Page 44 of Incubus with Benefits
Chapter 20
Lily
IsankintoGigi’svelvet couch, basking in all the magic that surrounded me.
Her apartment was packed with magical goodies. There was a cross-stitched wall hanging of a raven in front of a crescent moon. A bunch of succulents and one spikey cactus sat on the windowsill. A handmade afghan was tossed over the back of the couch, adding a splash of color to the deep red velvet. Crystals,candles, books, and curiosities lined every shelf and filled every cabinet, reminding me just how boring my own place was.
She lived above her coffee shop and had been there ever since her grandmother passed it down to her. Recently, she and Marcus, who owned the gym next door, had knocked down the dividing walls between their units and turned the space into one sprawling apartment. It reminded me a little of Julian’s place with its size. But where Julian’s furniture consisted of large, stately, and beautiful pieces, his home was relatively empty of knickknacks. Gigi and Marcus’s home was the opposite. It was busy and chaotic, but in the best way.
All except for one corner, which must have been Marcus’s area because the desk there was sleek, clean, and minimalist.
And then there was Triscuit. Gigi’s African grey parrot was standing on a perch on top of his oversized cage, surrounded by a rainbow of toys, and watching Shadow suspiciously.
With magic involved, animals were usually able to get along, and the initial introduction went smoothly. But one could never tell. So until they knew each other better, I elected to keep Shadow close to me to prevent any mishaps. She didn’t mind, probably because she was distracted by a ball of yarn that had rolled under Gigi’s coffee table.
It was Saturday, which meant coven night. Saturdays were our unofficial weekly meeting, aka an excuse to hang out, eat snacks, drink wine, and pretend we were being productive. Last week we’d moved our day to Thursday and had gone out to Delerium, but tonight we were back to our usual routine.
I couldn’t believe it had already been over a week since I’d lost my job. The week had flown by quickly. I’d spent most of it at Julian’s in a facsimile of domestic bliss, both of us ignoring the fact that we’d gone from friends with benefits to practically playing house with Shadow as our furbaby.
Last night and the night before that, Julian had gone about his usual business at the club while I hid upstairs. No one except my two best friends and Gina knew I was staying there. And so far, I hadn’t had another run-in with the shadow creatures.
But I couldn’t hide there forever.
I’d spent some time fixing up my resume and sending it out. I’d only gotten one reply, a very disappointing rejection. I did, however, get a message from Steven, which I promptly deleted without reading. I also got a few pings through social media from my ex-coworkers, but nothing that would help my jobless situation.
The only reply I got was someone telling me they don’t hire people to steal code. I might have lost it and told them that if they continue repeating things that are not true, they’ll be talking to my lawyer. Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to get a reply back.
Just thinking about it had me seeing red. I reached for my glass of Malbec on the coffee table and took a swig, urging the wine to give me strength and calm.
“That’s totally unfair,” Penny said.
“Yeah, it fucking sucks,” I muttered, flopping back against the couch.
From the corner, Triscuit perked up. “FOCKING SOCKS!” he shrieked, loud enough to rattle the windows. Then he let out a maniacal laugh, followed by a dramatic throat-clearing noise, before screaming it again.
Shadow looked over at him, all like,What the fuck is wrong with that one? A cat would never!
I winced. I couldn’t believe that line still set the bird off. Back in college, Gigi had used the phrase one too many times, and Triscuit thought it was the best thing ever. We learned the only way to deal with it was to let him wear himself out. Sometimes it took ten minutes. Sometimes it took hours. The more we reacted to it, the longer it took, so now we just did our best to ignore him if it happened.
“Sorry, I forgot about that.” I narrowed my eyes at the bird. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
He fluffed his feathers and gave me a look that said he knew pretty damn well how cute he was.
Penny snorted.
Gigi looked up from her tarot deck and sighed. Just as Triscuit was about to let out another screech, she concentrated, and with a wave of her fingers a blanket of silence settled over the bird. “We’ll give it ten minutes.”
“While we wait, let’s get some official coven work done,” I said. “I did all the research I could, and I’m ready to start. Along with the application, they want to see an official website and first meeting notes. I’m using today for that, by the way. But we still need a name.”
My words were met with twin groans. This had been one of the reasons we’d quit way back when. We just couldn’t decide on a name. It felt almost silly naming what we had. We were just… us.
I dug into my purse and whipped out an old notebook I had Julian drive me to pick up earlier today.
Gigi gasped the moment she saw it. “I remember that! I haven’t seen it since college.”
“I can’t believe you still have it,” Penny said. “I thought you digitized it.”
I grinned at their reactions. “I did, but kept the original.” The book had our brainstorming notes from way back when.
