Chapter 14 #2
Blake didn’t flinch, the darkness in her expression growing sly.
“I wasn’t so ugly when I spread my legs for you, was I?” She took a step forward, tongue dragging obscenely across her red lips. Denny was trapped between her and the counter. The cloying scent of Blake’s perfume was making her sick.
“When you had your beautiful face between my thighs and your fingers buried so deep inside me I could feel them for days…”
“Stop.”
“Making me scream your name, over and over…” Blake trailed a hand down Denny’s chest as she leaned in closer to whisper: “I bet you still remember what I taste like.”
A blend of anger and revulsion paralysed Denny. She still had the aftertaste of the love she had felt for this woman under her tongue. Without the sugar coating that had once sweetened it, it tasted like the venom it’d been all along.
“You have no business being here.”
Blake exhibited an affected pout. “I told you: I miss you. I just want to ta—”
“Your bullshit doesn’t work any more.”
Blake staggered. It was just a beat, gone too soon for Denny to lower her guard. She was wiser than that, now. She didn’t bulge when Blake leaned into it with a lewd grin.
“You’re so hot when you’re angry. Never fails to get me going.”
Denny hadn’t forgotten—all the grief and the tears Blake had wrung out of her to feast on them like sweet delicacies.
The sense of powerlessness, of being trapped into a snare that she was choosing not to escape.
Tender words turned to vitriol. Slamming doors, cold silences.
Prayers for dialogue, to be listened to. Walls. Walls. Walls.
Denny was done scraping herself to the bone to keep other people happy.
“I loved you,” she muttered, “and you just took pleasure in hurting me.”
Blake ran a knuckle down Denny’s cheek. “You don’t make it easy to love you, do you? I wonder how long your new squeeze is going to last…”
Denny forbade herself to recoil. She was dying to wipe the grimy impression Blake had left on her skin, but she wasn’t going to give her that satisfaction.
“Keep your toxic claws away from Eris.”
“You truly have a terrible taste in women, if I say so myself.”
“Get out of my shop,” spat Denny one more time, with a hatred she didn’t know she was capable of.
Some cognitive dissonance remained, because, yes, she still remembered what kissing Blake with a heart full of love had been like.
It wasn’t a memory she willingly carried.
It was branded in her, a scar more than a wound, by now, but her pain was still burning.
As good as she was as an actor, Blake was unable to fully conceal her bewilderment, the strong jaw tight as she backed away with a disdainful leer. Denny was sure she would’ve had to face a heated argument if a customer hadn’t walked in on them, if Blake’s flaring nostrils were any indicator.
“Thank you for your time, Miss Alabi.” Predatory eyes grazed down to Denny’s lips and up, promising retaliation. “See ya.”
Denny wasn’t granted any time to process what had just happened. The customer asked for her advice for a sturdy plant to gift her sister-in-law and Denny readily suggested the snakeplants, waxing on about their resilience and durability.
When the customer left with the most poorly wrapped purchase that had ever left Tansy’s Garden, Denny couldn’t remember anything of the interaction.
She sank back against the wall. Blake was supposed to be a closed chapter. She had gotten tired of Denny. She had ended things between them. Denny had truly believed she’d never see her again.
That day after the coffee with Malik and Noah, it hadn’t been just a mirage. How long had Blake been watching her? How long had she been watching them?
The entrance bell jingled. It was Eris, trudging in with a long face that didn’t foreshadow anything good.
Denny was considering whether to ask or not about the interview when Eris’ expression grew puzzled.
“You smell weird.”
Denny couldn’t not smile. “I know. I hate it.” Her tone slipped a little towards the end. Eris sniffed it out like a hound.
“What’s wrong?”
Denny sighed. The day to ruin with unpleasant stories had come.
“My ex was here.”
Eris stiffened. “What did she want?”
“Me, apparently.”
“She wants you back?”
Denny scoffed. “I wouldn’t get back with her if she were the last woman on earth.”
A curl appeared on one side of Eris’ mouth. Her attention fell on the ground, where the shop’s mobile lay with a web of fractures running all across the screen.
“Ah, little mishap. I was going to buy a new one anyway.”
Eris picked the phone up. The mangled screen came to life when she tapped it.
“You realise that repairs are a thing, right?”
“Smartarse.” Denny pushed the phone aside. “How was the interview?”
When she saw the dejection on Eris’ face, her own troubles faded away. Funny how she was feeling so sorry about something she had prayed so dearly for. What a hypocrite.
“What happened?”
“They were desperate enough to give me a chance. But then they mentioned background checks.” Eris averted her gaze. “I couldn’t lie.”
It took a moment to sink in. Denny took the blow with all the aplomb she was able to muster, telling herself that a red stain on someone’s ledger didn’t mean squat, that she had seen this coming, but her voice still wavered when she said: “You have a criminal record?”
Eris let out a colourless laugh. “You’re surprised?”
Denny couldn’t say she was. Even if she hadn’t caught her pocketing stuff at the supermarket, this would have been no shocking news.
Eris was like those street cats that looked unmistakably stray: hardened and tattered, that feral look never really gone from her eyes.
Stealing might be necessary to survive for anyone who lived from hand to mouth like her.
“It’s minor shit… Shoplifting and ABH. But still.”
“ABH? Minor?”
Eris’ shoulders hung tight. She still wasn’t looking up. “I always got away with community service. But last time they got me, they made it clear that my next misstep would be the final straw.”
“For what?”
“Custody.”
“As in prison?” Denny’s heart sank. “That’s why you didn’t want to go to the hospital?”
“Couldn’t risk getting reported. The Yank was taking it out on me because I’d tried to take his wallet.” An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Finally Eris met Denny’s eyes. “Say something.”
“I don’t really know what to say.” A brief, heavy pause. “I wish you’d told me sooner.”
“I understand if you want me to go.”
“No, no, oh my god!” Denny grabbed Eris by the shoulders, squeezing gently. “Sorry, I— My mind’s still catching up, is all.”
Eris’ expression softened, but it didn’t look like relief. “Are you disappointed in me?”
All Denny could do was pull her into a bone-crushing hug.
Rationally, she should at least feel a little bit disturbed, but Eris had been through so much crap that it was a miracle she hadn’t ended up in much worse situations. Plenty of good people did bad things to survive.
“My dad taught me not to judge what I haven’t experienced on my own skin,” she said, glad to feel Eris relax in her arms.
“Your dad is a cool bloke.”
The sickening stench of Blake’s perfume dissipated, overpowered by the ambery scent of Eris’ hair. It washed the tension away, familiar and soothing, just like the taut heat of her body. It was a while before Denny was ready to let go and even then she did reluctantly.
“Okay, so… This is not the end of the world.” She took Eris’ hands into her own with an encouraging smile. “You’ve been behaving since we met, haven’t you?”
Eris’ chin set firmly. “I’d never do anything that could harm you, directly or indirectly.”
“Then don’t force yourself to do things that will kill you inside.”
“I shouldn’t have blown my job at the warehouse.” Eris’ bitterness cut like a blade. “I’m too daft to do anything else.”
Denny gave her a warning tug. If there was one thing she’d learned in the last few weeks, it was that Eris wasn’t aware of how bright her mind was.
“You’re not daft and you know it.”
“If you say so.”
“Don’t confuse education with intelligence. Do you think the world would be so wretched if everyone who flaunts a degree was actually intelligent?”
Eris turned away with a snort. Her lips almost curled. “Your clever arse really pisses me off sometimes.”
“Ever heard the saying ‘You can’t judge a fish by its ability to climb trees’?”
“Fish can’t climb trees.”
“That’s the point.” Denny smiled fondly.
She sat back against the counter and pulled Eris between her legs.
“You need a job that you can keep.” She brushed the locks that had escaped the ponytail behind Eris’ ears, admiring the angelic beauty that for once wasn’t shadowed by heavy makeup.
“One that won’t squash the will to live out of you. ”
“Screw my will to live. I can’t keep sponging off you,” Eris spat, but there was no malice to it. Only bone-deep frustration.
“I wish you’d quit being so self-deprecating.” Denny’s hands lay on the soft curve of Eris’ hips, thumbs swiping back and forth. “You’re here because I asked you to be here. You help me in every way you can. Cut yourself some slack.”
“Whatever.”
“Don’t give me that attitude!” Denny curled two fingers under Eris’ chin to make her look up and confront her look of disapproval—a look that would have been much more effective if Denny hadn’t folded instantly at the guilty pout Eris counterattacked with.
“No!” she protested, way too unseriously.
“That’s foul play, put that away immediately. ”
“Or?” Eris taunted, standing flush against her. She bent forward with deliberate slowness, lips brushing tantalisingly over Denny’s. A flare of heat coursed through Denny’s body, pooling between her parted legs, so intense that she feared Eris might feel it.
“You were saying?” Eris whispered, low and husky, a smirk dancing in her tone, right before capturing Denny’s mouth in a kiss.