Bubbles

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I had no idea what happened during our orgasm. I needed to talk to someone, but it would have to wait because I needed to get back to Lexi.

I disposed of the condom, cleaned the plugs and myself, and carried the second largest plug back into the room, but she was crashed. Hard.

I put all the plugs away and crawled into bed with her. I’d call Tex tomorrow and ask him what the fuck had just happened. I know sometimes two wolves experience freaky connection shit, but I didn’t think it was supposed to happen with a human.

Lexi’d be driving herself to school, so she needed to leave my house by seven to be sure she was there by seven twenty. Class starts at seven forty-five, and she needed time to park, walk in, and get settled. I didn’t know what time she’d set her phone’s alarm, but I set my clock for quarter till six.

We needed a little time to talk in the morning — but after her shower and coffee. My little Half-pint is a grumpy bear in the mornings.

My clock went off before hers, and I turned the bedside light on before pulling the blanket and sheets off us both. “Up, my little bundle of morning grumpiness.”

“Fuck you. I don’t need to be up yet.”

She curled into a ball and put her head under the pillow.

I took her pillow from her.

She put her arm over her eyes.

I adjusted my voice so she’d know I wasn’t fucking around. “Up, Lex. It isn’t a suggestion. I won’t tell you again.”

She sat up and glared at me. “It’s fucking five forty-six! I can sleep another hour! Leave me alone!”

“Into the shower. I’ll have your coffee ready when you get out.”

She glared at me, but she went.

I put her coffee on the vanity while she did her makeup, and she gave me another glare. That was okay — she’d be better after the coffee kicked in.

Except she wasn’t. I called her to breakfast, expecting to see my happy girl, but she was clearly still pissed. Not just grumpy. Pissed.

She sat at her chair and took a bite of bacon. “This isn’t going to work. You can’t just threaten to beat my ass because I don’t do what you say.”

I told her I’d wanted us to have a chance to talk this morning, and then did the math for her — laying out when she needed to leave my house, and why, and thought that’d clear everything up.

But still, she argued.

“I can pull into the parking lot at seven thirty-five and almost always walk into class before they count me tardy. I’m not getting there at seven twenty.”

“Almost always isn’t good enough. Seven twenty gives you some play room in case there’s a wreck, or traffic you weren’t expecting. It also lets you get into the room and settled before class starts.”

“I don’t need to settle.”

We argued all through breakfast. When she finished hers, she brushed her teeth, grabbed her bookbag, and left a few minutes before she had to. I followed her out and she glared at me. “You don’t have to go in this early.”

“Don’t have to, but I can. I’ll follow you and make sure you get in okay, and then head to work. I’ll send a prospect to watch you get into your car this evenin’ and make sure no one follows you. Where are you goin’ between work and school?”

“The store to buy food, and then my apartment to eat.”

I shook my head. “Let’s hold off on that. Eat at the RTMC restaurant and I’ll tell them to put your meal on my bill. I’ll try to get away to eat with you.”

She glared at me, said, “No,” and backed out of my driveway.

I didn’t stop her from leaving, but I followed her to school as promised.

And then I went to work and stewed. She wasn’t being reasonable.

I called Tex at ten and told him about our argument that morning before I told him about the crazy-wild orgasm we’d experienced the night before.

“You don’t smell any fae on her?”

“No.”

“Something’s there. She has enough magic to respond to yours. If she don’t know who her daddy is, you may not be able to find out. A vampire might be able to taste her blood and tell you, but I’d probably just accept it and move on. She’s been through puberty without changing into anything, and you say she smells human, so…” I could almost see his shrug from across the distance. “But you’re a fucking idjit if you lose her over when she gets to class. Step back and let her figure it out. Spank her ass for tardies, sure, but let her fuck up and make them. She’ll figure out how to get there on time.”

“But if she’ll just listen to me then—”

“She’s nineteen damned years old and she knows everything, kinda like you when you were that age. Let her figure it out, son. Be her boyfriend, not her motherfuckin’ daddy.”

“I want you and Sparkie to meet her. Bud met her at a party.”

“Yeah, and he says she’s cute as a button, and you have your hands full with her. He’s pretty damned happy for you.” His voice softened. “So am I. It’s about time you found someone to make you happy — so don’t go and fuck it all to shit and back.”

I thought about it until two, and I washed up so I could be waitin’ for her when she came out of class at two thirty. She saw me sitting on my bike behind her car when she neared, and slowed, but then pulled her shoulders back and walked to me without looking away, like she was trying to show the big bad wolf she was badder than him.

My wolf wanted to accept the challenge and spank her ass right there, but I pushed him down and told her, “I’m sorry. No hittin’ the snooze, but when you wake up and when you leave is up to you. You’ll still get your ass paddled for a tardy, but I’ll let you figure out how to get here on time.”

I could practically see the wind go out of her sails. She’d practiced some big speech, and now she couldn’t give it to me with every ounce of attitude she possessed, but she still wanted to.

“I love you, Lex. I’m gonna fuck up, and so are you. I’m in this for the long haul. Are you?”

She looked at her feet a few seconds, and her eyes were misty when she looked up. “I love you too, but you have to stop being an asshole.”

“I’ll try. No promises.”

“You weren’t tryin’ not to be this morning.”

“I was trying to help you better yourself, but you’re gonna have to figure some of this shit out on your own. Today’s special at the restaurant is country fried steak with mashed potatoes and fried squash. Want to join me?”

“That sounds wonderful, but do they have takeout? We need to talk.”

Her last sentence sent my heart into a nosedive, but her scent didn’t warn me of trouble so I hoped it didn’t mean what it usually does. “Sure. We can get it and go on a picnic, or we can eat in the office.”

“The office is fine.”

Brain had set my phone up so I can text people by talking to my phone while I ride my bike, and I sent our order to Knife and asked him to set us up in the office. He did, and HotPocket followed us in with our plates when we arrived. She even had a beer for me and a Coke for Lexi.

“Thanks, darlin’. Go ahead and bring another Coke and two more beers, then we should be good without you needin’ to check on us.”

The door closed behind her, and Lexi said, “Can you not call women you’ve slept with darlin’, maybe?”

I started to tell her to deal with it, but remembered Tex’s words. “On a scale of one to ten, how big of a deal is this?”

She sighed. “I don’t know. It bugs me. Isn’t that enough?”

“What if I promise not to call anyone but you sweetheart or half-pint, but we leave the other words available?”

She considered it a few seconds. “Okay, but if you call me darlin’, I’ll punch you in the nuts.”

I laughed, despite the fact I could see she was serious.

“What do we need to talk about?”

“I like the fun spankings, but I don’t like being afraid you’ll spank me out of the blue when I don’t see things your way.” She looked away a few seconds, and when she met my gaze I could see she’d made some kind of decision. “Etta says we have to write out why you’ll spank me for real, so there aren’t any misunderstandings.”

“We can do that, so long as you know we’ll have to go back over it every so often and make changes. Probably once a week at first, maybe once a month after that, maybe every three or six months, eventually. It isn’t like we do it and then it’s written in stone.”

“But we have to agree on anything added or taken away. You don’t just get to decide. You said this was about us making sure I succeed.”

“It’s also about what it takes for us to live together in peace. The snooze thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. Set the alarm for when you need to get up, and then get up.”

She shook her head. “I need time. I hit it the first time and it pulls me out of a deep sleep, so when it goes off again I’m in a lighter sleep and it isn’t so hard to get up.”

I crossed my arms and leaned back. I didn’t want to give even an inch on this one thing, but if that was how she viewed it… fuck. “We’ll try it the rest of the week. You hit it one time, and you get up when it goes off again — but you get right up without me havin’ to tell you.”

“Okay. One more thing, at least for now. I think expecting I won’t make less than an A on anything is bullshit. I’m good with expecting an A for anything color related, including all the stupid chemical stuff I’ve heard is going to be a major pain in the butt when we get there, but I think a B should be acceptable for everything else.”

Over the years, I’d learned all the reasons girls go to get their hair done. “An A for all the braiding shit, and the stuff on top of the head — like for proms. Also, anything to do with cutting. Your report card should have more A’s than B’s.” I remembered they were teaching her a lot of business stuff, too. “Nothing lower than a ninety for anything business related, and your average on those classes should be an A.”

She sighed. “For what it’s worth, Etta’s in favor of you spanking me for bad grades and tardies. I got zero sympathy from her, she just thought we needed it in writing. She said for me to write out the rules and consequences I think are appropriate, and for you to do the same, and then we should merge them into one document we can both agree on.”

Not the way I’d have gone about it, but I was inclined to do it her sister’s way, since she trusted Betty — Etta — more than me. I didn’t want her to trust her sister any less, I just wanted her to trust me more, but it would take time.

“Okay, but I don’t want you doin’ that instead of homework.”

She rolled her eyes. “I won’t. Oh, one more thing — I don’t want to call you Sir.”

Wow, that seemed to come out of left field. “On a scale of one to ten, that one’s an eight for me, but only when I need you to acknowledge a rule or an order. I don’t want you calling me Sir around others, and I don’t need to hear it often. You’ll know when it’s called for, and if you don’t, I’ll remind you.”

She’d taken a bite while I talked, and she took her time chewing, swallowing, and then sipping some of her Coke. Finally, she gave me a tiny nod. “We’ll see how it goes, and if I still have a problem with it in a few weeks, I’ll let you know.” She lifted some food, but changed her mind and put the fork back down. “I get the one-to-ten thing now. I didn’t before.”

“Maybe we need an argument safeword. If something’s an eight or higher for you and I’m not understanding how important it is, say Brussels sprouts and maybe it’ll get through my thick skull.” I’d been smiling, but my grin faded. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand how upset you were this morning. I haven’t been in a relationship since I went inside, and you already know I had total say-so over everything that happened between me and the inmates I protected in there. I’ll try to do better, but I’m serious about the Brussels sprouts thing.”

She looked at her plate. “Etta agrees with you about the day I was at her house and I was late to school, but I still don’t see it.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

“I need to talk to Mama, plus it’s time for me to give her my part of the rent and electric bill. She got the bigger apartment for me to live with her, so I need to pay it even when I’m not using my room.” She looked up. “I need to keep that address until I finish school. I’m pretty sure I lose my grant if I have a Georgia address, since it’s through the state of Tennessee.”

Which reminded me of something else. “I know your boss isn’t going to report when you’re late to work, so I’ll trust you to let me know, so we can handle it.”

She started to argue — I sensed it and scented it — but she didn’t. “Okay. You’re right even if I don’t want you to be. I want them to hire me as a colorist if they put the salon in next door. They probably will even if I’m predictably late, but it isn’t professional and might screw up my chances if they have a bunch of experienced people apply.”

“Good girl. I’m proud of you for admitting it. Also, if you run short on money, you know I’m not hurting for cash, and since I assume that’s how you pay your mom, I’m good with fillin’ in whatever you need — especially since you’ll be asking off on weekends here and there for club stuff, but even when that doesn’t come into play. If I find out you’re running short and don’t tell me, we’ll have a problem.”

“I know you worked on my car and didn’t tell me. It runs smoother. Thank you, but you shouldn’t be spending a lot of money on me. I need to pull my own way.”

“And once you’re out of school and a famous hair colorist, I’ll let you do that if it’s important to you, but I promised I’ll do whatever I can to see you there, and I will.”

“Thanks for believing in me.” She sighed and I scented hurt and pain. Old, emotional shit — and a little new, but mostly old. “Mama taught me how to get drugs ready for resale. I know how to take the e-pills that come in from Canada, crush them and mix them with fillers, and form them into pills we can sell for the same dollar amount, but we have forty percent more to sell. I also learned how to cook meth, but we don’t do that anymore — her people get the good crystal shit from Mexico now, so she just has to move it from the big packages into the tiny dimebags, which sell for twenty bucks so I have no idea why they’re called dimebags.”

I didn’t comment or stop her, so she kept going. “I can take the H out of the fingerbags and get it ready for the dealers to sell, I can turn coke into crack — you name it and I know how. Mama trained me and Etta, and assumed we’d go into the family business. She made me and Etta help when deliveries arrived when we were younger, and she made my sister mule for them when Etta got her license, but Etta stopped when she turned eighteen and refused to do it anymore.”

“Has she tried to make you help since you came back?’

“She didn’t have to make me. The money’s good and it was expected I’d work for her, but I didn’t think much of it, at first. It was a job. I mean, I didn’t mule, but I helped repack some deliveries, and the cash was awesome, but then I saw on the news where someone overdosed on crack, and I worried it was some I’d helped with. Mama says if you sell someone a house and they fall down the steps a week later and die, it isn’t on you, but I don’t see it that way. I haven’t helped since I read about the overdose.”

“And that’s just one of the reasons I love you, Half-pint. You’re still figuring out who you are, but you want to like the person you grow into. I told you once I don’t always follow the law, but I follow my own moral code. You’re figuring your moral code out, and I like where it’s headed.”

“My mama’s never going to accept you. First, you’re white, but you also eat into her profits. They’d be sellin’ more if they could sell to the whole city. Ya’ll keep them from doin’ that.”

“The truth is, people go outside the territory to buy if they want it. We aren’t keeping drug addicts from getting their drugs. They can walk five blocks to get it, and we all know they do. It’s more a matter of principle. Our territory, our rules.”

“Mama isn’t likely to agree with your logic.”

“Probably not. Is that a deal breaker for you?”

“No. I love her, but I understand her faults. She screwed me up with the whole black versus white thing, but thankfully I got away from her in time to work through some of it. I still feel black on the inside and white on the outside, but I’ve come to terms with it. Mostly.”