CHAPTER FIVE
Blue
I’ve lost my sister. It’s been three days and she won’t even answer a text. Every time I’ve stopped by her bakery, she’s been too busy to talk and Cherry keeps telling me to give Peach space.
I can’t give my sister space. What if she decides she’s better off without me?
I fit the key into the lock of my apartment and open the door as slowly as possible. Lilith has been launching sneak attacks when I come home or any time I move from one room to the next.
I'm pretty sure she’s decided she wants the apartment to herself and she’s going to kill me to get it.
I poke my head in, then pull it back out and shut the door. That does not look like my apartment. I stare at the number on the door. It’s the right place. My key worked. This has to be my home.
Slowly, I open the door again and peek inside. That’s my couch and my TV in the corner, but nothing else looks like mine.
I step inside and shut the door. Christmas music suddenly blares through the room at high volume. I startle and press myself against the door. What in the hell is going on?
An enormous Christmas tree stands in front of the picture window. The tree’s so large, I can’t even see the window frame, and it’s fully decorated with a very specific color scheme - pink and white, like my hair this season.
A surprise from Peach? My heart lifts.
That moment lasts only until I notice the bags of coal hanging from a cardboard mantel and the life-size Krampus doll in the corner. Peach might be angry at me, but she wouldn’t be mean.
At least, I hope she wouldn’t.
I walk over to inspect the tree, only to discover that each of the ball ornaments has Garrick’s smiling face printed on them.
“You’re home early.” Garrick strolls in, a Santa hat on his head, a blinking Christmas light necklace around his neck. He’s also got Lilith curled up in his arms.
Of course, Lilith loves him. He’s probably been training her to attack me.
She still won’t let me pet her, though she has been eating and using her litter box.
“How did you get in here?”
“You aren’t the only one who knows how to break into places she shouldn’t be.” He shrugs. “I know your landlord. Gave her free passes for a guided hike next time her nephew’s in town.”
“Of course you did.” I don’t have the energy or the emotional bandwidth for this. “Why did you trash my apartment?” I spread my arms to encompass the chaos. “This can’t have been cheap.”
He strokes Lilith and the damn beast purrs. “You gifted me with a sandwich. I wanted to return the favor.”
“I didn’t gift you with anything. You didn’t even eat the sandwich.”
He shrugs and sets Lilith on her fuzzy purple cat bed. “It’s the thought that counts. And I’m thinking I’m going to keep giving you gifts until you see the light and help me get the permits I need.”
“You’re bribing a city official.”
He smirks. There’s a small white scar next to his top lip, and it gets whiter when that lip ticks up. Why does he have to look so good in that Santa hat? “You say bribing. I say, demonstrating my commitment to a goal.”
“The law says bribing.” No judge in the world who would call this mess an act of bribery, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Garrick narrows his eyes and studies me. “You okay there, Demon? You look sadder than this amazing decorating job should make you.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Maybe I’m thinking about all the cleaning I’m going to have to do to get my place back to normal.”
“I doubt that.” Garrick gives me one more long look before crossing to the door. “Normal doesn’t suit you.”
“You don’t know me.”
His smile is flirty, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’ve got you all figured out, Demon. You aren’t that complicated. And you are going to love what I did to your bedroom.”
I wave a hand. “Whatever. As long as the bed and my pillow are still there, I’ll be fine.”
His smile slips. “Are you sure you’re okay? I was expecting a lot more—”
I’m so not in the mood for this. “Get out, Garrick.”
He hesitates. “Just because we’re frenemies, it doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me.”
“That’s exactly what it means.” Why is my throat so tight it’s hard to talk? “If you aren’t going to clean this up, just go.”
“Any chance I can see your reaction to the bedroom before I leave?”
“No. I want to pretend you’ve never been in my bedroom at all.”
He stares at me for a long moment and the intensity of his gaze, the kind patience in his expression, eases something that was tight in my chest.
Along with that easing, the tears I’ve been holding back roll down my cheeks.
Garrick’s expression softens still further into something like pity. Embarrassment, the kind that makes me want to erase Garrick’s memory and curl up in a ball until the world disappears. floods me.
I don’t cry in front of anyone. And no one, fucking no one, pities me.
“Seen enough?” I ask.
He takes a step toward me, hand out. “Blue…”
“Get out.” I’m too tired for anger, too defeated to have the energy to make him feel as bad as I do. And there’s a part of me, a part I hate more than the humiliation of this moment, that longs for him to pull me against that firm chest and hold me until I can believe again that everything’s going to be okay.
But Garrick just nods once, turns, and leaves.
I wait until the door shuts behind him before I drop onto the couch, pull my knees up to my chest, and stare at the abomination he calls a Christmas tree.
What the hell is the point? What’s the point of fighting with this guy when it’s a battle that’s never going to end?
I can’t give him what he wants, and he’ll never believe I can’t. It’s as pointless a battle as me trying to help Peach when she refuses to see that she needs it.
My chest tightens, and my eyes burn. My entire purpose, for as long as I can remember, has been taking care of my baby sister. Without that, what the hell is the point of anything?
Another damn tear slips down my cheek. I never cry. I’m the strong one. I’m the one who gets things done.
But I can’t seem to turn off the faucets connected to my eyeballs as more tears stream down my face.
Something soft brushes against my hand and I look down, through the haze of my tears, to see Lilith rubbing her velvet nose against my knuckles.
I freeze as she shoves her head under my arm, then pushes forward with her whole body, until she’s on my lap and licking the tears from my face.
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure she isn’t trying to eat me.
She pulls her face away from mine until she’s looking me in the eyes and she growls softly. She continues to stare and growl, a sound just above a purr.
“You’re right,” I say, a new emotion rising to replace my sadness. A much better emotion. “There’s no point in crying over any of this. It won’t change anything. I have to get off my ass and do something.”
I will swear to my dying day that Lilith nods once in agreement before curling into a tight ball on my lap and purring.
There is so much to do. I need to get the council to accept me as mayor. I need to get Peach to change her wedding venue and avoid disaster. And, the easiest one of all, I need to make Garrick Evergreen realize I’m a force to be reckoned with.
If I can get him back really good, I can get him to leave me alone so I can figure out how to solve my other problems.
And for that, I think it’s time I admit I can’t do all of this alone.
Without disturbing a sleeping Lilith, I stretch out an arm and pull my cell phone from my purse. I make a call to Las Vegas and the best friends I have on earth, other than Peach and Cherry.