"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked, wanting to wallow in my bed with the blinds closed and gorge myself on ice cream and chips.
"We're like, an hour out at least from this high hitting us. Maybe two? What else do you want to do while we wait for the edibles to kick in?" Revel gave me a look and ... I just sort of gave in. I could sit in bed, binge eat, watch reality TV, and then fall asleep surrounded by nightmares.
Or I could go outside in the sun (still freezing cold but sunny) and swim in my pool with my best friend and ... a beautiful woman.
"You made brownies with my babies?" Chris asked, snapping a selfie and then standing up off the bed. "Counter, I'm assuming? Because being the only straight person in a room full of high flyers blows harder than my ex boyfriend blew his secretary." I nodded and he gave us both a salute, sashaying out of the room. Some folks thought it was irresponsible to give a dust addict marijuana, but I didn't consider it a drug. Sorry, but while it was possible to get addicted to a THC high (people got addicted to food, FFS), I was a hippie at heart: pot was the peoples' medicine, bro.
"Help me with this?" Revel asked, the curvy line of her back drawing my attention as she pointed to the red lace of her bra.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I murmured as I stepped forward and reached out carefully to unhook Revel's clasp. "You're going to try and squeeze into one of my tops?"
"Actually," she said as she turned around and flashed me a chest that I would've cried for as a teenager. I'd once believed my boobs would grow that big if I rubbed them with a special lotion everyday. Ah, to be thirteen again. I'd actually held off losing my virginity to Fin until we were both fifteen because I was waiting for boobs. Never happened, but I was finally happy with what I had.
Also, I was most definitely staring at Revel's nipples.
"I'm planning on going topless," she continued, smiling wickedly at me. "Your friend doesn't care. I'll wear bottoms though, if only to protect his rainbow eyes from the power of my cunt."
"I had a really hard night," I said, and Revel paused as I stepped up beside her and grabbed a suit. "But honestly, this is helping." I snatched up a white bikini with pink cherry blossoms on it and ducked into the bathroom to change.
Also, I locked the door.
Because Revel ... really was fucking hot as hell.
Ugh.
Revel had brought a bottle of wine with her, and when she'd gone out front to get it (still topless, actually), she'd also called for a glass service to stop by and deal with my car window. Lucky me. Also, Mik was a serious asshole.
"This stuff will melt your taste buds," she promised as she sat on the edge of the pool and poured me a glass of some sweet white wine. "Even amateur winos know this is good stuff."
I lifted the glass to my lips, swirled the liquid around inside of it, and took a sniff.
Smelled like ... wine to me.
"You should be getting a hint of fruit on the back of your tongue," she continued as I downed the entire glass and then set it back on the brick edging that surrounded the pool. I kicked back and let myself float in the water.
"Sorry, but I don't taste anything but wine. Wine is wine, right?" Looking up at the clear, blue sky above us, I reveled in the ice cold air on the top half of my body, and the steamy water underneath. Between my thighs, there was this distinctly sweet soreness that reminded me I'd finally gotten laid last night.
Laid.
And then trashed by Mik.
But now, I was kind of being celebrated, wasn't I?
"Wine is wine, Inari's tits, I can't believe you just said that." I sat up and dropped my feet to the bottom of the pool as Chris sunbathed on a chair nearby, and I enjoyed the energetic, uplifting little high I had. Revel was watching me swim as she sipped her drink. When she set it aside and slid in with me, I found myself moving back until I was pressed into the stone wall on the opposite side of the pool.
"Some people are wine people and I respect that; I'm just not one of them." She swam closer to me, her red hair trailing in the water. When she got close, she reached out and lifted a loose strand of my hair.
"You smell like cherries, you know that?" she said, her eyes looking right into mine.
"You smell like pine and oak," I blurted, and her smile, well, it was naughty as hell. Revel moved in closer to me and put a hand on either side of my shoulders, pinning me in and pressing her full, ripe breasts to my chest.
"I got a job in town, so ... I can stay a while. They gave me this posh little apartment in a high rise, but I'd rather stay here with you."
"I don't even know you," I said, but Revel just pushed in closer, the softness of her breasts lighting up all sorts of strange parts inside of me, parts that I'd never felt come to life before unless I was looking at Riot's arms, or Fin's ass, or Mik's mouth ... Shit.
"I'm clean; I can pay rent. Look, we're both kitsune, and we gotta stick together. Plus, you have a lot of shit to work out and well, I'm like basically a therapist."
"How so?" I asked as she leaned in close to me, bringing that sweet, feminine scent of hers with her. But there was a strength in her gaze and in her body language that said I wasn't getting out of this so easily. She wanted me, and she was going to make a damn good play for it.
"I talk my clients off cliffs all the time," Revel whispered, putting her mouth up against mine, reminding me how goddamn good our first kiss was. "That's my job, de-escalating situations."
"I feel like you're really trying to escalate this one right now."
Revel smiled and then flicked her green gaze down to my lips.
"Tell me I can kiss you right now, and if you hate it, I'll leave you alone forever." Revel leaned in close, putting her mouth right up against mine. When I said nothing, she turned her head to the side and bit my earlobe instead.
"Okay," I said as she started to pull away, treading water, her bare breasts just barely obscured by the ripples.
"Okay, I can kiss you?" she asked, and I shrugged. Why not? The high from the brownies was setting in, mixing with the light buzz from the wine. I felt goddamn great, so why not?
I nodded and Revel swam close, putting her mouth back up against mine. She pressed in close, sliding her tongue along my lower lip and making me groan. But just when I thought she was going to take it further, kiss me like she had at the restaurant, she pulled away with a laugh and swam to the opposite edge of the pool.
"That's all you get for now. But, like I said, if you hated it, I can just leave." She pulled herself out of the pool and sat on the edge, smiling at me. Her wet red hair dripped over her shoulders, not quite long enough to cover the pale pink spots of her nipples. My bikini bottoms were way too small on her, showing off the entirety of her rose tattoo as it trailed over her hip and down her thigh.
"You're a predator, you know that?" I said as she picked up the bottle of wine by the neck and chugged it.
"So I can move in with you then?" she continued as she put the bottle between her thighs and smirked at me. "Not as a lover or a fuck buddy or anything, just a roommate. For now." She took another drink as I glared and then flicked some water at Chris to get his attention.
"You don't need my advice, doll face," he said, lifting his shades up to peer down at me. "If you want the hot lesbian chick to move into your house then go for it. You only live once, you know." He dropped his sunglasses back into place and relaxed back into the chair.
Taking another look at the buxom beauty sitting on the edge of my pool, I seriously did think about it. I was alone (except for Ziff) in an obscene fucking house with nobody but my thoughts for company. I had a complex relationship with my exes, a strange sexual attraction to my boss, and a job that was likely to kill me any day of the week. So why not let this chick move in for the hell of it?