Page 44 of Steve's Barmaid
I honestly didn’t know what answer I wanted. I was undecided.
“I think so.” Billie’s brows furrowed in uncertainty. “I like having something that’s just ours for now. Without everyone watching, it gives us more time to decide on the future.”
She had a point there. I didn’t want the whole tribe watching this unfold. If Reykr knew I was interested in one of the humans, he would automatically worry about whether or not I’d come back home. And I also liked that it was just between us—well, and Joey.
“You may have to remind Joey to keep it a secret,” I said.
Billie rolled her eyes. “Oh, trust me, I am well aware. Um… now that we’ve had our serious ‘what is this relationship’ conversation, do you think you could tell me how long we’re stuck like this?” She waved at our joined hips.
“Oh! I have no idea. I’ve never knotted someone before.” I blushed with embarrassment. Billie was really seeing my lack of experience.
She looked slightly surprised, then shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”
Billie pulled me in for another kiss. I didn’t think we would ever be able to part if she kept kissing me, but I decided to keep that to myself.
BILLIE
I was in the showers, thoroughly washing so that no one would smell Steve on me in the morning, when Joey busted in.
“Well?” she demanded.
“Well, what?” I said, just to annoy her.
“Well, what happened with Steve?! You just slipped back in from berry picking, didn’t come to dinner, and now you’re showering alone.” She crossed her arms and frowned at me, clearly disgruntled.
I laughed and continued to wash my hair and hum to myself.
“Billie, if you don’t give me the deets right now, I am going to tell all the girls that you went berry picking with Steve this afternoon and had me cover for you.” She tapped her foot in impatience.
“Alright, alright.” I sighed. “Everything you assume happened, happened. We had sex. It was amazing. The best sex I have ever had, hands down. And I don’t know if orcs come by oral naturally as a skill or if Steve is just a fast learner, but I have never come that quickly.”
Joey just opened and closed her mouth, eyes wide.
“But we’re still keeping it a secret,” I said pointedly. “So keep your big mouth shut.”
I was still sad that for anything to be permanent, either Steve or I would have to say goodbye to our home. Granted, Fýrifírar hadn’t been my home for long, but I couldn’t imagine my life without all the girls I was abducted with or the tribe that had welcomed me in. But the idea of being without Steve also pained me.
“It’s just complicated. If we decide to be serious, then one of us has to move,” I explained.
“You can’t seriously be considering leaving. You’ve—we’ve put in months rebuilding the bar,” she said, shocked.
“I know. I know. But I can’t ask him to stay just for me.”
“Didn’t he come here because he hated his own stupid tribe?” Joey asked.
“You know it isn’t that simple. He isn’t in a rush to go back, but I don’t know if he ever considered staying here permanently.”
“Well, what if you are fated?” Joey asked, flopping onto a bench by the showers and scowling at me.
“We don’t even know if we can be. Between us, there’s only a quarter of an orc. Maybe that isn’t enough for us to be mates?”
Joey thrummed her lips over her fingers, thinking. “So you’re just going to ‘see where it goes.’ What does that even mean?”
I sighed. This whole conversation was making me sad. Joey wasn’t asking anything I hadn’t considered when Steve and I started things, but it was too soon to talk about forever. Steve and I had slept together once, and we’d been on two dates. The only way forward was to wait and see. Joey looked at me sadly as if she could see it all swirling around in my head. She knew from day one how badly I wanted forever.
“Well. I think he’ll ask to stay,” she said firmly.
I returned my attention to my hair. “I am going to try to take it a day at a time.”
