“There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I know that. It’s just… It’s stupid.”
“I’m sure it’s not,” Ladybird says, her voice softening just a hair. I can’t handle sweet Ladybird. She makes me want to tell her all my secrets.
But I’m embarrassed.
“Tell me what happened. I want to help,” she says, and dammit. Fine.
“It wasn’t sex, and I feel like everyone thought it was sex. So I never corrected anyone. I’m a cupid, for heaven’s sake! We’re nearly feral when it comes to fucking. Mortem realized I was nervous about going all the way, so did Krampus. So it was just some kissing, some light touching.”
Ladybird’s eyebrows furrow, and she tilts her head. She doesn’t laugh or call me stupid, she just clicks her tongue.
“All three of you together were kissing?”
“Well, no. I kissed Mortem and then Krampus.”
“Did they kiss each other?” she asks, and I tilt my head.
Think, Candy, think.
I was so buzzed on sparkly pink drinks and caught up in the surprise of being kissed again, that everything feels like a blur. I gasp and clutch my hands against my chest.
“I think…Oh, holy balls, Ladybird. I think they might have tried to kiss, and that’s the moment they both seemed to pull away?”
Ladybird’s lip twitches ever so slightly.
“Next time, don’t keep this bottled in for so long. I could have had you out of our pantry months ago,” she says as the women bring me the first dress. “Go try on the dress, Candy.”
I nod at her, excitement and anxiety flipping around in my stomach. Did I actually do nothing wrong? But if that’s the case, that means they ignored me over something so ridiculously stupid. I’ve spent the last six months thinking I wasn’t good enough, that something was wrong with me.
Why? Because they got a little scared of a kiss?
I angrily change into my dress, shimming it over my very nice, voluptuous ass before wrangling my tits in and zipping up the back.
Part of me wants to shoot a million arrows at their two stupid faces, while the other part wants them to kiss me senseless again.
When I walk out in the fitted dress, an eerie smile takes over Ladybird’s face.
“That’s the one. Now, are you ready to play dirty, darling?”
“What do you mean ‘play dirty?’”
“I mean no more Miss Nice Cupid. You want to bring men to heel, you have to learn to take what you want.”
I rub my hands up and down my bare arms. “I’m not like you, Ladybird, you’re confident and strong.”
She scans the room, glaring at anyone who seems to be too close, before approaching me and turning me toward the trio of mirrors.
“I was in love with Cupio for years before we became lovers. We’re not as different as you think. Now, how do you feel in the dress?”
I look at myself and damn, I can’t deny that I feel beautiful. Ever since we invited more beings of the veil into Cupidale a lot of things have changed, one of the biggest being the amount of color brought into our world. The body-hugging sparkly red dress makes me feel sexy and confident.
“You’re more powerful than you think. Now, if you want them, despite them being complete dickheads about the whole situation, here’s what we’re going to do,” Ladybird says with a smile, gripping my shoulders with her perfectly manicured nails. “We’re going to make them think you’re not interested at all.”
My brows pinch together and I spin around, looking up at the tall cupid.
“Uh, why would I do that?”
