his massive body making my kitchen furniture look like it came from a kindergarten classroom.
“No fucking clue.” He sighed. “But let’s worry about that shit tomorrow. I just want you today.”
I perked up, almost blushing.
“You do?”
“Yeah, Daph. I do.” He stood up and grabbed the keys. Did Wolfe seriously Uber himself to the airport? “But first: food. Come on.”
He waited for me, entwining his fingers into mine while he walked me to the passenger side.
“What? No lap this time?” I teased.
Thay’s hands fell to my ass in a playful squeeze.
“I mean, you can ride on my lap if you want?” He challenged, throwing the car door open. I stalled, considering it, when he lifted me into the seat with a dark laugh. “Maybe on the way back, I am fucking starving.”
“I hope you are not expecting much,” my stomach rolled when he started the engine. We hadn’t eaten since yesterday, and I was pretty sure any calories I consumed were now branded into my mattress. “There is nothing but kale and poppy seed muffins in town.”
Thay made a face, and I laughed.
“I know. We could head to the pub, but I sort of snuck out the bathroom window the other night to avoid the Cabo conversation, and according to Finn, that shit went public, so…” I shifted in my seat.
“You did what?”
“Finn took me on a date, kind of,” I shrugged. “It didn’t go well.”
Thay took a breath through his nose, the muscle in his neck flexing.
“Did you fuck him?” he asked, clicking his teeth. “Because I was wondering why the hell you smelled like a polo shirt the day we picked you up.”
My mouth flew open in a gasp of disgust.
“Tell me, Daphne, what’s it like to fall dick-deep into the Gap? Did he make you meet his mother afterward, hold hands, and pray for forgiveness?”
“Stop!” I shook my head. “I did not sleep with him. And despite being deeply sheltered and extremely na?ve, he is a nice guy.”
Thay scowled.
“Nice? I heard the way he spoke to you. No. He is a fucking asshole dressed like a nice guy. And they’re the most dangerous of all.”
I rolled my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s never gotten angry before, and he wants to. It is as if he is looking for a reason to turn all the lights off.”
“Not everyone desires to play in the dark, Thay.”
“Bullshit. What do you think you are?” I paused, considering his question. “Guys like that, all pent up, with the world up their ass and everything golden, are the ones who snap big. Like, kill your entire family, big.”
“Stop!” I swatted the thought away.
“I mean it, one second it’s all matching pajamas on the yearly Christmas card and the next, international fucking news.”
“Thay!”
“Just saying,” he turned down the road and stopped in front of the Main Street Grocers that lined the beach. “They never learn how to deal with their demons, so when they break free, they don’t come back from it.”
I crawled out of the passenger seat, stretching on the sidewalk.
“Finn doesn’t have a murderous creature inside him,” I glared.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Thay pulled me close. “You seem to collect them in troves.”
“Asshole,” I kicked his foot, and he laughed. “What are we eating?”
“Double cheese sandwiches,” he nibbled on my ear.
“Oh… fuck yeah!” I cheered, and he spun me around… and… kissed me.
In the light.
With people watching.
Taking in the way my eyes went wild when he let me go.
“You like it when I tongue-fuck you in public, babe?” he asked, calling me out on all my filthy thoughts. “You know,” he said in a low voice, walking me inside toward the baked goods. “There is something I’ve always wanted to do to your mouth.”
Holy hell. I swallowed.
“Double cheese sandwiches?” I pointed down the aisle, redirecting the heat in my belly.
“Coward!” Thay mumbled.
We’ll see.
Seven years ago, the King County food bank had a surplus of cheese and bread, leading to the invention of double cheese sandwiches.
It was not often these guys had time to think, let alone invent culinary masterpieces, but this was a rare occasion when everyone was present and not wanting to kill each other.
Thay had taken two slices of Havarti and inverted the sandwich, putting one slice of bread in the middle and two on the outside, resulting in carby, ooey-gooey cheese-fried-goodness.
It wasn’t long before we discovered it tasted amazing cold, with a hint of mayo.
Thay grabbed the ingredients and a few other items before leading me to the counter.
I considered his choices: chocolate milk, a tub of ice cream, a box of plastic forks, and a sandcastle-making kit.
The cashier judged the assortment before staring at the devil himself.
She had tight curls, white hair, and crumpled paper-bag eyes, shining behind a pair of pale pink glasses.
She was the kind of woman who made you wonder about the life she led and how she ended up working odd hours at a grocery store on the edge of the sea.
“Back in my day, I would have taken you to bed,” she said to Thay, as if it were Tuesday, moving each item over the scanner with a beep. He looked at her in silent confusion before flashing a devilish grin.
“Why not now?” he winked, and I nearly died. Telling myself that if she crawled over the counter to mount him, to let it happen. She deserved it, and so did he.
“Do you hear the mouth on this one?” She shifted her attention to me. “You are a very lucky girl.”
“I am,” I agreed, taking the change and placing it in Thay’s pocket.
“Till next time, gorgeous,” he called her, making her blush.
It is a shame our bodies don’t refine with age, because our spirit does. It is honed, honest, and so beautifully accurate that we should level up in our ascension rather than being punished for all the lessons we’ve learned.
Thay grabbed my hand, nearly steamrolling us into a group of preteen-somethings who stopped dead in their tracks… All their ovaries exploding at once.
Pop.
“Goddammit, Thay. Stop breaking all the girls!” I slammed him in the ribs and bolted toward the beach, feeling the wind rush across my face.
“Daphne!” he shouted, not needing to run. It took all of five monster steps for him to catch up with me and throw me over his shoulder like it was nothing. “You know the only one I want to break is you.”
But I didn’t feel broken.
In fact, for the first time in my life, everything felt brand new.