11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rissa

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Rissa froze with her hand on the front door. Damn, she’d almost made it out without waking up Zan.

Pushing her guilt away, she forced a slight frown on her face and turned to face him. Hooking her backpack purse over her shoulder, she cocked a hip and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I didn’t know I needed your permission to go anywhere,” she challenged.

She expected him to get defensive or annoyed at her. At the very least, she thought he’d snap back with something insulting. Instead, he sighed and shook his head, as if she was a toddler being cute but unreasonable.

They’d been living together for an entire week now. It was getting to the point where most of the guys she dated realized she couldn’t be “tamed” and started getting snippy. Waiting for one of the guys to lose their temper or patience with her was putting her on edge. They couldn’t possibly like her this much. No one liked her like that.

“Don’t give me that look!” she said, realizing after the words were out of her mouth that they made her sound even more like a toddler.

Zan laughed. “What look, sweetheart? This look?” He widened his eyes, dropped his chin, and gave her his puppy dog eyes expression. “Or this one?” Relaxing his eyes, he tilted his head back, and pursed his lips a little, while running his hands over his naked chest.

God, he was sexy. She immediately felt flushed and barely resisted the urge to rush to him. For the first time in her life, she was getting amazing sex every damn night. Sometimes multiple times in a night. Between Anatoly and Zan, she’d never felt so sated or so adored.

That was another thing that scared her. Something this good couldn’t last, and when it was over, she was going to be left in pieces.

“Stop that,” she grumped, dropping her hands to her sides and straightening up. “I don’t have time to be tempted right now, I’m going to be late.”

Zan stopped his seduction act and tilted his head. “Late for what? It’s only ten in the morning.”

“It’s Wednesday,” she reminded him. “I volunteer at Equal Under the Law on Wednesdays from ten till one. I told you guys that last week when I missed my day. I still can’t believe you let me sleep through my alarm.”

“Oh yeah, your legal volunteer stuff. I thought we agreed I was going with you,” Zan said, then stretched his arms over his head and yawned. Rissa watched all those pretty muscles flex as he moved. She had to fight the urge to run her hands over his body.

After last night’s three orgasms, she should be good, but apparently, her body would never be satisfied when it came to Zan and Anatoly.

“You really don’t need to come,” she said. “You’ll be bored and sometimes the AC doesn’t work, and it gets hot and stuffy in there.”

“I don’t need to; I want to,” Zan said. It was strange, but the guys didn’t like her to be alone. For the last week, she’d been with at least one of them at all times. Zan took her out during the day before the bar opened, and Anatoly would be at his spot at the bar all evening until they closed.

After hours, the two of them would feed her, bathe her, and generally pamper her. Combined with the amazing sex, Rissa was tempted to think she was in a coma, and all of this was nothing but a dream.

“I’m not in a coma,” she muttered, making Zan bark out a laugh.

“I promise you aren’t,” he agreed. “I won’t get bored. I can handle a little heat. Besides, I want to see what you do. Maybe I could learn to help.”

She let out a breath, giving in. “Fine, you can come, but don’t whine later when you're hungry or bored or something.”

“I won’t be bored because I’ll be with you,” he answered, giving her a quick kiss. “And I won’t be hungry because we’re going to grab some breakfast on the way.”

Straightening up, he took her hand and led her back into the bedroom.

“This is the opposite of leaving,” she pointed out with a shake of her head.

“I need to put on some clothes, and you need to say good morning and goodbye to Anatoly,” Zan said, giving her a little nudge toward the bed before heading into the walk-in closet.

Rissa walked around the end of the bed until she was on Anatoly’s side. At first, she thought he was simply a deep sleeper, but now she suspected he had some kind of condition.

He was immobile for most of the morning, but he also seemed aware of what was going on around him. Around two in the afternoon, he’d get up and be a little clumsy but otherwise act perfectly normal. Maybe it was some kind of thing where when his body shut down for sleep, he couldn’t move again until a certain amount of time had passed. Whatever was going on didn’t worry him or Zan, so she didn’t say anything.

They were so open about everything else; she figured it wouldn’t be long before they told her what was going on.

When she rounded the bed, she wasn’t surprised to find his eyes were slitted open. Kneeling next to the bed, she put her chin on the mattress near his face. She wasn’t sure he was focused on her, but she acted as if he was fully awake. That was what Zan did, so she would do the same.

“Good morning, handsome,” she whispered, running her hands through his hair and massaging his scalp. He felt cold to her, so she reached down and tugged the blankets up over his shoulders. Zan moved from the closet to the bathroom with a bundle of clothes in his arms.

“Give me a few minutes, and I’ll be ready to go,” he promised with a wink.

Giving him a smile and a nod, she returned to her earlier position and resumed petting Anatoly. “Today is my volunteer day. I’ve already missed last week; I won’t miss this one. Zan insists on coming with me, so don’t be surprised if he comes back grumpy because he had to spend a bunch of time stuck in a crowded room.”

As she spoke, she could’ve sworn Anatoly relaxed a little, even though he hadn’t moved at all. Not even his eyes. It had to be horrible to be stuck like this, unable to even blink. He must feel so left out when she and Zan left during the day.

“When we get back, we’ll spend some time together,” she promised.

“What are you whispering over here?” Zan asked, walking up behind her and leaning over to give Anatoly a kiss on the cheek. “Are you gossiping about my perfect ass?”

Rissa smirked up at him. “I was mentioning to Anatoly that you might have a slightly receding hairline.”

Zan straightened up, clutched his imaginary pearls, and gasped. “How dare you say such a thing to me!” He shook his shoulder length hair dramatically. “I’ll have you know I come from a long line of men and women with perfect hair!”

Chuckling, she gave Anatoly a last pet and stood up. “See you soon,” she murmured.

“We’ll be back before you know it,” Zan said cheerfully, then led Rissa out of the apartment while listing all the reasons his hair, and hairline, were above reproach!

***

Zan

Equal Under the Law was located in a southern San Diego county strip mall. Nestled between a smoke shop and a liquor store, it looked like the most popular place in the mall. There was a small gathering of people standing outside, presumably waiting to get in.

The other open businesses were a laundromat, fast-food restaurant, and a nail salon. The parking lot had a small grouping of unhoused people set up at a far end in an overgrown divider between the strip mall and the empty big box store next door. It wasn’t the worst neighborhood in San Diego County, but it was bad enough that Zan was cautious.

“You don’t come here at night, do you?” he asked, glancing across the street at the cheap motel. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like it rented rooms by the hour.

“There aren’t enough funds to stay open late,” Rissa said with a regretful note to her voice. “Samatha works hard, but money can be hard to come by when you’re funded mostly by grants and donations.”

Zan made a mental note to talk to Anatoly about donating money. The vampire had a ton of it and if Rissa insisted on volunteering here, maybe they could figure out how to get the place enough money to move to a better area.

Following her in, Zan realized moving to a better area was second on the list to getting them more space! The place was so crowded, there were only paths between desks, tables, filing cabinets, and the chairs lined up against walls. There weren’t separate offices, just desks and tables with people in every available space.

“This can’t be legal,” he muttered.

“I promise, it is,” Rissa said with a laugh.

“Rissa!” a short, round dark-skinned woman rushed up, a broad smile on her cherubic face. She skirted around cabinets, desks, and a few chairs with impressive speed to finally grab Rissa in a hug. “I was so worried about you!”

“Why were you worried? I texted you,” Rissa said, returning the hug, before pulling away and looking around the room. “I’m back. Where do you want me to set up today?”

“I need more than an ‘I’m fine’ text to keep from worrying,” the woman said, trying to glare up at Rissa. Really, it wasn’t much of a glare because a smile kept trying to force the corners of her mouth up. Then she noticed Zan standing behind Rissa. “Is this fine-looking gentleman with you, or do I need to tell him to take a number and wait for assistance?”

“I’m Zan,” he said, holding out a hand. “I’m Rissa’s boyfriend.”

The woman blinked and looked over at his other hand with the wedding ring. “Boyfriend?”

“Well, me and my husband are both her boyfriends,” Zan explained cheerfully. Rissa hissed out a breath and gave him a little shake of her head over the woman’s head. He ignored her. He wasn’t going to pretend Anatoly didn’t exist. Rissa needed to learn to be part of a throuple and it might as well start here.

“Your, um, husband?” the woman asked.

“He’s joking, Samatha,” Rissa said and tried to laugh it off.

Zan frowned at her. “I’m not joking. Anatoly is my husband. We’ve been together about six years. We met Rissa a week ago and both of us lo—uh, adore her. We can’t imagine life without her.”

He almost used the word love but managed to stop himself in time. Rissa wasn’t ready to hear that yet, or that they wanted forever with her.

Instead of looking scandalized, Samatha smiled widely at him, showing off dimples. “That’s so romantic!” She turned to Rissa. “I’m happy for you, but don’t think you’re getting out of giving me all the details. Next week, we’ll have dinner at my place with Chris and Lettie.”

“I work nights,” Rissa said quickly.

“Not every night,” Zan reminded her. “We could come too and meet your friends.”

Samatha clapped with delight. “Perfect!”

“Sam!” someone shouted from one of the desks crowded with people. “I need a little help.”

“Be there in a sec,” Samatha called back. She pointed to a desk with no chairs and stacked high with paper. “Clear off that desk, and I’ll make a copy of the waitlist for you. As you call the first couple of people, have them bring their chairs and leave them. After that, you’ll have chairs for the rest of your shift.”

Obviously familiar with how things worked, Rissa nodded. “Got it.”

“Don’t forget to grab a laptop,” Samatha said as she bustled off.

Zan followed Rissa to grab a laptop from a stack of them, then to the desk Samatha assigned them. He helped her clear it off by stacking boxes full of paper on the floor. When he pointed out they’d be in the way, she sat on one stack.

“Better than standing and leaning over the desk,” she explained, pointing to the second stack. “You can sit there or go for a walk. You don’t have to stay.”

“I’m invested now,” Zan said with a shake of his head. “What are we going to be doing?”

“Helping people sign up for SNAP and/or WIC,” Samatha said as she swept by to hand Rissa a piece of paper. Then she was off again, answering someone else’s call.

“SNAP and WIC?” he asked, settling on his stack of boxes. There was so much paper in them that they didn’t collapse under his weight.

“SNAP is food stamps and WIC stands for women, infants, and children. It’s another assistance program. Mom and I had to deal with a lot of different state and local agencies and got to know how they operate. It’s nice to be able to help people who are struggling like Mom and I did. A lot of time they just need help figuring out what forms to fill out.”

Sympathy filled Zan along with a fierce pride in his mate. “You’re incredible!”

Rissa’s expression was confused when she looked up from the laptop. “Um, thanks?”

Leaning in close, he cupped her jaw in his hand, gently forcing her to meet his gaze. “I know you worked your ass off before we met. You didn’t party, and you lived in a crap apartment. I’ve seen your stuff, sweetheart, and you weren’t spending a lot of money on your wardrobe. Be honest, where was the money going?”

She blinked a few times before answering reluctantly. “Rent and food. Don’t you pay attention? Everything’s expensive.”

He didn’t let go and waited, letting her find the words. She squirmed a little and tried to slide her gaze away, but he made a soft, negative sound.

“I’m not giving money to this place,” she said finally, sounding a little defensive.

“But you’re donating somewhere else, right?” he pushed. “Or are you giving it to someone else?”

She closed her eyes, as if she was overwhelmed. Letting go of her jaw, he grabbed her and pulled her into his lap, holding her close.

“There’s a lot of people waiting,” she mumbled, even though she didn’t try to get away from his embrace.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he assured her. “But I want you to know I’m damn proud of you, baby.”

“There’s a program that helps girls,” she whispered. “Mostly runaways, but some emancipated minors. After Mom died, they helped me even though I was nineteen and technically an adult. I was so lost for a while, but Joan, the woman who runs it, was determined that I wouldn't do something stupid.”

He didn’t need to ask what something stupid was. He’d never experienced personal loss like that, but he’d comforted a few friends. Grief could make people do things they wouldn’t normally do, including self-destruct.

“Right now, Joan’s trying to keep her second location open, but she’s having trouble because she lost some of her county funding. Donations are the only way to make up for it until the next fiscal year,” Rissa explained. “That place really makes a difference. Joan does more than any of the social workers or CPS ever did for me.”

“I’m going to visit this Joan and personally thank her,” he said, tucking her head under his chin. “Thank you for trusting me. I promise you’ll never regret it.”

She took a deep breath. “I know. I should get to work.”

“In a minute,” he said. “Let me hold you for a moment longer. I need this.”

“Me too,” she agreed.

After a few moments of silent cuddles, Zan spoke up. “I want to help,” he said. “Can I do that?”

She pulled away to look up at him. “You want to help here?”

Zan nodded his head. “I want to do what you do. I want to fight the good fight.”

“It’s a never-ending fight,” she warned him. “And sometimes, people come in with an attitude because they’re frustrated and upset.”

“No problem,” he said, flashing her his best grin. “I can charm anyone.”

“Yes, you can,” she agreed. She grabbed a few forms off the table. “First, everyone needs to fill out one of these. It helps us estimate how many people we help and that gets us funding.”

Zan listened intently, excited to learn more about this part of Rissa’s world. He wouldn’t fail her.