37. Azriel
We agreed to shifts. Topher could fuck right off, but I appreciated him warning us about Isobel and eyeballs.
There was just something not right about that girl.
I’ll bet she ate it after she plucked it out.
She was probably fucked up enough to chew it.
I was pretty sure eyeballs were like raw oysters and you just sucked it down.
Misha had to get to rehearsal early to stretch and Orion was on stalking Isobel duty since they were both in orchestra. That left me to walk Harlowe to rehearsal. I was only in one dance in the second act and I mostly just mugged on stilts.
I also had the most wonderful gossip to share. She said she was allergic to drama, but something told me she’d love drama if it didn’t involve her and shitty people got what was coming to them.
She only opened the door a crack when I knocked.
Better safe than sorry. Harlowe opened it all the way and smiled when she saw it was me.
I loved it when she was dressed up in the corsets and leather, but she was just as stunning in a giant hoodie and leggings with her raven hair in a messy bunch and not a stitch of makeup on.
I wanted her to pose for me so badly. But not in my figure painting class because no one else was allowed to look at my muse.
“I hadn’t text for an escort yet but thanks. I’d gotten wrapped up in Leif’s notes I lost track of time.”
I offered her my arm because I was a fucking gentleman and I really liked her perfume. She slipped her arm into mine and we were off.
“You want to hear some absolutely amazing gossip?”
“Does it involve a trust fund kid and my eyeballs? Because that was kind of shitty.”
“It involves another shitty trust fund kid, but in a fun way that doesn’t involve anyone losing an eye. You’ll like it.”
I was practically vibrating to spit this out. I wanted to tell everyone, but there were a bunch of people here I didn’t want to be around. I didn’t even want to talk to them long enough to give them the joyous news.
“Well, I do need a little pick me up.”
“Belinda got expelled. I saw her dragging her bags out to catch a cab. I tripped her one last time, so she remembers me. I also gave her the painting I did of her in figure painting. I was going to keep it and mount it on the wall like a trophy, but I decided she needed to see how I saw her. I didn’t sign it, so she can’t do anything with it. ”
Harlowe cocked an eyebrow at me and I wanted to lick it. Her eyebrow was probably delicious.
“How did you paint her?”
“You know how the sphinx is the body of a lion and the head of a beautiful woman?”
“Yeah?”
She sounded a little wary. She probably should be, but if I was painting her, I’d make her a queen.
“So, picture an anatomically correct platypus with her tits and face eating roaches.”
Harlowe stopped walking, so I stopped walking. She stared at me for a minute. Too much? Then she broke into a deep belly laugh. She had a beautiful laugh. I wanted to make her laugh all the time.
“Thank you. I needed that. Why is Belinda gone? I thought Faustus thought she couldn’t harass Misha. I’m not complaining, but why isn’t Isobel gone too?”
I had no idea, but I had a pretty good guess.
Her patron was technically my patron. He was hands off for the most part, but occasionally got involved.
I hadn’t met Misha yet, but he told me Lucifer was the one who got him out of the asylum when things went arse up for him. He got me out of jail too.
He wasn’t a tame lion and there was no rhyme or reason when he decided to get involved. Sometimes, we desperately wanted his help, and he wasn’t there and sometimes, he meddled when we didn’t want him to.
Topher appeared out of nowhere like he liked to do. I didn’t have anything to throw at him except for Harlowe and I didn’t want his stupid hands anywhere near her. I knew what he said about not sleeping with students, but he looked at her how he used to look at me.
I clutched her to me tighter.
“I rebuke you, demon!” I yelled, making a cross with my fingers.
“I’m not a vampire, you fucking nutter.”
“Hi, Topher.”
No, not hi, Topher. I needed her to say get the fuck away from us, Topher.
I wanted her to tell him she found him as sexually attractive as a dirty diaper and thought he smelled like feet that stepped in one.
I didn’t like how they were looking at each other.
I should tell her he had dick cheese and would give her a UTI if he came near her with it.
Just to be safe and keep him away from her.
“Shouldn’t you be doing something away from here?” I asked.
“I walked Isobel to rehearsal and fucked with her a bit. I left her tuning her violin. That should keep her busy, though honestly, I could probably tune that thing better than she could and I’ve never had a single music lesson in my entire life.”
That…could work. Most people thought Faustus was the one who made people famous before they got here. He liked rubbing elbows with smart people and he loved kissing the arses of rich people.
Faustus was an academic with no appreciation for the arts. He was good at numbers and keeping the doors open, but Topher was the one who knew artists and how to deal with them. He also made no secret of that. He told everyone who didn’t ask his was the arse they wanted to kiss, not Faustus’s.
Topher had this way of making someone feel like the center of his world and he had a lot of pretty promises. I knew what it felt like when his attention was on you and how empty your world felt when he took it away.
I wouldn’t usually wish that on anyone, but I heard what Isobel did to Meadow and what she was planning to do to Harlowe. I wasn’t sharing my plans with Topher, but it sounded like we had similar ideas.
I didn’t want him to walk to the theatre with us, but I guess he was coming. We got her there with no incident and then I had to leave her with my original nemesis. I only crashed Nutcracker auditions to keep an eye on Belinda, but then I got cast and I was having a blast.
I’d give it up to protect her, but Isobel couldn’t do anything with a good bit of two departments here.
And as much as he hurt me and I didn’t want him around her, Topher could look out for her when we couldn’t.