Chapter 18 #2
The rise and fall of Eris’ chest gave Denny a steady rhythm to latch on to.
In and out, little by little, she fell in sync with it and the dizziness waned, along with the panic.
The familiar smells of the shop came back to her—the aroma of greenery, the roses, the liliums, the irises, the tiny hyacinths—, a balm to her rattling nerves.
Eris curled a hand behind her head with an unspoken question. A weak nod was all Denny had to offer in return. She wiped her mouth into a sleeve to erase the syrupy taste Blake’s gloss had left on her, but it was on tongue, in her throat, no matter how hard she scraped…
“Denny, stop. Stop.” Eris pried her arm away. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Denny didn’t care. She just wanted to get any trace of Blake off herself. When she gazed up, a light frown still lingered across Eris’ brow, but her expression was as fond as ever.
Denny should’ve known she would show up, not seeing her come home.
“You timed it, didn’t you?”
“You said ten minutes.”
A smile crept into Denny’s lips. “I’ve never been more thankful for your punctuality.”
Eris tried to kiss her, but Denny jerked back, not without remorse.
“I feel… dirty,” she mumbled in response to the questioning look she received.
She felt Eris’ hand under chin; it urged her to look up and Denny obliged but, instead of comforting words, she was met by a loving kiss.
“There isn’t enough filth in the world to make you dirty.”
A spicy taste lingered on the tip of Denny’s tongue. She let it take over her mouth while Eris went to lock the door and turn the lights off.
“I hate that my body still remembers what it was like to love her,” she said, hoping she’d feel less guilty for what had happened if she was honest about it. “Even though the person I loved wasn’t real.”
“But your feelings were.” Eris pulled her up from the counter, studying her up close. “You always see the best in everyone, even people like me and Blake.”
“Don’t put yourself in the same category as her.”
“I took advantage of your big heart as much as she did.”
“When?”
“When you asked me to move in.” Eris stared at the ground. “I didn’t give a shit about you. All I wanted was the comfort you were offering me.”
“We were strangers, of course you didn’t give a shit about me!” Denny giggled. To think that she was supposed to be the dramatic one. “Sharing a house with someone doesn’t make you automatically best buddies. We got lucky.”
Eris’ nose scrunched, but she still let Denny draw her into a hug that lingered a bit longer than usual. Denny needed it and Eris knew. Sometimes Eris knew things about Denny that Denny herself wasn’t aware of.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I am now,” Denny promised with one final squeeze.
She wasn’t going to let Blake get in the way, whatever the cost.
* * *
After lunch, Denny called the lawyer. He didn’t have good news: there wasn’t enough evidence to file for a restraining order against Blake.
“How on earth are we supposed to prove she’s stalking us?” she protested, an edge of despair to her tone. “Isn’t it enough that she keeps showing up when we’re conveniently alone? She’s obviously been watching us closely!”
A sympathetic sigh came from the speaker. “That’s the problem, unfortunately: you don’t have witnesses. And, no, one security camera footage is not enough. Do you have any proof of further harassment? Texts, for instance?”
“No. But there’s a recorded conversation.”
“We need more: seriality makes stalking cases. If we can’t prove there’s a pattern, we have nothing.”
Denny shared a disheartened glance with Eris. This wasn’t fair.
“Okay. Thank you, Alex, we’ll keep you posted.”
Silence filled the kitchen as soon as the call ended.
Alex Russel, Denny’s parents’ lawyer, wasn’t a criminal barrister, but his husband Matthieu was and he had guaranteed he was ready to step in as soon as they gave him a decent bone to chew on.
The problem was that Denny had severely underestimated the amount of evidence required to build a stalking case.
No wonder so many women met tragic ends: the law favoured the offenders.
“That bitch knows what she’s doing,” Eris groused. She didn’t even know the worst part yet.
Denny tossed the phone on the table, earning a death stare.
“She wants to press charges against you.”
“For what?” Eris scoffed.
“She has a bruise on her neck. A clear imprint of a left hand.”
Eris spit out a curse through her teeth that confirmed that Blake’s story wasn’t just a ploy.
Denny closed her eyes, stifling a curse of her own. “I’d told you to be careful with her.”
“I wasn’t thinking straight, okay? She put her fucking hands on me!”
“I’m not blaming you.” Denny pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat back against the window still. Her head was killing her. “I know how cunning she is. I was just hoping we could outsmart her.”
“You wanted to use her stalking as a bargaining chip.”
“That was the plan, yeah. She said she might reconsider, if I go out with her.”
“Yeah, right.”
“It’s worth a try.”
“No.”
“What’s the worst that can happen?”
“I don’t want to find out.”
“We don’t have a better option. Or another option, for that matter.”
“Is there a line here?” Eris planted herself in front of her, eyes narrow and sombre and eerily dark. “A date, a shag… What’s the limit? How far would you go to protect me?”
That was a question Denny had been pointedly disregarding. The answer scared her—her own cold-bloodedness in acknowledging it scared her.
“Don’t ask.”
Eris’ eyes darkened still. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Define ‘stupid’.”
“Denny.”
The tension in Eris’ voice sounded like exhaustion.
Denny felt for her, but she wasn’t going to let it affect her. If what Blake wanted was a date, she could have it. At the very least it’d buy them some time.
If Blake was vindictive enough to take things to court, Eris would need legal assistance and she didn’t have that kind of money. Certainly she wouldn’t let Denny lend her some, even though Denny would be more than willing to pay for it out of pocket.
“I won’t let her ruin your life.”
“I kinda had it coming,” said Eris with a half smirk whose boldness wasn’t fully convincing. She lifted a thin curl off Denny’s cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “Be glad I didn’t have my knife on me.”
“Don’t even joke about that!”
Denny put her hands on Eris’ hips and drew her close. She was itching from how badly she needed to feel her, fill her senses with her. She pulled Eris into a hungry kiss, keyed up to the bone with a longing she couldn’t recognise.
“You didn’t doubt me for a second,” she whispered upon her lips.
Eris scanned her face. “Why would I doubt you?”
It was too much. The genuine confusion, the disarming honesty…
Denny locked her arms around her, pulling her flush to herself. She buried her face in her neck to smother whatever this flaming need rising inside her was.
She’d never stop marvelling at how hot Eris ran, how beautifully solid she felt beneath the softness of her curves. Denny craved to get to the very source of that warmth, fill her hands with that softness. Too many layers of clothes separated her from them.
The muscles of Eris’ thigh contracted, right against the throbbing heat that was building between Denny’s legs.
Her body screamed, imploring for more. She ground down, chasing that sweet friction as Eris sucked the hollow of her throat, a gentle scrape of teeth rousing shivers as her hands sneaked under the dress.
Denny wanted to say something witty and flirtatious, but couldn’t remember how words worked. All she had to give was sounds—erratic, breathy sounds that she couldn’t control.
“Eris…” she managed to pant out.
Eris pulled back with a searching gaze. Denny was blown away by the depth and the rawness of it.
She wanted—wanted too many things all at once.
Clothes gone.
Eris’ touch—everywhere.
Kiss me.
Friction.
Harder.
Relief.
Please, please…
“I need—”
The kiss came, sweet and patient on her lips, her cheek.
“It’s okay, Sunshine.” Love. Love. So much love. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
The sill was too narrow. Denny was half perched, half standing, straddling Eris’ thigh in a delicate balance with gravity.
But it wasn’t enough. It felt like nothing could be enough.
She needed more, and it was like Eris could see it, because she slid her hands under Denny’s legs and lifted her up, pinning her to the sill with her whole body.
A surprised gasp broke out of Denny’s mouth, turning into a choked cry at the wonderful sensation of getting pulled down against Eris’ quads with most of her weight.
“I know, I know.” Eris soothed, peppering her face and neck with idle kisses. “You want this, yeah?”
“Please…”
“Let’s get you there.”
Eris’ hands slipped under Denny’s arse and gave her a sharp yank forward that wrung an embarrassing moan out of her.
She knew right away she wasn’t going to last: she was too sensitive, it’d been too long since she’d felt the barest hint of sexual desire.
She was a live wire on the verge of snapping.
Every synced bucking of her and Eris’ hips threatened to push her over the edge.
“Eris…”
“I’ve got you.” Light, doting kisses traced her neck, her shoulder, electrifying Denny’s skin. “I’ve got you.”
She was a heap of melting clay. All she could do was hold on to Eris’ shoulders and indulge her guidance, chasing the arousal radiating from her throbbing core.
Any pretense of control left in her shattered when sharp canines dug into her pulse point, sending a heated shock through her nerves.
The soft moans locked deep in her throat broke out and Denny collapsed against Eris, clinging to that maddening blend of taut and soft as her senses blacked out, overcome by burning pleasure.