Page 51 of Puck My Life
I jerk around so quickly I slip, landing on my ass with a splash.
Vae stares down at me with huge eyes. “What happened?”
“That evil machine hates me.”
She snickers and steps down into the laundry water, wading through the two inch deep water to the back door. She pushes it open and lets out a cascade.
I get to my feet, trying to think of something clever or smart to say, but I have nothing. What kind of alpha am I if I can’t even do the washing? Why is it a skill I didn’t ever learn?
Vae sticks her hand in the washing machine and fishes out my clothes.
“I don't know what I did wrong,” I stress, feeling acutely embarrassed, which is not a normal feeling I have around Vae. She’s seen so much of my life, why do I suddenly care how she sees me now?
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Mal. The machine is broken.”
Broken? “It’s not my fault?”
“No. It was on the list of things we needed to replace. We just never got around to it.”
We? I like that, we. When she says we, it’s comforting, exciting, and makes me smile, but when Indy said we, I felt cold and mildly nauseous.
She steps back but doesn’t realise I’m right behind her. My arms go around her, locking her to me. It’s a familiar hold; everything about her is familiar. So why does this feel so different? Ever since that kiss, I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind.
She smells of honeycomb candy. Has she always smelled like that?
“Mal?”
I push my thoughts aside and smile as I lift her up off her feet and deposit her back on the two steps out of the water.
“Stay right there.”
“I can help-”
“I’ll do it.”
She’s quiet while I work, and I find her watching me with a strange expression more than once. By the time the floor is water-free, I don’t feel any less confused.
When I turn around, she’s leaning against the frame, arms crossed, plumping her breasts up and looking a sort of way that I’ve never seen her look before.
“I…” I stop because I have no idea what to say to her. All my thoughts are gone. The light is hitting her hazel eyes just so, making one look gold and the other green. She’s combed her fingers through her hair, so it’s messy but still falls in a black wave that I have never truly appreciated before.
“Mal?”
I shake my head and walk towards her, stopping so only the two steps separate us. She unfolds her arms, and an expression I don’t understand crosses her face before she puts on the fake smile I know so well and steps back.
“Shall we?”
“What are we doing today?”
She just walks into the kitchen and leans against the counter. She holds her hand out, and I drop my phone in it. Indy had been appalled that I let Vae go through my phone all the time, but it’s Vae.
She unlocks it and does something, only to hand it back to me.
“What did you do?”
“Changed the alarm tone to something I know you won’t sleep through.”
I want to be annoyed, but, honestly, it’s so thoughtful and Vae that I can’t, right up until I realise she’s only doing this because she wants to leave us.
