6
Charming
Artemis
W e're moving into the new house today. I don't know who's more excited, me, the boys, or Sam. While she's been sleeping in my old bed, the entire house is in disarray while we pack all our belongings.
Dante has been in charge of bubble-wrapping the little trinkets scattered around the house, which has taken all of his focus. Since Marcus' flight was pushed back a few days, Sam will have the house to herself when the boys and I are gone before my cousin returns.
Sam's moving truck hasn't arrived yet, and she's been living out of my closet. Despite her suitcase being stuffed to the brim, what she packed is apparently insufficient for her to choose outfits. She's "given" me a handful of clothes since she's been here too. She impulsively picked this or that up at an airport and now realizes she doesn't want it. Or so she says. I pretend not to notice the tag on a black silk skirt with a side slit. There are more zeros on that little paper rectangle than there should be. Admittedly, the skirt is something that I would pick up and admire in a store only to eventually put back because I would tell myself I have nowhere to wear it. And Sam, being the only one I shop with, knows it.
The new house extends farther back than I had assumed from my one look from outside with Jay. The boys had already moved the bigger stuff into the Cabin, and when we came with our last load, I took a quick tour around. There is a large basement with workout equipment dotted around the space and a big kitchen that looks almost industrial to my untrained eye. There are a bunch of rooms upstairs, one of which is mine and Jay's. I'm sure there is an extra bedroom available here for Sam, and usually, I'd ask her to stay with me here, too. But there's an edge to her today, and I can tell she needs space. She's not a pack animal. Doesn't usually join the cuddle puddles Jay Saint and I fall into. Sometimes, Dante is there, and even less often, Sam lies with us on the couch.
I can tell that while she would accept the offer if she had no other option, living with the four of us has already frayed her nerves.
An enormous couch, much bigger than what was at the Grimes place sits proudly in the new living room, complete with a big footrest and boxes stacked around it. Sam and I sit in the window seat on the second level, having retreated here after depositing several boxes in my new room. My friend looks phenomenal, even in leggings and a big powder blue shirt. Wearing leggings and one of Jay's grey tees myself, I can't help but feel grubby with all of the sweating and moving we've done.
"So we haven't talked about the tension between you three," Sam says, knocking shoulders with me.
"What do you mean?" I ask, turning to look at my friend. Everything is moved in, well... At least the boxes are. There are many, many boxes to be unpacked in front of a colossal bookshelf just over her shoulder. Jay i s absolutely getting laid tonight . Just for that big beautiful fucking thing .
"I mean, obviously, Jay and you are magnetic. I'm talking about You and Jay and Saint." My friend smirks, her grey eyes carefully watching my face.
"Saint is just a flirt." I shrug.
" Mmmhm ." Sam hums, raising her eyebrows. "Bold of you to flirt back in front of your boyfriend."
"Jay doesn't care. He's not like that. To quote him, he 'doesn't do jealousy .' Saint is harmless. Entirely too good looking for his own good, but harmless." I feel her eyes burning into the side of my face as she watches me, watching them .
Jay and Saint wear cut-off tank tops and shorts, armholes big enough to show off the cut of their ribs, and a sheen of sweat across bulging muscles. I have not told her about what happened on Angel's birthday. That would just prove her point.
"You keep telling yourself that." Sam finally says, returning to watching the boys arrange furniture in the new house. The window seat is positioned so that you have a near-perfect field of vision when sitting in it. From here, I can see the drive up to the house, the surrounding forest, and everything going on downstairs. It's an absolutely perfect perch to read on.
"Are we ever going to talk about what happened to you in California?" I ask, firmly turning the conversation away from me.
"Yeah…Just not yet. Not while we're unpacking your house, at least," Sam says quietly.
"Fair enough, but that doesn't mean in three months, either, 'kay?" I press, picking at the ragged edge of my thumbnail. I'd accidentally broken the nail when I jammed it on the doorframe.
"I imagine I have to talk to the Alpha, right?" Sam asks, tilting her head to the side. "Since I'm taking over your lease."
"Yep. Honestly, I don't even know if Magnus has ever met an Anaconda." That makes Sam snort, but she doesn't say anything else. "Jay and I will take you if you want."
"Thanks... Though I'll probably just go by myself." Sam replies, squeezing my hand gently. I return the press of her fingers, giving her a small smile.
"How are you liking your new house?" I cringe because, if anything, I can at least admit that the old Grimes house isn't quite Sam's style—not like her warehouse apartment. I remember how excited she had been to find and decorate it.
"It's….. charming," Sam grumbles, making me laugh. "When does…. Marcus? Come back?"
"Yes, Marcus. Later this week, I think." I can't remember for sure, though, so I pull my phone out of my leggings to look for the confirmation in the messages from Aggie. "Yes. Friday. Just in time for the Full Moon."
"Is that going to be weird for me?" She hedges, fiddling with the bracelets around her delicate wrist. Snakes aren't subject to the pull of the moon like Wolves are. They aren't ruled by the need to chase the moonlight between the trees.
"No. Not everyone runs with the Pack anyway. Me and the boys don't. If you want company, Aggie doesn't run with the Pack anymore. She goes out before everyone else and is inside by the time we are all in the trees."
"Cool. Maybe I can hang with Aggie." Sam says, crossing her legs under her. Being alone on Full Moon would get lonely in a town full of shifters.
You would know . My wolf remarks, golden eyes flashing.
"She'll supply you with your weight in baked goods to pass the time." I chortle, sending a message to Aggie to see if she'd be up for hanging with Sam.
"How do you reliably get full moons off? " she asks. At my old jobs, Sam would help me plot moon phases so I knew when to ask for time off.
"Ivy is a bear; the original Coyote Bill was a coyote. The bar has always closed down on the Full Moon. I think people around here are just used to it now." I shrug. Aggie's reply text comes just as I'm about to put my phone away. "And yes, you are graciously invited to Aggies on the Full Moon for a girl's night."
"Oh, sick," Sam says, nodding to herself. Despite her reassurances over the past few days that she's okay, I know she's not telling me the whole truth. Sure, Sam said she was thinking of a change of scenery yesterday when we had been watching a movie together, but sleepy little forest towns aren't quite Sam's style.
And, since she still won't tell me exactly what went down, I know it must have been intense, to say the least.
"If you do slap shots with me, you get higher tips," I remind her, grinning. I can't wait for her to come to work with me again. Nudging her with my elbow, I say, "Just don't kiss anyone over the bar." Sam snorts and then starts giggling, making me start chortling. Then we're full-on laughing, making all the boys downstairs turn and look at us.
Between giggles, Sam says, "They're like meerkats, all turning to us like, huh? Look at their dumb faces!"
That sends me into another fit of laughter with her, watching all the boys look up at us with confused expressions. My ribs pinch, and I struggle to breathe the entire time. Sam knocks back into me, sending us both over the edge of the bench seat before I know it.
We collapse into a heap of laughter with a loud thud. I feel the echoing steps of Jay, Saint, and Dante wandering up to see what we're laughing about.
Jay is the one to ask, "What happened?"
We giggle to ourselves for another few minutes before Sam and I manage to stop, hands held over our ribs against the pinch, my cheeks painfully tight, shaking our heads at the boys. I might burst apart if I start laughing again.
When Sam and I regain control of our breathing, Saint asks, "Guest picks dinner tonight. What am I cooking?"
I give him a small smile, thanking him. He's made it his mission to learn Sam's food preferences these last few days while we're all together. Saint smiles back, green eyes flashing.
Sam answers with a wince, "Am I horrible if I ask you to order pizza? I don't want just a piece of meat." She makes a face, shoulders shuddering softly.
"Not at all. What toppings do you want?" Saint gives Sam his entire focus, a single curl falling before his eyes when he leans forward, no longer leaning against the window seat. Jay sits just behind him, knee brushing against Saint's shoulder.
There is something in Jay's blue-green eyes today, something predatory. It sends a little thrill down my spine every time I notice him looking at me like that, hat twisted backward on his head. I don't know if it's for me, but he hasn't cut his hair recently. The ashy brown strands curl and stick out from under the brim.
It makes a girl want to find somewhere to take advantage of him.
"Pepperoni, sausage, bacon, banana peppers." Sam lists her preferences like a shopping list. "Extra marinara to dip, please."
"On it," Dante remarks, quickly darting back down the stairs, presumably to call the order in. Saint watches him go with an amused look on his face.
"Will you help me put books away while we're waiting?" I ask Sam, trying not to ogle the boys before me. All I can think about right now is how Jay's skin would taste if I ran my tongue up the column of his throat. How he'd wrap those large hands around my ribs. And Saint, with that lone curl in front of his green eyes, looks at me like I'm dinner.
Almost in sync, I see a flash of the wolf in Jay and Saint's eyes. There and gone again in a blink— I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't ogling them like they were a freshly downed kill. My skin feels alive— electric.
Sam levels me with a look before she answers, "Sure. Do all of them go here?" I dutifully ignore her pointed stare, sliding across the hardwood on my knees to where my books are all boxed and stacked.
"Yeah. Do I need to save room for your books?" I ask the boys, ripping open one of the brown boxes with books and an arrow scrawled across it in Sharpie.
Jay answers, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Yeah, just a shelf, though." Jay's collection contained only a handful of spines, including the one that at one point was mine. I learned while packing that most of his reading is done with ebooks for convenience.
"What would you put on the shelves if I hadn't moved in with you?" I ask, piling books on the floor and sorting them. There is a pile for fantasy, one for fantasy romance, and one for dark romance. The stack of YA novels is small, as is the pile of contemporary titles. Sam rips open a box, sorting books using my genre piles.
"Dante was going to have to go shopping," Jay remarks, smirking as Sam and I sort boxes.
"Ah, yes, the Magpie." I chortle, ripping open another box. "Be useful and break these down for me," I order, tossing the now empty box at Saint's head.
"Hey!" He objects, "If it wasn't for me, you'd starve."
I snort, " Would not. I survived on gas station delicacies just fine before you, Chef. Thank you very much ."
Saint catches my eye easily and says, "Surviving isn't living, Tiny." My heart feels like it's lodged in my throat, and the one simple comment strikes me down to my core.
Surviving isn't living.
And that's what I had been merely doing. Surviving. Ghosting through my days, simply going through the motions. I hadn't started living until they wandered into my life.
So Cinnamon here has depth to him. My wolf remarks, cracking one golden eye open to examine Saint.
We knew that before.
I have to swallow down the lump of emotion before I can answer Saint with a cool " Touche '," going back to sorting the books before me. When I glance back at the boys, Jay has his phone in his hand, and Saint is leaning his head back against the seat, exposing the long column of his throat.
My mouth waters.
When I look away, I feel Sam's attention on the side of my face, and my skin heats. I give her a side glance that says, " Knock it off, or I'm disowning you ."
The music suddenly blaring from Jay's phone speaker makes me jolt, which makes everyone laugh at me.
"Shut up," I grumble without feeling as Jay moves across the floor to plant a kiss on the side of my face. Then he and Saint help unpack the rest of the boxes, sorting titles into genres and stacking the broken-down cardboard to the side for recycling.
Dante does not reappear, even when the pizza arrives. When I ask Jay about it, he simply says, "Ivy," with a smirk. Later, I will text a certain Ivy Wealden for that scoop.
Sam, Jay, Saint, and I devour our pizzas, slinging jokes and wisecracks like we've been friends for our whole lives. We all help clean up when we're done before Sam asks me to take her back to her apartment.
Jay was kind enough to leave his mattress at the Grimes ' place. However, that has more to do with the fact that a new California king was waiting for him here. In any case, I had put a brand new set of sheets and pillows on it before we left with the last load of our belongings so Sam could return to a room that wasn't completely bare. While helping us pack, she'd scoped out all the boy's rooms and determined that I had the best room, but since Marcus would be taking it back, Jay's would do.
Sitting in the Stingray, waiting for the garage door to open, I finally ask, "Will you be okay over there?" I can't help but feel like I'm abandoning her, sending her off to live in the dumps while I have the new house.
"Yes, will you stop it? The Grimes ' place is adorable. Cozy. And, right now, it will be quiet. "
I chuckle softly. "Have you found any other places you want to check out?"
"Nothing that is available right now," Sam says, shrugging. "I will be fine; I appreciate the fact that this arrangement is happening. I can live with roommates for a while. I'll be fine."
"Everything is fine." I agree, pulling away from the house. Sam snorts.