Fiona
When I finally collapsed into one of the plush couches in Margot and Gregory's upstairs sitting area, I couldn't feel my feet. Hours standing in those damn shoes had them numb, but aching at the same time, and I let out a snarl as I sank low in my seat, pushing them off and under the coffee table in front of me.
Wordlessly, Jeremy held a bottle of beer out above my head.
"I could kiss you," I said flatly, taking the cold bottle and chugging half of it in one go.
I was exhausted. More than exhausted. I was drained. The bloodletting, the bonding, the pledging, always took it out of me, but this one in particular left me feeling like I'd been in the sun too long - my skin sensitive, my mouth dry. The alcohol wouldn't help, but at this point, water seemed like a luxury compared to the promise of calming nerves.
"I'll warn you, he uses too much tongue," Beth called from her spot in a barstool in front of the rolling bar propped in the corner. Charlie was making some sort of batch cocktail. I pulled a face, taking another long sip of my drink.
I watched my inner Circle - my friends - mill about in the dim room, finally free to relax after a long day of doing what we did best. For my Circle, this was our job - the duty we'd sworn to the Moon Goddess when accepting these positions in the first place. But for the others, Gregory, for Jeremy, even Charlie, their loyalty to their partners, to me, kept them here, and I was grateful for that.
The sound of the door shutting downstairs caught my attention, and I kept my eyes on the door to the stairwell when Gavin appeared, changed out of his more formal clothes from the day and back into what he'd worn to help decorate my house.
I wanted to pout. I had thoroughly enjoyed watching the way broad shoulders tightened against the fabric of his deep red shirt. I wanted to pull him by a suspender and right into my waiting body all day.
Was I giving in to my lust? Maybe. After the conversation this morning in my kitchen, it was clear that there was no denying that attraction between us. But when that bond formed during his pledging, when our minds connected...
I had never experienced that before. In all of the people I had taken into this pack, it was a first. And it had terrified me, just like he had said - that uneasy feeling of not being in control of the situation.
When that heat coursed through me, coursed through us, the last thing I felt was control. It felt feral and wild, like a free run in wolf form with not a care in the world. It was letting go, and it felt so damn good.
When I made eye contact with Gavin, he shot me a warm smile, and I felt my cheeks flush. Before my face was the color of my outfit of the day, I bent over, massaging the arches of my feet as I winced.
I was overcompensating today with the heels - my nerves from the coming Equinox presentation, combined with court in a few weeks hitting my confidence, hard - and my feet were paying the price.
The couch dipped as someone sat next to me, and I looked up from my awkward position to find Gavin peering down at me. He raised his thick eyebrows, and his eyes flitted down to my feet.
"Regretting something?" he asked, a smirk playing on face. Oh, he wanted to play.
"Absolutely nothing," I said, and then sat up, angling myself into the corner of the couch and setting my feet on his thighs, which were covered with dark gym shorts. He didn't even pause a beat before his strong hands dug into one of my arches, and I let out a guttural moan before I could stop myself. I felt something below my feet twitch, and Gavin's focus on his task seemed sharper as he avoided my eyes. I wasn't sure whether it was because he was trying not to think about the sound I'd just made, or if he was embarrassed. Or both.
"Whoa there," Charlie called from the bar, where Carter was helping him pour a tray of drinks. I barked out a laugh, melting into the couch and finishing off my beer in a single swig. I held the bottle up to a passing Margot, who rolled her eyes but took it, tossing it in the trash halfway across the room. She found her seat in a double-wide armchair across the table, and folded her feet underneath herself. She'd changed out of her billowing pink dress and into what I wished I was wearing, leggings and an oversized tee shirt. I hadn't had the energy to peel off all the boob tape keeping the front of this jumpsuit in place, so just sauntered across the street still fully made up, the only one, it appeared.
Poppy found a spot on the couch next to Gavin, holding two of Charlie's drinks in her hand. She leaned forward, reaching out her arm and handing me one. It was dangerously clear, and when I took a sip, I nearly grimaced. Nearly straight gin, with a bit of lemon and honey. Not my favorite, but it'll do.
"I don't get one?" Gavin asked playfully, and Poppy looked up at him, batting her long lashes. He had a solid foot on her, even sitting down.
"You have to earn it," she said in her flirtiest voice, and I nearly choked on my drink. I watched Gavin's neck bob as he swallowed, and his eyes flitting back to me. And I just laughed.
Flirting was Poppy's third language - after English, and Yogi. There was always more than enough flirting to go around in the unmated part of this group - Carter, even, though he leaned more towards advances on Charlie than Poppy and I.
I prided myself on fostering a healthy relationship with sex, in this group and beyond. It's why we spoke so plainly about it at the Spring Pledge. It wasn't something we were ashamed of, like our nakedness. It was an intimacy we shared, like running through the forest in our raw, natural forms.
And even though I could feel the heat pulsing up my leg from where Gavin's skin made contact with mine, I wasn't about to be a giant fucking hypocrite and claim him as my own. Not when we had barely kissed just a few times.
Not yet, at least.
"She's worth earning," I responded, tipping my glass at her with a flirtatious smile of my own, taking another drink.
Everyone began to settle around the low table - Charlie on the other side of Poppy, his long arm resting along the back of the couch behind her. She cradled herself into his side and nodded her head to the music playing from the speaker on the bar, her bright red hair swaying in its high ponytail.
Gregory found his spot next to Margot, and I surveyed them for a moment - it had been a long time since I'd seen them well rested and at ease, and it made my heart happy. They both worked so hard to be the best in their careers, but it sometimes meant they sacrificed rest, and time together. Sacrifices I understood all too well.
Carter folded himself on the floor in front of the table, leaning back on his hands and watching everyone else with me. He was an observer - a spy in the making, taking in the scene around him like he did every day.
Jeremy and Beth settled into plush sofa chairs next to each other, their hands entangled on one of the arms. Beth's mom had taken the twins home for the evening so they could spend some much needed time together, and with us. Free time with both of them had been scarce, and I was thankful they chose to spend some of their time here.
We settled into an easy conversation, sharing drinks and laughing, all the while, that continual thrum of heat surged up one leg, and then the other as Gavin switched feet. And by the time both felt like jelly, loose and worked, that thrum had traveled higher and sat firmly between my legs.
"He said what?" Beth half-screeched, leaning forward in her seat and howling in laughter. Having finished the glorious massage, Gavin settled one hand across my ankles, and the other found its way on the back of the couch.
"I swear to God," Carter choked out, wiping below his eye. "This dude straight up had to ask why we couldn't use the term
edging
in a legal document." Everyone around the room laughed, but my mind was elsewhere.
Out of sight of the rest of the room, that other hand picked a spot on my shoulder, right next to my neck, and started tracing patterns like he was trying to spell something out. I let my eyes close, trying to keep myself from shuddering as heat bloomed across my back and up my neck.