by Nicole Thorn
“All right, so I’ll have to get the fleece back,” Verin said, sighing. “Shouldn’t be too difficult. It didn’t take me all that long to find Cerberus after all. Then I’ll deliver it to you, and all will be fine.” He sounded put out, like this whole thing was extremely inconvenient and nothing else.
Hades laughed. Like a lot. “No, no, son. That won’t be necessary. Getting you killed wouldn’t solve any of our problems. I’ll send some minions after him. I’m sure I could scrounge up a few that owe me a favor. Hermes, for example. He started this mess, he can damn well clean up after himself.” Shaking his head, Hades disappeared again, expecting that to be the end of it, but . . .
Argus had come here to test the fleece. He viewed us as a threat for some reason. I didn’t think it would be the end of it.
***
I wiped my brow, and looked down at the carpet. The last of the red dust had been cleaned. The cracks in the plaster currently hid behind a large picture. I knew they existed, but until we could get it fixed, this had been the best we could do. Jasper promised to get the supplies in the morning and take care of everything. I had to trust that he would keep that promise.
I hauled my bucket up and made my way toward the kitchen. As I dumped it all out, I looked at the cups that Hades got me. They looked exactly like the ones that I had. He had even brought an extra white one, so that I’d have an even number. It had been incredibly nice, and even creepier that he knew to do all of this.
As the last of the water went down the drain, I picked up the cup. I knew that these acted as incentive to consider his son as something more than a friend, but I would keep them anyway. They looked perfect, and kept that tightly squeezed pain out of my chest. One broken cup had sent me into a tailspin that had been embarrassing to say the least. Now, I wouldn’t have to worry about it.
I hand washed the one white cup, and then put it in the cupboard. They all lined up neatly. Six white, six gray, six black. I breathed out a sigh, and closed the cabinet. I stared down at my white and tan clothes and thought about the white sheets on my bed, and the sheets that Verin stole to have cleaned. I really started to hate white.
But I couldn’t make his mother clean my sheets for me. Plus, he had left in a hurry to check on her, so I couldn’t even as if he felt okay. Everyone in my house either slept or . . . er . . . didn’t sleep. I had nothing else to do. I pulled my gloves off, and replaced them under the sink. Then I pulled on my shoes, and left the house, making sure to lock the door behind me. Not that that would stop a giant, but it made me feel better.
A light rain started when I dashed up to Verin’s door, and rang the bell. Seconds went by before his mother answered, and ushered me into the house. “Hello, dear!” she said, cheerfully as ever. “If you’re here for your sheets, they aren’t finished yet. I’m treating the spots, and then have to wash them a second time and dry them. I have a secret for how to get them smelling extra fresh.” She winked at me.
My smile felt timid when I answered her. “You don’t have to do that for me, Gwen. I wasn’t in my right mind when Verin took the sheets, or I would never have let him ask you.”
Gwen waved her hand dismissively. “Nonsense,” she said. “I’m very good at this, and until I get to the store for baking supplies, I have nothing else to do. Unless you want me to take Nemo for a walk?”
The image of a hydra going down the street with a leash attached to each head popped into my mind. I pressed my lips together hard to keep from laughing. Right . . . couldn’t let that happen. “Um, no. That’s okay. I don’t think the neighborhood dogs would like Nemo very much.”
“Why not, dear?” Gwen asked. “He’s such a sweet, strapping hydra.”
“The fire-breathing might throw them off,” I said.
Gwen frowned thoughtfully. “Oh, I suppose that is true. Nothing worse than singed fur. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to cut my hair.”
What the hell is Verin letting her do? Instead of asking that, I smiled and said, “It sounds like a pain in the ass.”
Gwen laughed. “You have no idea. Burnt hair smells terrible.”
“Is Verin up still?” I asked. “I wanted to check on him. We’ve had a rough day.”
“Oh, I know,” she said, shaking her head. “Terrible, really.” Her eyes lit up like Christmas trees with some kind of merriment. She picked up a cup of tea that I hadn’t noticed, and said, “He’s still up. In his room right now. Upstairs and to the left, sweetie. I’m sure he would love to talk to you.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said, and dashed up the stairs. I didn’t know why she seemed so amused, but it couldn’t have been anything good. I stopped at the door I heard movement behind, and knocked briskly. “Verin?”
“Juniper?” he asked, sounding happy. “Come on in!”
I opened the door. “Ahhh!” I shouted, covering my eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” It happened too late. I had officially seen Verin naked. He had a towel pooled around his feet, so I know he dropped it the second I came in. Just . . . naked. All kinds of naked skin, and things. Lovely naked skin and things.
No. Bad Juniper.
He laughed. “I’m just getting dressed, luv. You can look now. I promise that it’s safe.”
Stupidly, I trusted the bastard, and dropped my hand. And there I saw naked Verin butt. Just right there. I tilted my head up to the ceiling. “Why?” I asked, quietly. “Just . . . Why?”
“You’d see me naked eventually,” Verin said.
“I was coming to check on you, you jerk,” I said. “And this is how you repay me?” I looked down again. Nope, still naked. But now he pulled clothes out of a drawer, so hopefully that wouldn’t last for long.
He grinned. “I know, I overpaid, right?”
“I’ll smack you right upside your head,” I threatened him.
“Ooh. Sexy.”
“Ugh!”
“Kids!” Gwen called from downstairs. “Be nice!”
“I’m trying to, Mum!” Verin shouted back down, with a cheeky smile on his face. Yep, I’m just gonna kill him. I hope his mother was as clever with bloodstained walls as she was sheets.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
Why Fight Fair
Verin
I never passed up a rare opportunity. What kind of person would I be then? A daft one. Juniper decided to be utterly impossible for this entire thing, so why would I be kind enough to fight fair? I wouldn’t. I happened to have been given a pleasant meat suit to wear, so I felt I should use it against her.
I stood there, naked as the day I first found out how to take off my own nappies. “Well . . . ” I said. “If you’d like to take off your clothes as well, we can make this a party.”
Juniper groaned at the ceiling, pretending to wish I had clothes on. “Just put on a pair of pants please, you sicko.”
Pants, I could do pants.
I slipped on what she would call boxer-briefs, and then I told her she could look. She shouted at me, and then said, “Those are not pants!”
“They are,” I corrected her. “Google English terms sometime.”
Her eyes narrowed at me, and she picked up a pillow from my bed. She chucked it at my face, and I let her. As it fell to the floor, she huffed. “Put. On. Trousers!”
Damn.
I did as she asked, but I didn’t put on a shirt, because I made my own rules. “Happy?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes, and then took a look around the room. Ah, well this would probably be unpleasant for her. My drum set sat in the corner, and the organization started and ended there. The rest of the room . . . clothes scattered on the floor, and unmade bed, opened drawers and closet. But I didn’t have any dishes in here, and I could be proud of that fact. No trash. Just . . . my things . . . everywhere.
Juniper held her arms in her hands, looking around uncomfortably. She wouldn’t feel at home if it looked like this, so I hurried ‘round and picked up my clothes off the floor. I tossed them in the closet hamper, makin
g the room seem much cleaner in only a few seconds. I closed all the open drawers, but it wouldn’t change the random things about. My little toys and things Mum had brought me over the years still sat on shelves and surfaces. She would just have to deal with that, I supposed.
Juniper sat on the edge of my bed. I didn’t know why I found that so charming, but I did. Every little thing she did, I found charming. It had been one of the many reasons her self-doubt killed me.
For her, I decided that I might as well throw a sweater on or something. Inside, she would obviously be devastated, but a day would come where she could and would admit to being attracted to me.
I sat beside her on the bed, purposely making the most obnoxious old man groaning sounds I could until she giggled. Ah, what a lovely sound, especially when I earned it from her. I did not put my arm around Juniper, and I felt like I should have gotten extra points for that kind of restraint.
I patted my knees, trying to think of something to say to her. I didn’t want it to be awkward or anything, so I went with something easy. “So about me being madly in love with you and us getting married and buying a dog . . . ”
Juniper squeaked, eyelids ripping open and sticking like that. “What?!”
I nodded casually. “I figured we can get some kind of lap dog, or a well-trained bigger dog. Wouldn’t want a pup to make a mess of the house, and we need something that would get along with Nemo. What kind of dogs do you like?”
She shot off the bed, moving to stand in front of me with an angry grip on her own hips. Mmm, a pretty picture. Fury flared in mismatched eyes, that and intent to harm. “Stop that! We’re not getting a dog.”
I made a disappointed sound. “Oh . . . a cat then? Or are you a ferret kind of girl?”
“No animals!” Her hands balled into fists, abandoning her soft hips. “We are not getting a pet, and we are not getting married.”
I nodded. “A modern girl; I can work with that. We can live in sin.”
She launched herself at me, shoving me back at the shoulders and then pinning me to the bed. She ended up straddling my lap, and she couldn’t possibly have thought this would be some kind of punishment for me. Ah, she rubbed against my lap now. Did she notice how I didn’t fight her? Oh well.
Juniper gripped my chin, keeping my gaze on her when it already would go anywhere. “We are not getting married, we are not going to get a dog, or a cat, or any pet. We are not going to be together, because you don’t love me.”
I smiled at her, losing my breath because I just heard ‘the only reason I won’t be with you is because I’m too insecure to think that you love me.’ And I could work with that.
I took her hands off of me, and pressed one of her palms to my lips, maintaining eye contact with her. I didn’t want her thinking that a moment looking away meant I didn’t mean it. I wanted her to see honesty when she looked at me.
When her expression softened, I said, “I love you. So, I’m going to try and remind you of that as often as I can.”
I sat up and Juniper crossed her arms, blowing a stray hair out of her face before she went back to glaring at me. “Well . . . why do you love me then.” Coming in a sputter, she ‘corrected’ herself as I smirked. “Why do you think you love me?”
Easy.
I picked her up and tossed her onto my bed. She screamed, but landed softly on her back. She bounced and I chuckled at how indignant she looked at the whole situation. To make her feel better, I rolled on top of her. She opened her mouth, probably to call me a name, and I silenced her by clearing my throat.
“No,” I said. “My turn to talk.” I caught her behind the knee, and I moved it aside so that she would be more comfortable with me between her legs. Obviously. I made sure we laid eye level, and I did not miss how her hand ended up on my side. “You’re not allowed to tell me I don’t love you,” I started. “Or that I’m mistaken. You’re not Zander, and you don’t know what’s in my head. And if you asked him, he would tell you the exact same thing I’m telling you. But I wonder something . . . ”
“What’s that?” she asked, trying to sound unaffected by my body on hers.
I swallowed, feeling little trickles of nervousness. “I wonder what he would tell me if I asked him how you felt about me. If it would be as honest as what you tell me.” I hoped not.
“I don’t know what he would say,” she whispered.
I shrugged it off. “I’m banking on the fact that you’ll come around. But until then . . . The first reason I love you is that you punched me in the face.”
Juniper laughed, looking surprised at the pick. “What?”
“I enjoy the fact that even though I’m what I am, and you’re a human, you still punched me for what I did. Because I shouldn’t have kissed you without asking first, and I know that now. I love you for holding yourself together like you do. And before you try and correct me, don’t bother. You getting upset over the cup doesn’t erase the fact that while your brother checked out of life and your sister drank the pain away, you took care of a house, and the bills, and both of them when you could. I love you for how wide your eyes can get, and for the little kick your heart gets when you’re angry. I love you for how you look at me when you hate me, and for how you look at me when you don’t. I love you for how your skin feels against mine, and for making me understand that I know not a damn thing about this world. I had been under the impression that I had all I needed, and I was so wrong. I thought I knew peace and contentment, and I had no clue. I go to sleep thinking about you, and I wake up thinking about you, wishing you were in my arms and my face in your hair. Should I go on?”
Juniper watched me, eyes still wide, and her mouth stayed silent. So that must have meant she wanted me to go on then.
With a smile, I allowed my hand to shamelessly drift from her waist, down her hip, and thigh, and to the back of her knee again. She had on shorts today, and that gave me a rare chance to feel her skin against my fingertips. They ran in a lazy pattern at the top of her thigh.
I couldn’t kiss her, but I could do other things. Pulling her legs apart, I pressed against her ever so slightly. Juniper let out a small breath, but she didn’t say a word. Nor did she when my hand started traveling again, finding its way up the back of her thigh and into her shorts. Sadly, for our position, I couldn’t quite make it all the way up to her bottom. Oh well, this would do.
“I wouldn’t want you to think that it was all the mushy stuff,” I told her. “I want you for many, many things. Several of them quite naughty, I assure you.”
Juniper’s cheeks faded into a pinker shade, and I felt a small victory. Her heart picked up in her chest, and I would have loved nothing more than to have laid my head down and listened for hours. But she might find that creepy.
I lowered my head down, deciding to trail her jaw with my nose. “I want you,” I said in a low voice. “I want to have you on every surface of this house, every single day. If it were up to me, I would be inside of you right now.” I stopped to nip at her jaw, and to get a look at her eyes. Still wide, and her breaths almost came in pants. “I want to know what you sound like when you come.”
That might have been a bit much for her, because she stopped breathing. She shoved me off of her. More like she pressed her arm against me, and I moved because I knew she wanted me to.
She sat bolt upright and yelled, “We’d make three babies if we had sex!”
I sat up with her, and asked, “What?”
Juniper turned her head to me, eyes crazed. “When I get pregnant, it’s going to be with triplets.”
I smiled wide at her. “You bet, luv.”
That gave her pause, where her panicked and angry face turned to a split second of ‘are you fucking joking’. She pushed at my arm and said, “You are awful!”
“I’m aware.”
She stood from the bed again, and began pacing the room. “You’re an idiot.”
I nodded. “Sure, but that won’t take away from the fact that you believe so muc
h in my ability to knock you up good and proper.”
“No,” she growled, stopping to face me. “You don’t understand. When I get pregnant, it will be with three babies.”
“Yes, we’ve been over this.”
She huffed and stomped her foot. “I’m the seer that sees the present, so when I get pregnant I will get pregnant with the next set of seers. Then me and my siblings lose our powers to my kids. There’s no way to stop it, because the gods always reverse whatever is done. It doesn’t matter who gets me pregnant, Verin. It could be you, or the mailman. When I have sex, I’ll get pregnant with three babies. My first pregnancy. No matter who does it.”
Three babies . . . the first time. That was two more than one, and one more than two. But it was also one less than four, which would be insane. Three babies . . . three little people that cried at all hours of the day, with little Juniper faces. And her eyes . . . oh, they would have her eyes. Three little people, half her and half me, but mostly her. Crying, needing to be taken care of . . . Three babies at once . . .
“So . . . ” I cleared my throat again. “What you’re saying is . . . it’s down to me and the mailman? I can work with that.”
Oh, she is going to kill me . . . Her hands balled into fists again, and her face turned red. “I’m going to smother you.”
“With kisses?”
She made a screaming sound in her throat. “With pillows!”
“ . . . and kisses?”
“No!”
I stood up, accepting that she was a little upset at the moment. “All right then. How about I take you home and make you some tea? We can pick out baby names while you get ready for bed. What combination of children were you hoping for? I was thinking two of them should be boys. Do you get a say in that?”
I put my hand on her lower back, guiding her out of my bedroom while she fumed. But she didn’t tell me not to bring her home, or that she didn’t want to talk about baby names.
***
I’d done something a little evil in texting Juniper that I had an emergency and she had to hurry over right away. That didn’t mean I regretted it of course, because it worked like a charm. I had breakfast all set out for her at the table, and she walked into the house in a rush.