Page 57 of Moonflower
She shakes her head against my chest. “You’ve seen my shower, right?”
“Mmhmm.”
“There’s not enough room for both of us.”
“There is.”
“But only one of us can be under the water at once. Whoever isn’t will be freezing!”
“I’ll deal,” I say, dragging her into the bathroom. I turn on the shower, grabbing a couple washcloths. “I’m not absolutely destroying you unless I get to care for you afterward, Moonflower. It’s nonnegotiable.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
It’s tight in the shower, sure. And I’m a little cold, but it’s worth it. I wash Cora’s hair, and then I scrub her body and gently clean in between her legs. She’s not used to it, which makes me wonder what kind of sex life her and Matt had, but I don’t ask. To be honest, I don’t want to know. The thing that matters is that she’s with us now.
Once Cora is done, she gets out of the shower, and I clean myself before following her. When I step out of the shower, she’s dressed and waiting with a towel in her hands. She wraps it around my body before pulling me into a kiss.
“I love you,” she says against my lips.
“I love you too, Moonflower. So much.”
For a second, I let myself stare at her. She’s wearing a black T-shirt dress paired with a couple necklaces she’s had for years. One is a sterling silver death’s head hawkmoth pendant that hangs low, and the other is a black velvet choker with an anatomical heart dangling from it.
They’re distinctly her. She struggled a lot with wanting to fit in when we were in high school. Those necklaces were the first things she ever bought that matched her style, not anyone else’s.
“I’m glad you still have these,” I murmur, brushing my fingers over the cold metal.
She grins. “So am I.”
In Cora’s room, I get dressed while she puts the chair back in the kitchen. Her phone buzzes on the nightstand, and I grab it, figuring it’s Wilder. But it’s not. It’s Matt.
I don’t even pause to think. I just take the call, placing Cora’s phone to my ear. “What the fuck do you want?”
Matt grunts in confusion. “Why are you answering Cora’s phone? Wait. Have you guys been in town all weekend?”
“So what if we have been?”
“Have you been staying with her? Is that why she hasn’t been answering her phone?”
“She hasn’t been answering because you’re not worth her time,” I reply flatly.
Anger ignites in my chest. Worry follows closely behind. We leave later today, but not if Matt is bugging Cora. People do shitty things when they’re pissed. I’m not abandoning Cora if there’s a chance Matt isn’t going to leave her alone.
“Well, I’d like to talk to her.”
“I’m sure you would.”
“Seriously man? Who the hell do you think you are? Haven’t you guys barely talked for, like, three years?”
“Hey,” Cora says from the doorway. “Who’re you talking to?”
I turn to look at her, and my expression must clue her in.
“I can hear her,” Matt says. “Let me talk to her.”
“What does he want?” she asks nervously.
“You’re not talking to her,” I say, keeping my gaze trained on Cora. “In fact, once we hang up, you’re going to delete her number from your phone. Then you’re going to forget about her. And you’re never laying eyes on Cora ever again. Got it?”