Chapter Nineteen
BLISS
I wake up with a pounding headache. I didn’t drink that much last night at the party—not more than usual anyways—but having used up every ounce of my magic on Simon and Wrath, I’m basically hungover.
And that’s not to mention images of the dead woman in the green dress haunting my nightmares all night long.
With a groan, and my eyes barely open, I stumble out of my room and down the stairs to the floor below.
Taser’s door is open just a crack and I slip inside, shame, lust, anticipation, the need to escape all swirling around in my stomach.
I steel myself by going over my plan again.
I need to somehow get Wrath’s tears. To do that, I need to get close to him again, which might require using Simon.
Either way, I need to use my powers on someone. Which means I need to be well fed.
Step one, recharge. Step two, get close to Wrath somehow. I’ll figure out the tears later.
Lust stirs inside me, urging me further inside the room.
“Bliss?” Taser’s head barely lifts off the pillow as he regards me. I slip forward on soft feet and kneel on the side of the bed. I let the shoulder of my oversized tee slip off. His eyes track the movement and he shifts upwards, leaning his back on the headboard as he wets his lips.
I don’t hesitate. I don’t want to leave any time to second guess myself. I straddle his lap, and even though the sheets and covers are between us, I can feel him start to harden. “Bliss,” he says again, but it’s not a question. I lean forward, my lips meeting his in a lust-filled clash.
“I need you,” I tell him, lifting his shirt up and over his head.
He nods and gives into me, his hand slipping between us and into the sleep shorts I’m wearing. He meets no further resistance as his fingers slip inside me.
We kiss as I ride his hand, and before long, with my inner fae urging me to feed, I’m already coming apart for him. He groans as my hips buck and my pants come quicker.
He captures my mouth again with his lips and strokes his tongue in rhythm with his fingers as I come back down to myself.
Sex with Taser has never been particularly earth-shattering, but it has always been good.
But right now, as the quick high leaves my body, I find myself not entirely satisfied. Yeah, sex is usually the most satisfying, but usually any orgasm from another fae will replenish my power fairly well.
But this was different. I could feel a bit of power flowing to me, but not nearly enough.
My gaze meets his and I can see the lust in it. My eyes go wide as shame truly hits me. He’s still with Stacey. Oh stars.
I jump off him. How could he have let me do that?
How could I have just done that?
Am I truly so occupied with myself that I could forget?
I run from the room, even as he calls after me.
Amelia gives me a weird look when I sit down at the picnic table, a latte from a trendy-looking espresso truck in my hands.
She has some sort of vegan breakfast scramble in front of her that she’s picking at, so I slide it towards me and shovel a few bites into my mouth, groaning a little when I realize it’s pretty fucking delicious.
Taser, Dericia, and I all headed out after I’d taken a quick shower, trying to remove all traces of my fucking awful decision to feed off Taser.
Reese immediately noticed the weird vibes but didn’t say anything.
She just took Taser to a different food truck and grabbed some breakfast burritos, probably picking up on my need for space from him.
The festival grounds and surrounding area is pretty lively for early morning, festival and band crews alike getting to work on stage setup and everything else that we have to do.
On the way over to the food trucks, I expected to overhear groups talking about the dead woman in the garden.
I expected to see the grounds crawling with fae police, but things just seem… normal?
Taser glances over at me and hands me half his burrito. I look at him questioningly. He just shrugs. “You look like you could use this,” is all he says. He looks back to his food and eats his half in silence.
I’ve fucked up so bad, and now things are even weirder between us, but he’s still as generous as ever.
“Thanks,” I say, even though he’s no longer paying attention to me.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Amelia finally asks.
I frown at her and look down at my outfit. It’s not the cutest, true. Plain jeans, a pastel pink Goddess’ Trance long-sleeved T-shirt that Amelia specially ordered for me, and Wrath’s hoodie.
“I’ll change into something fancier later,” I say, still confused.
“That’s not what she means,” Reese says, pointing at my sleeve. “It’s black.”
“Oh!” I let out a soft laugh.
“I didn’t think you owned anything black,” Tubbs says, reaching over and lifting up the hood so he can see the design on the back. “What band is this?”
I shrug. “I dunno.”
“Moonstruck?” Tubbs reads. “Never heard of them.”
“You were wearing it last night too,” Reese points out. She and Amelia exchange rueful glances. “Where’d you get it?”
“It’s a little big for you,” Taser adds, picking up on what they’re getting at. “Really big for you, actually.”
I pull on the strings of the sweatshirt, wishing I could pull the hood up over my head and cinch in the drawstring tight enough to hide my entire face from my friends.
“I don’t like it,” Grim says from behind me.
I glance up, seeing him standing there looking down at me. I swivel in my seat as much as I can manage on the picnic bench. His grin is making him look even more sexy and handsome than I remember from last night. My stomach does a little flip and I can’t help but grin back at him.
“And why not?” I ask, pushing a bit of hair behind my ear.
He sits down on the bench in the space between me and Blake, straddling it so he can face me. He leans in close. “Because it doesn’t smell like me, and really if you’re wearing men’s clothes, they should smell like me.”
A blush races up to my face and I duck my head down, playing with the frayed edge of the left sleeve.
Grim chuckles and scoots even closer. “I was hoping I might catch you before the shows start. How are you, after last night?” He looks around at the rest of the band.
I think the question is directed at all of us.
“Still can’t believe it,” I say.
“Did you get any details from the police?” Tubbs asks.
Grim shakes his head. “No. They’re keeping things under wraps for now.”
“No one seems to know anything happened.” I grip my latte almost hard enough to dent the cardboard.
“They might be trying to make sure people stay calm until they know more. I have some connections to the investigators. Don’t worry, Bliss. They’re good people; they’ll get justice for her.”
I nod and release my stranglehold on the innocent coffee cup.
“I also wanted to see if maybe we could go grab some food or coffee.” He glances at my burrito and latte. “Or we could just explore.”
I’m a bit surprised that he seems to be asking me out on a little date.
I hear a coughing noise and look over to Reese.
She’s looking at me and pointedly glancing at Taser, who is now even moodier and looking obviously anywhere but at Grim.
I look back at Grim, smiling at him, but my stomach does a bit of a drop as I take in his runeless eyes.
I knew it before, of course I did. But what is the point of getting involved with him if he’s not my bondmate?
I glance guiltily at the half of burrito Taser shared with me. I’m mad at him and he knows I’m mad at him, and yet he’s still been a good friend, even after I just used him. I don’t want to do anything that makes him uncomfortable.
I reach out and place my hand gently on Grim’s forearm. “Rain check? I forgot how much there is to do before tonight’s show.” Like the scavenger hunt that’s supposed to be starting in about an hour.
Grim looks over at Taser and nods understandingly. “Maybe tomorrow, beautiful. Or we could get drinks tonight after the show?”
I nod back at him and he gets up to leave, catching up with some other members of the Phantoms and throwing a grin over his shoulder at me. I sigh and look at Amelia, who is arching one perfectly waxed eyebrow.
“I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong,” she says to me.
Taser lets out a huff, staring fixedly at the bunched up wad of foil left over from his half of the burrito.
“What do you mean?” I ask, even though I’m pretty sure I already know the answer.
“You should feed from him, regardless of whether or not there’s a rune on his eye.”
“What’s the point?”
“Super hot dirty sex is the point.”
Taser coughs uncomfortably, getting up without further comment and tossing the foil into a nearby trash can, heading back the way we came from the house.
I automatically start to get up to go after him, but Reese shakes her head.
“I’ll go check on him. But later we are discussing what is going on between you two.
” She pins me with a meaningful look and leaves to catch up to Taser.
Amelia and I exchange glances. “I’d rather discuss what the hell happened with Taser and the Phantoms,” I mutter.
“No idea. But Taser hates them.”
“Another reason not to sleep with Grim.”
“Please. Forget about Taser,” she says and frowns. “Okay, I didn’t mean it that harshly, but what’s going on with them is their business, not yours. Grim seems like a great guy and there’s no reason to not pursue things with him just because he might not be the one.”
I try to let her words sink in, I really do. But there’s a resistance to them that won’t leave.