Chapter Eleven
Blair
The sound of the apartment lock clicking open should probably make me panic considering I’m currently half naked, wrapped around Noir on Dagger’s couch after very aggressively making poor life choices all morning.
Instead my first thought is honestly, oh this is going to piss him off so bad.
Which apparently says deeply concerning things about me as a person.
Morning rain hammers steadily against the balcony windows while the apartment smells like sex, cigarettes, and burnt coffee by the time Dagger steps inside.
Then silence.
Long enough that I already know exactly what he’s looking at.
Fair.
Because I’m still tangled up with Noir across the couch beneath twisted blankets, one of his arms wrapped heavily around my waist while his black shirt hangs halfway off one shoulder and my panties are still very much missing somewhere in the apartment.
My split pink and purple hair is a complete disaster across his chest and the couch cushions beneath us, and somewhere at some point during the morning one of us apparently kicked half the blankets onto the floor.
The TV hums quietly in the background.
Noir’s cigarette burned itself out in the ashtray beside the couch forever ago.
And honestly?
Neither of us look remotely sorry about any of it.
Dagger slowly shuts the apartment door behind himself.
Paper takeout bags rustle softly in his hands.
Neither of us move.
Mostly because I want to see what he does.
Noir wakes first.
His eyes cracking open lazily before immediately finding Dagger standing near the kitchen island holding enough coffee and breakfast to feed a small army.
The silence stretches.
Then:
“Well,” Dagger mutters flatly. “At least somebody had a productive morning.”
I grin into Noir’s chest immediately.
“Noir,” I mumble sleepily, “your competition brought breakfast.”
Noir’s arm tightens lazily around my waist while his mouth brushes slow against the side of my head.
“Pretty sure we already settled who the competition is,” he mutters roughly. “But I’m down to remind you again if your memory’s still fucked, little addict.”
Heat crawls instantly up my throat at the tone alone.
Dagger drops the takeout bags onto the counter harder than necessary.
“Yeah,” he says flatly, “that’s enough of whatever the fuck this is.”
I grin immediately.
Oh, he’s annoyed annoyed.
Interesting.
Noir doesn’t even look remotely sorry either, stretched out shirtless behind me on Dagger’s couch looking smug enough to qualify as a personality disorder.
“Relax,” I mumble toward the kitchen. “You should be happy. We resolved the sexual tension.”
Dagger points at both of us while unpacking coffee.
“No more talking about anybody getting fucked before breakfast.”
“Wow,” I say softly. “Oppressive.”
“And you, put your shrimp dick back in your pants before I take the pancakes back.”
Noir actually laughs quietly behind me.
“Threatening me with breakfast now?”
“I’m serious.”
“That’s fair,” I admit. “I’d fold too.”
I finally sit up slowly beneath the blankets, Noir’s shirt slipping lower off my shoulder while cool air brushes over my skin. Dagger’s eyes drag over my body, then land on Noir.
“Couldn’t even wait half a day?”
Noir doesn’t look remotely guilty.
“She was bored.”
“Your point?”
Dagger snorts quietly under his breath while unpacking breakfast containers onto the counter, shaking his head like both of us are personally exhausting him.
Noir eventually slips off the couch and heads out toward the balcony to smoke, shirtless and smug while cold ocean air immediately drifts through the cracked door behind him.
The apartment settles into something strangely normal after that.
Or at least whatever deeply dysfunctional version of normal the three of us accidentally became overnight.
Rain tapping steadily against the windows.
Smoke curling slowly through the apartment from the balcony.
Dagger hovering around the kitchen pretending he’s not checking where I am every thirty seconds.
Dangerously domestic.
That realization sits weirdly in my chest while I curl cross-legged onto one of the kitchen stools eating pancakes wrapped in blankets and somebody else’s shirt.
A few months ago this entire situation would’ve sounded clinically insane.
Now?
Now it somehow feels natural.
Which honestly might be the most concerning part.
Dagger glances toward me eventually.
“You should probably shower when you’re done eating.”
I blink once.
“Excuse me?”
“Mina’s coming over later.”
“Oh thank fuck.” I shove another bite of pancakes into my mouth dramatically. “Another woman. I was starting to forget society existed outside emotionally unstable criminal men.”
Noir smirks faintly near the balcony.
Dagger ignores both of us.
“That was his subtle way of saying you smell like sex.”
I nearly choke laughing.
I look toward Dagger innocently over the rim of my coffee. “Ohhh, so you only like when I smell like sex if it’s sex with you? Interesting. Possessive. A little toxic. Very on brand.”
“Blair.”
“No, no.” I point at him dramatically. “This is important character development for everybody.”
“Mostly him,” Noir mutters calmly from the balcony doorway around his cigarette.
Dagger visibly regrets having ears.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
I grin wider into my coffee.
“Oh my god,” I gasp dramatically. “Are you jealous?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
Dagger gestures vaguely toward my throat with his coffee cup.
“You’ve got bruises all over your neck.”
I glance down instinctively.
My throat looks suspiciously like I lost a fight with a very emotionally unstable vampire.
Noir notices me checking.
“That one’s my favorite,” he mutters casually from the balcony doorway.
Dagger’s expression immediately darkens.
“You two are fucking unbearable.” Dagger points toward the hallway. “Go shower before Mina gets here.”
I narrow my eyes suspiciously.
“You’re bullying me because I had sex on your couch.”
“You had sex on my couch while I was gone for like two fucking hours.”
“Correction,” Noir says calmly from the balcony doorway, cigarette glowing between his fingers. “We had sex on your couch.”
A beat passes.
Then.
“It was really hot sex too.”
The look Dagger gives him after that nearly makes me laugh myself unconscious.
Dagger points at him flatly with a coffee cup. “You’re one sentence away from sleeping outside.”
“That’s okay,” Noir says calmly from the balcony doorway around his cigarette. “I’m pretty open-minded about locations.”
Dagger already looks irritated.
Then Noir keeps going.
“Next time maybe I’ll pin her against the glass doors instead.” His eyes flick lazily toward me. “Give you a better view.”
I nearly choke on my own laugh.
Dagger stares at him flatly.
“Noir.”
“What?” He shrugs one shoulder. “Might as well let him watch how pretty you sound when you fall apart for me, little addict.”
“Oh my god,” I wheeze, clutching my chest dramatically. “You two sound like divorced parents arguing over furniture custody.”
Dagger ignores me completely while crossing toward the kitchen counter again.
Then he grabs a black duffle bag off the stool beside it and tosses it toward me.
I barely catch it.
“Brought your stuff,” he answers.
That immediately pulls my attention fully toward him.
Something in my chest tightens slightly.
“Did you find anything?” Noir asks from the balcony door.
Dagger’s expression hardens just a fraction.
“No. Surprisingly there were no signs anybody’s been there.”
Relief hits first.
Then something colder settles right behind it.
Temporary relief.
Because all that really means is Dante hasn’t moved yet.
Not that he won’t.
Dagger notices the shift across my face instantly.
I stare down at the duffle bag in my hands for a second.
My life.
Stuffed into black fabric.
Tiny.
Portable.
Disposable.
Very on brand for me lately honestly.
“Well,” I mutter lightly while forcing the heaviness back down where it belongs, “love that my entire existence currently fits in a gym bag. Really aspirational.”
Noir snorts quietly from the balcony.
“Your motel room looked like a gas station dumpster with plumbing.”
“That’s rude.”
“How were you even surviving?” he mutters. “There was a family-sized bag of Cheetos, three empty energy drinks beside the bed, and absolutely nothing else.”
“I was thriving.”
“There was a traffic cone in the shower.”
I blink once.
“…okay honestly I can explain that.”
Dagger shakes his head slowly like I’m personally exhausting him.
“I don’t even wanna know.”
“Well shit,” Noir mutters from the balcony around his cigarette, “I do.”
Dagger points at him immediately without even looking up.
“Don’t.”
The warning in his voice only makes my grin bigger.
Noir smirks faintly into the smoke.
“What? Maybe the traffic cone has emotional significance.”
“It did,” I say seriously. “After the shit me and that cone did, we really bonded.”
Dagger drags a hand down his face.
“You’re both a fucking nightmare.”
“Aww, but you kinda love it. After all, it was your idea to hold me hostage here, wasn’t it?” I point out sweetly.
“Would you just go shower before Mina gets here.”
I grin immediately.
“There’s the bossy attitude again.”
Dagger rolls his eyes while I grab the duffle bag off the counter.
Noir watches me from the balcony doorway, cigarette between his fingers, completely unhelpful as usual.
“Don’t encourage her,” Dagger mutters toward him.
“I haven’t said anything.”
“Your stupid face is encouraging her.”
“Mm, more like pretty,” I say seriously while backing toward the hallway. “But you’re right, his face does make me want to do really bad things.”
Noir smirks faintly into the smoke.
Dagger visibly regrets speaking to either of us this morning.
Honestly?
Fair.
I sling the duffle bag higher over my shoulder, still grinning to myself, when Noir suddenly pushes off the balcony doorway.
“I gotta run out for a bit.”
That kills the mood fast.
Dagger’s head turns immediately.
“Where?”