by ZL Morris
“Not exactly. They can better explain it than I can.”
The waitress comes over, carrying my meal in a to-go box, and Cassius politely asks for the bill. He pays, then escorts me out. Instead of climbing into the car, he passes the to-go box off to the driver before he steers me down the street. Confused, I follow him, and it doesn’t take me long to work out where we’re going.
We stop outside an electrical shop that sells everything imaginable. “Cassius, I really don’t need the camera. The clothes are more than enough.”
But he doesn’t bother to answer and heads inside. With a sigh, I follow. My hopes of making it out of the store without spending a huge amount of money are dashed when he leads me over to the expensive cameras. I’m unable to stop the excitement bubbling up as I walk around the aisles in awe.
All sorts of treasures line the shelves, ranging from cheap digital cameras to more professional ones. A new version of my old one rests in a place of prominence, and I fall in love. Without taking a peek at the price, I know it’s way too expensive. Even without knowing the price of the clothes, the price of the camera alone is more than I’ll ever be able to pay back.
Hesitating for a moment longer, my feet drag me away from my dream camera to inspect the more reasonably priced ones. Cassius, who has been silently following me while he periodically scans the area for threats, must have seen my hesitation to move because he stops directly in front of the one I drooled over.
I continue my search but stop when Cassius announces, “Excuse me, I’d like to purchase this camera.”
Convinced my ears are playing tricks on me, I spin on the spot. Cassius stands with a worker and points at the camera I walked away from. Numb, my body freezes as the assistant’s eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning from the potential sale of such an expensive piece of equipment. Slowly, I make my way to Cassius and the assistant to work out what Cassius is doing. Hopefully, I can talk him out of such a crazy purchase.
My breathing becomes choppy when Cassius offers his hand to the guy to shake. “I’d like to purchase all the camera’s accessories as well.”
“All of the accessories?” The twinkle in the attendant’s eyes burns brighter, “Yes. Absolutely. If you’ll follow me over to the cashier, I’ll have everything brought over to you.”
Everything? Everything! Oh, fuck!
With the biggest grin I think I’ve ever seen on a person, the assistant escorts Cassius toward the front of the department. Finally, I unroot my feet from the spot and catch up to them as the guy shoots off to get all the stuff Cassius blindly asked for. Did he even notice the price tag?
I’m going to be selling all my major organs to pay for all this stuff.
“Breathe, Willow,” Cassius commands with a whisper.
“I-I-I—y-y-you can’t buy that!” I choke out. “It’s too bloody expensive, and how the hell am I going to pay it all back?” Light-headed, my body sways.
Cassius jumps into action, grabs my arms to stop me from face-planting, then keeps a hand on me in case I fall. “Miss Willow, your face lit up when you saw the camera. After you stepped away from it, your smile faded to a frown, like someone stole your puppy. I refuse to be the one to tell the triplets you didn’t get the camera you wanted because of a few price tags.”
I don’t get the chance to say anything before the salesman returns with a huge pile of boxes in his hands. He settles them next to Cassius with a huge grin. “Here we go, sir. I have the…”
My mind cuts off, and I don’t hear the rest as he passes the large bundle to the cashier while he explains to Cassius what each item is.
The salesman finally holds up two small packages. “And here are two extra memory cards, so you don’t run out of space.”
By the time he’s finished, my fingers painfully grip the counter to keep myself standing, but my knees are too weak to continue to hold me up. Pain ricochets through my whole body when my knees slam into the floor. My breaths stutter out because I’m unable able to properly fill my lungs. Cassius grabs the back of my neck and shoves my head between my knees as best as he can. My breathing’s almost non-existent, and I feel as if I’m going to throw up. Holy shit! It’s going to take me three lifetimes to pay off all that equipment. Never mind the clothes.
“Is she okay, sir?” the assistant asks with a tinge of worry to his voice, but my episode doesn’t piss on his parade for too long before he goes back to being the overly excited man-child. I can’t imagine the amount he’s likely to receive in commission on this sale alone.
“Just a little overwhelmed, I’m sure. She’ll perk up once she gets to play with her new toy though,” Cassius explains without any worry in his voice.
“Play with it?” I squeak from my position on the floor. “Hell, I’ll be too scared of breaking it by only holding the damn thing!” I straighten up, turn to Cassius, and desperately plead, “Please. I’ll take a cheaper model. A small digital camera or something. I really don’t need one that expensive or with so many accessories. My old camera wasn’t worth nearly that much!”
“You’ll do just fine. And you won’t break it, but if you do, then it’s under warranty and we can bring it back to be fixed. Or purchase a new one,” Cassius tells me with a no-nonsense voice.
When Cassius straightens from his knelt position beside me so he can finalise the purchase with the attendant, I’ve lost this battle.
When the sales assistant tells Cassius the price, I gasp and almost fall on my ass a second time. I numbly watch as Cassius doesn’t even blink and hands over his card to pay. Once he pays, the assistant packs all our purchases neatly and securely into a big box and passes it to us. I walk out of the shop in a daze, and before I know it, we’re in the car with the box safely in the boot amongst all the clothes bags.
I panic when I realise we’re almost home. What will the triplets think when Cassius hands over the receipts for the clothes and camera? Will they assume I’m trying to see how much I can get out of them? Or maybe they’ll get the impression I’m too high maintenance, and they’ll want to be rid of me. For some strange reason, the tightness in my chest turns to an ache at the prospect of the vampires releasing me.
Chapter Nine
It doesn’t take long before the driver stops the car next to the fountain in the circular driveway. As soon as he puts the car in park, he quickly exits so he can open my door. Cassius opens his own door and glides around the back.
Hesitantly, I stand on the bottom step and fidget with my fingers, not really knowing what to do to be helpful. The huge front door opens behind me, and I expect it to be the guys. Unwarranted disappointment washes over me when instead Tobias, Cassius’s son, meets me.
Once he’s level with me on the bottom step, Tobias boyishly smiles and talks a mile a minute. “Did you have fun? My mum’s showing the Sires how to make human food. Although, I’m not sure it’ll be edible. Did you purchase everything you needed? Was my dad helpful?”
My temples ache as if I have whiplash from all his questions, and I try to digest them as best I can before I’m able to respond. Wait! What? “The guys are cooking food?”
He nods.
“F-f-for me?”
He nods again.
“I… wow,” I add lamely.
My attention turns back to the car, and my nerves kick in when the driver pops the boot open. Tobias immediately jumps off the last step and gawks at all the bags inside.
He whistles at the sight. “Wow, you really did go shopping, didn’t you?” Cassius smacks him on the back of the head, and he rubs the spot. Without missing a beat, Tobias carries on as though nothing happened. “They’re in the kitchen. You can carry on up while I help unload this. I’ll deliver it to your room for you.”
Tobias must recognise my indecisive expression because he shoos me away. Dismissed, I slowly make my way up the steps and through the door. I stand in the entrance and take a few calming breaths before steeling myself for whatever waits for me in the kitchen.
>
Pushing the door open, I’m greeted by all three brothers standing at the centre island, watching a beautiful lady explain what she’s doing. I take in the mess around them, but it’s quickly forgotten when all four heads snap up at my entrance. Three of them slowly rake their eyes down my body as they take in my new outfit. Goosebumps cover me when their smouldering blue eyes finally land back on my own.
The fourth person breaks the spell with an ear-splitting squeal. “Oh, my god! Look at you! Aren’t you the prettiest thing? I’m Lilith, Cassius’s wife.” She bounces over to me like an excited puppy and pulls me into a tight hug. She pulls back almost immediately and scowls. “Did my husband treat you right? He’s a little rusty in taking out a beautiful young lady.”
My eyes widen at the threat clear in her voice if she finds out Cassius didn’t treat me right. I nod and try to placate her, so she doesn’t end up inflicting unnecessary pain on her husband. “Y-y-yes, he was very helpful. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
She laughs and gives me another quick squeeze. “Let me tell you, honey, he might be a vampire, but he’s still male. They always do something wrong.”
The kitchen door opens behind us, and I gasp in surprise when she pulls me out of striking range with lightning speed.
Cassius walks in as though he hasn’t got a care in the world until he sees the destruction the guys and Lilith have created. He carefully extracts his wife from me and gently kisses her cheek. “I’m not sure I should ask with the mess this room is in, but how’s the cooking lesson going, sweetheart?”
“They made a mess, but nothing has burnt. They still have all their fingers intact, so for now, it’s going to plan. But we aren’t quite finished yet. Why don’t you two skedaddle while we clean-up the mess and finish what we started? The food will be ready in a couple more hours.”
I look towards the guys to make sure it’s okay with them that I leave. They offer me nods, so I leave them to their experiment and head up to my room. My fingers itch to open my new camera. I can’t wait to feel the weight of it in my hands. I’m not sure I want to carry it around and take pictures with it though—I’m too scared I might break it.
I burst through my bedroom door in excitement but come to a dead stop. My arrival makes Tobias jump in surprise, but his expression quickly morphs into guilt. I stare in horror at what he holds. My gaze jumps from his hands back to his face, and I watch in morbid fascination as his pale cheeks turn pink. The colour rapidly spreads until it reaches the tips of his ears.
Wow, I didn’t know it was possible for vampires to blush.
“I-I-it’s not what it looks like, I swear! I was trying to be useful by putting your things away, and I wasn’t sure where to put them.” He quickly drops the small pile of underwear onto the bed and steps away. “I’m not a pervert, I promise!”
My own blush rises when I realise he went through all the bags and saw all my new underwear. I walk over to the bed and quickly swipe them. My gaze bounces around the room in search for a place to hide them. Spying the dresser, I open the first drawer and find it empty. Quickly throwing them in, I none-too-gently shut it and turn back to Tobias. My face feels hot, and I know I likely sport the same blush as him.
He shuffles towards the door while trying not to appear too hasty “I’ll just, um… let you get the rest of your things straight. I n-n-need to do something.”
He rushes out of the room and slams the door. It’s only then I plop my backside on the bed and let out a laugh. I feel weirdly reassured I’m not the only one here who can be awkward around other people and do stupid shit. I take stock of where my stuff is and spot the open door to the walk-in wardrobe. I settle on doing a little exploring.
Stepping inside the wardrobe, I’m taken back by how big the room is. It doesn’t appear nearly as big from the outside. Poles line both sides on the top half. The right side is lined with male clothing—I guess it belongs to Zadimus. Underneath the hangers, several shelves are neatly stocked full of shoes. A wide, floor-to-ceiling mirror hangs on the wall at the end. The left side appears to have been made empty for my clothes.
On the floor in front of the mirror, all the new bags, still stuffed full, wait to be unpacked. I wonder how Tobias came to have my underwear in his hand when the other bags are still untouched. Too embarrassed to make a big deal of it, I begin the task of hanging all the clothes.
An hour later, I’ve finally unpacked and placed all the clothes neatly in the right places. I’m glad we didn’t buy more because the rail is jam-packed now. More shoes than I remember trying on are stacked on the shelves below. I think it’s more than a coincidence Cindy managed to pick out the exact amount of clothes and shoes to be able to fill the space, and I wonder if she’s seen the inside of this closet and been in Zadimus’s bedroom.
Disgust goes through me when jealousy rears its ugly head. I’ve no reason to be jealous, and I’m being stupid. She’s clearly some sort of fashion expert. Of course, she’s likely seen the inside of Zadimus’s wardrobe at some point.
Shoving aside the stupid thoughts, I step out of the wardrobe and spy the big camera box on the floor by the side of the bed. Excitement bubbles up at finally getting my hands on a camera. I make my way across the room and drop to my knees. My backside rests on my heels while my fingers hover impatiently over the box. I let the anticipation settle in until it’s impossible to sit still any longer.
My hands tear open the package, careful enough I don’t damage the contents. I frown when I don’t spot my treasures straight away because they’re hidden beneath a mountain of stuffing. I must have missed them stuffing the box up with polystyrene while I was having a meltdown.
Rummaging through, my hand hits a box and I slowly pull it out. Battery pack. Unhappy I didn’t find the camera on my first attempt, I dive my hand back in for another go. A little more digging, and my knuckles hit a bigger container. I add my other hand in so I can get a better grip.
Jackpot!
My girly squeal bounces off the walls far louder than I meant it to. Too lost in my happiness, I flop back with a thud until I lie on the floor with my prize held carefully in the air. I kick my legs and do a silly jig to expel some of the excitement. I finally bring the box down and give it a smacking kiss before holding it back up to admire.
The bedroom door flies open with a bang. I shriek and almost drop the box on my face before I roll onto my stomach, mindful not to squash my prized possession. My eyes lock onto six pairs of shoes crowded in the doorway. I shuffle around until I’m sitting upright and no longer lying on the floor like some undersized walrus. My head drops as I stare at the floor to hide my blush. I hold the camera box closer to my body, scared they’ll take my baby away before I’ve had the chance to enjoy it properly.
“Move!” Zadimus barks and pushes past everyone. He stops in front of me, but I don’t lift my gaze from his flour-covered shoes. He drops into a crouch and lifts my chin, forcing me to make eye contact with him. A grin spreads across his face. “I’m not going to take your baby away. But what was the bang?”
I don’t want to admit it out loud with everyone here. With the knowledge the guys can read my thoughts, I push the thought onto him, so I don’t have to face further embarrassment. I know when he receives my message loud and clear because he laughs. It’s the first time I’ve heard him laugh openly, and it instantly melts my heart.
I peek over his shoulder at the people behind him, and I notice Tobias, Cassius, and Lilith are rooted to the spot in the doorway with their jaws open. It takes me a moment to realise they’re in shock because it’s the first time they’ve heard Zadimus openly laugh, too. Pride flows through me for such an achievement, and I grin even though the blush still covers my face.
“You didn’t hurt yourself though, right?” Zadimus inspects me for any sign of injury.
The purple in his eyes darkens to blue, and for a second, I worry he’s angry with me—until I realise what’s caught his attention. In my excitement, the strap top slipp
ed a little at the front and now shows off half of my bra and breast. A whole new wave of embarrassment courses through me. I quickly correct my clothing and turn away from the group. Why the hell didn’t someone say something?
Zadimus takes hold of my chin and gently applies pressure until we lock eyes. His eyes scan my face like he’s taking in every detail before he leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. Shocked, I don’t respond straight away, but once my brain catches up, I press my lips firmly against his. He pulls back a moment later, and I recognise the look on his face—shock.
Oh no! He regrets it. I shouldn’t have done that. I close my eyes in an effort to shut my thoughts away from him, but it’s too late. I know he heard them loud and clear.
His lips touch mine again before he whispers, “I don’t regret it. I shocked myself a little, that’s all.”
My eyes pop open to see his soft smile. I don’t realise I’ve moved until I feel the slight scratch of the scruff on his chin against my palm. I begin to pull my hand away, shocked by the bold move, but he traps my hand against his cheek. He rubs his face against it, pulls back, and places a sweet kiss against my palm.
“We’ll let you get back to opening your baby. We’ll be downstairs when you’re ready,” Zadimus declares and stands.
He straightens his clothes then walks out without a backwards glance. Only when I’m not consumed by their brother do I turn my attention to Idris and Lazarus, perched against the desk. A laugh bubbles up when I spot flour all over their T-shirts, and they sport matching smudges across their cheeks and forehead. They both offer up smiles but no words before they follow Zadimus out of the room.
Lilith drops to her knees in front of me. She squashes my face in her hands as she speaks through her excitement. “I knew it was a good thing for you to be here. Those three need a good woman to keep them in line! It’s going to be great!”