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“Sorry,” I mutter, hoping I didn’t make our friendship weird. I’ve always been awful at keeping my filter in place and apparently that extends to random acts of hugging now.
“You can touch me anytime,” Liam says with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Mason shoves him, nearly knocking over a group of old ladies who spit out curses at him. Mason and I are losing it as he apologizes and comes back, smacking his friend. The awkwardness of my hug falls away and I rush off in the direction of the next store I want.
The makeup store is bigger than any I remember. The sparkling floors and glass shelves are lined with the best brands and I can’t wait to explore.
“Ouch, I think I’ll wait here,” Liam winces, leaning against the wall outside of the store and gesturing us to go ahead.
“I’ll stay with her,” Mason says, following me into the store without complaint. Right away I get so caught up in choosing which color of lipstick goes with my new complexion that I don’t even notice Mason moving around the store on his own. He walks back up to me andhas pink hair extensions clipped into his styled locks.
“Does this color work for me? Maybe I can cheer up my souls?” he jokes. Somehow he keeps his face a mask of innocence but my bark of laughter has him breaking character. He does a model turn and poses for me.
“Only if you pair it with this lipstick,” I declare, holding up a bright magenta that matches it almost perfectly.
“I have sensitive lips, I may have to pass on that one,” he says, pushing it away like I’m holding up dynamite. His goofy side has effectively lifted my mood, but it’s the brightness in his eyes and his gorgeous smile that have me feeling things I shouldn’t be this quickly.
“Oh, I guess that means no kissing you,” I say in an overly sad tone. His eyebrows raise up into his hairline and he lets out a low groan in protest.
“Now, I didn’t say that.” His voice comes out a bit husky and I clench my thighs together as the sound shoots need right through me. Fuck, I really should walk away. But again I’m drawn closer to him. Not wanting to overthink it, I give in, standing on my tiptoes to reach him and brushing my lips lightly over his. His breath hitches at my teasing, but he makes no attempt to kiss me deeper. It’s not a rejection, his hand holding me close to his body now, fingers digging into my hip. It’s almost as if he’s letting me stay in control for now.
“No more distractions from you,” I say in an attempt at a stern voice as I pull away. He holds up his hands in assent and takes a few steps back. The grin on his face has my heart skipping a beat, especially when the action causes his shirt to rise just barely, showing a strip of pale, tattooed skin. I lick my lips as I take in the hint of abs I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of. And now all I can think about is wanting to see more, to trace every single one of them with my tongue.
“Can I see your tattoos sometime? I love the reaper marks,” I ask. My voice comes out breathless and my cheeks flush.
“You just want to see me without a shirt on,” he teases. Already Mason is going from reserved to flirty. I’m not sure if it's me or the obvious challenge between the two guys, but having their attention on me has me ready to drag him back to the dressing room to relieve some of this tension.
“You’re not wrong, but I really do want to see the marks. Call it a bonus.” The heated look that forms in his eyes has me biting back a laugh. “Now you look like Liam.”
Mason groans as if he’s in pain at the comparison. “We’re nothing alike. He’s like a golden retriever and I’m the brooding reaper.”
“I could see that.” I’d compared Liam to a golden retriever in my head already so him saying it just confirms that I’m reading them right. But if I don’t change the subject I’m going to combust. “What’s your favorite color, Mase?”
“I like black and white,” he replies, and I have to check if he’s serious.
“Well, you must really love being in the City of Souls,” I deadpan. “That’s all the color you get there. I thought I died and went to hell with all that white around, it was clinical and awful.”
“I like the contrast of the two,” he says simply, cocking an eyebrow to see if I’ll challenge him further.
“Fair enough,” I offer. “You look good in black.” Before he can say anything more I turn back to my task.
With one final lipstick choice, a matte black, I take my purchases up to the counter. The girl raises her eyebrows at the amount of makeup I put on the counter, but finishes scanning the items without another word.
“Your total is seven hundred and fifty seven dollars and twenty-three cents.” She gives me a skeptical look and I just smirk, sliding my black credit card in the machine. She says nothing else as the purchase processes and she hands me my bag and receipt. I’m sure it won’t be the only place we get strange looks but I can’t live the standard reaper life. Especially if there’s no rules against making my afterlife my own. The guys said I could use the card as I see fit and from the fact there’s no limits, I doubt it’ll ever be challenged.
Mason takes my hand and leads me out of the shop. Liam spots us and steps away from the wall with a dramatic sigh and a pointed look at his watchless wrist. His eyes darken and the playfulness is gone the moment he notices our clasped hands. For a second I worry he’ll be angry but realize that I’ve never committed to anything with him, and he is the one who brought Mason along.
“That took forever, Luz. Did you buy one of every color?” he jokes and I laugh at how close he is to the truth.
“I pretty much did,” I confirm, holding open the bag to show him. He glances inside and shakes his head but doesn’t tease me any further. “Can we get food? I’d kill for some Chinese.”
“Don’t kill anyone for it, otherwise we have to go back to work,” Mason points out.
With the prospect of food I drop his hand and rush over to the map display to find the way to a restaurant or food court.
The moment they think I’m far enough away I hear Liam hissing at Mason.“What do you think you’re doing?”
“She’s not yours to claim, Liam. I like her too,” Mason defends with a surprising fierceness.
“I asked her to come, not you, and now you’re trying to make a move?” Liam growls in a low rasp that has a shiver running down my spine. Not from fear, but how fucking much it makes me want them.
