Chapter 4
Eri knocked on the front door, and when it opened, she expected to see Avian or Marco on the other side. Instead, she was greeted by Elias. She wasn’t particularly complaining about that, but she hadn’t seen him since he’d let her stay with him last weekend.
“Well, hello, Amate.”
“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you here,” she responded as he stepped aside and let her in.
“It’s a pleasant surprise, isn’t it?” he teased.
“For you, I guess.”
“I picked them up from the airport,” he supplied.
Eri had forgotten that he was picking them up since he lived closer to the airport than the rest of them.
However, she hadn’t minded and had volunteered to do so if he couldn’t make it.
They’d been back a few hours, and Avian had called her to let her know they made it safely and asked if she’d come over in a few hours to help her with thank you cards for the wedding gifts they’d received.
She wasn’t surprised her friend was trying to get it out of the way.
The new semester started in a few days, and it would be one less thing her friend had to worry about.
She followed Elias into the living room, where Avian and Marco were, with the gifts they’d received littered across the room. Lorna had taken them after the wedding and dropped them off at some point.
“Hey,” Avian greeted, getting up from where she sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. She pulled Eri into a hug. “Thanks for coming over to help.”
“It’s no problem,” Eri responded. “Besides, I guess I missed you a little, or whatever,” she teased, and Avian laughed.
She’d made it a point not to reach out to her while she was on her honeymoon and to wait for her to get back to get all the details Avian felt comfortable giving her. “Hey, Marco,” she greeted.
“Hey,” he responded. “For the record, I told her I would help, but she insisted the two of you could handle it.”
“You helped. You signed your name to the cards,” Avian retorted.
Eri waved him off. “It’s fine. I don’t mind helping. It’ll give us an excuse for her to tell me how the honeymoon was—that is, when you didn’t have her confined to a bed,” she teased.
Elias snorted, and Eri turned to look at him. “Then I’m sure she won’t have much to tell you.”
“We did not stay in bed the entire time,” Avian informed.
“Not the entire time. But a solid seventy percent,” Marco countered with a smirk.
“You know what? You and Elias go find something to do,” Avian directed.
The men chuckled as Marco got up, kissing Avian’s temple as he passed to do what she instructed.
Eri felt a soft touch on her side before Elias followed him into the kitchen.
They settled on opposite sides of the coffee table, and Eri took in all the opened gifts.
If she had to guess, she’d say that her friend had received almost everything on their registry.
“Where do you want to start?” Eri asked.
“Lorna was nice enough to make a list of everyone who brought or sent gifts if they didn’t make it, with their addresses beside them.
” Avian passed her a tablet. “I took a picture, then wrote the gift they sent beside it. Will you use this and address the envelopes for me? We have return address stickers, so you only have to do the receiving address.”
“Okay, I can do that.” She looked over the list, and a name caught her attention. “Avi, your mom sent you a wedding gift?”
“Yeah. She sent it with Aunt Willa.”
Eri studied her momentarily as Avian wrote on one of the cards. “Did you like it?”
She was aware of Deborah’s attitude towards anything that she disapproved of.
Eri had been on the receiving end of it more than once.
She also knew that she’d been hellbent on Avian either not going through with the marriage or that it wouldn’t last. It was a little shocking to Eri that she’d sent a gift.
However, she knew that didn’t mean the gift was thoughtful.
It could have been something to push her agenda of dislike towards the marriage and Marco.
That’s why she asked if she liked it instead of what it was because if her friend didn’t like it, Eri didn’t care what it was. She would get rid of it if Marco hadn’t already because she knew he would in no way tolerate them having something around the house that upset his wife.
“It wasn’t a malicious gift. His and hers towels, and a pair of champagne flutes. I’m going to put the towels in the guest bathroom.”
Eri nodded in understanding. While it may not have been a gift sent with malice, it was best not to bring any energy it held into their bedroom. A space that was supposed to be where they relaxed and felt at peace. She started on the first envelope.
“Tell me about your honeymoon. What sights did you see?”
While working on the cards and envelopes, she listened to Avian describe the different sights and activities they did outside the bedroom. After finishing addressing the envelopes, Eri moved on to putting return labels and stamps on them.
“Do you think you succeeded in creating me a nibling?” she asked as they put the cards in the correct envelopes.
“I can tell you with great certainty that I did not and will not be doing that for a few years. But I get the feeling I’ll be telling you and my husband that several times in the future.”
Eri laughed because her friend would likely have to tell Marco weekly, and while she knew Avian wanted to plan when she got pregnant, with how serious Marco had been with her request at the airport, she wouldn’t be surprised if it happened before then.
“How was your week?” Avian asked.
“It wasn’t eventful. I worked on a few projects for the upcoming semester to get a jumpstart and worked on a cross-stitching project.”
“How is that coming?”
“It’s…coming. When I took it up, I knew it might be a little hard at first, but it hasn’t gotten easier.”
“You’ve only been doing it for a few weeks. Once you finish this first one, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it and be a certified pro.”
Eri laughed. “The confidence you have in me is awe-inspiring, but thanks.”
“Are you sure your week was uneventful? Or, more specifically, your weekend?” Avian asked with a smirk, and Eri knew precisely what she was getting at.
“I’m going to kill him,” she joked.
Avian laughed. “No need. He wasn’t the one who told me. He hasn’t said anything about your little sleepover.”
Mickey. “First, she abandons me for pussy, and then she can’t keep her mouth closed,” Eri stated in faux irritation.
“Was it supposed to be a secret? I’m sorry; I didn’t know. I might have mentioned it to Marco.”
Eri shook her head. “Of course not. I was going to tell you when he wasn’t in the next room, and I’m sure he probably would have told Marco himself.”
Avian lowered her voice. “So?”
“He let me stay with him because I couldn’t reach Mickey, and he made breakfast for us the next morning…after I woke up on his chest.”
“You slept in bed with him?”
“No. I mean, yes. I fell asleep in his guest room, but I woke up in his room.”
“You were sleepwalking,” Avian stated, and Eri nodded. “And what did he say?”
“Nothing, really. He flirted like he always does, but other than that, it didn’t seem like he cared.”
“I’m sure he didn’t care that you were in bed with him because it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that he’s attracted to you, but he clearly cared because he let you stay there and sleep instead of disturbing you.”
She was correct; it wasn’t like Eri hadn’t already known that. Instead of speaking on it, she changed the subject. “Come on. Let’s take these to a drop box,” she started, gathering the sealed envelopes. “We don’t want to overstuff your mailbox.”
Her friend allowed the subject change before going into the kitchen to tell Marco they would return shortly.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Elias followed Marco into the kitchen and sat at the bar while his cousin grabbed two beers from the fridge. It was one of the few things in there since they’d thrown out anything they hadn’t thought would keep while they were away.
“I hear you had an interesting week,” Marco stated as Elias popped the cap off the bottle.
“Who told you that?”
His cousin shrugged. “Mamma said there was a dinner, and you, Vince, and Celia had words.”
“I wouldn’t say we had words. He made a joke; I stated a fact; she tried to be funny, and I decided to be hilarious.”
Marco chuckled. “She also said Zia Lucy asked when you were settling down.”
“Which I blame on you. She will be twice as persistent about it now that you’re married. I hope you’re proud of the position you’ve put me in,” he joked.
“It isn’t like you won’t settle down. Sooner rather than later, if your recent sleepover is any indication.”
Elias took a drink of his beer. It wasn’t like his cousin didn’t know that he liked Eri.
Hell, anyone who saw them interact could tell.
He wasn’t hiding it or being subtle, but it was the first time they had addressed it.
He hadn’t told anyone about the weekend’s events, so he could only assume that Eri had told Avian, and that was how Marco had found out.
“It wasn’t like that. She needed a place to stay for the night, so I let her stay with me.”
It wasn’t a lie. The pretense of her being at his house was because she’d been stranded, not because she’d wanted to spend that time with him.
Yes, it had inadvertently served the purpose of spending time together, but not in the way he wanted it to happen for the first time they were alone.
Elias wanted to ask her out, plan a date, and show her a good time.
Not that they didn’t have fun when she was there, but there was a distinct difference between hanging out together and dating. The latter was what he wanted.
He’d been biding his time since he met her because he knew the wall she had up was higher than a skyscraper, thicker than the rainforest, and fortified.
She was guarded, and he wanted to work on her letting it down before he took that step, and she had.
At least marginally, and he would take that as a win, considering the time he spent with her was usually in someone else’s company. He needed to change that soon.
“It may not have been like that, but I’m sure you wanted it to be.”
Elias wouldn’t deny it. “I do, but I’m not in a rush either.
” He’d never shied away from working for what he wanted, and he wanted Eri.
This meant he was willing to put in the time and effort and be patient until it paid off in his favor.
If she was so hellbent on denying their attraction and turned him down, then he would take the rejection on the chin and leave her alone.
“How did operation: Put a baby in Avian go?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I guess we’ll know in a couple of weeks. It’s not because of my lack of effort if she isn’t. It’s her birth control being a hater.”
Elias laughed. “She’s on birth control, and you’re trying to get her pregnant?”
“Correction. She’s on birth control, and I don’t mind if she ends up pregnant. Trust me, if I wanted her pregnant, she would be by now. I can wait until she finishes school and decides what career path she wants to take, if any.”
“That’s good news for me because Avian announcing she’s pregnant would only fuel my mom more, and I’d never hear the end.”
Marco chuckled. “True. You realize that when you start dating seriously, you’ll never hear the end of it, anyway.”
“Don’t remind me. The ultimate example of being between a rock and a hard place.” He took a drink of his beer. “Anyway, when are you putting up the post for the available chair?”
“In a few months. I want to catch up on my appointments first.”
“And you want someone who can pierce.”
“Ideally, I’d like to have someone who can do both, but I’m not opposed to hiring two people if the right candidates come in. I can always turn the room we use for storage into another private room. It’s small, but it will work.”
Elias nodded. Currently, there was only one private room at the parlor, and Marco used it most of the time unless one of them had an appointment to tattoo somewhere intimate.
Having another would be beneficial, especially for a piercer.
The number of people who liked to get nipple, clit, and dick piercings was higher than one might think.
“You should ask Eri to make the digital flyer for you. It would likely catch a lot of eyes.”
Marco smirked at him, and Elias rolled his eyes. It made the most sense to ask her since she majored in graphic design. It would also work out in the shop’s favor. More eyes meant more candidates and a bigger pool to choose from, but of course, his cousin thought he had ulterior motives.
When Eri was mentioned doing the flyer, the conversation about the tattoo competition they’d discussed several months ago came up. Marco still wanted to do it, but they needed to nail down a date and start planning all the details.
He lost track of how long they’d been discussing it or been in the kitchen, but they were both on their second beers when Avian came in.
“Eri and I are going to take the thank-you cards to a drop box and probably pick up some food. Is there anything you two have a taste for?”
“Well, since you asked—”
“Something that is food that can be consumed,” Avian cut Marco off, and Elias laughed.
“Trust me, I can consume it, but no, I’m good with whatever you want.”
“Elias?” Avian asked after shaking her head at Marco.
“Dealer’s choice,” he responded, and she nodded and left.
“Come on. Help me put these gifts away,” Marco stated a minute later after the front door closed.
Elias slid off the barstool, beer in hand, as they went into the living room. He wasn’t sure where they were going to put half the things they got, but he figured if all else failed, they could store them in a closet until they needed them.