Chapter 15 #3
It couldn’t be a coincidence that she was here. Had she followed Eris out of the shop? Had she been waiting for her to return? It’d been hours.
Blake took another step forward. Eris’ left hand flexed around the box. No amount of creeping discomfort was going to make her budge.
“You smell like her.” Glossy lips turned downward in a disgusted grimace.
“I used to smell like her, too.” Blake leaned in close—way too close—and inhaled deeply right below her ear.
“Lily of the valley… It doesn’t become someone like you, does it?
” she purred, but there was a cutting edge to it. “Maybe if we drop the V…”
People stalked past them, around them, grousing, cursing, but the world wasn’t really there.
Eris’ body was frozen in a state of instinctual conflict between walking away and sticking around to see what the sinister woman in front of her was about.
She wanted to understand what Denny had seen in her, if she was that good a liar to cover up the off-putting vibes that emanated from her like a morbid halo.
“What do you want?”
“Just trying to figure out what it is that Denny likes so much about you.”
“She doesn’t just like me.”
“Aw, you think she loves you. Cute.”
“She does.”
Blake let out a snide scoff. “Denny loves everyone. Her love means nothing. She can’t even tell the difference between a scam and the love of her life.”
“You know better, don’t you?”
“I’m just saying, she’s been wrong before.” Blake’s platinum bob bounced as she tilted her head. “In fact, she’s been wrong more often than not. What makes you think you’re special?”
“I don’t think I am,” said Eris. “But Denny does.”
Something primal flashed through Blake’s eyes as her nostrils dilated. “She thought I was special too. Do you really trust her judgment?”
“Rich coming from the one who worked so hard to cloud that judgement.”
Blake’s nostrils flared again. Her breathing was still controlled—too controlled. Eris was well-acquainted with that way of breathing: she did it every time she was on the verge of a breakdown.
“You don’t know how fickle she is, but you’ll find out the hard way. She’ll get bored of you like she does with everything else and set you aside like a broken toy. You’re just going to let her use you?”
As if Denny had been capable of any of that. If this woman truly believed what she was saying, she was plain delusional.
“You had her for a whole year and don’t even know her.”
There was that wild spark in Blake’s eyes again. Eris could see why this woman had such a liking for Denny: as emotional and eager to please as Denny was, she must be like a juicy lamb for a wolf who preyed on insecurity.
“Eating out of the palm of her hand like a loyal puppy...” Contempt seeped into Blake’s pronounced features as she hooked a finger into the chain hanging from Eris’ choker. “All you’re missing is a leash. It’s a pity you’re so ugly.”
“Denny doesn’t care.”
“Clearly.”
Blake tugged at the chain, her perfume nauseating. Eris ripped her hand away.
“Back off.”
“Or what?” Blake’s hand rose to curl along Eris’ jaw. “The scary beast will give me a boo—”
A choked gasp burst out of her as her back hit the wall behind her. Eris’ fingers clamped around her throat, digging with blind fury into the tender flesh. “Don’t ever touch me again!”
Despite the pained grimace, Blake still managed to leer down at her. “Not sure if you’re trying to intimidate me or get me wet.”
Eris’ hand tightened. The anger was taking over, dimming her good sense, and if she gave in to it she might not be able to regain her control.
She wanted to hurt Blake. For all the falsities she’d spewed about Denny, what she had done to her, for the harm she was still trying to inflict…
If she’d had her knife, it wouldn’t be her bare hand pushing into Blake’s windpipe.
But Blake, nailed to the wall, was enjoying herself more than she should have.
Eris felt her swallow as her lips took an obscene curl.
“Go ahead,” she rasped. “I kinda dig it. Denny doesn’t have it in her.” A cry vibrated in her throat as Eris’ nails dug into it. Her head fell back against the wall, eyes glazed with scorn mingled with something much darker. “You must have been magnificent before she ruined you.”
Disgusted, Eris pushed off her and left her to slump back and wheeze.
“Stay away from Denny. She wants nothing to do with you.”
She didn’t turn around to check if Blake was following her. She was half counting on it, just so she’d have an excuse to come to blows. As she walked she pulled her phone up by the strap to call Denny back, but instead of the missed call she was expecting, she found an ongoing one.
She brought the phone to her ear with cold dread compressing her chest.
“Sunshine?”
* * *
“So you heard everything.”
“Not everything.” Denny was pacing the shop like a caged animal.
“I had customers. But I pressed record as soon as I recognised her voice, and I’m glad I did, because she can’t keep getting away with this nonsense.
” The tip of her finger hit the worktop in a string of angry stabs that Eris couldn’t help but find irresistibly cute.
“That bitch is fucking mental.”
Denny sat back on the counter with a groan, which was also irresistibly cute. In fact, disgruntled Denny happened to be a bundle of accidental irresistible cuteness, but Eris couldn’t acknowledge that in the middle of the unfurling drama.
She was glad that the shop was closed and Rocco had already gone home. This was something she’d rather not discuss in front of anyone.
“I picked back up here.” Denny grabbed her phone and played a fragment of the recorded conversation: ‘You don’t know how fickle she is, but you’ll find out the hard way.’
“As I said: mental bitch.”
“You defended me.”
Eris blinked. Of course I defended you.
She poked Denny with the tip of her boot. “I don’t expect to be the centre of your world. Taking time and space for yourself doesn’t make you fickle.”
She sat back on the counter next to Denny and in no time a gentle weight settled upon her shoulder.
“I’ve been waiting for twenty-five years to hear something like that,” Denny murmured.
Eris circled an arm around her, brushing a kiss to her hair, rewarded by a soft hum. Since meeting Denny, she had learned that she wasn’t so averse to human touch, if she wasn’t forced into it.
The shop fell into a meditative silence. With most of the lights off, without the stream of customers and the chaos, it was a peaceful place, its smell a comforting memory of the night Denny had barged into Eris’ life.
“When she said you’re ugly,” Denny began after a while, “you told her that I don’t care.” Eris scowled. Denny took her hand and threaded their fingers together. “I need to know that you only said that to spite her and not because you actually think that.”
The scowl on Eris’ brow deepened. “You don’t care about how I look.”
It must be the wrong answer, because Denny perked up like a spring; she stood up and placed herself in front of Eris, taking her hands into her own with a look of deep consternation. “I don’t care as in: it’s not relevant.”
The point of the remark was completely lost on Eris. It was exactly the same thing. Wasn’t it?
Denny seemed convinced there was a big difference and the fact that Eris couldn’t grasp it put an extremely distressed look on her face.
“Eris...” Her sigh was laced with a heartbroken lilt. “I can see how beautiful you are.”
“Beautiful,” Eris repeated, the sound of it alien on her tongue.
“You don’t consider yourself attractive?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never given it much thought.”
No one had told her she was pretty as a child.
If someone had, she couldn’t remember. The first comments about her looks had come in her late teens and that was when Eris had found out that she didn’t like compliments, or being looked at at all.
To avoid that kind of attention, she’d started hiding under dark makeup and baggy hoodies.
It didn’t make her invisible, but unapproachable was good enough.
“Well, trust me: you are. It just wasn’t your appearance that made me attracted to you.
” Denny offered her a smile. “You made me attracted to you. Eris, you’re— Please, look at me.
” Eris obeyed, finding golden green eyes scrutinising her fondly.
“You’re so much more than your looks. Tell me you’ll forget about what that monster said. ”
“I don’t give a fuck about what anyone says. I only care about you.”
A light shimmer gathered in Denny’s eyes. She brought Eris’ hands to her sternum and pressed them down to where her heart was beating, strong and steady, that soothing rhythm that lulled Eris to sleep every night. “I wish I could crack myself open to show you how I see you.”
A quiet laugh bubbled up Eris’ chest as her hands slid up to curl at the sides of Denny’s neck. “You wear your heart on your sleeve, Gardenia. I see how you see me. I don’t get it, but I see it.”
Denny pursed her lips into a thin, miffed line. “I can’t decide whether to punch you or kiss you.”
“I can take both.”
They shared a brief kiss that Eris had to break before Denny got too close and bumped into the lump in the inner pocket of her jacket.
“I’m ravenous.”
“It got late,” Denny noted, checking her phone. “Want to order pizza?”
“You read my mind.”