All mine.
His words reverberated in her brain.
The loud banging on the door continued, getting louder, faster.
“Callie!Wake up!”An aggravated, high-pitched voice called out, one quite familiar.
“Will you stop yelling!”It was hard not to recognize Spike’s—Hecate and Hades’s former cursed hellhound shifter who had recently found his mate in her friend and former student, Izzy—deep and sophisticated voice, even from rooms away, and Calliope sat up straighter.Izzy and Spike were not ones to bother her at home.Especially on a weekend.
Theo groaned, rubbing his eyes and his forehead.“What the hell is all the yelling?”
Calliope leapt up from the floor, her nerves frayed as she tried to figure out which fire to put out first, though her head was pounding and her body felt too cramped and achy from the fact she’d slept on the floor...with Theodore.
Oh my Gods.
Theo sat up as she sprung toward her door.
“Callie...”he murmured, his voice groggy but also carrying a hint of alarm.
But she could not answer him right now.She could not focus on Theo at all, only the incessant loud shouting and heavy fists on her door.She threw on her pink kimono robe, cinching and tying it as fast as she could as she padded across the floor to her door, not stopping to look back at the man she’d left on the floor in her bedroom like a shredded piece of decoupage.
“Callie!God, I swear if you’re lying dead in there, I’m going to kill you!”Izzy screamed just as Calliope reached the door and hurriedly unlocked it, throwing it open.
On the other side of the door stood Izzy, dressed in aMonster F*ckert-shirt and black jeans and boots, her blonde hair disheveled, sticking out in all sorts of directions as if she, too, had risen from a dead sleep.Spike stood beside her, his dark hair also equally messy, but he looked a bit more put together with his black jeans, white shirt, and matching leather jacket.His eyes widened as he took in the sight of Calliope, whose head was practically splitting.
“What are you raving on about?”
Izzy did not waste a second as she rushed indoors, entering Calliope’s humble abode and Spike sighed as Izzy started her debriefing.
“Spike and I thought we’d get to the fucking galleryearlyyou know, so like...we could clock out a little bit early and check out the show over atBandwidthlater this evening and?—”
“Slow down, Isabelle,” Calliope said as she hurried after the vampire, Spike sighing in exhaustion as he chased the rambling vampire as well.
Izzy threw her hands up in the air.“Would you just listen?”
“I’m trying,” Calliope said as Izzy headed straight for her kitchen, making a beeline to her coffee pot.
Isabelle and Lorelai had visited her on occasion, mostly when they wanted to borrow a brush or paint, or possibly even submit extra credit outside of lecturing hours, so it wasn’t as if Calliope was bothered by her friend’s level of comfort in her home on a regular day, but today was certainly not aregularday for Calliope.Not by a long shot.
“Where the fuck is the coffee?”Izzy huffed.“Youalwayshave coffee.”
Calliope sighed as she pushed past Isabelle and headed for the cabinet to grab her coffee filters and grounds as Spike chimed in.
“I think what Iz is trying to say is?—”
“If you would stop interrupting me, and let me talk—” Izzy huffed as Calliope felt her pulse rising.
“Spike?What the hell are you doing here?”
Calliope stopped mid coffee ground pour, as Theo’s voice permeated through the air.It was like the world froze and her legs had turned to stone.
“Theo?”Spike’s surprised tone fell on her ears and she had to remember tobreathe.Because Spike said his name.
“Who the hell are you?”Izzy asked, her tone slightly judgmental.
Calliope sucked in a breath as she turned slightly to see Theo, breathing a sigh of relief as she noticed he was dressed.Haphazardly, with his blue button-down half hanging out of his black dress paints, his sleeves half rolled and undone, his hair sticking out every which way.
“Theo was my lab partner in bio last semester,” Spike muttered.
