Page 4 of Stripped

“This isn't healthy,” I said. “We're over. You need to accept that.”

He put his hands on my hips and pressed his body close to mine. “I've accepted we're over. But it doesn't mean we have to stop sleeping together.”

“Yes, that's exactly what it means. Normal people stop sleeping together after they break up.” I may have slept with Rixton three or… Well, several times since we'd broken up, but he was getting way too comfortable, showing up at my place whenever he felt like it. I needed closure and he needed to leave. Except his hands had slid under my dress and were massaging my butt in a way that made my eyes roll back in my head.

“We aren't normal people, baby. We're supernatural, we have different needs and different rules.”

Gah. His words reminded me of Emily and the special needs of her vamp leeches. I jerked out of his arms and moved to the other side of the kitchen island. “You're a tenth faun, Rixton. You're mostly human.” The supernaturals in Aspens Whiten that I was aware of, except for the vamps and wolves, were half-bloods or less. I'd never met a real faun, but the lore was that they were pure hedonists, who had the magic of being able to float along in life with little effort and still manage to live well.

“My blood might say I'm a tenth faun, but mentally I'm all faun.” He stalked toward me again and I knew, if he touched me, I'd give in. I was tired and he'd show me a good time, help me forget about the problems at the club and the look on Emily's face when she'd walked away. But if I gave in again, he'd be over here next week and the week after, and we'd fall into a rut. I'd forget all the reasons we were bad together and look up one day to find myself still stuck in Aspens Whiten, married to Rixton, and miserable.

“Of course, you're all faun mentally. Who wouldn't want to be all faun? It's all fun all the time.”

He grinned. “And you love every moment of it.”

I backed away and bumped into one of the boxes I'd packed last week. I'd hoped packing boxes would get me closer to actually moving out and permanently changing my residence to Denver.

Rixton took the opportunity of my stumble to grab me again and nuzzle my neck. “You keep packing boxes, but you never leave. You keep kicking me out, but you never say no when I come back. Just accept who you are, baby.”

I shoved him off. I wasn't going to do this again. I needed to move on from him, from Aspens Whiten, and from vamps who wanted a piece of my business. I needed to do what I'd wanted to do from the time I was twelve and get out of this small-minded, small town. “This is not happening.”

I'd never seen Rixton mad or even aggravated. His grin slipped a bit, but he just shrugged. He was a fun, kind guy, and there'd be other women if he wanted them. “Okay, Abs. I can take a hint. You doing okay? Everything okay at the club?”

“Just more of the same.” I sank down onto the couch which was practically in the dining room, my condo was so tiny. “Not making enough money and dodging threats from vamps who want more than I can give.”

He chewed and nodded. “This Leopold douche is a major buzzkill, from what I've heard. You should stay away from him.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I'm doing my best.”

“The girls doing alright?”

I'd tried to correct him many, many times in the past. They weren't girls, they were women, employees of my business, but he was never going to change. “Emily came by tonight. She tried to convince me to give her money for the vamps.”

His eyes popped wide. “They're using her for a messenger?”

“I doubt it. She's probably trying to ingratiate herself with them, trying to move up the ranks.”

He shook his head, his frown and his concern for Emily genuine. “You didn't give her any money, did you?”

“If had any money. I'd be halfway to Denver. I'll be lucky to make rent this month.”

“My couch is always available,” he said, with no innuendo in his tone, just a friendly offer. “But you know you don't need money to move to Denver. Gage would let you crash at his place until you find a job.”

Gage was the previous owner of The Booty Carousel. He'd hired me as a dancer when I was seventeen and desperate, encouraged me to get my degree online, and sold me the club for next to nothing when he left town. I knew he'd let me crash on his couch, but I wanted to go to Denver without anyone's help. I wanted to make my own way. “I know. I'll get there,” I said. “I just need to find the right buyer for the club, make sure no one will lose her job.”

“You're a good person, Abs,” he said, arms crossed over his chest, pizza forgotten. “But you can't take care of everyone. You deserve to have the life you want.”

I dropped my head back on the couch, too tired for this conversation. Rixton was so different from me, he couldn't understand my choices, couldn't understand my obligations. “I just have to do right by them,” I said. “I'm exhausted. Think we could pick this conversation up another time?”

“'Course we can, Abs. I'm here whenever you need anything.” He grabbed his pizza box, but stopped before he'd reached the door. “You have any trouble with Leopold, you call me, okay? I know people.” Before I could respond or laugh in his face, he'd pressed a quick kiss to my forehead and left. As soon as the door closed behind him, I pulled out my phone and clicked over to his contact information. My finger hovered over the delete key, but I didn't press it. I turned my phone off, annoyed with myself.

I considered going to bed, but I got caught up looking at the framed pictures covering my walls, all the places I'd never been. The red sand arches of Arches National Park. The redwoods in California. The Eiffel tower, the Taj Mahal, the Sydney opera house. I was never going to get to any one of those places by lying around feeling sorry for myself.

Instead of making tea and going to bed, I pulled out another box and packed up my dishes. I’d never been to Denver, but it was the closest big city and I had a friend there in Gage. I might have big dreams, but I was a small-town girl at heart and the idea of going to a city where I knew no one scared me. Plus, my grandmother had lived there when she was young and she’d told me the most wonderful stories about the place. Wonderful or not, I was getting out of this town and out of this rut, no matter what it took.

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