Page 120 of Bite Marks

“The closest thing to rain boots she had,” she hissed from the corner of her mouth.

Dana chuckled where she crouched, taking photos of the contents of Kaylee’s entertainment unit with her cellphone. “Classic Babydoll.”

“It’ll be okay, Kayls,” Vi said, patting her friend's back as Dana straightened, stepping backwards to take a larger shot. “What happened?”

“I-I-” Babydoll sniffled, bending down so her forehead connected with Vi’s shoulder heavily. If we ignored the circumstances, it was a smidge comical, given that Babydoll towered over the little brunette in her platforms.

Picking up on her distress, Dana jumped in to provide an explanation.

“A toilet water main broke one floor up. It ran continuously, spilling water everywhere until it had no place to go. It started coming through the light fixtures and electrical to dump into here before moving to the floors below. Entire building is fucked.”

“Fucking hell,” Danny whistled low, surveying the mess. About an inch and a half of water everywhere I could see, along the walls and covering anything within a five-foot radius of a light fixture.Fucking hellwas an understatement. “Where’d it start?”

“M-m-master bedroom,” Kaylee stammered. “I was taking a n-nap before work.”

Vi patted her back consolingly, sighing. “Let’s pack you a bag… We’ll go to… um…”

“Mine is okay; don’t worry, Kayl,” Danny offered.

Dana and I shared a look, my covenmate looking at Vi pointedly behind her back as if to say,Invite her to stay with us.I wanted to. But at the same time, I kept thinking it was too early to introduce her to coven life. To share her fully that way.And, even worse, there was the sickening chance she’d say no.

That she’d reject me—us—and the chance for more will be gone.

So I shook my head and leaned casually against the island just as Vi turned to speak to me.

“Sorry about all this. Do you want to get a ride home with Dana? I’ll try and salvage a couple of things here and wait around for the super and in case someone needs?—”

“I’ll do that,” Dana interrupted quickly, adding a pointed, “Our place is within walking distance.”

“Dana, it’s okay,” Kaylee argued. “I’ll take care of it, then I’ll go settle in at Danny’s…”

Dana looked at me pointedly, and I sighed.

Seems like I’ll have to risk it.

Here goes nothing.

“Vi, if you want… you can stay with us,” I offered, rubbing the back of my neck, carefully avoiding her eyes and staring to the left of her shoulder.

Vi looked at me for a second and stopped.She’s going to say no. She’ll prefer to go with her best friend and sibling and not come with someone she’s been dating for only?—

“I’d love to,” she finally said with a relieved sigh, and I’m pretty sure I looked relieved myself as Babydoll smacked her shoulder over and over excitedly. “Sharing the sofa with Kaylee was going to murder my back, anyway.”

Danny shrugged. “We could have gotten you an air mattress.”

“Gross,” Dana muttered. “No need when we have a perfectly good bed for her.”

Interesting how she neglected to mention the aforementioned available beds were mine, hers, Elsie’s, or Juniper’s.

Technically, we had a guest room, but I had a feeling that Vi would never see the inside of it.

She released Babydoll, using her thumbs to wipe away her friend’s streaked mascara. “Let me help you with your bag, okay? Ren won’t mind waiting, right?”

“Not at all, Pet,” I said as I looked up to find that the interesting—albeit a little ugly—painting that hung in the living room appeared to be undamaged. “Take your time. Is that your bag in the hall?”

Babydoll laughed through a heavy sniff. “I tossed it out there to try and save your stuff. You’re lucky you’re pretty tidy. I just had to put your laptop in your backpack… you may want to put that in a bit of rice.”

Vi groaned, leading Babydoll into the bedroom. “It’s fine... It was ancient anyway.”

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