Текст книги "Berries and Greed"

Автор книги: Lily Mayne

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Текущая страница: 14 (всего у книги 33 страниц)

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Chapter Twenty-Four

Greid

Once Beryl had left for work and Tim had finished for the day, I started the painful process of trying to get my mother and sister out of the house. I’d never been very good at it.

“So,” Mom said briskly, as soon as it was just the three of us. “Beryl.”

Kiti turned to me with an overexaggerated look of interest. “Yeah. Beryl.”

I glared at her and shifted in my slouched position on the floor under the window, my back against the radiator. We’d moved into the living room after Mom had complained that she was too old to stand up for so long—she wasn’t—and the two of them were lounging back on the couch.

“She seems very nice,” Mom commented when I said nothing.

“She is,” I muttered.

“Are you… involved, kushka?” Mom coughed delicately into her fist. “Because not to be crass, but I birthed you, Greid. I know you are a… fully formed biological male. I can’t imagine that’s particularly pleasant for a human.”

My ears fluttered wildly. “It’s not like that. We’re not involved. We’re friends.”

“Friends who live together,” Kiti said slyly.

I scowled at her. “Lots of friends live together. There’s literally a human show about it.”

“Don’t most of them end up fucking at some point though?”

“Kiti,” Mom admonished, but fixed me with an intent look. “So you’re not… romantically involved? Because you know I get a sense for these things, kushka, and it seemed like—”

“No,” I cut her off, my voice rough as my stomach squeezed into a little knot. “We’re not romantically involved.”

“He wishes they were though,” Kiti said to Mom. “Look at him. Like a sad little puppy.”

I glared at her. “Shut your face, asswipe.”

“Sex isn’t everything, kushka,” Mom said kindly, but I still cringed at hearing that word come out of my mother’s mouth. “I should know. I’ve gone long enough without it.”

“Ew,” Kiti and I said at the same time.

“I’m just saying.” Mom huffed. “If you and Beryl want to be together, you shouldn’t let that stop you. Or if you do want to be together in that… sense, there are ways around it. There’s a wonderful shop online I can show you that has all kinds of—”

“Mom, please.” I slid down fully onto the floor, the back of my head bumping over the radiator. “Please stop talking.”

“Fine,” she said snippily, lifting her coffee cup to her mouth. “Forgive me for wanting to make sure my baby is happy and fulfilled. I know that unpleasantness with Agma left you… out of sorts, and I’m just saying, Beryl seems like a lovely woman.”

“She does,” Kiti agreed, then smirked at me. “She’s pretty. Too pretty for you, buttface.”

I scowled at her before pulling my hood over my head. “Yeah, she’s… I know she is. But we’re not—It’s just—Look, next time you visit, can you maybe not show her all my embarrassing baby photos, please?”

“Why not?” Mom said defiantly, but her eyes grew teary. “They’re not embarrassing. You were a beautiful baby. My tiny little boy, all scrunched up with those big eyes and that shock of black hair.”

“At least she didn’t tell Beryl about that embarrassing phase you went through where you’d tug on your tail in public,” Kiti piped up, shooting me an evil grin. “Little weirdo.”

I straightened, glaring at her. “Oh, that’s real rich coming from you. You think we didn’t all hear the rumours after high school about you giving Gogi Jumin tailjobs behind the yoghurt place you worked at?”

Kiti’s ears fluttered. “Shut your face, dickbrain.”

“Kiti,” Mom gasped, then cocked her head. “I did like the frozen yoghurt from that place. What was it called?”

“Yogurgus,” Kiti and I said in unison, before she flung a pillow at my head.

I grunted, unsuccessfully trying to catch it before it smacked me in the face. “Look, I really have to get back to work.” Not that I’d been working before they got here. “This has been a fantastic unexpected visit and all, but…”

“Alright, darling, we’ll leave you to it.” Mom drained her coffee cup before setting it down. “Bring Beryl over for dinner soon. We’ll arrange a family dinner so she can meet the rest of your siblings.”

I grunted noncommittally, heaving myself to my feet to see them out. After giving Mom a kiss on the cheek and a long hug, I punched Kiti’s shoulder weakly in goodbye. She responded by yanking on both my space buns until they flopped down over my ears.

“Asshole.” I covered her face with my hand to push her back, but she just snickered and flicked my forehead before sweeping out of the house.

The moment they were gone and I was finally alone, I shifted into my true form and went to take a long, soothing bubble bath to try and recover from the entire ordeal.

Staring morosely at the ceiling, I took a deep drag of my joint and tapped the ash off into the tray balanced precariously on the lip of the tub. I knew that when I got out, I’d probably already have some snarky texts from my sister. Probably a couple of missed calls from my mother wanting to talk about Beryl some more.

As the shade made me sink deeper into the water until bubbles tickled my chin, my mind wandered back to what had happened just before they arrived. Or rather, what had almost happened. My gut clenched tight.

Had Beryl really been about to kiss me?

Maybe I’d just been seeing what I wanted to see. What I was desperate to see when she looked at me. Maybe she’d just been about to wipe food off my face or something. That certainly wasn’t outside the realms of possibility. In fact, that was a far more likely scenario than Beryl wanting to kiss me. Why would she want to kiss me? I was a loner introvert who was high fifty percent of the time and did nothing but watch TV and eat. She was beautiful and confident and becoming more outgoing now that she was socialising with people at work. I bet she had people flirting with her all the time, and flirting was a skill that had taken one look at me and gone, Heh. No. No point wasting it on that guy.

I’d seen the human she worked with. Gavin. Stupid human Gavin with his stupid brown hair, who was the perfect height to hug and kiss Beryl without having to hunch over awkwardly like some lanky goblin.

Beryl had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in me that way when we made our arrangement. Maybe she couldn’t be attracted to a demiurgus. Maybe her time with the cult, around all their weird, fervent sex stuff, had forced her to block off the part of her brain that would ever allow her to find a demiurgus attractive. It would make sense. Like a survival tactic so she didn’t inadvertently get sucked in.

Except… there’d been a few moments over the last couple of weeks, ever since the night we’d fallen asleep together in the living room nest, where she’d give me this look. And even though I didn’t fully understand what it meant, it would make my hearts start racing and my palms get all clammy.

Evidently, I still hadn’t gotten the sweating under control in my humanoid skin.

Stubbing out my joint, I reluctantly rose from the cooling water and grabbed my giant towel. The space buns had fallen out after Kiti kept messing with them, so I’d thrown my hair up into a single sloppy bun while I bathed, seeing as I’d told Beryl we’d do hair masks together later.

It bobbed on my head as I padded into the bedroom. It still felt a little weird for me to spend so much time out of my true form, so I took the opportunity while I was in it now to curl up on the enormous beanbag that dominated the corner of my bedroom under the window, intent on taking a nap before I went to meet Beryl after her shift.

When I woke, it was pitch black outside. Pulse leaping, I scrambled up and lunged for my phone on the bed, sighing in relief when I saw that I wasn’t late to meet Beryl. But, shit, I only had ten minutes to get there.

After shifting into my humanoid form, I hurriedly dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and raced for the door. The house was dark, but I wouldn’t have time to light all the candles if I didn’t want to be late. I stuffed my feet into my boots and was still tugging on my coat as I opened the front door, stopping when I saw two big boxes blocking my way.

Kicking them inside to deal with when we got back, I grabbed my keys and locked up, then jogged down the steps. It was a Thursday night, so the road was pretty quiet, but when I turned onto the main street there were far more people around, coming out of restaurants or smoking outside bars.

Stuffing my hands into my coat pockets, I hunched my shoulders and kept my head down as I walked as quickly as I could without making people look at me funny. Beryl was just stepping outside as I reached the bar, her freckled cheeks flushed from the heat inside.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of me, a grin stretching her mouth as she made her way over. My chest ached, and for a split second as I stood there, I felt out of control of my own body—like I was about to fall to my knees and confess that I was half in love with her already.

Luckily, she made the urge vanish as she reached me and teasingly said, “Hi, kushka.”

I immediately shuddered and gave her a mock glare. “You cannot call me that.”

She laughed as she fell into step beside me and we started walking back. “Why not? It’s cute.”

“It’s what my mother calls me, and you’re… you. It’s just wrong.”

“Okay, I’ll think of a different nickname for you then. Hmm, Greid… I mean, greedy is the obvious choice. You are pretty greedy. Ooh, how about greedy boy!” She laughed.

My throat closed up.

“Uh.” I stared straight ahead as my mind took that in a very inappropriate direction.

I would be greedy with Beryl. So embarrassingly greedy and desperate for anything she would give me. And I’d beg for more. And more.

“Okay, maybe not that,” she said, sounding embarrassed. But her voice was strangely throaty in a way that made my whole body tingle. “Um, anyway… Have you eaten yet? Wait, stupid question.”

I managed a weak laugh, but it came out more like a dog barking in distress. A demiurgus couple in matching suits shot me odd looks as they walked past us arm in arm.

I cleared my throat, but my voice was still painfully hoarse as I asked, “What do you feel like for dinner?”

“I don’t mind. It’s your night to pick.”

“Hmm.” I pretended to be thinking very hard about it, but all I could really focus on was the way her arm brushed against mine as we walked. “Uh, how about Indian?”

“Ooh, yes.” She nudged me. “Are you gonna get the mildest curry on the menu again?”

I glared down at her. “I have a sensitive stomach.”

She snorted. “Greid, I’ve watched you eat actual chicken bones many, many times. Cooked chicken bones.”

“The bones are the best bit.”

“How do they not tear your oesophagus and stomach to shreds?”

“I dunno. It’s a demiurgus thing. Or I have really powerful stomach acid.”

She burst out laughing. “That must be it.”

As we turned onto our quiet road and left the busy street behind, I relaxed and stuffed my hands deeper into my coat pockets, but then I felt Beryl tuck her arm through mine and shift closer. My scalp tingled, wide eyes darting down to hers.

“Sorry. It’s cold.” She gave me a hesitant smile, holding my gaze. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, cringing when my voice cracked. “Um, yeah, it’s cold. I’m freezing my balls off.”

I immediately cringed. Why, Greid? Why bring up your balls?

Beryl laughed. “Oh, right. Well, best get home quick then.”

“Do you…” My entire head was on fire, but I persevered. “If you’re really cold, you can, um, get under my coat if you want.”

Yes, great idea. Talk about your nutsack then immediately ask her if she wants to ‘get under your coat’ like a dirty old man.

“Okay,” Beryl said quickly, unlinking our arms.

Hearts pounding, I tugged my hand out of my pocket and awkwardly lifted the side of my coat so she could burrow underneath. Tingles raced over my skin as she slid her arm around my waist beneath my coat, and after a second I settled my arm lightly over her shoulders.

Clearing my throat, I hoarsely asked, “Warmer?”

“Yes. Thanks, Greid.”

“No problem.”

Was I sweating? Her head was basically in my armpit. Had I put on deodorant? Oh god, I hadn’t. At least I’d had a bath, but then I’d power-walked so I wouldn’t be late meeting Beryl. Did I stink? Should I ask her? No, that would be weird.

When we reached the house, I reluctantly lifted my arm so Beryl could slip out from beneath my coat and walk up the steps. Cold air rushed in and snuck through my loose-knit sweater, making me shiver as I followed her.

Beryl unlocked and opened the front door, but paused at the sound of something dragging over the floor as the door swung inward. “What’s that?”

Seeing as I hadn’t lit any candles before I left, I flicked on the main light and winced at the staticky hum from the lightbulb. Stepping inside after her and closing the door, I looked down and saw the boxes I’d kicked inside before rushing out. “Oh, some packages that got delivered.”

“What are they?” Beryl asked with interest as she tugged off her boots.

I shrugged, leaning down to do the same. “I dunno. I can’t remember ordering anything.”

She shrugged out of her coat. “Is it jewellery stuff?”

“Maybe. You can open them if you want.” I held out my hand for her coat, then turned to hang it up as she knelt down by the boxes.

As I took off my own coat, I heard the rip of cardboard followed by the crinkle of plastic. Then: “Scrub… Shoes?”

Gut lurching, I whirled around, staring as Beryl pulled out the ugliest pair of plastic shoes I’d ever seen. With scrubbing brushes for soles.

“Huh?” I said, deciding to feign ignorance.

Beryl pursed her lips, clearly fighting off laughter as she looked up at me. “Did you order these, Greid?”

“What?” I laughed unconvincingly. “Why would I… Maybe they were delivered to the wrong house.”

She immediately grabbed the box and peered at the label. “Mmnope, addressed to Greid var Rorik.” Pulling a coupon out of the box, she added, “This says you get ten percent off your next purchase for being such a loyal customer.”

“Loyal?” I let out a squawk that was supposed to be laughter. “I’ve maybe ordered, like, one thing from them before. I can’t even remember…”

As I trailed off, knowing she could see right through my terrible lying skills, Beryl stood up, still holding the shoes. God, they were hideous.

“Will you put them on for me, Greid?” she asked solemnly.

I glared at her, my ears fluttering madly. “Why don’t you put them on?”

“They’re in your size.”

“That’s just… a coincidence!” I grabbed the shoes with a huff. “Fine.”

Face hot, I shoved the ugly shoes on and straightened. All the bristles immediately bent under my weight, making me topple forward and pinwheel my arms until I managed to catch myself against the wall. “Oh my god, they suck.”

Beryl was snorting with laughter, her nose running and tears leaking from her eyes. “Can you even walk in them?”

“I don’t think—” I tried taking a tentative step forward, lifting my leg high as if that would soften the impact. I wobbled precariously, but it worked, so I did it again.

“You look—” Beryl was practically crying, almost doubled over. “You look like a cat wearing socks.”

“I shouldn’t have showed you that video,” I muttered, but snorted with laughter as I found my stride and managed to make it down the hall, still walking like an idiot. “Did it.”

“Well done,” Beryl said, wiping her eyes as I sat on the stairs to pull them off. “Are you actually gonna use them? What are they even for?”

“They’re for cleaning your porch steps,” I grumbled. “They seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Really?” Beryl glanced back at the front door. “Are our porch steps really dirty?”

My face spikes flexed with pleasure at hearing her call them our porch steps. Beryl saw this as her home—our home—and that made me embarrassingly happy.

It also made me realise that she deserved to see all of it. Sighing, I gave her a resigned look, the ugly shoes dangling from my fingers by their Velcro straps. “I guess it’s time I showed you my Room of Shame.”

“Your what?” She stilled, eyes snapping with excitement. “Wait… the mysterious closet?”

Coughing awkwardly, I admitted, “It’s not actually a closet.”

A closet would have been far less embarrassing than an entire room filled with crap like this. Heaving myself up from the step, I turned to head upstairs. “Come on.”

“Wait.” Beryl pointed at the other package when I glanced back. “What about that one? Is it something similar?” she asked, far too eagerly.

“I can’t actually remember ordering anything else,” I admitted sheepishly. Leaving the ScrubShoes on the stairs, I hurried over and snatched the package up.

Beryl laughed as I turned my back on her to open it, just in case it was something even worse than the ScrubShoes. My shoulders slumped in relief when I tore open the box and realised what it was.

“Okay, well,” I said imperiously as I turned to face her, “it’s actually something for you, but maybe I won’t give it to you now that you’ve mocked me for the shoes.”

Except I was already passing the box to her, because I couldn’t deny Beryl anything.

Her eyes lit up as she took it. “It’s something for me? Is it my own pair of ScrubShoes?”

I huffed. “No.”

Shifting self-consciously, I watched as she pulled out a pair of small, fluffy bootie slippers. “Um, these ones should fit you.”

She beamed up at me, green eyes still a little glassy from crying with laughter. “They’re amazing. Thank you so much, Greid.”

“S’okay,” I mumbled, face spikes flexing with pleasure as she immediately put them on.

“It’ll be nice not worrying about tripping and breaking my neck as I go up the stairs,” she said with a laugh. She hesitated before darting forward to give me a hug. “Thank you, Greid.”

“S’okay,” I repeated in a strangled voice, wanting to clutch onto her and not let go.

She stepped back and fixed me with a stern look. “Okay, show me the closet. Or not-closet.”

“Okay,” I croaked, quickly turning for the stairs to hide my twitching ears. It did things to me when she got bossy like that.

I realised Beryl had grabbed the matches when she stopped on the stairs to start lighting the wall sconces.

“We can just use the lights,” I told her. “Sorry, I took a nap before coming to meet you and woke up late.”

“No,” she said stubbornly, moving to light the next one. “I know you don’t like them.”

My chest squeezed tight. Fuck, I wanted to kiss her so bad. “Thanks,” I rasped.

“Besides, I prefer candlelight now too.” She kept her gaze fixed on the next wall sconce as she lightly asked, “It’s kind of romantic, isn’t it?”

I managed to get out a strangled, “Um, yeah. I’ll help.”

Fumbling to grab a match from the box, I struck it and started lighting candles with her. By the time we reached the third floor, I was feeling less antsy. Doing this always soothed me, and I loved it on the nights Beryl helped.

The nerves returned as we stood outside the door to my Room of Shame. Taking a deep breath, I opened it and felt around on the wall for the light switch. Candles in here were a bad idea, given the amount of cardboard and cheap, ridiculously flammable fabric.

Beryl blinked in shock at the mountain of boxes stacked precariously along the sides of the room. In the centre was a pile of stuff I’d gone through at one point or another while looking for something I’d bought, but a lot of it was still in the boxes, never used.

There were a lot of boxes.

“Greid, is this…” Beryl took a single step inside, eyes wide. “Is this all stuff like the ScrubShoes?”

“Yeah,” I admitted, voice thick with embarrassment. “I have a problem.”

Wandering deeper into the room, she picked up something that looked like a broom with a vegetable peeler attached to the other end. Smoothing out the clear plastic still encasing it, she peered at the label.

“No more dirty chopping boards!” she read out loud. “Sweep up your vegetable peelings from the floor as you’re peeling them!”

Putting it back down, she picked up something else. “The E-B-Phones! Can’t stand the feel of headphones covering your ears? Studies have shown that we can hear music just as well through our eyeballs. Just sit back, pop on the E-B-Phones and enjoy your favourite tunes. Not recommended for use while carrying out other tasks.”

“Okay, yeah, that one seemed like bullshit,” I grumbled. “I couldn’t even find any of the studies online.”

She choked on a laugh, looking around the room before giving me a wary glance. “Do you… actually feel like you have a problem? Like, you wish you didn’t buy this stuff but you can’t stop yourself?”

I cocked my head. “Nah, it’s not, like… an addiction that I can’t control. I’ve just done it for a while, so it all starts piling up and… I dunno. The infomercials get me. I’m a sucker.”

“Well, I mean, I think it might be a teensy addiction, Greid. A lot of this stuff looks like it’s never even been used. Most of it.”

“I’ve used some of it!” I protested. “Our onesies. And slippers. And a few other things.”

She gave me a smile. “Okay. Well, why don’t you donate whatever you haven’t used?”

I cringed. “I’ve thought about it, but then people will know I’ve bought all this stuff.”

Shrugging, she said, “I don’t mind taking it. I don’t care.”

Fiddling with a loose thread on my sweater, I asked, “Really?”

“Sure. Why don’t we go through it all at the weekend and see what you want to donate? You might want to keep some things. I bet you do have some good stuff in here.” She paused, eyeing the boxes. “The law of probability dictates that you have to have at least one good thing in here.”

“That’s extremely optimistic of you.” I gestured at the mountain of boxes. “You saw the E-B-Phones.”

She snorted and shook her head. “You’re so cute.” Clearing her throat, she quickly added, “Shall we try them out?”

Ignoring the fluttering in my belly, I cocked my head. “We could… or we could order dinner and do the hair masks.”

Her face brightened. “Okay, let’s do that.”

I stepped aside so she could leave the room, flicking off the light before closing the door. When I turned to face her, she smiled up at me.

“Thank you for showing me your… What did you call it?”

“My Room of Shame.”

Her brows pinched, and she touched my arm. “You don’t need to be ashamed, Greid. People collect all kinds of stuff to a wild degree. Like… houseplants. Records. Clothes.” She glanced around, taking in the artwork and tapestries filling almost every inch of wall space. “You do have a lot of everything, so maybe you just have a slightly addictive personality. That’s all.”

“Yeah.” I gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

“I’m gonna get changed and put on my onesie. Do you want to go order dinner and I’ll meet you downstairs?”

“Sure.”

“Can we watch Gloom Falls? I paused it earlier when you left the room to answer the door to your mom and sister, so we’re in the middle of an episode.”

“Sure,” I repeated, then winced. “Um, sorry about them, by the way.”

“No, they were great,” she said eagerly. “I really like them. How many siblings do you have? I kind of lost track of how many your mom and Kiti talked about.”

“Seven.”

Her eyes widened. “And you were all… born at the same time?”

“Yeah. Demiurgus tend to have a lot of young at once. Not always, though.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine growing up in such a big family. Is your dad around?”

I grunted. “They dissolved their matehood when we were young. He’s an asshole.”

She reached out and squeezed my arm. “I’m sorry, Greid. My dad’s an asshole too.”

My lip curled at the thought of her dad abandoning her at that fucking cult. “Yeah. He is.”

“Was your mom happier after that?”

“Oh yeah, we all were. It was so much better. And my mom’s sister and her lifemate were around a lot when we were kids, so she wasn’t just dealing with eight nightmare children all on her own.”

Beryl laughed. “She seems like she’d be able to handle it anyway.”

My mouth curved up into an affectionate smile. “Yeah. She’s awesome. Kind of overbearing, but… she’s great. I love her.”

I suddenly worried that it was the wrong thing to say—like I was bragging about actually having a mother. But I also didn’t want to gripe about my mom when Beryl hadn’t even been given the chance to experience all the tiny, silly things mothers did that exasperated you. It felt selfish and ungrateful.

Beryl just grinned up at me. “She clearly loves you too. You’re her little baby.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled. “I’m going to order dinner.”

Laughing, she turned for her door. I hurried to the stairs so I wasn’t tempted to peer greedily into Beryl’s room—to see the private little world she’d created for herself in there.

I already missed her as I listened to her bedroom door click shut.

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