Page 17

Riley

Girl Time

I stared at my phone on the bathroom counter, debating smashing the thing. If it wasn’t my only connection to Willow and Ember, I might’ve just thrown it away.

For the past few weeks, Drew had been texting and calling. I’d turned off my voicemail so I wouldn’t have to hear his voice, but I knew it was him. Not that many unknown numbers would keep pleading with me to answer the phone. I didn’t know that many people. Not anymore. Only Ember and Willow stuck around when Drew started keeping me away from my other friends.

He'd said I hung out with bimbos who’d only bring us down when the world fell apart. Yet his friends were a bunch of ‘bros’ and losers who talked a big game and never backed it up.

Thankfully Willow and Ember didn’t care when Drew gave them the cold shoulder. They only came to visit me anyway. I hated to think about what would’ve happened if he’d succeeded in isolating me completely.

Isn’t that what Lucan is doing now?

I deleted the new text without reading it, tossed my phone on the rug by the tub, and stood in front of the sink as I looked into the mirror.

The difference was hardly noticeable, but I could feel it. Every day I got stronger and more confident in myself.

And I need to stop comparing Lucan to Drew.

It wasn’t fair to Lucan. True, it’d only been a few weeks, but he wasn’t anything like my ex-boyfriend. He encouraged me to call my friends. Asked questions to learn more about them. He listened to all our stories and paid attention to the details. Lucan was the kindest, sexiest man I’d ever met.

That’s because he’s not a man.

I rolled my eyes at my own reflection, laughing to myself as I remembered what Ember had said about dragon dick. The thought of how that might feel had a delicious ache building between my thighs.

The chemistry between Lucan and me was insane, but he hadn’t made a real move since I’d been here. We’d shared a few kisses and touches, but nothing that screamed, “I want to be your mate.”

I was thinking about taking matters into my own hands if he didn’t do something soon.

It’d been almost a year since I’d gotten laid—which caused some great fights with my ex—but I was excited to brush the dust off my vagina and take her for a test drive again. Just once, at least.

Yet I knew sex with Lucan wouldn’t be a one-night-stand type of thing. It was frustrating because I wanted to take care of these urges before I decided if I was making decisions about the future with the right body parts.

If I was being honest with myself, since meeting Lucan, I didn’t even want to look at anyone else. My comfort TV characters paled in comparison to the giant dragon shifter. Sure, Malachy was also hot, but he was no Lucan.

No one was. And that scared me.

“Nobody else will want you.” Drew’s words in my head took me by surprise, but I shook them off, forcing myself to look at my reflection in the mirror.

“Screw you,” I said out loud. “You don’t know anything about me.”

I was done being told I wasn’t good enough.

I’m hot. Strong. Capable. Smart.

I turned to look over my shoulder, getting a view of my rear end in the mirror. Lucan was checking it out earlier and he seemed to like what he saw, so I decided to like it too.

I filled the tub and dumped in some honey lavender bubble bath. Once it was full, I slipped into the sudsy warm water. My muscles instantly relaxed as I breathed in the calming scents.

Heaven. A girl could get used to this.

My phone buzzed and I groaned.

I needed to get a new number. Lucan would help me with that.

Or you should stop depending on him for everything…

I took a deep breath of the calming lavender and gathered enough courage to just do it. I’d answer and tell Drew to fuck off. To leave me alone and never call again.

Suds rushed over the rim of the tub as I reached for my phone on the floor, not giving myself time to second-guess my decision.

Relief rushed through me when I saw Willow’s name on the Facetime.

I sank back into the water as I answered.

“Look at you living your best life.” Willow whistled as her smiling face filled the screen. “Must be nice to be a dragon’s mate.”

I chuckled nervously. “Not a mate.” Yet… The unsaid word hung in the air, but Willow was tactful enough to know I didn’t want to talk about it. “Speaking of that, how’s Ember doing? I haven’t heard from her as much as you.”

“I barely see her anymore either.” Willow sighed. “If she isn’t working on the prophecy with Kieran, then she’s off riding the dragon or…” she whispered, “ riding a dragon.”

“I can’t wait to ride a dragon someday,” Harper’s wistful little voice came from somewhere offscreen.

I burst out laughing at the horrified expression on Willow’s face.

“Why’s Aunt Riley laughing so hard?” Harper asked.

I laughed harder.

Willow chuckled along with me as she shook her head. “No reason, honey. Go finish your snack while I talk to your aunt.”

I took a few deep breaths to compose myself.

Willow was still smiling. “It’s been forever since I’ve heard you laugh like that.”

The thought was sobering, but a stray laugh slipped out. I shrugged, raising my bare shoulders above the bubbles. “I can be loud here.”

Tears filled Willow’s eyes. Like always, she wore her heart on her sleeve. “I want to kill him for hurting you. I’m so, so sorry. I should’ve forced you to come live with us sooner.”

“I wouldn’t have listened.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before saying what I needed to say. The excuses and not wanting to talk about it hadn’t done me enough good. “I was embarrassed and didn’t want you or Ember to see how bad it’d gotten.”

By the look on her face, I could tell she’d known that, but Willow wasn’t an asshole. She’d take her ‘I told you so’s’ to the grave. Really, she was the best of us. If anyone didn’t deserve our screwed-up luck, it was her.

“Have you heard from him?” Willow tried to keep her smile pleasant, but she couldn’t hide the murder in her eyes.

Dang it. She’d know if I was lying.

I glanced at the door, silently willing no super-sonic dragon ears to be listening. “Actually, I have. He keeps blowing up my phone, apologizing and asking to meet up.”

Willow hissed through her teeth. “You know it’s bullshit, right?”

“I do,” I said. “And I’ll probably just change my number somehow. But enough about me, please. How are you?”

She wanted to keep pressing, but Willow let it drop. “We’re great. Harper and I are working on her schooling. We’ve been visiting Kieran’s hoard. Everyone loves her around there. Sometimes we have dinners at the compound.”

I could hear what she wasn’t saying and it just about broke my heart. “You’re lonely.”

Willow blinked her bright green eyes dry, plastering on a big smile. “We’re safe. That’s all that matters. It’s been nice and quiet. I like the extra time alone. I actually finished reading a few books.”

“Any good ones?” I asked.

Willow looked past the phone, checking to see if Harper was listening.

“Ember gave me her Kindle,” she said. “I have access to the whole eBook library.”

“Uh oh.” I started laughing again, trying to keep it quiet so I wouldn’t alert Harper. Ember’s choice of reading material was basically porn. “I’m sure that’s been a good time.”

“It’s been… interesting.” Willow’s face couldn’t get any redder.

And my skin was starting to wrinkle as the bath water cooled. “I’m going to come visit you, soon,” I promised as I pulled the plug for the drain.

“You don’t have to do that,” Willow said, too quickly to be believable. “That’s a beautiful bathroom. I wouldn’t want to leave either.”

I smiled because it really was a gorgeous bathroom. “I want to come. Give me some time to talk to Lucan and work out the details.”

“No rush.” Relief relaxed her face. “But I’d love that.”

“Me too.” The past few weeks had been a blur, but I was feeling better—stronger—than I had in years. I think I was starting to accept this whole dragon mating thing because Lucan made it easy, but it was about time to rejoin the real world. I missed my friends. It’d be good to see them in person. “I’ll call you back soon.”

“Okay. Oh, and Riley,” Willow said before I hung up the phone, “make sure to change your number. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I will,” I swore, hoping to ease her fears.

They’d been worried about me enough for one lifetime. I didn’t want to stress them out anymore.