Page 92 of Sun-Kissed Fangs
“He doesn’t wantusto handle him,” Harper said. “We’re old news. If you’re not there, he’ll complain about it.”
Evie’s worry that Lucas wouldn’t remember her was voided the moment he laid eyes on her. He hadn’t even said anything. He’d just sprinted right into her arms, giving her such a hard hug it was almost a tackle.
He also didn’t know everything that was going on. Once he was older and could better understand it, he would be told. Until then, he was happy being pampered by Evie whenever she saw him.
“I’d love to come over,” Evie said. “It’s actually good timing. Natalya will be busy. She’s handling things on her own for a while, so the apartment is going to feel pretty empty.”
Nell eyed Harper. “What about you?”
“What about me?” Harper said, sipping her ice water.
“I’m just wondering if you’ll be there. You know, given that it’s been over a week since you spent the night in our apartment.”
A few drops of water went down her windpipe, and Harper started a loud coughing fit.
“Nell! Really?”
“I didn’t say it was a bad thing! It’s the opposite, actually. It at least supports my belief about Maya being ridiculously decent. I’m surprised you haven’t vented about her by now.”
Sheshouldhave. Harper usually had stuff to complain about at this point. And she never stayed at someone’s place for more than a single night. Any longer, and they would start bickering.
That hadn’t happened with Maya. In fact, just ten minutes after leaving her apartment that day, Harper had startedmissingher.
Maya might be sappy, but Harper was even worse.
“So you two are getting serious?” Evie picked at a napkin. “Sounds like it at least.”
“It’s just new,” Harper said, alittlequicker than intended. “It’s fun. I like fun, and so does she. That’s all.”
Neither Nell nor Evie seemed to buy that, though their reactions were polar opposites. Nell looked delighted, while Evie’s shoulders had gone stiff.
“That’s good to hear.” Evie brushed her thumb over her scarred wrist. “I’m happy for you.”
Her voice was frail. And the fact that she was trying to hide it and failing miserably only made it sting more. Especially as Nell noticed, too, the joy draining from her eyes.
She fixed it as she usually did. By talking her way through it. Whenever Nell sensed an argument in the air, she would pivot the conversation as far away from it as possible, and in this case, it involved chatting about all the things they were still missing from the apartment and really needed to get at some point soon.
A bad habit they shouldn’t indulge. But it was a lot easier to discuss what sort of dining chairs they wanted over the fact that Evie couldn’t handle Maya being mentioned without vanishing, be it into her memories or speculation. Either way, pain waited for her there.
“Harper?”
Patricia’s voice made Harper straighten by reflex. The three of them had been about to leave when Patricia walked through the heavy curtain separating the main room from the entry and wardrobe.
“Can I borrow you for a moment? I need your help with something.”
Uh-oh. Ominous. Nell was usually the one who stuck around and helped. Sometimes, when a regular spewed something particularly heavy, she would go recharge in Patricia’s office, and she often ended up busying herself with paperwork.
Harper didn’t need the quiet, like Nell did. And even if she did, she was useless in an assistant capacity.
“Sure thing.” She stood, waving off Evie and Nell. “Don’t wait for me. If you don’t pick up Lucas soon, he and Cedric will pitch another sleepover.”
Moving to a new city had slowed Lucas down for all of two seconds. He’d already started at his new school, and since Patricia hadn’t yet realized that working herself ragged was unnecessary, he sometimes went home with Cedric after classes ended. They were thick as thieves, those two.
“What’s up?” Harper asked once Evie and Nell were gone.
Patricia regarded her with narrowed eyes, and Harper barely stopped herself from squirming. Patricia managing the Lotus had been met with some hesitation at first, given that most of the people who’d be working there were supernaturals, but that concern was unwarranted.
It didn’t matter who or what you were. One stern look from Patricia and you had to fight not to fidget in place.
