Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
I fell asleep in Soyer’s arms; not the deep kind of sleep but the partially aware one.
I knew he was there, followed the sound of his slow breaths, and could tell that he wasn’t as sleepy as I because every now and then, there was a soft caress, fingers brushing a strand of hair or adjusting the sheet around us.
I was at the cusp of proper, oblivious sleep when he moved and moved me with him, so that I was now fully lying on his chest.
“Amory.”
“Hmmmm….”
“Do you want to stay in bed, my heart?”
To be fair, I really, really wanted to. Had I always been like this? Ready and willing to abandon all sense of duty to spend my time enjoying myself? I hadn’t, but Soyer made me want to. He made me want to say yes to his hopeful question.
“Can’t.” I lifted my head, blinking at the darkness that was only broken by the lights from downstairs and the city lights from outside. The moon was waning, but it was still gibbous and bright, bathing us in its light. “I have to go to the diner.”
“Ah.”
“You woke me up.” I kissed his chest. “Thanks for doing that.”
“I won’t lie to you, I was debating with myself whether I should.”
I sat up and stretched. “Well, you made the right decision. Are you staying in bed?”
He rubbed his eyes. “Not by myself. There’s nothing worse than spending hours upon hours in bed by yourself, only the sun and moon and stars for company.”
“What a weird thing to say. Uh, should I shower? Do you think I need to shower?”
He patted my arm. “Don’t. I like to know that people can scent me on you.”
I cackled. “You know how you looked at the vampire romance novels I still have in that box in the walk-in? In one of them, one of the vampires would mark his human by giving him his blood, and I think it was called scent marking or something.”
His face was hidden in my shadow, but I was pretty sure I saw him raise his brow at me. “Your point being?”
I shrugged. “I don’t have a point. Why would I have a point? Oh, did you think I was saying you sounded like that vampire from one of my books?”
“Call me a vampire all you want. I still think it’s nice that people whose noses are that sensitive can smell me on you. Ask Elias if he smells of soap to a werewolf.”
“Ew. That’s not something you ask your friend, Soyer. I’ll go brush my teeth and get changed.”
“I’m already regretting it, but I’m not stopping you.”
“Because you’re a good, supportive fiancé.” I got out of bed. Yes, it was dark, but I was still naked, and I had a feeling Soyer could see enough of me to make me blush.
Except as I walked from the bed to grab my uniform from the next room and from there to the bathroom, the sliding screen walls open so Soyer could watch me all the way, I didn’t blush, not once.
I was learning that I didn’t need all the embarrassment, and I liked how I felt instead: good about myself. More like myself. Desired by Soyer.
I was almost late for my shift. Ben had been waiting for me downstairs in the foyer, and I felt bad about keeping him waiting, but he’d been chatting with Jules from the looks of it.
We’d hurried through the snow, which looked like it was going to stay this time around, neither of us talking much as our breaths fogged in the air.
On the subway, I pulled out my phone, given that Ben was standing guard in front of the seat I was sitting in and making absolutely sure no one was going to disturb me. I texted Rae to let them know I might be running late.
Wow, you text! And you’re late!!
I’ll mark the calendar. ??
They’d texted back within moments. I frowned at my screen.
“Uh, sir?”
I looked up from my phone with a sigh. “Seriously, what will it take for you to use my name, Ben?”
His brow furrowed, and I immediately felt bad for snapping at him.
“Uh, Amory. I wanted to say thank you for the Thanksgiving invitation. Ant is excited. We both are.”
“You’re welcome. I know it’s almost last minute, so no matter what Elias told you, you don’t have to feel any pressure to come or stay till the end. It’s really just… I thought it would be nice to do something together. Other than, you know, this.”
He bobbed his head. “Work.”
“I guess. Other than work.”
“Well, we don’t really celebrate, though Ant’s pretty…culturally human, he calls it.”
“Oh. Wait, is—” I cleared my throat, then continued in a whisper. “Is that just you? Or do people generally not celebrate?”
Ben considered that, which was fascinating in and of itself and made so many other questions pop into my head about what holidays pawns and cursed were consistently celebrating, if any.
“Some do, some don’t. It really depends. People in my family travel a lot; go abroad for a few years, you know? I guess we’re flexible with our holidays. But we’re looking forward to this one.”
I put my phone away, deciding it was probably better not to engage with Rae any further. “Me too. I never hosted a party. We’re hosting this one together, but I never did that either.”
Ben looked…he looked really happy. Like he was happy for me, and I thought, Florence could’ve been this happy for me. It hurt a little, maybe for the better.
“You’ll be fantastic. You’re so good at the diner, and that you convinced Mr. Bennet to do this…” He shook his head as if I’d tamed an angry dragon. “It’s going to be wonderful.”
Those words out of Ben’s mouth hurt even more.
It wasn’t his fault. It didn’t even make sense.
If I allowed myself to think about it, I was probably getting emotional on the subway because my parents had abandoned me too early, had never told me I was going to be fantastic at something like hosting Thanksgiving with my fiancé, and that wasn’t fair.
Making it Ben’s problem was even worse, so I tried to get a grip on my emotions.
“It’ll be fun, that’s all it has to be.”
The universe was kind, and we arrived at our stop then. That interrupted our conversation and saved me from things turning awkward and embarrassing.
I wiped at my eyes and let Ben go first so he could make sure there was no one in my way. Back up on the surface, the wind blew snow into our faces. I pulled up my hood, glad the walk was a short one.
Ben opened the door to the diner, holding it for me, and I followed the twinkling echoes of the bells above. From the looks of it, today was going to be a slow day. Three tables were occupied, and there was only one person at the counter, eating a slice of pie while reading a book.
Rae was talking to two people at one of their tables—small talk, it sounded like.
“Welcome to the Moonlight Diner,” Thaeros said, looking up from where he was rearranging the pies in the display case. He was wearing the uniform today, and while I wasn’t the most fashion-conscious person in the world, I knew he looked good in it. That made him not liking it even odder.
“Hi. Sorry I’m late.”
He indicated the diner. “We managed.”
I nodded and made myself smile. “Thanks anyway. Are you off now?”
I unzipped my jacket and wiped my feet. Dwayne had put out the absorbent floor mat earlier in the month.
Thaeros closed the display case. “Depends on whether you need me to stay or not.”
“No. Like you said, this is nothing. Just give me a sec.”
I walked toward the back while Ben took his customary place at the end of the counter. Thaeros came to join me, and I held the swing door for him.
“I made some adjustments to the schedule. The printout on the desk, I mean.”
I slowed my steps. “You did?”
“Rae said I had to because they were off for Thanksgiving, along with you, Kasey, and the human owner.”
“Oh, shoot.” I rubbed my face. “It’s a Thursday. How the fuck did I forget that?”
Thaeros chuckled. It was an almost superhuman sound, like a melody, like water running over the smoothest rocks or bubbling up from the belly of the earth.
“That can sneak up on a person.”
My face heated. “Thaeros, did you have plans? For Thanksgiving, I mean?”
He lifted his brows, and when I flipped on the lights in the back, his hair and skin looked shimmery for a moment, like the smooth surface of a pearl. But it faded, probably a trick of the light and his pale complexion.
“I don’t celebrate. Don’t know anyone that does. I hope it’s quiet. Levi said he’d be okay to pick up a shift too.”
I took off my jacket, gloves, and scarf, and put them into my locker, leaving the door open so they’d have a chance to dry.
“You did all this already?”
He shrugged. “I managed. I’m supposed to manage things here.”
I sighed, holding the door of the locker. “Hey, uh. Can I apologize? I think… I don’t know. Yesterday was an off day for me, and I don’t think I was very nice. Do you think we could start over?”
He gave me those wide eyes again, full of genuine surprise. “You’re apologizing to me.”
“Yeah. Because I wasn’t welcoming, you know. The Moonlight… Look, this isn’t just a place where you work. We’re family here. That’s the first thing I should’ve told you.”
“Explains why the staff bathroom is so clean.”
“Huh?”
He shook his head. “Forget it. I was being facetious. Someone apologizing will do that to me. Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why’re you apologizing? Or why do you want to start fresh, even?”
I gestured to the front of the diner. “Like I said, we’re family.
It sucks being welcomed to the family by someone who’s grumpy and maybe subconsciously doesn’t want you here.
Which, to be clear, that was me. But Soyer said he thought you and I would get along, and I think he’s finally starting to realize that the Moonlight is family too, so if he picked you and thinks you’ll fit in, he’s probably right about that. ”
Thaeros opened his mouth and closed it, repeated that twice. “Amory, you are a strange person. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Uh…”
“Never mind. We can start over, but keep the apology. I was trying to get a rise out of you yesterday, and I don’t want an apology for that.” He pulled on his shirt. “I had the uniform already and decided not to put it on when I came here.”
“O-okay? But you want to be here?”
He sighed, shrugged, and looked away. “Let’s just say I don’t want to be anywhere else. That good enough for you and your work family?”
I had a strange moment of clarity. Dwayne had given me this too.
I’d not been Thaeros, but in essence, Dwayne had given me this exact same thing.
And right now, I got to pay it forward. It made me feel nostalgic all over again, and also very…
old? No. Adult, though. As if I knew something about life. Huh.
“Sure. You look good in the uniform.”
“Oh my fuck, stop that. I’m going to hang around for a little while longer in case you need to do some planning stuff I don’t know how to do.”
He walked off. I pulled out my phone.
Soyer, I managered.
Of course he texted right back.
You know grammar. Why are you not grammaring?
“You’re so silly,” I mumbled while I typed.
I think I just made friends with my co-manager. That’s a different skill. Better. It’s called managering.
Say that three times fast.
But: ??Awesome. You want to call it a night early? I’ll take you out to celebrate.
You’re not being a good boss person. A good boss person would send me out there to keep doing a good job.
Go out there, Amory. Do what you always do.
Yes, boss!
I put my phone in my apron, ready to get started.