“OK ladies, what’s your poison?” Ana asks, as she moves around the impressive bunker kitchen.
This place is not what I was expecting. I was expecting something akin to a hurricane shelter, not something that looks like a high rise penthouse.
“Something with alcohol in it. Lots of alcohol. I hate when this happens,” Vi grumbles.
“At least this time you’re down here. Last time you were holed up in the kitchen,” Blanche points out.
“Too true,” Vi says, accepting the glass of wine that Ana has handed her, holding it in the air in a toast.
“Wait, does this stuff happen often?” I ask, picking at my cuticle.
The women all look at each other before Remy tips her head from side to side. “Notoften, but enough that we know the drill by now.”
Looking around I take in how relaxed everyone is which is crazy to me because I’m about to go out of my mind with worry. My body feels fizzy and jacked up on adrenaline and it feels like I want to wrestle a boar and at the same time, curl into a ball and sob.
“Wait, where’s Willa?” I ask, having not seen her since I caught a flash of her on the back of Mad Dog’s bike.
“If you’re talking about your neighbor, I saw her giving Mad Dog hell as he hustled her into his room. She had her shotgun though so I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Kaia grins. My shoulders dropa little because she’s another person that I’ve been lucky to have come into my life.
A little hand patting my arm has me glancing into Elio’s dark as night eyes. “Kit can come with us. She’ll be safe,” he says, offering Kit his hand. She takes it and looks up at me for permission so I give her a little nod. She grins and skips next to Elio as they head to where Jovie, Cove, Annie-Bella and Jackson are all lounging.
“Cute,” Jazz grins.
“They’re good kids.” Mama Debs agrees.
Blanche holds her hand flat in the air, palm facing down as she rocks it back and forth. “Eh, they could behave a little better.” She takes a long slurp of her fruity looking cocktail.
“Like maybe not giving everyone bobcat kittens?” Lovely asks in her sweet voice with a smirk.
“Bah, if anyone should be put out it should be my man. He’s had to build a whole nature enclosure to keep them, and us safe,” Nat says before throwing a cherry in her mouth.
“Oh.Oh,” Remy says before taking off to somewhere down here with her phone to her ear.
“Huh, wonder what that’s about?” Kaia asks.
“Who cares. We’re stuck down here and we need goss,” Blanche says waving a hand at Kaia. “Joy, how are you and Switchy poo getting on? Any smoochin’ yet?”
As soon as the words leave her mouth my face is on fire.
“Oh yes, tell us the deets!” Mira claps, making herself comfy by kicking off her brightly colored sneakers. “I love this whole premise. All alpha growly, friends to lovers after the whole forced proximity thing.” Her eyes go comically wide. “Oh, are you all thinking what I’m thinking?”
“We need more drinks?” Vi asks.
“No! This is about to turn into second chance forced proximity!” Mira squeals.
“Wait, no it’s not second chance, they were never together,” Jazz points out as my gaze ping pongs between the women.
“No, I mean like it’s the second chance at them changing their living situation to forced proximity.” Mira rummages in her bra and pulls out a notepad and pen. “I’m totally inventing a new trope right now,” she mutters to herself, having moved on from the conversation, thankfully.
We all stare at her as she stares off into the distance periodically before taking notes in her little notebook. With everyone distracted I breathe a sigh of relief at the break in questioning, mainly because I’m not too sure what’s happening with Switch. There’s just something about him that puts me at ease. That makes me feel safe. But when I dig deeper into that little place inside my chest, I know that it’s more than that. When I think about Switch, his large hands, the way his lips quirk up when he watches Kit giggling, it cracks open something inside me. Something that I didn’t think existed anymore after years of being told I’m not enough, and will never be enough. With Switch he makes me feel as if it’s OK to just be…me.
“Ah, where is Chewy?” Mama Debs asks, hands on hips and frown on her face.
We all look around the room and I think back to the last time I saw her. She had her laptop and she was at the large, shiny island in the middle of the room.
“Shit. Both Chewy and Remy are missing,” Ana points out.
“Yeah, but I’m here and if shit was going to hit the fan, then I’d be wherever they are,” Blanche says, holding her glass up in the air before taking a long slurp.
