My Parisian experience had been anything but normal at this point.
If I was here- even under these circumstances, I wanted to see the city. See the culture and the architecture and the life here. But no. Given the hit, we were to remain locked in the apartment until the threat was gone. God only knew how long that would take. We'd only been back an hour and I was already bored. At least my sister had Amber. I mean, sure, I had Arrow and Grey- but those fuckers were so deep in their own worlds trying to figure this out that I'm pretty sure I could catch fire and they wouldn't notice. Not right now. Arrow was sucked into his iPad and Grey was across the dining room table locked in on his laptop.
It would also be another thing if I was capable of helping them in any way. But clearly I'm useless in that regard. I don't know anything about this world. I don't have contacts. I wouldn't even know what I was looking for.
The door opens and Isaiah strides in. He's got a stunning redhead walking beside him. I have to attempt to raise my jaw off the floor as I take her in. Her legs have got to be three stories tall. She was almost taller than Isaiah. She wears a simple cropped sweater with high waisted jeans and converse. She managed to make jeans look expensive. In her pale arms was a large duffle bag. Her amber eyes scanned the room before she landed on me. Her whole face lit up and she smiled, striding over to me like a model while I sat dumbfounded on the couch with a deck of cards in my hand.
"Ivy?" She grinned. Flashing perfectly white teeth.
"Y-yeah, hi." I heard Arrow laugh somewhere behind us and I try not to glower. "You are?"
"Bria," She pushes her long red hair over her shoulder. "It's so lovely to meet you." Her words are slightly accented and I'm not sure I've ever been so jealous of another woman. Jealous and attracted.
"It's nice to meet you too," I try to brighten my features. "You're with Isaiah?"
Bria nods. "Yes, four years now. I'm not sure how I put up with his shit for that long but here we are." She adjusts the large duffle in her arms.
"Can I help you with that?" I stand from the couch, trying to get my shit together.
"Oh sorry, no. This is for you!"
"For me?"
Bria reaches for me with her free hand and tugs me towards the bedroom. "Yes, Isaiah told me those assholes didn't even let you pack a toothbrush before they threw you on a plane so he asked me to get you the essentials."
"Oh," I say as she sets the large bag on Arrow's bed. "You really didn't have to go through all that trouble_"
"Of course I did," She brushes me off with a wave of her tiny perfect hand. "Those guys are dicks, you deserve it."
I smile. "They are."
She laughs. "Okay," Bria pulls a smaller bag out of the duffle. "This is all bathroom stuff. This is sleepwear. Undergarments. And just regular clothes. I didn't know what you liked so I just got you a mix of everything. I hope that's okay."
"That's great," I say, she's got enough clothes in there for weeks so I was certain I'd have no problem finding something. "Thank you so much for doing that."
"You do not need to thank me," She grins down at me. "I got to spend an entire day shopping and I didn't have to feel guilty about any of it."
"God, I bet the shopping here is amazing." I muse.
She nods eagerly. "When you come back under different circumstances, I'll take you. There's nothing better."
When. Not if. When.
Is it because I'm with Grey and Arrow? That she assumes I'll come back?
I brush it off. "I would love that."
Her smile widens but her eyebrows tug together. "Why do you have a deck of cards?"
I look down at my right hand and sure enough, the deck of cards is still clutched between my fingers. My face heats. "I was going to play solitaire and then you guys came in and I just forgot I was holding them."
More like you're gorgeous enough to make anyone lose their mind and I think mine might be halfway to Germany by now.
"Solitaire?" She frowns. "Those boys are subjecting you to a game made for lonely elderly singles?"
I snort a laugh, nearly choking on my own spit. "I was just bored." I explain.
"Clearly." She shakes her head and takes my hand again. "Cmon, let's go play Go-Fish."
I follow her in a daze, tripping over my own feet as she tugs back out into the living room. She sits next to me on the sofa and sends me a playful smile as she shuffles the cards expertly in her fingers.
The three men on the other side of the room are completely forgotten until one of them speaks. "We have an errand," Its Isaiah.
"All of you?" I ask, turning to look at Grey and Arrow. But I think it's pretty clear they're leaving too.
"Yes," Grey says simply. As in: End of conversation and no more questions.
I try not to let it affect me. Just because he'd fucked me doesn't mean anything had really changed between the two of us. Well- maybe it had. But not by a lot.
"Will you be long?" Bria says with the grace of fucking princess.
Isaiah's eyes nearly sparkle as he stares at her. "A few hours, love."
She nods and looks back at the cards, shuffling them again.
"Be good, Poison." Arrow calls as they head to the door.
"Don't have much of a choice." I grate under my breath.
***
An hour and bottle of wine later, Bria and I laugh hysterically at the poor news reporter.
He can barely hold his umbrella in the wind and rain. His hair is flying around him as he speaks rapidly and urgently. I don't have a clue what he's saying but if certainly sounds important.
"The poor bastard!" Bria's accent is more pronounced when she's drunk and I love it. It sounds so elegant coming from her lips. Even with the few slurs thrown in.
"How long do you think they'll make him stand out there?" I gasp out through my fits of laughter.
She shakes her head and clutches her stomach. "I don't know!" She breathes.
As if trying to shake us from our stupor, a heavy gust of wind and rain slaps against the massive windows of the apartment. If I didn't know better, I'd be worried they'd shatter in this weather.
Thunder clapped somewhere in the distance and I stare at the window into the disappearing sky. A few seconds later there was a flash, and a strike of lightening lit up the sky.
"Fuck," I breathed out. "Do you think they're okay?"
Bria's laughter has quieted as we watched the windows. "They're fine," She reaches for my hand and squeezes my fingers. "Believe me, they've had a lot of things try to kill them, a storm is nothing." I almost laugh at that but I only manage a small huff. "Let's distract you, yes? Let's keep playing?"
She pushes my wine closer and then picks up her cards with her free hand. Her other remains in mine, in my lap. I swallow and grab my cards.
"Do you have any fives?" I ask.
"Go Fish."
I'm not sure how she makes that sound sexy but she does.
"Do you have any kings?" She asks.
I do. I do have a king. But her fingers are wrapped in mine. Glancing up at her, I nod and slip my fingers out of hers. She doesn't move her hand except to mold it to my thigh. Heat floods down my stomach and I try not to press my legs together.
My fingers caress hers as I hand her the card. She just smiles and slips the card into her hand.
"Uhm, do you have any eights?"
She leans closer to me. I can't move. My entire body frozen and strung so fucking tight. "Go Fish," She whispers against my lips. She leaves me hanging in the balance for a moment. Staring at her lips and the space between hers and mine before she kisses me. I drop my cards and reach for her. Pulling her closer by the back of her neck. She lets out a soft groan and it's so hot I can barley stand it.
Bria sits up on her knees and pulls us chest to chest. Her nipples are hard under her cropped sweater and it's easy to tell she's not wearing a bra.
Our lips move together, her tongue gently running along my bottom lip. I open for her and brush our tongues together, moaning into her mouth.
But suddenly, realization hits me and I pull back. "I can't," I pant. "Y-you and I Isaiah are- I can't."
Bria runs her hands down my waist and I try not to shiver.
"Don't worry love, Isaiah and I are open."
"Like," I hesitate. "In an open relationship?"
She pulls me close again and leans in to kiss my jaw. "Open to women, I guess I should say." She clarifies.
"But Isaiah isn't here..." I try to focus on what I'm saying and not the way her lips are trailing down my neck but it's near impossible.
"No," She sucks at the base of my neck and my head falls back. "But he can see us."
"What?" I snap my head up to look at her. Bria lazily raises her head from my neck and motions to a tiny black device in the corner. Looking around- they're everywhere. I don't know how I didn't notice them before.
Thunder claps in the distance and I jump. Bria grins and leans in to kiss my lips. I kiss her but I pull away quickly. "You're telling me, they can see us?" I stare at her large amber eyes. So warm and stunning.
She nods. "It was just a kiss. I imagine they're not upset," She leans down to brush a kiss across my collarbone and her fingers dip to run down my leggings and down my center. My head falls back and I can barely hear what she says next but I do: "Should we give them something to be upset about, Ivy?"