“And…then he also masturbated.”
She laughs manically and I shush her.
“Look, it was nothing, okay. People masturbate,” I say, leaving out the rest where I accidentally summoned him and he came all over me and then I came just from him coming.
“Together,” she says, her grin even wider.
“There was not really…hardlyany…‘together’ about it,” I say, my face heating like a kettle.
Her eyes practically bug out. “But therewassome ‘together?’”
“Babe, what’re we doin? Building or gabbin?” Drew calls from the door.
“Gabbing!” she yells back.
“All right,” he says with a guffaw as he drops off another set of tools.
“Well?” she demands when Drew is out of earshot.
I look around, noting the suspiciously dragon-shaped shadow on the wall by the opening to the office.
“Well,” I say with another huge sigh. “He came on my chest.”
Renee screams and I jump back, holding my heart.
“You’re gonna bag a dragon, you’re gonna bag a dragon,” she sings as she dances in a circle.
“Shush,” I hiss as I grab her arm, my eyes darting to the spot where the shadow used to be.
Gosh dang it…
“Look, I don’t know what this is but it’s not a relationship. I’m notbagging,” I say.
“Why not?” Renee asks, pouting her black painted lips.
“Because, this is his hoard. He won’t leave it. If things go wrong between us, we’ll be stuck together because there’s no way in hellI’mleaving.”
Not again.
She scrunches her face up. “Why are you jumping to things going wrong? What if they go right?”
My shoulders ache and I realize they’re scrunched up against my neck. I release them and try not to be such a defeatist.
“Things just rarely go right for me,” I mumble.
“Oh, Cait,” she says with a hint of pity as she grabs my hands. “It doesn’t have to be like that.”
Drew brings a stack of plywood into the shop. He stops, planting a kiss on the top of Renee’s head. “I love you, but if you’re gonna chitchat, you gotta go. I’ve got a ramp to build and a new System album to listen to.”
She gasps, grabbing his arm. “Maybe Bastian can help you while Cait and I go do some thrifting? She’s going to need furniture and rugs and art!”
Drew hums and plants another kiss beside her eye. “Go get it, babe.”
“I did say I would lend my assistance,” Bastian says as he appears in the hallway.
He has a shirt on, but all I see are his flexing abs as he jerks his hips into his fist.
My cheeks burn and I look away, but not before I catch Renee noting my expression. She greets him with a fist bump, which he doesn’t understand, so she starts explaining it.
