“Dove!” I shout.
She’s in her room opposite mine, and she’s heavy-metaling her way through her makeup routine. “Yeah?”
“Can I borrow your curling iron?”
“I got you!”
Dressed in only my bra and panties, my hair half-curled, I exit my room to go to Dove’s and?—
Man in the house!
I scream. Dorian screams. Spud gives a displeased “woof,” does a circle, and then flops back down like the useless protector he is.
“Jesus!” I snap. I grab a throw pillow off the couch and throw it at him. “Why are you always here? Don’t you have a…cat?”
From his position prone on the couch, Dorian lifts his hardback book, deflecting my pillow attack. It flops to the floor instead.
“A cat?” he repeats, like he doesn’t know the word.
“Yourcat?Behemoth?”
“Oh, no.” He settles back in. “That’s the demon that runs my bookstore. Takes the form of a cat. Allows me to sell books as long as I spend my profit entirely on catnip.”
I wave my hand as though erasing him from my vision. “I can’t deal with this right now—Dove! I’m coming in!” I charge into her room and close the door behind me. Dove is sitting on her bed, her makeup splayed out across her sheets, setting powder dusting everything. So far, she’s decided on a pink bra and a green skirt, but that seems to be the end of her decision making. She’s pressing on red nails, and she brightens up when I enter. “Hey!”
“Your man is in the living room.Doing things.”
She exhales a heavy sigh. “I know. Let him be. He needs enrichment.” She points her half-finished hand to her dresser. “Curling iron is…somewhere over there.”
I navigate my way through the clutter until I find her curling iron. I plug it and—eureka! Houston, we have power. As I tease my hair in front of her dresser, Dove asks, “So how’re you feeling about tonight?”
“Good.” Twist, twist, release. “Phantom and I are in like…a good neutral place.”
“Neutral? What does that mean?”
“I mean, we’re not back together. But we’re also not, notback together. He came over yesterday and we had a really good talk.”
“Talk, huh?”
“Okay. It wasallvery good. He just seems like he genuinely wants to get things back on track and…I don’t know. I’m open to it.”
In the mirror, I see Dove twist her mouth into a disapproving frown. “Just be sure he doesn’t like…Jedi mind-trick you back into a relationship.”
“Oh, he’s not the only one with tricks.”
“Go on…”
I pull away the iron and move beside Dove, bending down so I’m on her level. “Smell.”
She leans in and inhales. “Mmm. Oh, that’s tasty. What is it?”
“It’s this peach and vanilla scent. My secret weapon.” I straighten up and continue my hair routine. “When Phantom I were first seeing each other, I used to dab this perfume on my thighs before seeing him. Now it makes himferalwhen I wear it.”
Dove breaks into a laugh. “Okay, genius.”
I shrug, pleased with myself. “Two can play these mind games.”
Outside, I do a good job playing the role of cold, badass bitch. It’s a role I’ve played well over the years, and a role that feels like putting on a familiar, protective armor.
