Basically, I felt gross.
Immediately, I shed all my clothes and headed into my claustrophobic bathroom.
Inside, the counter around my tiny sink was covered in skincare, makeup, hair products, and far too many elastic hair ties. Storage was created wherever I could find it. Shelves on the wall, hooks on the back of the door, and creative little rolling carts that I usually tripped over at least three times in the morning.
The shower and antique clawfoot tub were combined into a single unit. I drew the curtain around the white porcelain, and as I waited for the water to heat up, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The green of my eyes swirled with an iridescence that only I seemed to notice. Just beyond the lens, it was like I could almost see the shadow of the cat inside my soul. And after my encounter with Corbin? She paced anxiously.
It took nothing shy of half a lifetime for the water to get reasonably warm. But once it did, I stepped under the near-scalding stream. The water raining down over me generated a purr that vibrated deep in my throat.
As I stood there, I closed my eyes and tipped my head back. My long black locks soaked up every blissful drop. While I scrubbed away the sensation of the film that I had dubbed ‘shifter sludge,’ my thoughts began to drift.
“You’re everything that this town needs and everything I will ever want.”
Corbin’s words echoed inside my mind. He had been so sure. So confident. As though there were no other reality where I wasn’t the solefocus.
My hand clenched around the purple loofah, suds expelling from it over the side of my neck. The trail of bubbles slid down over my body. Swallowing hard past the memory of his voice so close to my skin, my eyes fluttered closed.
The sensation of soap gliding over my skin sparked my imagination. It quickly became the fantasy of Corbin’s hand instead. Fingers skated over the swell of my breasts, teased the ridges of my ribs before they ventured further south.
Imagery and sensation melted together in my mind and felt all too real. Unnervingly so. The desire curled around something low in my core, heating it into a fierce ache.
“Fuck,” the curse came out as a breathless whisper that got lost in the sound of water cascading around me.
Yet my hand was undeterred, driven by the way my pulse kept skyrocketing at the increased need. Both my hands slid down my body, drifting lower and lower until…
Bang-bang-bang!
I dropped the loofah. The resultingsplaton the bottom of the tub got drowned out by blood roaring in my ears as a fiery flush crept onto my cheeks.
“Harlow!” Beth’s muffled shout on the other side of the bathroom door broke through the charged spell of the moment.
Now my heart rate was racing for a whole otherreason. Why couldn’t little sisters understand what the hell boundaries and privacy meant?
My response came out sharper than intended, maybe even defensive. “What?!”
“Mom wants to know if you’re sticking around for dinner before going to the festival tonight.”
I rolled my eyes, quickly rinsing all the suds off me before turning off the water with a sharp twist of the knob. Yanking the curtain to the side, the rings screeched against the metal shower rod.
Snatching my towel from the hook on the wall, I began quickly drying myself off before securing it around my figure.
When I jerked open the door to the bathroom, Beth was scrolling through her phone. I peered out through the narrow space. “What’s she cooking?”
Beth didn’t bother looking up from the screen in her palm. “Sources suggest stuffed peppers. She has Nana’s old cookbook out, the one you rebound and recovered for her.”
Definitely stuffed peppers for dinner. I had spent countless hours working on restoring a cookbook that looked like it had been through a flood. Yet, my mom only used it for one goddamn recipe. All my restorative efforts were for two pages out of over six hundred. Two pages that got used once or twice a year before the book got shoved into the back of a cabinet somewhere.
“Tell her I will be there to help cook in a few.”
Finally looking up at me, Beth tucked her phone into her back pocket. “Did you remember the apples?”
Damn it.
I grimaced, and an apologetic look washed over my face.
Before my sister could pair her unamused look with a dramatic sigh, I quickly responded. “I’ll grab some at the festival tonight. Okay? It completely slipped my mind earlier.”
“Whatever. If we get cursed by some ancient spirit because you forgot the apples to put on the doorstep at night, I’m totally throwing you into the sacrificial pit of doom.” She shrugged like it wouldn’t bother her in the least. We both knew better; neither of us would survive without the other in this world.
