20. Games To Play
20
GAMES TO PLAY
TESSA
I spend the whole day while reaping with Megan, thinking about how good it was with Evan and Dante’s reaction to it all. I can’t believe I did what I did with Evan. Not that I’m a prude. It feels weird, like cheating, even though I know it isn’t.
Dante seems more than okay with it, turned on even. He was perfectly normal and happy at breakfast, too. He kissed me goodbye, as he always does.
I didn’t spend the night with Evan, instead retiring to my bed alone. Oddly, sharing a bed felt like too much too soon. Besides, he didn’t ask. Maybe sleeping together isn’t a thing Evan likes to do. Not everyone does.
As the work day winds down, my thoughts turn to Kurtis. I have no idea what that wild card has planned. Or if he has planned something. He strikes me as a spontaneous dater.
Megan clears her throat as we return to the underworld to clock out. There is no actual clock, which would be fucking funny as hell, but Death often likes to meet with us at the end of our shifts to check in. I never thought he’d be such a thoughtful boss.
“Tessa?” Death says like he’s been talking to me for a while and I’ve been ignoring him.
“Uh, yes!” My attention snaps back to the moment. “Sorry.”
His cloaked head tilts and he chuckles—an eerie sound—likely reading my energy or mind, or whatever he can do. “I see you are quite busy in your free time. Just remember to be present when you are handling souls.”
“Yes, sir.” I practically whip my hand to my forehead in a salute. “I’ll stay focused from now on.”
“I expect you will.”
Not sure if that is a threat or a vote of confidence. Either way, I’m going to do better.
Megan and I walk back to our dorm rooms, and she elbows me with a snicker. “You were so busted, having all those horny thoughts.”
I shake my head and laugh. “I’m so fucked.”
“Sure sounds like it.” Megan grabs her stomach when she laughs at her own joke.
“Haha,” I deadpan. “I’m going to take a little nap before I go back.”
She waves me off as she wanders down the hall to her room.
I sigh as I enter my space here. I’ve been slowly decorating it with my personal touches. I even bought some bathroom toiletries, so I don’t have to use the communal showers at Karma’s mansion anymore.
I flop onto the bed, set my alarm so I don’t sleep too long, and close my eyes.
“Hello, darling reaper,” the winged dream god drawls.
We’re back in his cavern slash bedroom with its dark luxurious decor, or maybe it’s his office, if he’s indeed a dream god. I still don’t know if this is real or if it’s my subconscious messing with me.
This time, he joins me on the bed. He’s shirtless and his muscular arm is propping up his head as he lies on his side. Thankfully, we’re both above the covers.
“Did you mess with my texts?” I ask, turning to face him, only inches between us.
“Me?” He chuckles lightly and shakes his head. “My domain is dreams. Technology is not in my funhouse.”
I eye him while he leans closer, as if he’s going to kiss me, and I pull back. “Why am I here again?”
“Just checking in on your progress with your lovers. How does it feel to know you have so many hearts at your mercy?”
Fuck. I don’t like the sound of that.
“Does it make you feel powerful?” he asks, reaching out to trail a single finger up my arm.
I glare at the offending appendage and snarl, “I’m done. No more taunting me.”
With that, I wake abruptly. I can still smell the strange cavern air of the dream god’s cave all around me. I’m beginning to think he isn’t my imagination at all.
I doll myself up and put on another dress for my date with Kurtis. It’s not usually my style, but I seem to be reclaiming my feminine-presenting side lately. Who knows if a dress will be appropriate for wherever we’re going, but I find I want to feel sexy for him.
Using my reaper powers, I target Kurtis’s location when I return to the mansion. It’s easier than trying to track him down on foot. After Dante’s dizzying kiss last night, I forgot to nail down a meeting spot.
Kurtis yelps when I appear in front of him. Too close. He’s walking faster than normal, and he plows into me.
We fall to the floor in the hallway, and his arms instinctively wrap around me, one hand protecting my head from cracking on the tile. My heart melts a bit at how his first instinct is to make sure I’m not hurt.
“Tessa!” he shouts and runs his hands up and down my body, checking for injuries.
But he’s also lighting up my libido with his touch.
His muscular body pins me down between my legs, and I joke, “Already have me on my back and my legs wrapped around you, and the date hasn’t even officially started yet.”
Kurtis chuckles. “That’s definitely not a poor beginning. Hopefully, I can work my way back to this position in the near future.” He stands up and helps me to my feet.
I straighten my dress, and he eyes my outfit appreciatively.
“I guess I’d better behave if you can just pop in anywhere,” he says with a mischievous grin.
I step closer and press myself against him. “Why? Are you planning on being naughty?”
His entire face turns tomato red. The All-American jock dude-bro appearance clashes with this new shy vibe. He’s way too serious when he says, “I… uh… I would never betray your trust.”
Then it dawns on me that I should clear the air, since maybe Evan didn’t explain.
My hands land on his well-defined chest. Just a thin dress shirt separating our flesh.
“I know about you and Evan,” I confess. “I saw you together.”
His eyes bug out. “Shit. I thought… He said you were okay with us. If that’s not the case, then I’ll?—”
“Honey, I am okay.” I stop him from spinning out, rubbing his chest to soothe his worries. “Don’t stress. I don’t consider your relationship a betrayal. It would be awfully greedy for me to get upset if you wanted to be together too.”
“Are you sure?” His pretty gray eyes search mine for a lie.
Biting my lip, I nod, then admit, “It was hot, watching Evan fuck your face in the gym. I might have masturbated to that image later.”
Kurtis’s hands slink around my waist, and he smiles. “We can do it again for you. Maybe you could join us next time. That is, if you want to keep doing this… and with me.”
Oh, my poor broken guy. “Do you think I won’t like you?”
He closes his eyes and shakes off the question. “How about we talk about that later? I want to have some fun and go on a proper date with you.”
“Good idea.” I lift up on my toes and kiss his cheek. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”
Kurtis gives me a wide grin. “Me too.” He scoops me up in his arms, races down the stairs, and whoops like a kid.
I almost forgot what it’s like to play like this.
He sets me down at the front doors, catches my hand, and encourages me to race along with him. Thankfully, I have sensible shoes on and not three-inch stilettos. I made the right choice, considering the man I’m with tonight.
He picks a luxury SUV for tonight’s chariot and clicks the fob as we rush toward the car. “First one inside gets the first point.”
“Point?” I ask as he breaks his hold on me and runs to the driver’s side. I race him, since I am a competitive brat like that, even if I didn’t know we were playing a game.
Somehow, I make it to my seat before him. Perhaps he let me have this point.
“Good job!” He praises.
“What do you mean, points?” I say with a laugh.
“Tonight’s all about fun. That’s what I can bring to the table.” He revs the engine, then races out of the garage. He already opened the gate so he can blast past it.
“You don’t have to bring something to the table. Just be you. Okay?”
He glances at me and nods. I sense this is a sticky point for him. He’s feeling insecure in his place at my side. Ironically, I’m the one feeling out of my depth with three amazing, hot, smart, sexy guys craving to be with me.
We’re flying down the street and heading to the local boardwalk.
I see a Ferris wheel lit up. As we get closer, we find a carnival is in full swing.
Now his comment and the points game make sense. Fun . And I’m here for it.
“I can’t remember the last time I was at a carnival. Probably when I worked one as a psychic,” I say dreamily. The carnival was mostly a good job for the short time I traveled with it. There were a lot of rough guys, but surprisingly, they were more protective of me than anything else.
I laugh when he smacks his head like he’s dense.
“I should have known this wouldn’t be special.” He frowns. “This was a dumb idea, huh?”
“What?” I grab his arm and tug him to look at me. “I love it. I never got to experience it from the outside—like a regular person.”
When Kurtis sees the truth of it in my eyes, he lights up again. He leaps out of the car and runs around to help me with the door. He’s like a golden retriever. So excited and eager to please me.
He’s already bought our tickets, and we bypass the lines, not that they are that long. The carnival is perfectly attended. Just enough to make it feel like something is happening without having to fight to make our way through the corridors.
“What do you want to do first?” he asks, his eyes wide and sparkling with a childlike glee. He’s never looked more appealing.
When he’s enjoying himself and excited about life, he takes on an enthusiasm that’s contagious. And he might be right. This is part of what he brings to a relationship, but I know he will bring a whole lot more than just that.
My nose catches the savory aroma of the food trucks, and my stomach growls. “We could get a drink and something to munch on and walk around.”
“Brilliant!” Kurtis snatches my hand again, and we hurry over to a food truck window to grab something to eat.
We decide on the responsible choice for dinner—funnel cakes and cheap margaritas. Strolling through to check out the various booths and rides, we make a race of who can eat their funnel cakes faster. He wins that point, but I’m able to chug my drink first.
Coming toward a rowdy barker, the man taunts Kurtis about his prowess to get him to spend money at his game.
“Ring toss it is,” he says with an elbow bump against my arm. “I can win you something.”
“These games are all rigged. You must know that.” I laugh when he pays the carnie to play anyway.
“You don’t have your Instant powers either,” I remind him.
“Don’t need powers,” he says cockily.
I’m tempted to tell him the tricks of the trade, but decide it will be more fun to let him try on his own.
He tosses, shouting and jumping up and down the whole time.
And he loses. No shock there.
“See. I told you!” I pat him on the shoulder to mock console him. “Sorry you wasted your money there, buddy.”
“I didn’t though.” He lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. “It made you laugh, and that’s a win in my book. Worth all the money and game points.”
“Fuck, you’re corny as hell,” I say, with a stupid grin on my face.
My cheeks hurt from laughing so much. I don’t think I’ve laughed like this in years. Maybe ever?
Then tears threaten to appear because he’s almost too sweet. My wounded pieces wonder if this is all a lie, but I shake it off. Those are old, damaging thoughts that no longer serve me. I have to let go of the negative thinking if I ever want to truly heal.
“House of Mirrors or Ferris wheel?” he asks.
I’m about to answer when I see the carnival’s psychic reader peeking out of her ornate booth. The older woman is dressed in the stereotypical garb of a psychic reader. With another glance, I sense she isn’t faking. She’s a real Romani, packed with the power of her ancestors.
Our eyes lock onto each other and an itch travels down my spine.
She’s giving me the evil eye, likely sensing I’m an agent of Death.
Kurtis sees the odd exchange and pulls me in the opposite direction to the Ferris wheel ride line. “You alright?” he asks.
“Fine. It’s just intense when one highly psychic person meets another. She sensed my reaper power, I think.”
“Never thought about that before,” he ponders. “I suppose it’s like two apex predators who stumble upon each other in the wild. They have to assess the threat and decide if the other is worth the trouble to engage.”
“Usually, we don’t engage because we’ve sensed each other far enough away. But places like this can muddle our abilities,” I explain.
“Like an ADHD person getting too much stimuli.”
I consider his words, and I realize being psychic is a lot like being overstimulated.
I’m relieved when we crawl into the bucket bench seat, even though I know these rides are always thrown together in a rush and are constantly on the verge of collapse and ruin.
We get to the top and the wheel stops to let people off and on. We can see far out onto the ocean. The setting moon reflects on the waves for miles. To our right, we can see the city lights. The view takes my breath away.
“Beautiful,” Kurtis whispers next to me.
“It is,” I agree.
“No, you are.”
A blush creeps up on my cheeks. “Thank you.”
His warm hand guides my face to look at him. “Why does it feel like you have a hard time believing me?”
“I have a hard time with compliments,” I admit. “I never felt all that beautiful or desirable growing up. And then you guys teased me so much with your outrageous flirting at Instant’s bidding to haze me. So, it’s become second nature to avoid attention and deflect when someone shows interest.”
“Let me make sure you understand my motivations. I didn’t have to hit on you to do her bidding. We did it because we’re actually into you.”
“Oh,” I say, realizing I still haven’t come to terms with all their attention. “I just assumed you were messing with me the whole time. Or at least, at the start.”
“I suppose Dante was just better at making it clear that he really liked you,” he sighs and leans back to look at the stars above. “I fucked up so much with you.”
“We had our rough patches.” I’m reminded of the strange dynamic we had from the start. Mostly, it was when he attacked me to provoke my powers during my training and I almost killed him. Well, I did sort of kill him, but then I brought his soul back, healing him at the cost of my life force.
The wheel turns again in a half revolution and then jerks to a stop to let off more people.
“I didn’t mean to be so rough with you then.” He frowns, grasping my hand and running his thumb over my knuckles in thought. “I think I was frustrated because I didn’t believe you would ever give me a chance. Or that anyone would love me.”
“You don’t think you’re loveable?”
He shrugs as we spin again. “Not usually. Not for long.”
“That’s how I feel too.”
“What?” He pulls my hand to his chest as if I’ve threatened to rip it away. “Why the hell would you feel like that?”
“Why would you?” I throw back the question at him.
He gives me a sad smile and shakes his head. “I suppose we all have our insecurities. Even the hottest amongst us.”
“True. During my psychic readings, I’ve picked up on the fear of being unworthy in many people. Some no one would suspect of being insecure.”
“I have a lot going against me,” he argues, running his hand through his windblown blond locks. “My soul being wrecked doesn’t help my cause.”
“Look at me,” I say, and he finally turns to face me. “I’ve seen your soul. Yes, it was riddled with the damage that Instant created when she fed off your energy, but even with that drain, it was still brighter than most people.”
Kurtis scoffs lightly as the ride pauses again.
“I mean it,” I insist, demanding he understand what I see in him. “I figured out Instant’s MO. She picked people with bright, powerful souls. If you weren’t, she wouldn’t have wanted to consume you.”
“Really?” His eyes look dazed as he contemplates that thought. “But I’m still broken.”
“Incarnated souls usually are. It’s the nature of living on Earth. It tears us down—apart. Yet we can heal and grow just as well.”
“Look at my soul again,” he pleads softly.
The ride jerks roughly to a stop.
“Why do you want me to?”
“Because I need to know the state of my being.” He looks to the night sky, maybe looking for the right words in the cosmos. “I don’t want to burden you with me if I’m too fucked up for a relationship.”
I shake my head softly. “I don’t need to look at you with my reaper vision to see how amazing you are.”
“Please?” He gives me full on Puss-in-Boots sad eyes.
Fuck. He’s too good at that. And apparently, I’m a sucker for his charms.
I shift my consciousness to ‘read’ his soul.
His light is blinding. His damage is healing—faster than I thought it would.
“Kurtis, you’re beautiful. There’s hardly any of Instant’s damage left.”
Moments pass as he finally acknowledges I’m telling the truth. Then he goes through so many emotions.
“Thank fuck. And thank you.”
His mouth crashes down on mine. One of his hands tangles in my hair, and his other hand cups my cheek. His thumb brushes over my temple.
My thoughts fall from my mind as I get lost in his passionate kiss. My stomach flutters and it has nothing to do with the swinging of the Ferris wheel. No, this is all him. Us. Where our skin touches is electric.
He breaks the kiss and presses his forehead to mine.
We take a moment and just breathe each other’s air. An intimate act many people might dismiss, yet it’s so powerful. A bond forming as we exchange energy on a soul level.
I didn’t expect the connection between us to be so intense.
It makes sense. I healed him with my personal magic—my essence. He’s part of me already. I’ve literally touched his soul, ripping it out of the clutches of Death.
I’m glad my employer didn’t get pissed about that.
The wheel jerks to another stop halfway down.
“Tessa?” Kurtis pulls back and looks me in the eye. “Did you feel that?”
I know he’s not talking about the ride, but the energy brewing between us.
“I did.” It’s my turn to initiate a kiss, and he hums happily when I do.