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“Niles, right now, it feels like I’m never going to feel good again. It feels like I’m drowning in pain.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Hey, everyone feels like that sometimes.”
She shut her eyes. “Niles…”
Someone was coming up the steps on the deck. He heard footsteps, and he realized they were getting closer. He moved his face away from Hiljd’s, and there she was.
“Dahlia,” he whispered, stupidly still clinging to Valdemar’s ex-wife, who was draped all over him.
“Oh,” said Dahlia, looking him over. “Oh.”
Hiljd turned around, wiping her nose. “No, no, little elf girl, don’t even. This is not what it looks like.”
“Sure,” said Dahlia, with a little shrug.
Niles started for her.
Dahlia backed away. “I have class in the morning anyway.” She turned and ran down the steps.
Niles started to go after her.
But when he got down to the bottom of the steps, he didn’t see her anywhere, as if the darkness had simply swallowed her up. He yelled her name, but she didn’t answer.
Hiljd came down the steps, keys jingling.
“Oh, no,” he said to her. “You are not driving. We’re getting you a Lyft. Come on.”
xix.
DAHLIA STAYED OUTof sight, just watching them.
It was maybe shitty of her, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
She’d come to talk to him, maybe to tell them… she didn’t know. What the cerberus had said to her, it had made sense in a way, and it reminded her of some of the things that Niles had said, and maybe she was just being stupid about all of it. Maybe…
But then, here he was with another woman.
A woman his age.
And everyone said Niles was a fuckboy.
And anyway, she and Niles weren’t even together. It had been at least a week since they’d hooked up, and she’d ghosted him, so what was he supposed to think anyway?
Yeah, he could be with another woman, and he’d be well within his rights.
If it was Tommy…
But.
She had to know. So, she watched.
“I can drive,” the orc woman was saying, but her voice was strained. She sounded like she’d been crying.
So, maybe he’d just been comforting her. Maybe she was just a friend.
“You can’t,” said Niles.
“I haven’t had that much wine.”
