Page 13 of My Pucking Life

The men are all at their pregame meeting, so it's just us girls at the house. I talked Runa and Miss Tilly into watching Twilight with me, and watching them watch the movie has been almost more fun than watching it with Roman.

“Vampires that sparkle?” Runa snorts. “You've got to be shitting me. I wonder how they feel about this monstrosity,” she wheezes, doubled over in laughter. Her laugh is the contagious kind where I could have no idea why she was laughing, but if she's laughing, I'm laughing. And, apparently, so is Miss Tilly.

When we all recover from our ten-minute fit of laughter, my mind returns to me and registers what she's just said. “Wait, vampires are real too?” I don't know why I'm surprised, but the guys hadn't said it so directly, so I hadn't given it any more thought.

Runa’s head ticks to the left when she looks at me. “Really? I thought Roman caught you up on everything you'd been missing?”

I just shrug, because as usual, I don't know how much I don't know.

“Yes, vampires are also real, but they’re so much different than the movies. Like, they obviously do not sparkle,” she scoffs, but I can tell she's trying not to erupt into another fit of laughter. “They do prefer less sunny areas, but only because it's more comfortable. They can be in the sun now, thanks to a tonic they developed with the white witches about a millennia ago, but the stronger UV rays still make them uncomfortable. One I met explained that it feels like wearing a wool bodysuit.”

“Oof, that does sound awful. What other mythical things are real?” I ask, sipping on a passion fruit green tea from the café we had lunch delivered from.

“All of them,” she says with too much seriousness. I start to laugh, but she gives me that head-tilt look again, and I realize she's serious.

Setting my cup down on the coffee table, I ask, “Wait, really? What about…dragons?”

She nods her head, slightly bobbing it left to right like she's weighing how to explain herself. “Yes and no. The—”

“What do you mean, yes and no?” I laugh.

“Well, it depends who you ask. If you ask more direct people who stop at what they're told, like my brother, he would probably say they used to exist, but I believe they're still out there.”

I nod my head, understanding what she means. “So, like, with people who believe in aliens and angels? Some believe, and others are firm in their stance that some things just aren't possible.”

“Exactly like that. They are, or were, shifters, you know? Dragons. I think they just got tired of being demonized for their beast forms and decided it was easier to disappear. When you're raised being told how impossible something is, it's easier to just remain a secret…” Her voice lowers as darker times flood her features.

Leaning forward, I take her hand in mine. “You're not there anymore, and you never have to go back. That place in your mind isn't needed anymore. Fuck your father—not literally because eww—but you know what I mean. Don't let him shadow you. I'm not,” I finish, sitting taller and trying to sound braver than I am.

Runa gives me a weak smile and nods. I don't push her, and we return to watching the movie while she keeps pointing out the cringey moments everyone knows and loves.

Miss Tilly just watches us, taking everything in and not interjecting. I think it's killing her to sit still and watch the movie with us, but it's good for her to rest. I've never seen someone constantly need to be doing something the way she does.

The men arrive home just before the ending credits start rolling, and as soon as I hear the door open, at least two of them groan before Benny laughs. “Why are you torturing them with that mess?”

“It's been very educational.” Runa tries to keep a straight face and hold in her laughter, but it ends up just making her release a raspberry sound. All laughter is forgotten when Eris comes through with that new constant nasty look on his face. Runa folds in on herself, sinking into the safe embrace of the couch. Unluckily for Eris, Dolos and Roman see it at the same time and stomp after him before slamming a door, and I can only barely hear the rumbles of their shouting.

Returning my attention to Runa, I say, “Hey, I'm sorry. It'll be okay eventually.”

She nods, but it's one of those nods you give to someone just to be nice and hope they'll shut up. So I do. Shut up, I mean. We sit on the couch and cozy up in our blankets, ready to watch New Moon until it's time to get ready.

10

I've barely latched the door shut when Dolos rams into Eris like a freight train. “What the actual fuck is wrong with you?” he shouts, completely and totally exasperated by his twin. “Like, I knew some shit was bothering you, so I kept covering, but this is getting fucking ridiculous. Can't you feel how you're hurting her?!” Dolos looks out of his mind with worry. Likely for both his brother and his mate.

Eris slaps Dolos' arms away and shoves him back. “Go! Take care of her. Make her happy. All that shit. I. Can't.”

“Why?” I demand.

“You two won't get it. Just back off and—”

“You're not rejecting our fucking mate, you asshole. Why the fuck would you even consider that?” Dolos shuts him down.

I've never seen these two like this, and we've been together since the beginning. They can be serious when the situation has called for it, more like a mask than actually taking something seriously, but I've never seen Eris this serious and down on himself like this. I’ve never seen Dolos this devastated. “Will someone just tell me what the fuck is going on before I make you?” I level them both with a stare that says I'm serious, but it's apparently not as good as I once thought.

“You wouldn't,” Eris scoffs, and I see red.

“I absolutely will if you force my hand. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

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