Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Votra
Candy followed at Votra’s heels as they headed into the office, curling into her chair as Votra sat at hers. She tossed her food container onto her desk and wrapped her arms around her legs.
“What are you eating?” Candy asked, resting her chin atop her knees.
“This is finke. Laika is one of the only places outside of Alqen that I can get it.”
Candy rolled her chair over towards Votra’s. “Can I try?”
Votra extended her fork towards Candy, expecting her to take it, but Candy opened her mouth instead. Her cheeks warmed as she fed Candy, the gesture so intimate it made her stomach twist.
Candy’s eyes flew open wide as she chewed. “Wait, that’s so good,” she said. “What’s in it?”
A quiet pride swelled within her at Candy’s words. “It is ce’qil simmered in a sauce made of algra and some other spices. Ce’qil is sort of like… a root vegetable? And algra is an herb—that is where the bitter flavor comes from.”
Candy took the fork from Votra, popping another saucy chunk of ce’qil into her mouth. “Any chance you wanna share?”
Something told her she couldn’t really say no, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to. “It seems like we are already sharing,” she pointed out.
“Good point.” She passed Votra’s fork back to her, leaning her elbow on Votra’s desk and propping her head up on her hand. “Thanks for paying for my drinks back at the restaurant, by the way. Sorry I was being weird.”
“You were not being weird.” Votra’s attention shifted from her food and she rested her fork in the creamy green sauce. “What happened, if you do not mind my asking?”
Candy huffed out a sigh. “Xyxy set me up on a blind date and it kind of sucked.” She stabbed a piece of ce’qil rather aggressively with the fork. “I think he said all of about five sentences to me before he disappeared to take a phone call. He probably doesn’t even know I’m gone.”
“He just disappeared?”
“Yeah. He’s a big movie guy and he was talking about how he’s working with someone on a show and apparently, this phone call was more important than being out with me.
” Candy pushed a chunk of ce’qil around in its sauce.
“Sorry. All this just brought up some weird feelings. It’s a stupid thing to get worked up about.
” Votra suppressed the urge to do something to comfort her.
“I mean, I get it, I guess. When you’re chasing your passion, you never take days off.
You’re on, 24/7. You probably feel like that, right? ”
She did. She wasn’t sure she’d turned her brain off once in the last five years. “I suppose I do,” she said.
“Would you have taken a work phone call on a date?”
Votra wasn’t good enough of a person to say that she wouldn’t.
“I unfortunately have before, which does not make me much better than your date,” she said, taking her fork back from Candy to take a bite.
“But in my defense, working with your significant other generally requires work conversations on dates.”
Candy’s jaw stilled as she stopped chewing. “You worked with your significant other?”
“Yes.” Votra swallowed. “My ex-girlfriend and I created Starcrossed originally. But that was a long time ago and a lot has changed since then.”
“I’m sorry. It must be weird for you to work on it without her.” She leaned her elbow on Votra’s desk and placed her chin in her palm. “Did you break up because of work?”
“Something like that.” She pushed the container of finke towards Candy. “Would you like the rest?”
“You don’t want anymore?”
“No, I am full. I would hate for it to go to waste.” Thinking about Zeele had turned her stomach, and she wasn’t sure she could force another bite past her lips.
Being in the office was permanent enough of a reminder that Zeele had once been the cornerstone of her life; the last thing she wanted to do was think or talk about her.
“Thank you.” Candy slid the container closer to herself, taking Votra’s fork from her. “I never worked with my ex, but I think we would’ve broken up a lot earlier if we had.”
“It is hard, combining your work life with your personal life. You start to forget where one ends and the other begins.” Votra swallowed back the lump forming in the back of her throat.
“Ah. The ‘no fucking’ clause in my contract is starting to make sense now.”
“It is not a… ‘no fucking’ clause.” Votra’s voice grew small, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. “It is, more specifically, a ‘no relationship’ clause.”
“I get it.” Candy’s voice grew softer, and she closed the container of food after taking her last bite. “I promise, no hard feelings. I shouldn’t be thinking about relationships anyway. I just got out of one and I think my brain is still trying to get itself together.”
Votra’s stomach swooped uncomfortably. “Was it a bad one?”
“Bad enough that my first logical thought was to move a galaxy away from him.” Candy shrugged a shoulder.
“I really thought that I was over it. You know, when you can tell a relationship’s days are numbered and you start mourning it before it’s over?
That was me for the last, like, year of our relationship.
I had a feeling he was cheating on me and I just ignored it until I came back to our apartment and there was literally another girl in our bed. ”
“Gods. I am so sorry,” Votra said quietly. She couldn’t imagine the desire to cheat on anyone, but especially not Candy. One night together and she had consumed Votra’s every waking thought. She couldn’t imagine sparing a thought on anyone else.
“It just undid all of the work I’d done to get over him, you know?
I freaked out and I ran away.” Candy’s eyes grew misty, and she rubbed them with the heel of her palm.
“Tonight brought up a lot of that. The guy I went on a date with was nice, but he just kept ignoring me for his comm. And Ross used to do the same thing. I got so used to being unimportant, and I could feel myself going back to that place with Dren.”
Votra’s chest grew tight, and she couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to push a lock of Candy’s hair from her face. “I am glad that you left. You do not deserve to be treated like that by anyone.”
“I know, right? I deserve to be flaunted.” Candy finally grinned, which Votra took as a small victory.
She was right. She did deserve to be flaunted. And Gods, did Votra wish it could be her who did it.
“I am sorry you have had such a bad night,” Votra said, rising from her seat and offering a hand to Candy. Candy took it, standing from her seat with a little groan. “If I may… I know something that might help you.”
“Okay.”
Votra guided her into the virtual reality room and tapped a few buttons on her comm. Within seconds, the room around them transformed into a bedroom that had slowly become more familiar to Votra than her own.
The small bed became an elegant four-poster, with curtains that draped around it. A few candles flickered from the now stone walls, casting a warm, mellow light over the room. A fireplace crackled from the wall opposite the bed, which immediately drew Candy’s attention.
“Ooh, the fireplace is new,” she grinned, reaching her hands out towards the fire as if it might actually warm her. “You did this one all by yourself?”
“Yes.” Votra perched on the edge of the bed, wedging her hands between her knees. “I come in here to think sometimes. The office can be a bit much.”
“I get that. It feels very… work-y.” Candy sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the fireplace. She stuck her hand into the virtual flames, wiggling her fingers around and seeming quite pleased with herself. “But this room looks like something out of an old romance novel.”
Votra felt her cheeks warming. “Well, yes. I imagined what Juliet’s bedroom might look like, but then I realized that a bedroom modeled after a tragedy might not be the most peaceful.”
“You really liked Romeo and Juliet, huh?” Candy blinked, whipping her head around to look at Votra. “Oh my God. Is that where Starcrossed came from?”
“Yes.” Votra’s cheeks warmed.
“That’s so cute.” Candy stood, crossing the room to approach the bed. She attempted to lean against one of the posters, but she phased through it and stumbled. Without thinking, Votra leaped to her feet and steadied her with two hands bracketing her hips.
A blush crept up from Candy’s neck all the way to her cheeks. “The virtual reality in here is so good, I forgot it wasn’t real,” she said sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“It is alright. I am glad you did not fall. These floors are quite hard.” Votra didn’t move her hands, no matter how much she knew she should.
“Are you saying that out of experience?” Candy teased, those pretty green eyes locked onto Votra’s.
Votra’s heart rocketed into her throat. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been this close to Candy before.
But bathed in the warm glow of the candles around them, the fireplace illuminating her from behind…
Votra swallowed hard. “I am. In the early days of developing this, I did a lot of what you just did.”
“But you didn’t have a big, strong woman to catch you when you fell.”
Zeele wouldn’t have tried. She laughed, the few times it happened when she was in the room. “You think I am strong?” Votra asked, a bemused smile touching her lips.
“I mean, you did just jump up and catch me like some kind of superhero.” Candy slid her hands up Votra’s torso, letting them rest on her chest.
Votra had never really been considered strong before. As far as qintaril went, Votra was pretty small. She was relatively lean and only six feet tall. Even her younger sibling was nearly half a foot taller than her.
Her skin grew hot where Candy’s hands rested. “I only did what I had to do,” she said.
It would be so easy to kiss her. She was right here, her face practically level with Votra’s chest. She just needed to lean down a little, and–
Candy beat her to it. The kiss was immediately rough and needy, Candy’s blunt teeth scraping against Votra’s lower lip. Votra couldn’t keep herself from groaning against Candy’s lips, and her body moved faster than her brain could, hands seeking out Candy’s waist to tug her closer.
This wasn’t right. Candy was only just recovering from her bad night.
“Candy,” Votra breathed against Candy’s lips.
Her mouth struggled with the words she knew she should say.
She’d spent a lot of time thinking about sleeping with Candy again–more time than any boss should spend thinking about their employee.
And none of those dream scenarios included Candy being miserable after a bad first date. It just didn’t feel right.
Candy faltered, wrenching herself from Votra’s grasp. “Shit. Sorry. I’m… in a weird place right now.”
Votra deflated. “You had a hard night. You have nothing to apologize for.”
Candy cleared her throat and stepped back, eyes flicking towards the door. “I should probably get home. It’s late, and I’ve held you up enough already.”
“Of course.” Votra chewed her lower lip. “Do you need a ride home?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll grab a taxi.” In a move that surprised Votra so much she was sure she’d stopped breathing, Candy rose onto the balls of her feet to press a kiss to Votra’s cheek. “Thanks for taking care of me tonight. It means a lot more to me than I can tell you. And I’m sorry, again.”
Votra didn’t want Candy to feel sorry about anything ever again. “It was my pleasure. Get some rest tomorrow.”
Because Candy was off tomorrow, and Votra would be at the office alone. Again.
“You get home soon too, okay?” Candy said.
“I will.” But once Candy left, Votra couldn’t bring herself to do much more than sink into the bed that looked a lot more comfortable than it was. She hadn’t spent the night in the office in a long time, but maybe tonight would break that streak.