I knew what she was saying. Too aggressive, too blunt, too loud, too straightforward.
Too much.
People had treated me like that too, back home. They’d tolerated me, because I was the chieftain’s daughter, but it was rare for anyone outside of my family to actuallylike me. There was a reason I’d suffered so badly when Monica died. I didn’t have anyone else.
“You’llneverbe more than I can handle, Kallie. I like you just the way you are,” I promised.
“I know, and I didn’t want to lose that!” She sniffed, then laughed lightly. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself if you were gone. You say you’re an asshole, but you care about and love everybody, Ava, no matter who they are. After we became friends, you accepted me without a second thought, and that’s something I’veneverhad in the fae world. You’re a really special person. The world would suffer if you were away. I know I would.”
I reached forward to wipe the tears off her cheeks. “Well, I’m not going anywhere, so you don’t have to worry about being alone.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She smiled as she gave a sniff. “I don’t think you realize how much you mean to me.”
“I love you too, Kallie. I wouldn’t want heaven without you, anyway.” I gave a watery chuckle. "Enough with the sappy stuff. I want the sexy details! So you were in the stairwell, and...?"
"And Marcus came in, and there wasn't any hiding it from him," Kallie confessed. "When he saw me sobbing, he just... held me, and before either of us knew what was happening, we got carried away.He'sthe one who went to take my panties off, by the way, not me. It wasn't my idea."
"And I'm guessing once it started, you didn't want it to stop."
"Oh, gods no. I'm telling you, he kissed me down there, and it was game over." She let out a dreamy sigh. "Then... he finished me off, and it was so awkward after that neither one of us said or did anything. He didn't leave my side, though. Not for one moment, until you woke up."
Poor Marcus, sitting there in a stairwell with blue balls.
"And it hasn't stopped since?” I asked.
"It's not like it's all the time," she protested.
"How often is this a thing?"
"Honestly?" She ran a hand through her hair and tugged on the ends. "We don't get together unless one of us is... triggered. He gets upset, or I do, and we try to comfort each other, and that comforting leads to... something else."
"Oh, that sounds so healthy!" My voice dripped with sarcasm.
"It's not my fault!" she insisted. “I’m not the one making the moves!”
“I can’t believe that. There’s no way Marcus is taking the lead on all this.”
“I thought so too, until he had me on my back.”
"Just how far have you two gotten?"
Kallie blushed. "Well... we were naked on top of the Witch Tower yesterday."
"What the hell!"
"We've never gone all the way," Kallie assured me. "But we've pretty much done... everything else. Please, don't tell Charlie."
"I keep no secrets from my husband," I said coyly. "Not to mention this puts the team in jeopardy, what with you two having secret rendezvous all over the fucking prison. We need to know where you guys stand with each other."
"Fine. Just don't go spreading it around," Kallie growled. “I don’t need Ivy trying to give me tips.”
"At least tell me it's good."
"He worships the ground I walk on," Kallie said gleefully. "It's amazing he's such a rockstar at it, seeing as how he's never done any of it before."
"He never messed around with Anya?" My eyebrows shot up.
Kallie shrugged. "He said it was just kissing. Nothing more than that."
