Someone Lost, Something Gained

From: Niall
> Can you watch DB today?

To: Niall
< What a dumb question. You’re supposed to be SMART. Why the hell would I not wanna watch him?
< In case you still aren’t picking up what I’m putting down, bring him. I need to see the cutie.
< And kiss you, I guess

The delivered notice ticks to read, but Niall doesn’t reply. Veda isn’t surprised. They saw each other two days ago. Their contact has been sporadic over the last three days, since their date, due to working opposite schedules. They haven’t even had much of a chance to text each other because of the long hours.

And if he feels anything like Veda does, he is probably rushing to get things together so he can be here as quickly as possible.

Veda hates that this is what their relationship has become so early in its formative stage, but years of being neglected and pushed aside by her family means she is comfortable with long stretches of radio silence. It helps that each message from him overflows with apologies and promises to make it up to her whenever they see each other next. She might be falling too fast; she doesn’t care.

Niall shows up within the hour, and Veda has no more patience than it takes to let him step into the house. Hattie calls for DB ad leads him to the kitchen while Veda throws her arms around her boyfriend’s neck. He comes willingly, kissing her back with just as much enthusiasm. He tastes like mint and coffee, and she wants to chase it every day for the rest of her life. Way too soon for that, Mitchell.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispers before his lips are on hers again.

Veda giggles but doesn’t bother with responding. Her head swims from the lack of oxygen and the strength of his body pinning her to the wall. Her fingers curl against his shoulders, digging into the skin beneath his scrubs, and he groans into her mouth when her nails drag roughly across his shoulderblades. He tries pulling away, tries ending the kiss, but he seems just as unable to quit. His body reacts against hers, hips pressing forward into her. Veda breathes out a moan as her blood boils in her veins.

“Do you have to work today?” she whines.

“Yeah, love, I do.”

“Can’t you tell them you came down with something?”

He chuckles hoarsely as his lips move to the side of her neck; a sharp nip to her throat, and Veda is lost. Lost in the sensation, the heat of him so near, the soft brush of his fingers as his hand slides beneath the waistband of her cotton shorts. Her cousin is just in the other room, too close by for this to happen, but Veda doesn’t stop him. Her head falls back, thunks against the wall, and Niall continues biting and sucking at her skin as his fingers drifts along her core. His breath gusts hot, unevenly, across her overheated skin.

Clapping a hand over her mouth, Veda moves against him, closes her eyes when her stomach lurches. It’s not enough, but it’s almost too much. She wants more than this. She needs more than this. This is all she can have right now, though, so she bites back her whimpers when he curls his fingers just right. His thumb strokes against her, awkward and stilted and so perfect, as his teeth press firmly into the skin over her jugular. Veda comes apart on his hand with his name spilling from her lips.

He flashes a sharp, bright grin as she pants heavily. The wall and his body are all that’s keeping her on her feet; her knees have turned to jelly, and her thighs quiver too much to provide stability. Niall kisses her gently, a wild contrast to his hand only a moment ago. His gaze tracks over her face, and she revels in the way his blue eyes have gone dark with want. She cards her fingers through his hair, stifling a breathless giggle before kissing him again.

“I really wish you had the time.”

He steps back and wipes his fingers on her shorts, laughing at the way her face screws up in disgust. “After that? So do I. But unfortunately, I should go.”

“Did you plan this?” she asks when he continues stands there, and he cocks his head.

“I knew I wanted to make you feel good at some point,” he whispers, coming closer, and Veda’s breath hitches when his lips ghost across hers. “And God, I’m going to remember those sounds you made for a very, very long time. But no, I wasn’t planning on it. You just… you kissed me, and I needed to do it now.”

“Thanks, I hate you.”

Thankfully, Niall laughs as he kisses her again. “I hate you, too.”

“Sure you don’t have time for me to help you out there?” she murmurs with a cursory glance between them.

“I’m leaving before you get me in any more trouble.”

Veda gapes and swats at his chest. “More trouble? When did I ever get you in any trouble?”

“You’re gonna be the death of me, Ve-Veda.”

Niall leaves with one last kiss, a chaste thing that sends Veda into a fit of giggles. She closes the door behind him and inhales unsteadily before turning toward the stairs. She asks Hattie to watch the dog then heads up to her room. She needs a shower - and privacy to cope with what just happened. He hadn’t kissed her outside of IKEA like she wanted him to, but now he’s turned her inside-out with only his hand and mouth. It makes no senses.

What could it possibly mean? Did she have something on her face after dinner, and Niall was too kind to point it out? Veda sighs and shoves her shorts down to her feet. Her heart is still racing from the events of downstairs. The thrill of possibly being caught. Kicking the shorts toward the hamper, she pads into the bathroom and starts up the shower before staring at her reflection in the mirror.

Splotches of vivid pink spread high on her cheeks, a brightness in her eyes that seems so out of place. Kiss-swollen lips and red blossoms on her throat from his teeth. Veda watches her hand raise, touch the marks he left; her fingers tremble and blood buzzes in her veins. He has flipped her entire world in the most amazing way, a taste of what’s to come. She hopes it happens again. Soon.

She steps under the spray, hot water pricking at her skin with needlepoints as she closes her eyes. Guilt eats at the edges of her happiness. Niall had made her forget about everything - the importance of his job, Hattie, how Granddad would approve of her doing something so filthy at risk of her cousin catching them. She’d been so tempted to beg Niall to stay. She’d tried.

Maybe she had been single for too long, if only three days away from him could affect her this much. If she finds it so easy to pretend reality and responsibilities don’t exist. Even with the shame of neediness, Veda leans against the wall and blows out a breath. She lets herself imagine the scrape of teeth against her skin, the heat of his body pressed to hers. It isn’t long before her knees are shaking once more.

Hattie raises a brow when Veda shuffles into the kitchen thirty minutes later. “How dare you two scar poor Davie here.”

“What?”

“He wanted to go back to you and Niall, but I figured you were, uh, busy.” Hattie giggles when Veda’s cheeks burn. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask for details. But I took the pupper here out back until I was sure Niall was gone.”

Veda ignores the knowing gleam in her cousin’s eyes as she ducks down to scoop the puggle into her arms. David Barkie tries to lick the stray drops of water left in her hair, but she keeps her head pulled back. She just washed her hair, she doesn’t need dog slobber in it. Hattie follows her to the living room, failing to hide her smirk.

“We’re never talking about this,” Veda vows with a scowl, and Hattie lifts her hands in surrender.

“Trust me, V, I don’t wanna hear how good that ‘o’ was.”



Veda groans when the knocks sounds on the door again. Her shifts over the past few days have been long, the last one turning into a double without warning. Veda only got home an hour ago, and she’s spent that time trying to fall asleep on the couch. It’s been a struggle, since the couch isn’t nearly as comfortable as her bed, but damn if she wasn’t desperate to keep trying. Unfortunately, another knock forces her to her feet, and she shuffles toward the door as Hattie appears at the top of the stairs.

“Mom?”

Debbie smooths out the front of her pantsuit, studiously ignoring Veda to stare at her daughter. “You’ve proved your point. Now it’s time to come home.”

“Okay, first of all? I’m already home, Mom.” Hattie joins Veda at the door. A united front against Debbie. “Second, I wasn’t trying to prove any point. You kicked me out. It wasn’t my choice to leave.”

Somehow, though she really shouldn’t be, Veda is still surprised at the sharp nail that jabs against her cousin’s collarbone. Hattie’s subtle wince sends red across Veda’s vision. Her hands itch with the desire to remove Debbie from the stoop with force.

“Henrietta Joan, you get your ass in the car this instant, or I swear to God I will -”

“I feel like I should remind you there’s a restraining order in place, Deborah,” Veda announces, and her voice shakes with ill-concealed anger. “It’s against you, too. So should I go ahead and call the cops, or are you going to leave of your own volition?”

With her immaculate makeup and dark hair expertly twisted into a perfect chignon even after a day at work, Debbie would be beautiful. Veda knows if she didn’t loathe her aunt so much, she would be able to admit that Debbie is definitely a good-looking woman. But with her face twisted up in rage, Debbie is anything but attractive right now. She pivots abruptly on her heel, storming down the steps.

“I’m going to have you arrested and charged with kidnapping, Veda, just you wait.”

“I kidnapped you?” she asks in a low voice, her head cocked toward Hattie.

Hattie giggles and waves her fingers at her mother before the Focus peels away. “If anything, I’d be the one who gets arrested for attempted unlawful squatting.”

Veda closes the door and heads back to the couch. Her phone lights up with a text message, and she drops to sprawl across the cushions as she unlocks the device. It’s the third text from Clarissa since Veda got home. A continued argument that Veda wasn’t even participating in, demanding that she take tomorrow off; ‘Alice is taking your shift. That’s final’ is a pretty damn solid to not bother fighting her boss on this. She lets out a quiet cheer and tosses her phone aside, groaning when her spine pops.

“-nothing when the bill dropped forty bucks a month?” Hattie is saying when Veda wakes; she rolls her eyes at whatever she hears. “Yes, it was her idea to switch me to her plan.”

Veda nudges her cousin with her foot, mouthing, “Who is it?”

Instead of answering, Hattie pulls the phone from her and puts the call on speakerphone. A sigh comes through the speakers, then John’s voice fills the air. Veda sits up, reaches for her cousin’s hand, and Hattie clings to the contact.

“Look, Henry, I just… I wanted to say I’m sorry that your mother did what she did.”

“She kicked me out, Dad.” Hattie scrubs a hand over her face, blowing out a breath. “Go ahead, say it. Admit that your wife of thirty-three years kicked your only daughter out of the house because she’s fucking immature and couldn’t handle the fact I still talk to the cousin our entire family hates.”

“You’re right, and-”

“Damn right I’m right. I, I don’t get it, Dad. JJ is a dramatic asshole who refuses to get a job and move out, and Marshall does enough coke to rival a drug cartel. But sure, I’m the bad guy for maintaining contact with Veda.”

“I’m not trying to argue, Henry.”

“Neither am I. I’m just done letting people dictate my life. Yes, she’s my mother, but she can’t control me. I’m an adult. And guess what. If Mom is mad at me, Mom can get over it, or she can piss off. I don’t care either way.”

Veda bites back a squeal of pride. It isn’t often that Hattie stands up for herself, especially against her parents. This is a rare sight, but it looks good on her. She grins as if she knows what Veda is thinking, her cheeks flushing pink. John sighs again.

“Do you need anything?”

“Nah, Veda and I are doing just fine.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m not angry with her. Tell her I said thank you.”

“Tell her yourself,” Hattie says as she passes the phone over to Veda as John asks if Veda is there.

“Hey, Uncle John. Long time since we talked last.”

“It has been. I’m sorry. I know Debbie and them have treated you, well, horribly. I wish I could have made any difference. I’m just the outsider who married into the family, though, so who listens to me.”

“Dude, I was born into the family, and it doesn’t seem to matter. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

John snorts and exhales sharply. Veda can see in her mind the defeat that fills his hazel eyes, the lines on his face that speak volumes of the Hell he’s been through while married to Debbie and raising the sons he has. “Well, thank you for taking Henry in. It shouldn’t have been your responsibility.”

“I’m not ‘taking her in’, Uncle John. All I’m doing is giving her a roof over her head. I love her, and I have the room to do so. Granddad would’ve done the same. She’s doing everything else on her own, because she’s a grown-ass woman no matter how hard Deborah tries to treat her like a child.”

“I’m aware of that, and I’m incredibly proud of the woman she’s grown to be.”

Hattie covers her face with a throw pillow, shoulders beginning to shake, and Veda runs a hand along her back. Sighing, she gives Hattie privacy by turning away as she says, “Debbie is an awful human. Hell, most of the family is. None of that has anything to do with your daughter. Why should I punish her for the sins of her relatives? I appreciate your gratitude, but it’s completely unnecessary.”

“I suppose I’m just thankful that you’re not vindictive,” John chuckles, and Hattie lets out a giggle as Veda frowns.

“Oh, no, I am. I’m the most vindictive person I know. Just not to people who don’t deserve it.” She laughs as her cousin shoves her shoulder. “Don’t be rude, Henry. Fair warning, though, John. If your wife ever comes around here again, I’ll have her arrested for violating the restraining order.”

“Understood.”

And isn’t it relieving that John doesn’t sound angry about that. He actually sounds hopeful - for what, Veda has no clue, but she accepts it anyway. He tells Veda to let him know if she or Hattie need anything. Veda thanks him absentmindedly, moving to the front window and pushing aside the curtain. Warning her uncle to delete the call from his log, she excuses herself and hands the phone to Hattie, hurrying outside.

Nonna has Niall at a standstill at the base of the steps, chattering away as he listens with polite interest. Veda bites her lower lip and stifles a giggle. He is far too kind to ever let on that the last thing he wants to do is listen to Nonna’s rambling. The grandmother is oblivious to it. Veda steps carefully down the steps, ignoring the way the hot cement burns the bottoms of her bare feet, and clears her throat.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I’d like to steal my boyfriend back if possible.”

“Oh, Veda, he’s so charming! I see why you adore him.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty amazing,” Veda agrees as she laces her fingers with Niall’s, smiling up at him. “And I haven’t seen him in, like, days, so I’m abducting him now.”

“Well, you must join us for dinner sometime, caro. Anyone Veda loves is always welcome.”

“Nonna, you can’t just adopt all the people I care about.” Veda shakes her head, shifts her weight between her feet, and Niall chokes on a laugh when Nonna raises a brow. Her brown eyes swim in mischief.

“And you will stop me?”

“C’mon, Niall, before she tries to stuff you full of cannoli and I have to roll you back across the street.” Veda steps forward to kiss Nonna’s cheek, inhaling the scent of flour and herbs. “Love you, Nonna.”

Nonna chuckles and orders Veda to find a day she and Niall are off work, and Veda halfheartedly promises as she leads him into the house. He closes the door behind them, and Veda crowds him against the wall to kiss him. She hadn’t lied; she’s missed him fiercely over the last few days, and the five minutes they had together three days ago wasn’t enough. It never will be. He huffs out a laugh against her lips, snaking his arms around her waist, and pulls her even closer.

“Okay, you two are gross. I’m almost not hungry anymore.”

Veda jerks back at Hattie’s voice, groaning. “Screw you.”

“A, incest is wrong. B, your boyfriend is right there. You should screw him instead.” Hattie beams at Niall and waves enthusiastically. “Hi. Let’s go, you’re helping me make dinner.”