I’m quiet for a moment, unsure of how I am, really. “This is a lot, I won’t lie. I think now that the heat is over, I can really process what’s going on.”
Aarick’s eyes flash to mine, a sly grin spreading across his face. “Oh, baby.”
“What? What does that mean?” I narrow my eyes at him.
But as he moves, his erection brushes my thigh, and the warmth begins spreading throughout my body again. He moves down the bed, his face hovering at the apex of my thighs. “We’re just getting started.”
FIVE
When I peelmy eyelids open four days later, I’m instantly on guard, waiting for the infernal heat to rise within me again. But it doesn’t. My skin is clammy but cool, my breathing and heart rate are normal, and the spot beside me on my bed…is empty. My hand rests on the bare mattress, the fitted sheet ripped off at some point in my feral need, and I wonder how long it’s been since Aarick left.
It couldn’t have been long; the place is still warm to my touch.
I sit up with a groan, every muscle in my body screaming as I plant my feet on the floor. I need a shower, and I have to call work. Who knows if I still have a job.
I grab my phone from my nightstand while flashes of the past few days play over in my mind like a movie. Of Aarick taking me over the edge time and time again—with his fingers, tongue, lips, my vibrator. On my stomach, my back, standing. In the shower, with me pressed against the wall as he knelt before me.
Thankfully, none of the unbearable desire comes back to these memories. My first heat is over. I have so many questions, and it seems as if the only answer right now is Aarick. But he’sgone. His words from the first day repeat in my mind.I won’t fuck you until you want me to.
But he’s right. Now, I don’t want him to. The common sense of everything takes over, the reality that I allowed a total stranger inside my home, inside my bed, inside my body. Well, kind of inside my body. Does it add to my body count if we didn’t have intercourse? My head pounds from all of the thinking, the puzzling of what’s what, and I roll my shoulders to ease the tension before swiping my phone open. I touch the app for my work schedule. Someone had put in for vacation time for the two shifts I missed and sent in a doctor’s note.
The invasion of my phone kind of pisses me off. I was in no mindset to take care of business, and the relief that my job is safe is overwhelming, but it still leaves me with a vulnerability I’m not happy about. When, or if, I see Aarick again, we will have a confrontation about the invasion of my privacy.
After checking the schedule and seeing that I work graveyard tonight, I drag myself out of bed and into my bathroom. Oh my god, the whole apartment smells like sex. Before, I loved it, relished it, but now bile rises in my throat. This whole place needs to be deep cleaned. It takes me over an hour, but by the time the steaming spray of the shower hits my skin, my covers are in the dryer, and the whole place has been dusted, swept, and mopped. My refrigerator door was evidently repaired at some point, and the floor swept clean.
The water has long run cold before I’m satisfied with how clean I am, and when I dry off and step out of the shower, my reflection catches my eye in the mirror over the sink. My gasp breaks the otherwise silent room. My curves are more prominent than ever, my breasts full and perky. My lips are swollen. I can’t imagine why, because I know for a fact Aarick never kissed me. It’s as if I’ve been given a makeover; my body is practically glowing. I finally drag my eyes away and finishgetting ready for work, determined to push all thoughts of the past four days—and Aarick—out of my mind.
“Are you feeling better, Darian?”A fellow nurse, Tiffany, greets me as I clock in on the computer in the staff break room.
“I am, thank you.” I return her smile, tapping the keys a little harder than necessary as I clock in. “How are you? How’s this week been?”
“Tough, honestly. You know your patient from the other day?”
“Yes, I remember her.”
“Well, she’s… It’s not looking good for her. She’s not waking up.”
“That’s so sad.” My heart aches for the woman, and for her family, if she has any. “Is anyone here with her?”
“Yes, her husband and daughter. The husband isn’t dealing well at all, but he’s doing his best. You’re with her tonight.”
I nod solemnly, determined to put my own emotions about the past four days aside. I haven’t even thought about the shifter aspect of my life. Now that I’ve considered it, why haven’t I shifted? Aarick did it at will. Will I change at the full moon? I have to worry about that later. This woman and her family need me, and that’s all that matters for the night.
I scrub my hands thoroughly before slowly pulling the curtain back and entering her room. There’s a man standing at the head of the bed, pushing the woman’s sweaty curls off her forehead. He wasn’t here the first day. The daughter was for a while, but now she’s gone. They must take visiting her in turns.
He looks up at me with empty, haunted eyes. His face is scruffy, as if he hasn’t shaved in days. He’s mostly bald on top but has some hair around his ears. But there’s something about him, about the way he turns, that seems familiar to me. Maybe I did pass him in the hall the other day and didn’t realize.
“Hi, Mr. Miller. I’m Darian. I’ll be taking care of your wife tonight.”
“Darian,” he repeats with a nod. He gives me a soft, paternal smile. “You’re probably about the same age as my daughter.”
“I think so. She was here for a bit the other morning.
“She went home tonight to be with her kids, but she’ll be here in the morning. We… They’re doing a scan tomorrow of her brain.” He clears his throat, covering up the emotion in his voice. “I can’t believe this has happened.”
“Me neither, sir. I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll take the best care of her possible.”
He nods again, swiping at his eyes quickly. I grab him a tissue and pass it discreetly before getting started on Mrs. Miller’s medications for the evening.
