Chapter 2

It was time to go, she realized as her alarm went off. She was supposed to be meeting Thomas at the coffee shop. He had been in Netherworld with D for some alone time, aka being able to be loud during sex. At this point, it didn’t even seem awkward sharing the apartment with them. D had become like another brother and he was a great chef; she had been treated to many wonderful dinners that she didn’t have to make. Which was a nice change because Thomas had a hard time making even plain pasta. Half the time it was still crunchy, the other half mushy. It was nice having someone else who could help in the kitchen.

Although there was no set schedule, it seemed like once a month they had a group date. Date wasn’t the right word, but they all hung out together. D made sure that she and Thomas still had their Friday nights to themselves. They had always kept Fridays for each other since high school, and D made sure they kept that tradition. It was very sweet of him, and Viv tried to make sure he knew how much he meant to her too. She made his favorite cookies every week and he was always so excited to get them. Poor guy had such a sweet tooth and his mate couldn’t make him any. To be fair, Thomas had tried when they first got together. The cookies had turned into hockey pucks. D had been so nice about it and had even tried to eat one, but it had almost broken his tooth.

Pulling into the lot, she saw Thomas, D, and D’s friend sitting at a table. She wondered if today was going to be the day she finally officially met the handsome guy. He always seemed to disappear when she was around. As she pulled open the door, his eyes met hers and a bolt of awareness ran through her. His eyes just pulled her in each time she saw them.

“Gotta go, D. I’ll let you know if anything comes up,” he said.

D sighed. “Bye, Mac. Be careful. This guy is getting more reckless.”

He nodded and left. As he walked by her, she caught a whiff of his cologne. God, he smelled amazing. She wanted to roll in the scent. Shaking it off, she walked to the counter to order her coffee. She got a refill for Thomas and D as well. It looked like their cups were almost empty.

“Hey, you. I missed you,” Thomas said, coming up next to her in line.

“I missed you too,” she said, turning to give him a hug. “How was your time away?”

Thomas blushed, but he grinned. “Delicious. Ten out of ten, would recommend.”

Viv shook her head but had to smile. “Good. I’m glad. Mac couldn’t stay again?” she tried to ask casually.

“He’s been busy with this case. He only dropped in to update D. I guess if he can bring the guy in, D’s the one that would be dealing with him.”

“What does Mac do?”

“He’s an Enforcer. I know he tracks down the bad guys, but I’m not sure if he works for Lucifer or if he works for both Netherworld and Arlysium. He’s always polite enough when he’s near me, but he’s not very talkative.”

Viv nodded and grabbed the drinks when they were placed on the counter.

“Oh! I bought you something!” Thomas said, bending down to dig in his backpack as they sat down. “Here,” he said, handing over a small jewelry-sized box.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “It’s not even my birthday.” Opening the box, she saw a beautiful necklace, a silver pendant hanging from the chain.

“It will let you call me when I’m out of town,” he explained.

It took her a second. Out of town? Oh, to call down to Netherworld. Right now, her cell phone couldn’t call him when he was there.

“Thank you! It’s so pretty,” she said, as she slipped it over her head.

“I miss talking to you when I’m gone and I worry sometimes since you can’t reach me,” Thomas said.

“I am a grown-up,” she pointed out. “But I miss talking to you too.” This was the thing that had driven a lot of boyfriends away. On her side, they didn’t understand how they could be so close and not be in a relationship. On his side, they didn’t like sharing, or something. D just smiled and seemed happy to have her around. She couldn’t be the third wheel all of the time though and she was thinking that maybe it was time to give dating a try again. The image of Mac popped in her head, but she didn’t think he was interested. He had plenty of opportunities to talk to her but usually left with maybe a head nod if she was lucky.

“What did you guys do on your trip? Besides each other,” she teased.

D turned red and Thomas laughed. “Went sightseeing, some shopping. I met his parents, who turned out to be really nice. You would love his mom. She loves baking too and watches The Great British Baking Show. You guys could bond over Paul.”

“It’s the blue eyes.”

“They are gorgeous. Not as gorgeous as green ones,” Thomas assured his mate, giving him a kiss.

“What was there to sightsee?” she asked, curious.

“There were a bunch of shops in his town. Apparently, there’s different towns scattered all over. Since they can get places so easily, they don’t have to live close to work.”

Being able to create a portal and port to different locations would make your commute a lot faster.

“I took him to see the beach nearby. It’s not in town, but not far. If you drove, it would be maybe an hour or so,” D added.

Thomas leaned forward. “The beaches are a little freaky. The sand is all black and the water is red. There’s some funky-looking fish too. I’m not sure if I’m going swimming there anytime soon.”

“You guys have sharks,” D pointed out.

“I saw that fish. I think I’d prefer a shark,” Thomas shot back.

“Was it that bad?” she asked.

“It was clear, like you could see all of its veins and organs. It had tusks, not teeth, but tusks, top and bottom. It had two tiny arms with even tinier hands, plus normal fish fins, a tail like a snake. The worst part was its face looked like one of those shrunken heads, complete with a few strands of hair. It gave me nightmares of being eaten.”

“Love, you’re too big for that fish to eat. They go after much smaller prey,” D pointed out helpfully.

“Be quiet. I’m still not swimming in the water with them,” Thomas said adamantly, shaking his head.

“Okay,” D laughed. “You don’t have to.”

“Did you get any pictures?” Viv asked.

Thomas shook his head. “Pictures aren’t allowed to leave there. But the good thing with the pendant, is I think we can do a video call and I can show you,” he said excitedly.

“That would be cool!” That would be amazing actually. She would be able to be part of that side of his life as well in some small way. It would help that she could understand what he was talking about, since he didn’t have anyone else to discuss these things with besides her and D.

“What do you guys want to do the rest of the day? Do you have laundry to catch up on?”

“We got it done before we left. I thought we could go see a movie? There’s that new rom-com we talked about. It’s playing in an hour, if you wanted to go?”

“That sounds perfect,” she agreed.

D excused himself to run to the bathroom. While he was gone, Viv leaned forward. “What do you think of me trying out a dating app?”

Thomas frowned. “Is this because of me?”

“No, not really. What you guys have is amazing and I want to find that for myself. Even if it’s with a regular old human,” she teased. It was partly because of them, she felt lonely and wanted to be able to find someone to love and who loved her in return, but she didn’t want him to feel bad. If he hadn’t found D, she would have probably been content without putting herself out there again.

“Okay. But I reserve the right to approve your profile and the guys. D has to meet them too. He has a good sense if people are good or bad.”

“Sounds good to me,” she agreed. If D could tell her which ones to avoid, that would save a lot of time.

“What sounds good?” D asked as he slid back into his seat.

“Having you clear Viv’s dates,” Thomas said.

D got a weird look on his face, but it cleared so quickly that she wasn’t sure what she had seen. “Dates? I didn’t know you were dating anyone,” he said.

“I’m not. Not yet. I was just thinking of trying dating again and Thomas said you and he needed to clear my dates.”

“Of course we do,” D agreed. “Is there someone you’re interested in?”

“I haven’t met anyone who I think is interested in me,” she replied, thinking of Mac again and avoiding answering with a yes or no. “I was thinking of joining an app. I’m too old to try the bar scene.”

“We’re not old!” came the expected response from Thomas.

Viv laughed. “I’m not a big bar person, never have been,” she explained to D. “There’s usually only older guys or dads who come into the library, so I don’t have a lot of opportunities to meet people at work. I thought maybe joining a dating app would help.”

“I definitely need to clear all your dates then. You’d be surprised how many guys from dating apps end up where I work,” D said.

Maybe dating could wait awhile then, although she did want to find her person.