Chapter 43
The Lotus was packed from wall to wall. Only a few hours ago, the place had been barren and quiet, with only a couple of people wandering around, ensuring everything was ready for the grand opening.
Or rather, the rehearsal for the grand opening. Twenty-four hours from then, the main room would be teeming with strangers, unaware of just how monstrous most of the employees were.
Tonight, however, the only people present were those in the know. And with the show being put on, they were busy cheering themselves hoarse.
“Show them, Evie!” Harper’s voice was lost to a sea of shouts. Everyone had put their conversations on hold the moment Evie walked onto the runway stage going through the center of the room.
Harper was lucky she could even see her.
If she hadn’t gotten there early to help set up, she would have been confined to the floor, where the only available view would have been of people’s backs.
But early bird privilege had afforded her a spot in one of the elevated VIP areas.
She had a perfect view of the stage and Evie spinning leisurely around the pole.
She was smiling from ear to ear. Though she had left her career of pole dancing behind, having exchanged it for one where she taught it instead, that didn’t mean she couldn’t visit her old life.
And this visit had the whole place losing their collective mind as she spun in place with such effortless grace it looked like she was floating.
If there hadn’t been a lineup of performers right after her, she looked like she could be there for hours.
“You killed it up there!” Harper said. Evie had finished her slot and had ducked under the rope to the VIP area. “You’re even better than I remember. Remind me again why you’re not using those skills to bring home a bunch of trophies?”
Evie’s cheeks pinked, though it was almost hidden by the low light. She’d put on a silk robe over her skimpy performance outfit, and a few strands of hair stuck to her forehead.
“I’ve been considering it, actually. I’ll need a lot of practice, but… maybe.” She looked around. “Where is everyone?”
“Being boring.” Harper patted the couch cushion next to her, and Evie sat down. “Maya is being held up at the high-rise, Nell needed to take a call, and Patricia is walking around, making sure everything is in order. I’m guessing Natalya is encouraging her.”
Evie snorted, sipping on the drink she’d left on the table before she went on stage. Natalya and Patricia had missed the memo about this being a party and were micromanaging everything but each other.
This celebration could be as loud as it wanted to, since it was in honor of the people who’d be working there.
A majority of the staff were supernatural, with only a handful of the performers being human.
Harper and Nell were among them and, whenever the Lotus would put on a show, Evie would be, too.
That night, the members of the Lotus would make this place their own. It might not be as grand or imposing as the Court of Chains high-rise, but it didn’t need to be.
It was theirs. It felt like theirs. That alone made it perfect.
“Oh no, did I miss it?”
Harper turned towards the voice, seeing Nell hurry up the steps, a dejected look in her eyes.
“You missed the warm-up.” Evie scooted to the side, making space for Nell to sit between her and Harper. “I have another slot about an hour from now. That’s when I’ll really show off.”
Nell smiled, relieved, but the expression was a little tense. Barely noticeable, but Evie’s brows immediately knitted together.
“Everything okay?” Harper asked, having seen Evie’s reaction. “Is it Casey? Is she going to be late?”
Nell hadn’t stopped talking about the fact that partners of the employees were allowed to attend this party. She’d been excited about showing Casey off for days.
“She can’t make it,” Nell mumbled. “Got pulled away on something. An emergency of some sort.”
Evie’s frown deepened. Casey worked with the Chains patrol teams, and of the three of them, Evie knew most about them. Going by her expression, if there was an emergency, Casey wouldn’t have been the one to handle it.
“That’s unfortunate. We were looking forward to talking to her.” Harper cleared her throat. “Or just meeting her. It feels weird that we don’t know her at all. Since you two are taking pretty big steps, it seems.”
“It was just bad timing.” Nell’s smile came back. “You’ll get to know her soon. I’m not sure when it’ll be, though. Casey’s super busy.”
That dreaded tension returned to Harper’s stomach. A feeling that appeared whenever the woman was brought up, and every time Harper learned something new about her, it got worse. Even though, technically, none of what she’d learned was cause for concern.
Maybe it was just because the only perspective she had of Casey was from afar. Nell had been so happy since they started dating, so she couldn’t be all bad. If they got to know one another, Harper’s brain could tell her gut to lower the pitchfork.
“Just—” Evie bit her lip and took Nell’s hand. “If something is wrong, you’d tell us. Right?”
Nell rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong. This isn’t like my last few relationships. Casey is different. She’s a woman, for one.”
They waited for more differences to appear on that list. None did. Nell’s eyes just drifted to the stage, shining with excitement as a new song started and another performer came into view.
Part of Harper wanted to stay with this topic. Drill into it, in fact. But Nell’s smile was so earnest. She’d even admitted only a few days prior that she was falling in love with Casey.
Nell was happy. And safe. As long as those things remained true, there wasn’t much Harper could do.
Going by Evie’s weak smile, she was thinking something similar.
But she relented, same as Harper had done, and turned her eyes towards the stage again.
A man with violet eyes and clad in a leather vest over a bare torso summoned cheers from the audience as he ‘caught’ a nearby onlooker with a precise lasso throw.
An impressive display. One Evie didn’t pay attention to at all. Her eyes flicked towards the back of the room, and then her face split in a grin as Natalya came into view. The crowd parted, letting her and her entourage approach the VIP area unhindered.
Harper stared, too. Patricia was walking right behind her, eyes scanning the room, but she wasn’t alone. At her heels, in her usual leather jacket and holding a drink glass, Maya shot Harper a smile.
“Where were you?” Evie had stood from the couch and leaned over the VIP rope as Natalya came near, pressing their lips together. “I looked for you on stage and couldn’t see you.”
“I was watching.” Natalya nodded towards the staff door. “Trish and I had some business to discuss. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be somewhat hands-off on this place. It takes some getting used to.”
“I calmed her nerves,” Patricia said. But going by Natalya’s pinched expression, she hadn’t gotten rid of them completely. Rescinding control, of anything, clearly wasn’t in Natalya’s wheelhouse.
Natalya unhooked the rope, taking Evie’s hand and following her to the couch.
She seated herself at the far end, facing Patricia who sat in the chair across from her, which Harper found herself grateful for.
Even though she’d been around Natalya several times, her intensity was hard to get used to. Evie was the only one unaffected by it.
But she was easy to ignore now. Maya had ascended the steps, flashing a bright grin as she walked over to Harper.
“Finally got away from Court. Aleksander is running me ragged.” She sat down next to Harper and handed her the drink glass. Ice water with lemon. “But I brought a gift. So you wouldn’t be mad.”
Harper accepted the glass and pretended to inspect it in grave detail before pursing her lips and smirking.
“Consider yourself forgiven.”
Harper took a sip and, seeing that Evie and Nell were engrossed in their own conversation, planted herself right in Maya’s lap.
“So… What Courtly intrigue has our brooding King pulled you into now? More lycanthrope business?”
“Nothing quite that serious.” Maya pulled Harper a little closer, leaving a hand resting on her thigh. “It’s been quiet. The bites we’re dealing with right now come from ants rather than wolves. Annoying but manageable.”
Harper cocked an eyebrow. “And secret?”
“Only somewhat.” She leaned in, placing a kiss on the side of Harper’s neck. “I’ll tell you later. When I have you all to myself.”
Harper was pretty sure she kept her expression under control, but just because her reaction to those words was internal didn’t mean Maya didn’t feel it. Her lips rested at her throat, right at her pulse point, meaning she definitely noticed how Harper’s heart rate sped up.
The scars she carried were barely notable enough to earn the descriptor. Just a few tiny dots on her neck and wrists. And the inside of her thighs, as of recently. All of them could be easily covered with makeup.
That night she hadn’t bothered. The way Maya’s eyes stayed fixed on her neck as she leaned away made that more than worth it.
“How does it feel?” Harper leaned against Maya, drawing her eyes to her own. “Knowing you won’t be allowed in here again?”
Maya made a theatrical sigh. “Dreadful. I’ll miss it. Seeing you play people like they’re toys was very entertaining.”
“I’m upset, too,” Harper said, feigning sadness in her voice. “I don’t see myself moving my talents elsewhere. Unfortunately, that means we’ll never know just how much money I could make you spend on me.”
“It wouldn’t have been a cent more than whatever cash I had on hand.”
“Yes, it would.” Harper grinned as she hovered her lips right by Maya’s. “I would have drained your bank account.”
For a moment Maya matched her teasing expression. But then it waned. Or relaxed, would be the more accurate description. Her fingers had been moving around Harper’s waist as though preparing to tickle her, but now they turned caressing instead.
“You’re truly special, Harper,” Maya said quietly. “I’ve never met anyone like you. Never change who you are.”
A few weeks ago, Harper would have sought a way to dismiss those words. To throw a mocking descriptor at them as a means to lessen their effect, because resting in it was too risky when the peace it brought would eventually be taken away.
But she’d practiced since then. Could feel when an incoming comment was made to deflect rather than engage.
“It’s actually pretty devastating how much I love you,” Harper whispered, only just keeping herself from lowering her gaze. “I’m still figuring out how to handle it. It scares me sometimes.”
“Are you scared now?”
“You’re the vampire. You tell me.”
Maya’s eyes flicked between hers. Softening. Brightening. Her smile did the same, growing from a hesitant version to that beautiful one Harper could stare at for hours.
“I think you’re the only person in the world who’s never been scared of me.
” Her golden-black eyes shimmered like gemstones.
“And I want you to know this. Being around you is a gift. Not a burden. Loving you isn’t devastating.
To everyone who knows you, really knows you, it’s the easiest thing in the world. ”
Maya kissed her. A gentle press of their lips and that was enough to make the world go mute. To make everything but the present fade away.
Harper had gotten so used to being skeptical.
To preparing herself for the inevitable twist that would make any peace she found take an abrupt turn for the worse.
It had been hard, for so long, that she sought out means of numbing herself to it.
That she found herself questioning what the point of it all was.
Now it was obvious. Seeing Patricia, at ease in a way she hadn’t been in over a year. Nell smiling right next to her, while Evie held hands with the woman she loved. The room itself, alive with joy, excitement, and eagerness.
And then there was Maya. Someone so special that she was literally one of a kind, and whose smile could give her the world if she willed it.
In that moment, surrounded by people who loved her with no conditions attached, the cynicism Harper had used as a shield all her adult life was finally lowered.
Because this was it. This was the point.