Page 12 of Black Widow's Bite

“We do not sneak into Addy’s bed,” he told me in a low voice. “You always wait for permission, and you give her space when she wants it. Do you understand?” I nodded, chewing on my lip ring. “We can at least pretend to be civilized human beings and not attack her like feral cats while she’s here.”

I glowered at him. I wasn’t some mangey tom cat like the ones I heard fighting in the alley. If she let me, I would make her safe and warm and happy, just like she made me feel when she touched me. “Alright,” I hissed at him, and he kept staring until I dropped my eyes to the floor.

“Wyatt has a client tomorrow, so he asked me to take Addy back to her apartment and see if it’s safe for her to go in yet. Why don’t you come with us? It’s been a while since you’ve gone outside,” he suggested, and I clenched my fists. Cain always wanted me to go outside, but it was perfectly nice inside. People were outside, and I didn’t like people. “I bet Addy would feel safer if you came with us,” Cain continued, and I perked up. I could keep her safe and show her I could be good, prove that I could protect her.

“Okay, I’ll come,” I whispered, and Cain smirked like he had known I’d agree to it all along. He was blocking the bedroom door, making sure I wouldn’t try to sneak in again, I guess. I went back up to my room and stayed there, dozing on the chair by the window as I listened to the street wake up for the day. Piper got up early today, which was unusual for him, especially on the nights he made a lot of noises. Cain’s door opened and closed too, and the floor creaked Addy’s steps into the kitchen. Cain hadn’t told me when we would go outside today, but I wanted to be ready, just in case. I shook a ball python out of a pair of jeans onto the floor. They smelled okay, but they had a hole in the knee. Hopefully, that was okay for Addy. I found ashirt which might’ve been Wyatt’s in my closet, and it only had one stain on it and no holes, so it would work to go outside today. I didn’t know what to do, if I should go downstairs to wait by the door or if I should stay here until Cain said it was time to go. The ball python tried to climb back up my pant leg, but I shooed him back over to the closet. Cain said I shouldn’t bring my friends with me on outside days, because people didn’t like to see snakes in the city. I argued that people didn’t like to see me in the city either, but he still made me go outside, anyway.

The kitchen told me that it had a lot of visitors today, and Addy’s scent mixed with Piper and Wyatt and coffee, and I bounced on my toes, waiting to go. I finally heard Cain’s sounds on the stairs and burst out of my room, bounding down the stairs three steps at a time to the kitchen. It smelled so good in the kitchen I started to salivate, even with the coffee mingling in which I had never understood the appeal of. I found some lunch meat in the fridge that hadn’t gone green yet and ate some to fill my stomach. Another Cain rule was that we eat human foods in the house. I think that’s because he caught me eating a mouse once and it made him sick.

“Morning Austin!” I yanked my head out of the fridge and beamed. Addy had put all of her hair up on top of her head today, leaving her neck tantalizingly bare. She wasn’t wearing one of her fancy shirts this time, just a regular tee shirt like mine, only without a stain. Addy was so normal-looking. I bet no one glared or yelled at her when she walked around outside.

I slammed the fridge closed and ran up to Addy, wrapping my arms around her tightly and lifting her up off her feet. She gave a small cry of surprise, but I felt her hug me back and my heart swelled with joy. I pressed my nose against a spot behind her ear and tried my best not to bite her. My teeth ached with the effort. “Austin? I can’t breathe.” Addy gasped. Oops - I loosenedmy hold, and she slipped back down to the ground, taking a deep breath.

“Sorry.” I rasped with an apologetic smile. Addy patted my cheek, clearly not mad about being squished, and I watched her pour herself some more coffee from the machine on the counter. I wrinkled my nose. “Why do you like that?” I asked her, following her to the table and sitting across from her. I kept my hands to myself to show her I could. Wyatt told me he liked coffee because it helped him stay awake. I tried it once, it tasted like dirt and made my chest hurt a lot.

Addy shrugged and took a sip. “I like the taste, and the smell too, I guess. It helps me wake up in the morning. It warms me up and helps me prepare for the day.” I huffed and wriggled in my chair. I could warm her up better in the morning. She didn’t need coffee for that. It appeared that she did like the taste of it somehow because she kept sipping it and looked very content. Maybe Wyatt made terrible coffee, and it was supposed to taste better than that. I waited until she took another sip and shifted out of my chair to kiss her, swiping her lips with my tongue. Her lips parted in surprise and I explored her mouth, tasting the bitter coffee on her tongue. The coffee was still the same, but it tasted sweeter when it mingled with Addy.

I pulled back and shook my head, Addy’s eyes wide with shock. “I don’t understand coffee,” I whispered sadly. She laughed like I had made a joke, and I smiled to see her happy. The stairs groaned with Cain’s arrival as he came stalking up from the main floor.

“Ready to go?” he asked Addy sharply, and she gave him an irritated look, which he ignored. Cain hated everyone at first, but he’d stop being mean eventually when he forgot that he hated her.

“Sure, I’ll just grab my jacket and my purse,” Addy replied and set her mug in the sink before heading back into Cain’sroom. He gave me a once-over, and I shifted to hide the stain on my shirt. He always told me to do laundry more, but I kept forgetting, and I didn’t like the smell of the soap, anyway.

When Addy returned, I sprang to my feet, sad that her arms were covered up now. Cain grunted and walked back down to the main floor, leaving us to follow behind. I shook my arms and legs at the door, making sure none of my friends had gotten tucked away somewhere. Hopping down the front steps, I hurried to catch up to Addy and Cain, bristling as the outside smells hit me all at once. I hooked my arm around Addy’s shoulders, and the outside didn’t feel so bad with her hip bumping against mine. She smiled and leaned into me, and my chest puffed out with pride.

Addy’s home was in a building not very far from ours, and she pointed out the places she liked to visit as we walked. According to her, they made wonderful coffee and pastries at a little cafe across from our studio, but I’d take her word for it. There’s no way I’d spend $10 on bitter dirt water. I noticed people reacted to Addy differently than they did to my friends when she walked past them on the sidewalk. Their eyes would meet hers, and they would give her a friendly smile or a polite nod. A lot of the men would also give her a quick once over, much to my irritation. Eventually, their eyes would shift to me, and their smiles would drop. Some people looked angry, like I was insulting them with how I looked. Other people just looked scared or concerned. I hunched my shoulders and stared down at the sidewalk, letting Addy lead the way.

There was a sizeable piece of plywood over the door to Addy’s building, so I guess they hadn’t gotten around to fixing it yet. Her apartment still had police tape all over the door, and Cain and I waited while she spoke to someone on the phone about it. She started getting pretty angry, and by the time she hung upthe phone, her face was red and her eyes were shining, the whole hallway smelling like her rage.

“They can’t close it as a crime scene until they finish processing the body, and there’s some hold-up at the lab,” she told us, pinching the bridge of her nose. I can’t even go inside to get any more of my things, and my landlord said it could be a week before my door gets fixed now. Fuck!” she exclaimed, kicking the wall in frustration. Cain looked a little amused by the outburst and just shrugged.

“Whatever. Do you have enough shit to get you through the week?” he asked. Addy bit her lip, and I saw her mind working quickly.

“I guess so, but I don’t want to put you out of your room for another night, let alone a week.” she sighed. I immediately opened my mouth to offer my room, but Cain stopped me with a look.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll sort it out. Let’s just get back then,” he muttered, and shoved his hands in his pockets, fishing for a cigarette as we headed back towards the elevators.

The walk back to the studio was a lot quieter. Addy didn’t seem to want to talk much anymore, and Cain had walked up ahead, smoking by himself. Addy looked so sad now, so I put my arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head, trying to cheer her up.

“You alright baby?” A group of guys slowed as they neared us, heading in the opposite direction. Addy stiffened in my arms but ignored them, staring straight ahead. “Come on, give us a smile, then.” I scowled at him. Clearly, she wasn’t in the mood to smile, or she would. I followed Addy’s lead and ignored them.

“Ditch the freak show, I know how to make you smile,” his friend jeered, and he grabbed Addy’s arm as we went to pass them. She jerked her arm away from him and I moved to get between them, staring him down, my teeth flashing.

“Don’t fucking touch me, asshole!” Addy snapped, and I put my hand up when he tried to move towards her again. He looked me up and down and sneered, giving me a shove in the chest. I didn’t move, didn’t react, because Cain told me not to fight anyone, but I wouldn’t let them touch Addy again.

“Come on sweetheart, hop off E.T.’s dick and come back to Earth where the real men are,” his friend called out, and the guy shoved me again, harder this time. “What, only speak Klingon?” He smirked at me.

“Walk away, asshole, she’s not interested,” I rasped, my fists clenched at my sides. The guy laughed, turning to his friends. Then he whipped back around, sucker-punching me in the face. I staggered back, tasting blood where I must’ve bitten my tongue. I wanted to hurt him, make him bleed, rip out his throat, and pour venom into the gaping wound as he writhed on the ground. No fighting though, I had promised. So I stood up straight, holding my ground. Blood dripped down my face and I stared at him, unblinking. This seemed to confuse him and he looked back at his friends, who were also plainly waiting for me to attack, or do something other than glare at them.

Unfortunately for them, Cain stormed up, having noticed the commotion behind him. “Get the fuck out of here,” he snarled at them. The one guy turned to say something nasty, but something about Cain’s face had him turning white, and they sprinted off down the street. Addy was grabbing my arm, her hand touching my face. I winced when she touched a tender spot on my cheek, and her fingers drew back. I wiped my hand under my nose and it came back bloody, and more was dripping down onto my shirt. Aw man, it was really stained now.

Addy ran into the cafe she’d shown me earlier and got a bunch of their napkins. I pressed a handful to my face to try to stop the bleeding while she guided me back to our home. “I can’t believe those fuckers!” She exclaimed as we walked inside. “Hejust attacked you out of nowhere!” Cain wasn’t saying much, and I worried that he was mad. I did what he’d asked. I didn’t fight them, even though I had wanted to so badly.

“It happens a lot,” I whispered, looking down at my feet, and more blood poured out of my nose. Addy led me to Cain’s room and into his bathroom, pushing me backwards until I sat down on the toilet lid. She took the wad of bloody napkins out of my hand and tossed them in the trash, grabbing a washcloth instead and wetting it before pressing it back under my nose.

“I’ll check and see if there’s any ice,” Addy told me, heading back into the kitchen. Cain stayed behind, leaning against the doorframe. I stared at my feet, waiting for him to start yelling.

“I’m sorry,” I told him hoarsely. “I didn’t do anything, I swear.” He just chuckled quietly.

---