Nikki Haras

“Hey, look at that,” Maddox said, barely managing to stifle a grin. “That female that you absolutely do not like, or think is attractive in any way, you know, the one you have most certainly not been starin’ at all evenin’. Looks like she is comin’ over here with Elise and Lilli.” He let out an exaggerated gasp. “Ooh… I wonder if she is gonna sit with us too.” 

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“I fuckin’ swear to the gods, if you do not shut your big ass fuckin’ mouth, I am gonna fuckin’ bloody it,” Arman growled. He was absolutely not staring at her. Arman stabbed at a piece of meat on his plate with a fork. Nope. Not even a little bit. Didn’t give a single flying fuck where she sat either.

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It didn’t take the three of them long to make their way to where her brothers sat. The semi-seething look on Arman’s face said it all. Maddox had teased the shit out of him. Probably as much as she and Lilli teased Letti. Elise dipped her chin toward her oldest brother. “Letti, this is Maddox, my other brother. Maddox, meet Letti. One of my best friends.” As she set her plate down, she gestured to her other brother. “And well, you know Arman.”

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Letti nodded to Maddox. “A pleasure, I’m sure.” Her gaze flicked to Arman. “Armen.”

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Maddox dipped his chin in a nod. “Nice to meet ya, Letti.” He glanced over at Arman who hadn’t even looked up from his plate since the three had begun making their way over. Maddox reached over and gripped the nape of Arman’s neck, giving him a little shake. “You know, the polite thing to do when someone says hello is to reciprocate.” 

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Arman shoved Maddox off of him. And he didn’t do it gently either. “She did not say hello. She said my name. And said it wrong again, at that.” For fuck’s sake. Either she had short-term memory loss, or she just enjoyed being a bitch. Probably the latter. Arman flicked his gaze up to Letti’s. And immediately regretted it. Now his eyes were locked on hers and he couldn’t bring himself to look away. No matter how hard he fucking tried to. “Letti.”

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Lilli bit down on her lip to hold back a smirk as she pulled out Elise’s chair, then sat down in the one next to it. “Hello,” she said to both males. 

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Maddox nodded to her too. “Hey, Lilli.” He shifted his gaze back to Letti. “Apologies for my little brother. Sometimes he forgets that our momma taught us manners growin’ up.” 

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“Shuddup, dick.” He nodded over at Lilli too. Not that he managed to take his eyes off of Letti. “Hey, Lills.”

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Motherfucker! His gaze had to connect with hers. No, she wasn’t fucking attracted him. Why had she agreed to sit with them? Oh, right. Because she’s a fucking idiot with something to prove. Nope, she didn’t say his fucking name right. Arman. The day she did, all bets were off. And that was the last fucking thing she needed. Say something, moron. Stop staring! Letti forced herself to focus her attention on Maddox as she swept a hand beneath the skirting of her dress as she sat. “No worries. I’ve dealt with my fair share of assholes. Some worse than others.”

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Elise barely held back a snicker. Oh yeah. Her best friend had it bad. Fuck Richtor for pulling a stunt that left Letti refusing to acknowledge it. Especially when she knew how good her friend and brother would be for each other. “Mostly from the club, right?” She sat, reached over, and pressed a tender kiss to her female’s cheek. “Thank you, Lilli.”

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Lilli smiled over at Elise. A blush had immediately come over her face at the kiss. “Thank you for what?” 

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“Club, huh. Workin’ or playin’?” Arman could have smacked himself across the face. Or punched himself. Either would work. Maybe she wouldn’t even respond to the stupid fucking dumb ass question. Something that wouldn’t surprise him.

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Maddox raised an eyebrow at Arman. “Uh… I think what my brother was tryin' to ask… and doin’ a horrible job of it, in my opinion—” He snickered at the look on Arman’s face. Oh, no. His little brother didn’t have it bad at all. “—is if you work there or just hang out there.” 

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“If I wanted to fuckin’ know that, I woulda fuckin’ asked that.” 

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“For pulling out my chair.” It was small, but she wanted her female to feel appreciated in every way possible. Lilli deserved that. Elise glanced at Letti as she dug into the fruit she’d put on her plate. Would the female answer? Who was she kidding? Of course, Letti would.

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Letti dipped a strawberry into the whipped cream, bit into it, and chewed as she narrowed her gaze at Arman. She couldn’t tell if he seriously wanted to know or if he just wanted to fuck with her some more. Either could apply. She’d answer. She didn’t have anything to hide. Swallowing the bite in her mouth, she swept her tongue across her bottom lip and cleaned off the whipped cream. “I worked there. As a DJ and entertainer for a endless multitude of grab-asses. It closed a few days before everything exploded in the marketplace. So, if I ever go back… it’ll be for fun.”

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“Oh, of course.” It had just seemed like the thing to do. Something she had done without even thinking about it. “I like doing things to take care of you.”

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With a forkful of food halfway to his mouth, Arman’s gaze zeroed in on Letti’s face. He could’ve drilled a fucking hole through her face with how hard he was staring. But like he could do any-fucking-thing else? When her fucking mouth was… eating a strawberry with whipped cream on it… and licking whipped cream off her lip… When the fuck had eating food gotten sexy?! Shit. She’d said something. And he didn’t have a flying fucking clue what she’d said. No way she would have actually answered his question, though… right?

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Maddox glanced over at Arman and nearly burst out in laughter. Sure as shit, Arman’s eyes were even darker than before. The tips of his fangs were digging into his lower lip. And his tail was twitching rapidly back and forth behind his chair. This was fucking hilarious. He would have to ask Devin later if—oh… well… no need, apparently. Devin was talking with some male a couple dozen feet away from the dance floor, but she wasn’t looking at him at the moment. She kept glancing over to their group with a knowing grin on her face. Maddox smirked as he focused back on Letti. “I never got out much, but I remember a couple o’ the bars. Which one did you work at?” If his brother didn’t want to ask questions, he could handle that part of the conversation. Easy peasy.

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He was fucking gawking at her? Why the fuck was he looking at her like that? No way she said something that would shut him up. Not that he uttered a response. Instead his brother took up that mantel. Whatever. Her gaze flicked briefly to Maddox. “The Mystical Moon. Though I’m not going back to work there after the rebuild is complete.” She took another bite of the strawberry, finishing it off. As she set the stem down on her plate, she swept the juice that dribbled down her chin with her finger and sucked it clean.

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“Same,” Elise replied to Lilli. She shot her brother a knowing grin. See, I told you. With the way Arman and Letti looked at one another… well, she didn’t want to think too much on it. Other than she was right. Perfect.

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“I know.” She loved it too. It might be the first time she actually enjoyed someone taking care of her. Just the little that Elise did for her every single day. Lilli leaned in and kissed Elise on the cheek, then leaned into her a little as she ate one of the cherry tarts on her plate.

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What had she said that time? Something about not going back to work. But fuck if he could stay focused on what she was saying. Just on what else she was doing with her mouth. And her fingers. One finger, specifically. That she was sucking juice off of. Like  she was a fucking expert or some shit. Hades, you know what to do with that mouth, dontcha. Geezus, what the fucking… He had to stop thinking like that. Right. Fucking. Now. Just like she needed to fucking stop that. Before he fucking went insane. Biting back a growl, Arman ran a hand down his face then stabbed at another piece of meat on his plate. With the fork. That he already had food on. Fuck, he was a damn mess and it was all her fucking fault too.

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Maddox shot a grin back at her, then looked back at Letti. It was taking a ton of his self-control not to put Arman on full blast right now. Not that he wasn’t doing a damn good job of it all by himself. “I have only had one job my whole life, and no one has that job anymore. Not a single complaint from me abou’ that. But I have doin’ things around the village, helpin’ the queen, that kinda thing.” Maddox picked up his cup to take a drink, set it down, then shot another look at Arman before focusing back on the female. “So, do you think you will go back into that kinda work? When the marketplace gets rebuilt and all that?”

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Yep. Best if she pretended none of this was happening. She really didn’t need to watch her best friend slowly torture her brother. Gods, she didn’t even want to know what was going through his mind. Though she imagined it was something fairly dirty. “Go ahead, Letti. Tell him what you’re doing now. Or will be doing.”

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“Sort of the same. With a twist.” The corner of her mouth edged up in a half smile. “My new job is more of what I prefer. More me.” She swiped her finger through the pile of whipped cream and licked it off. “Mm. I’ll get to sing. Seemed more up my alley.”

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That fucking look on her face should be illegal. Fucking illegal. And if she used her mouth on that fucking whipped cream one more gods-damn time, he was chucking her whole damn plate across the clearing. Without looking away from Letti, he brought his fork up to his mouth, missed and nearly stabbed himself with it, but got it in on the next try. Yeah. Because he really needed something else to make him look like a fucking idiot.

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Maddox leaned his head toward Arman and lowered his voice—like that would do anything in keeping the others from the table from hearing, which was sort of the point. “Havin’ a lil’ trouble findin’ your mouth there, lil’ bro?

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“I told ya to shut the fuck up, dick,” Arman said under his breath. A hint of a growl tinged his tone. Fucking asshole was lucky he’d learned to control his temper a long time ago. Arman stabbed at another piece of meat on his plate. 

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“Oh, good!” Lilli piped up. “Elise said something about that. I was hoping… well… you have such a good voice. Do you think you will enjoy that more?” 

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Letti stifled a snicker. It amused her that Arman had  missed his mouth. Not that she understood how it happened. Nor did she care. Popping her finger out of her mouth, she grinned widely. “Oh, absolutely. I won’t have to worry about assholes and their not-so-subtle brush across my tits or the dickwads who like to pinch my ass as I walk by. Shitheads who can’t seem to keep their fucking hands to themselves. Even considered singing more around here, besides helping out with music classes.” She plucked a cherry from her plate and twirled her tongue around it before tearing it from the stem.

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“Well, it’s not like we experience a shortage of celebrations.” Elise tilted her head, thoughtfully. “I think the next one, it’s what… the full moon? Or is it Samhain?”

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“Samhain. It goes right in the Harvest Equinox,” Letti replied, picking up another cherry from her plate. She twirled the tip of her tongue around it, took it into her mouth, between her teeth, and ripped it from the stem.

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When Letti popped her finger out of her mouth, Arman started to sweat. Then the fucking cherry… Holy flying fucking shit, he was about to snap. Into a million gods-damn pieces. And he couldn’t even get up and leave. His dick had gotten so hard, it felt like that would be the first thing to snap in two. Not to mention, he couldn’t exactly fucking walk around like that. This was a fucking mating ceremony, there were kids all over the fucking place.

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Lilli didn’t know what Samhain was, besides it being another celebration, but she could always ask about that later. Lilli nibbled on the tart in her hand. She knew all about what Letti spoke of. “I am glad you found a job where you could sing more. I have only done it the one time in front of a lot of people, but I enjoyed it very much.” Doing so had allowed her to feel a confidence unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

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Maddox nearly choked on a bite of food. This was just too hilarious. It was all he could do to chew and swallow the food, then take a drink of his water. “Um—” He stifled another snicker. “What I was gonna say is, you should definitely not have to worry about anyone treating you like that. When you start workin’ again, jus’ so you know, Arman here is really good at kno—”

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“Will you fucking stop that?!” Arman exclaimed. The words came out before he could stop them. He couldn’t fucking take another second of her fucking teasing.

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Her head jerked in his direction. “What the fuck are you talking about? Stop what?” She wasn’t doing anything more than eating. Was she not allowed to eat? Gods, he had some serious fucking issues. Nope, definitely not attracted to him. Or anything like it. Yeah, he was hot, but he absolutely needed help. Snapping at her like that. And what was his brother trying to do? Come to his defense? Was that what he planned to say before Arman so rudely cut him off. Letti tore off a piece of meat on her plate and popped it into her mouth.

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Elise glanced back and forth between her best friend and her brother. This made for an interesting staring match. As much as Letti’s actions got to Arman, she couldn’t say it was on purpose. Then again… they’d known one another for years. Her best friend would add a little extra to tease someone she wasn’t supposedly attracted to. Snickering, Elise lifted one of the tarts. “Or the two of you could just admit you’re attraction and go off somewhere. None of us would care.” With a shrug, she bit into the tart.

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“I am not fuckin’ attracted to her,” he said to Elise. Though he still couldn’t tear his eyes away from Letti. “And you know exactly what you were doing.”

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Maddox snickered. “You can tell yourself that all day long, Arman. That does not make it true.” Finishing with his meat, Maddox went onto the vegetables he had on his plate. 

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“Exactly!” Letti gestured to him. “I’m not fucking attracted to him, either! So knock that shit off,” she retorted. Lies, lies, lies. “No, really, I don’t. It’s just food.” Yeah, she knew exactly how she tortured him. It amused the fuck out of her. Fun she hadn’t had in such a long time. Hmm, how else could she tease him? What other food on her plate could she use? Not the meat. Strawberries and cream were a little overdone. Same with the cherries. Oh! Blackberries. She picked up a blackberry between her forefinger and thumb, brought it to her mouth, and curled her tongue around it as she took it between her lips.

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Huh? Oh yeah. Her friend did everything purposely. She couldn’t help but tease them both a little further. “The two of you are protesting an awful lot.”