‹ Prequel: Even Lovers Drown
Status: Paused for now

Happily Ever After

Chapter 20

Cadeau followed Sage through the hallway. Sage hoped that her position in front of Cadeau would give her ample opportunity to focus on the curves of her body and on the swing of her hips and how her swimsuit bottoms accentuated her behind, but she doubted Cadeau was taking this fantastic opportunity.

Pity.

Sage reached for the backdoor’s doorknob with every intention of opening it and letting Cadeau walk through but stopped short. She’d forgotten something, something very important, something she intended to do when Cadeau got into the house but had forgotten about at the sight of her ass.

She did have a nice ass.

And Sage needed to stop imagining squeezing it so she could do what she wanted to do.

“Hey,” Sage said, turning to Cadeau. Expectant blue eyes stared back at her. “I know it makes you uncomfortable, but Andy’s going to want to talk more about the video today.”

Maybe. If he remembered. He seemed more nervous about making sure the band didn’t do anything to make Cadeau leave than addressing the video, considering the thirty minute long talk he tried to give the band. But that was beyond the point. Sage just needed an excuse to bring the video up.

Because she owed Cadeau a special apology.

“Oh,” Cadeau mumbled.

“I’m sorry. It’s the only thing we can come up with right now.”

“It’s okay. I understand.” She smiled. “I figured I may as well do it.”

Sage didn’t hide her shock. She hadn’t been expecting Cadeau to go through with it after her abrupt departure when the video had been brought up. “Really? That’s great.”

And she did what she had been longing to do again since practice on Wednesday.

She pulled Cadeau into a hug.

Cadeau only tensed a moment—from shock, Sage assumed—before melting into the hug. She was so warm and her breasts were nice and firm and her forehead rested in just the right spot on Sage’s shoulder and Sage never wanted to let her go. She just wanted to hold Cadeau forever, cuddle into her womanly warmth and find the comfort she needed.

“You know, if you need help figuring out what to say or if you need someone to talk to, we’re all here.” Sage pulled back enough to look into Cadeau’s eyes. She hoped her own expression radiated friendly support, not desire to jump her on the spot. “You can talk to us.”

Cadeau’s smile broadened. It was pretty, complete with full lips and perfect, white teeth, and it looked even better up close.

“Thanks.”

Her blue eyes sparkled in the most enticing way, radiating happiness what hadn’t been there moments ago and gratefulness for Sage’s offer. Pretty. So pretty.

Everything about the moment was perfect. The way Cadeau fit in her arms, the way Cadeau smiled up at her, the way her stomach fluttered. Perfect, all of it. Nothing else mattered but them and their embrace.

“Shit, Sage, don’t fuck her in the middle of the doorway. People walk here.”

Sage snapped from her reverie, eyes darting to the culprit of the rude comment, though she already knew which of her ridiculous band mates would make the statement.

Hunter, that bastard, always ruining her moments.

Sage was going to get revenge.

She didn’t let go of Cadeau, kept her arms firmly in place around her waist, because, damn it, she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Cadeau’s arms loosened, but she didn’t let go, and from the corner of Sage’s eyes she could see Cadeau’s amused gaze on her.

Sage was going to extract the worst revenge she could muster on Hunter.

“Where’s boytoy?” Sage asked, “Laying naked in my hammock?”

He wasn’t thrown off by her question, but she didn’t expect him to be. He thrived on banter, lived to make people uncomfortable. He was a strange leech creature who managed to live with humans. But the band tolerated him, evil leech creature that he was, because he was a good bassist.

Okay, maybe the band liked him.

Only a little bit.

An amused smile spread on his face. In a voice meant for talking to a child, he said, “It’s called restraint, Sage.” He tapped her nose to further the image of adult correcting a child, then looked at Cadeau, shaking his head in mock-disappointment. “She just can’t grasp the concept. You know how they are.”

Damn him.

Cadeau fidgeted in Sage’s arms but didn’t attempt to wiggle her way free. Good, Hunter’s stupidity wasn’t working on her. Now, if only he could disappear to make Sage’s life easier.

“Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” Cadeau said, tagging on a chuckle to humor him.

Hunter’s eyes honed in on Sage again, twinkling with delight. “You going to let go of her so we can bring the food out?”

Realization set in at his statement. She was still holding Cadeau. Very tightly. Very stupidly. She’d been refusing to let go at first because of Hunter’s ridiculous intrusion, just to show him his stupid mouth couldn’t get in the way of her enjoyment, but she had maintained her hold throughout the conversation. She just kept holding Cadeau as if that was normal.

She was an idiot.

Sage casually let her arms slide from Cadeau’s waist. “Right.” She cleared her throat, then met Cadeau’s gaze. “Everyone’s outside… through there…” She motioned lamely to the door.

Cadeau’s eyebrow formed an elegant arch, and her lips threatened to tip upward in a smirk or laugh, Sage wasn’t sure which. “I think I got it.”

Great, Cadeau thought she was an idiot, too. Sage apparently didn’t need Hunter to make her look foolish in front of someone. She did that quite well on her own. She clearly didn’t know how to pursue women like Cadeau, women as feminine as Sage was. She was used to being pursued, being the one to laugh at nervous attempts to woo her, and now, she was on the opposite side, and she didn’t know what to do. Fantastic.

“Good,” Sage said, “I’m going to go… yeah. Come on, Hunter.”

He didn’t move. He remained in place with his arms crossed and a mocking smile firmly on his face. “You are such a dork.”

Forcefully, through gritted teeth, she said, “Come. On. Hunter.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “As you wish.” Then, he turned to Cadeau, smiled nicely for once, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Thank Sage,” Cadeau said, “She convinced me to come.”

His devilish gaze returned to Sage, the suggestion clear in his eyes. He purposely understood the sentence wrong, latched on to the double meaning hidden there. Sage groaned, turned, and stomped to the kitchen before she could strangle Hunter. Two sets of laughter followed her, one loud, boisterous, and obviously Hunter’s, the other muffled with a lovely ring that could only be Cadeau’s. How pretty and it was directed at Sage’s idiocy.

This night was not going as planned.

Sage huffed, shuffling into her kitchen, demoralized. What had she been thinking? She couldn’t make Cadeau like her. For once, she was actually trying to attract another woman and she was failing miserably.

Her foster parents were right.

Taking a deep breath, Sage leaned against the counter, shoulders slumped, head hanging, blue hair creating a curtain. No, her foster parents weren’t right. They would never be right. She wasn’t doomed to be some monster for the rest of her life, incapable of interacting with and attracting normal people, and if she wanted a pretty femme, she could damn well get her.

Couldn’t she?

“So,” Hunter’s voice jolted her from thought, “you going to fuck her?”

“If you would stop being a douche,” Sage grumbled.

“I can’t. It’s in my nature.”

Sage didn’t respond, didn’t even move to give him some form of reaction. She remained leaning against the counter, slumped over and basking in self-pity. Hunter, being the discomfort-loving leech he was, picked up on her distress with only a second pause.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

He sounded concerned. Sage really must have looked pretty pitiful for him to become concerned for her. Better that than picking on her, she supposed. He’d be useful now. Kind of. Maybe.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Sage said.

And she looked at him, letting her hair fall from her face. His normally harsh face softened in sympathy. He felt bad for her. She felt bad for herself. She was fumbling, failing, at something she should have been able to do with ease, and she couldn’t handle that. But he understood, he had to. Their situations were too similar for him not to understand.

“Sage,” he started, walking to her side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You’ll figure it out.”

“I thought I had.”

She’d spent years trying to rebuild herself, figuring out how to communicate, learning to care for people, and Cadeau was throwing everything she’d learned into a chaotic mess. This wasn’t supposed to be that hard. This was supposed to be like every other relationship. This wasn’t what Sage expected.

“Cadeau is different,” Hunter said.

“Obviously.”

“So you have to do things differently.” He said it as if it were so simple. Do things differently and she would run right into Sage’s arms just to be pushed away again when Sage got bored. “You don’t need to be perfect. Be yourself. She’ll appreciate that.”

Sage’s eyebrows drew together, her lips parted. Be herself?

“I’m a bitch.”

A patient smile she had never seen before pulled his lips upward and brought a hint of amusement to his eyes. Hunter’s kind side was being provoked into action.

“Yeah, you are a bitch,” he said, “but there’s more to you than that.”
♠ ♠ ♠
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Dakota Ray