Chapter 25 #2
Varen would probably like it. She’s been aching for a proper sleepover ever since she decided her lust for me was more than okay.
Yet there was a reason Nala kept leaving before the cuddle party could start.
She was not going to push herself now. “But I’m not interested. Probably a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Come off it, Varen. You know we should keep things separate. Especially if this is only temporary. When are you buying me that apartment, again?”
Although she didn’t turn around to find out for herself, she felt Varen’s glare burrowing into the back of her skull.
“I’ll look into it when I can. Possibly starting tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
Varen grumbled into the back of her hand before scooting her chair and getting up. “You can be a pain in the ass, you know. Not because I want to find you a new place to live, or because you’re staying here for now, but because you’re such a stubborn ass about it.”
Nala crossed her arms over the blanket surrounding her. Where’s the TV remote? Time I took this bad bitch for a spin. For once, she didn’t mean Varen. “Boundaries. Don’t press me.”
“Boundaries are one thing. You’re pushing me away.”
“As we established earlier, you ain’t my girlfriend, now are you?”
“No. No, I’m not.” She stood behind Nala, tracing a gentle line down her side. “But I should at least be your friend by this point. After all that crap you said to me last night? What makes you think you can get away with closing off your heart and pushing everyone away?”
Nala tightened her hold on herself. “Don’t wanna talk about it.”
Varen rounded the couch and sat down by her feet, reaching into her pants pocket and withdrawing a small, rectangular black box. Is that… “This is what I had come by to give you.”
Nala was afraid to sit up. Whatever lurked in that box was nothing good.
“Don’t give me that look. Stop stewing in your misfortunes and learn how to take a gift.”
Scoffing, Nala tossed back the blanket and sat up in a flash. Her legs swung around, her hands disappearing beneath her thighs as she regarded Varen with a half-interested look. “All right, lay the diamond earrings on me.”
“They’re not earrings.” Varen opened the box. “Nor diamonds. Those wouldn’t suit you.”
Nala tried not to look at the contents. Something glistened, catching her eye and then her full attention as she realized a long, silver chain illuminated in the loft lights.
“What is…”
Varen pulled it out of the box with one hand and pulled back Nala’s hair with the other.
Her neck was barely exposed because of her hoodie, but somehow, Varen managed to get the silver choker around her throat.
Thank God it was adjustable because initially, it was much too tight before Varen loosened it enough to let Nala breathe comfortably.
She touched the pendant hanging from the center, feeling the outline of a bird taking off in flight. She didn’t have to ask what it was.
“It’s a Nightingale,” Varen confirmed. “This is your new collar for The Aviary.”
“My collar…”
“Surely, you’ve noticed the other subs wearing theirs. I should have bought one for you sooner, otherwise, people will start asking questions, but…” Varen sat back. “I wanted to pick out the perfect one for you. It’s customary for a Domme to choose it, you know.”
Who says? Nevertheless, Nala felt it with her fingertips, swallowing hard, making sure she still could.
She’s collared me? No, it was only for The Aviary, where Nightingale would be expected to prance around showing off how “owned” she was.
Oh my God, I asked her to own me last night.
Nala looked away, in half disgust and half shame.
This isn’t me. This showed how imperative it was to have separate sleeping arrangements… if not living ones.
“I’m sorry if it’s not to your tastes. I tried to keep you in mind when I picked it out. It’s custom-made.”
“What about you? What do you wear to show everyone that you belong to me?”
“Well… it doesn’t really work like that.”
“Maybe it should,” Nala mumbled. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it,” she said, louder. “But it’s out of left field, and after what happened last night…”
Varen stiffened beside her. Suddenly, Nala’s body called to hers for comfort. Neither of them succumbed. “I hope you don’t regret that. I know it was a night… I don’t expect anything out of it. This is for The Aviary. I don’t actually think you’re my…”
How sad that neither of them could say the word.
“I know we’re on the same page, theoretically, but then things go to some other level and I’m not sure what’s going on anymore. It confuses me. I don’t really want to be your sub, Ven. I don’t mind the sex, but I want to make it clear that I’m not your girlfriend, and you’re not my… Mistress.
Even though it might be best if we remain exclusive until we’re done here.”
“Yes,” she readily agreed. “That’s a good idea. Things are already complicated enough as they are, and we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Not that I was dating, anyway.”
“Neither was I.”
Nala leaned back on the couch, the collar still lingering around her throat. “You could have any woman you want, you know. You should tell me who your ultimate type is. Maybe I can help you get a real girlfriend after all this is over.”
Varen looked askance at her. “You’re something else, Nala.”
“What? I’m serious. I’ll take good care of you. Find you a nice girl who would appreciate your charms and what you do for a living. Oh, and the money, duh.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“In return, maybe you could introduce me to some of your rich business friends. After I’ve lived with you long enough, I’ll be used to a certain standard of living. Don’t wanna let it go too soon. Especially if it means I get more gifts like this.” She touched the nightingale charm.
“What makes you think I would let you anywhere near them? They’re not your type.”
“Neither are you, really.”
“How so?”
“Really? You’re way too uptight for me. I need someone who can relax and enjoy herself, and not just with sex.”
“Then you’re not going to like any of my ‘buddies.’ If you think I’m uptight? You’ve never met another million or billionaire. I am the chillest soul at the country club.”
“You actually go to a country club?”
“It’s a figure of speech. I hate it there. Only go when I have to for work.”
“What a hard life you live.”
Varen propped her elbow on the back of the couch and regarded Nala with mild amusement. “Yes, and now your life is going to be so hard by association. All the healthy food you can eat. If you have a license, you can use my other car…”
“You have another car?”
“…There’s a lady that comes by once a week to deep clean the whole loft. We’re first on every takeout list in the area, and you can put whatever you want on my tabs there. My accountant pays them off for me once a month.”
“You’re right. It sounds like a hard life. How will I know what restaurant to order from?”
“I go with the darts method. Or follow your stomach.”
Nala sighed. The choker constrained her throat, but she could still fill her lungs, and that was all that mattered. “Could you please take this thing off me? I don’t want it until tomorrow.”
Varen unclasped the collar and took it away into a drawer Nala didn’t have to know about. This is almost too much for me. Living with Varen. Possibly sleeping with Varen. Letting Varen pay for her food and services. Using Varen’s cleaning lady to help her do laundry…
“I’m going to keep my job,” Nala said the moment Varen came back downstairs.
“I’m not going to entirely rely on you, and I still want my thousand-a-week stipend.”
She had to build her savings before this all came crashing down like an old, demolished building.
Nala had no reason to believe it wouldn’t end like that.
I’ll lose my temper. She’ll decide I’m too high maintenance to deal with.
Rinse and repeat until I’m out on my ass, maybe in that tax-free condo for however long she decides to keep paying the taxes on it.
That still seemed too good to be true. Nala didn’t believe in good fortune like that.
Her life was built around losing, not gaining.
“Of course you’ll keep your job. I wouldn’t have suggested otherwise.” Varen went into the kitchen and picked up her phone. “So, what should we have for dinner? Should we get out the dart board?”
Nala curled into the couch again. “I want something healthy and filling. I’ve only had oatmeal today.”
“There’s a bistro down the way that will deliver turkey dinners. How does that sound?”
Absolutely ridiculous. How could she say no to a free Thanksgiving dinner long before it was the holidays?
Varen ate at the dining table, typing on a laptop and occasionally talking business on the phone.
Nala ate with a tray at the couch, watching TV with the volume low enough for Varen to hear her phone calls.
Good. Don’t eat dinner with her. Would be one thing if she were visiting.
Living with her? No. That blurred the lines of their relationship way too much.
As gracious of a host as Varen tried to be, there were many things she continuously overlooked and nearly drove Nala to her death with.
Didn’t she know that Nala needed her own towel?
One that she would probably use every day?
What did she mean that was gross? What kind of upbringing did she have where there was more than one towel per person?
Oh. Right. Upper-middle-class kid from Fresno.
Nala forgot her toothbrush. Did she have any spares?
How did one turn off the TV? Okay, so what if she wanted to play all the pre-release games? The woman had a fucking copy of the new Elden Ring DLC before anyone else!
No, she would not wait for the cleaning lady to do the dishes.
No, she would not wait for the cleaning lady to fold her clothes and put them away somewhere.
No, she would not wait for the cleaning lady for anything!
Damnit, Nala was an adult and would damn well clean up her messes after making them.
This didn’t mean, however, that she was suddenly Varen’s maid.
She could keep paying the cleaning lady for that.