Page 84 of Dark Night Golden Dawn
Her phone was upstairs, along with her purse, so she raced back to the penthouse as quickly as she could, pulling out her phone.
Thank you, she texted Finn, not knowing what else to say.
He saw immediately and began to write back.You’re welcome.
Harlow waited, but he didn’t say more and she wasn’t sure how to reply. Her stomach flipped as she put her phone down. Axel curled his long tail around her leg in comfort. “You can’t come, bub. Not tonight. I’ll be home soon.”
She picked the cat up and he bumped his face against hers, then used her shoulder to boost himself into his tree, where he curled into a plush hammock she’d created for him near the window. Within moments the cat was asleep, his little snores drifting down to her, making her jealous for the millionth time that she hadn’t been born a cat.
Her phone vibrated on the table and she picked it up. Finn.I’m nervous about seeing you. Changed my t-shirt four times. This look okay?
A photo came just as she was reading. It was him, standing in his bathroom in jeans and a heathered grey t-shirt that said, in faux-vintage lettering, “My girlfriend is a witch.”
Harlow burst out laughing. If he’d been trying to break the possible tension between them, it worked. A small measure of relief crept into her chest, loosening the hold on her lungs until she breathed freely. She texted back.Where’d you find that?
A vendor on 55th. They had some with your face on them, but I thought that was too much.
She snorted and typed back.Probably right. Humans are so weird.
His next text came as she pressed send.Jk. I got it.
The photo he sent had her in tears. Someone had printed a caricature of her on a shirt, and underneath it said, “Harlow Krane: frumpy to fabulous.”Which should I wear tonight?
Harlow shot back,The first one. The second was too embarrassing, even for a
family dinner. Her sense of relief that he wasn’t freezing her out was tempered by her fear that something might trigger that piece of alien rage that might be left inside her.
She waited while the torturous little dots blinked.Drive safe.
See you soon, she wrote back, then tucked her phone in her purse.
As she locked up and headed to the car, she felt more, rather than less nervous. She knew the shirt was meant to make her laugh, maybe clear the air a little, and it had, but where did they stand? A part of her wanted to say screw it and work things out together, but her fear that something else was affecting her, causing her to react to things in ways she normally wouldn’t was too frightening.
Furthermore, the memory she’d lost bothered her. Something about it felt connected to all this, though she didn’t know how. Maybe unlocking it would make everything make sense, but until then it was better not to do more harm to Finn than she’d already done.
The Woody was gassed up and had been detailed since the last time she drove it. It smelled like Finn, decadent and a little like woodfire. She pressed play on the CD player, which already had something in it. It was a copy of a mix he’d made her in secondary, with all their favorite songs. It was hard not to get nostalgic as she drove through the city, rain splattering on the Woody’s windshield in a non-committal way that suggested it would pour later. Her mind drifted as she drove, and she reached Finn’s house sooner than she expected. She sat in the driveway for a moment. Everyone else had already arrived and she’d be walking into a group of people who knew how badly she’d embarrassed herself last time she was here.
Her cheeks burned as she bit the inside of her mouth, trying to maintain some semblance of calm. A light rap on her window startled her. Cian Herrington stood outside her window, wearing what she assumed they interpreted as “casual” clothing, but actually consisted of a pair of slim trousers and a button-down that was unbuttoned halfway down their chest in an alluring way. Their hair had been silver the last time she saw them, but today was lavender, and they wore a hint of shadow around their eyes.
She opened the car door. “Hi,” she said as she got out.
Cian smiled. “I like you.”
Harlow was taken aback by the blunt nature of this statement. “What?”
“You’re passionate and honest. Finn’s dated a lot of volatile people trying to get over you. But you are unpredictable, which is different from volatile, and I like it.”
A smile crept onto Harlow’s face. “Well, I’m certain I’ll like you too, if we get to know one another better.”
Cian’s head tilted to one side as their eyes narrowed. “Whenwe get to know one another better, you mean.”
Harlow swallowed hard, glancing at the house. “You seem like a bit of a package deal, with Finn, I mean. And…”
Now Cian grinned, and their face was so ferocious that Harlow was tempted to step back. “And nothing. You and Finn will work things out. I’mgladyou challenged him. He’s not used to that. His parents are the only ones to ever tell him no, and they do it out of spite. Why did you do it?”
Harlow bit her bottom lip, wondering why they were having this conversation at all. But as she looked into Cian’s pale eyes, something in her recognized what they were doing. They were protective of Finn and this was how they were vetting her. She was glad someone was vetting her, that someone cared enough about him to make sure she was good enough in the right ways, and she was pleased Cian found her acceptable.
“First of all, I don’t likehowI did it. I’m not proud of losing my temper that way. I’m working on it.”
