Chapter 54: Friends Don’t Do That To Eachother.
"Princess, I asked if you want to be my friend?"
I repeated the question because the silence was getting too heavy. It was like a total blackout in the conversation. No words came from her, just that steady, unreadable look she always gave me.
"Princess!" I called out again, trying to snap her back to the moment.
"I heard you," she finally said. Her voice was calm, but there was a flicker of something in her eyes. "I am just thinking about what kind of friend you want me to be. Because, you know, friends don’t usually sleep with each other."
The irony of that statement nearly made me choke. I wanted to point out that her own best friend was currently sleeping with... oh, fuck it. It wasn’t the time to bring up Kiara and Beam.
"You know what I mean by friends," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I will be your friend. If you need someone to talk to, I will be there for you. If I need someone to talk to, you will be there for me. Let’s just be there for each other. And who knows? Maybe we might even end up under the same roof as co-parents one day."
Princess tilted her head slightly, considering the words. "So it’s a co-parents friendship?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. "Let’s just say it like that for now."
She didn’t say yes immediately. She just smiled, that small, knowing smile of hers, and kept staring at me. I could tell she was still playing the idea of a co-parents friendship over in her head. I didn’t know what this new dynamic might bring into my life, but I was curious. I wanted to see what it was actually like to be her friend instead of her pups bearer.
"Also," she said, "can you pretend not to know anything about Kiara and Beam? I still don’t want them to know that I know. Or that you know."
I nodded my head in agreement. A part of me wondered if I should just come clean. Should I tell her that I know that I know, and they know that I know? It felt like a tongue twister of secrets. Maybe I shouldn’t. I had no idea how she would react to that level of complication, so I decided to play along. I would just pretend that I was just finding out about the whole mess from her.
"So how long do you think this elevator is going to have a mechanical failure?" I asked, looking up at the ceiling. The small space was starting to feel even smaller.
"I can stop it anytime," she said, her tone casual. "All I have to do is push that button and the power is restored. And since you have made me feel better, just like last time, I guess I have to push the button now."
"I made you feel better like last time?" I asked. I was genuinely confused. "How?" I seriously wanted to know. I didn’t think I had that kind of effect on her.
"When you made up that word Alpha phobic," she said, and a soft laugh escaped her. "I just couldn’t help it. It made me laugh. It made me forget the reason I was even inside the elevator in the first place. And then you said you were allergic to me. Hahaha."
There it was. Her smirk was back in full force.
"I am really allergic to you," I insisted, trying to look serious. "And Alpha phobic is not a made-up word. It is a real word." I nodded my head for emphasis.
"Really? You are the only person I have ever heard it from, and it’s funny." She kept laughing, a light sound that bounced off the metal walls.
I watched her smile. It was actually really cute to see her laugh at something that didn’t even sound funny to me. It felt like a rare moment of her being herself instead of just the intimidating Alpha Princess everyone else saw.
"Okay, guess it’s time to leave, huh," she said. She started to shift, about to stand up and push the button to end our little isolation.
But my mind had other plans. Before she could move away, I reached out and pinned her back down. I didn’t think about it; I just went straight for her lips.
I tasted her strawberry lipstick as our mouths collided. It was a deep, desperate kiss, our lips tasting each other in the quiet of the stalled elevator. Just when I was really losing myself in the moment, she pulled away. She stayed just a few inches from my face, her breath warm on my skin.
"Whoa," Princess said softly, her eyes searching mine. "Friends don’t do that to each other. Unless you are going for a friends with benefits situation."
"We were enemies with benefits," I whispered, my gaze dropping to her lips. I didn’t care about the labels right then. I wanted to kiss her more than I wanted to talk. "So what difference does it make?"
"I was never your enemy," she murmured.
Princess leaned back in and kissed me again, deeper this time. I felt her tongue enter my mouth, moving slowly and exploring every corner. I could feel the heat rising in my body, that familiar pull that she always seemed to trigger.
She eventually broke the kiss and moved to my neck. She kissed every inch of skin she could find, not leaving a single space untouched. I let my head fall back, my breath hitching. Just when I was starting to want more, much more, she pulled away completely.
"We can’t have sex in here," she said firmly.
"What? Why?" I asked, my voice sounding strained and low.
"We are in an elevator, Omega. I don’t want to have sex in this kind of space."
"Why?" I asked again, feeling a bit frustrated.
"Because if we have sex here, I won’t be able to concentrate on my reading whenever I am inside here," she explained, as if it was the most logical thing in the world. "Let’s go to Lunny Club. My room is better."
"What if we bump into your friends?" I asked.
It was an excuse. I wanted what I wanted right then and there, and I knew my mind could change at any second. If we left this elevator, the spell might break.
"Oh, let me check where they are right now," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. She started tapping at the screen. She was tracking them, so she always knew exactly where they were.
"You always know about their whereabouts?" I asked, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Yes," she said easily. "I always track the people that I care about. Including you."
The air in the elevator suddenly felt colder. "So you are tracking me too?"
"Yes."
I couldn’t believe it. She was tracking me. I knew I shouldn’t have collected that phone from her. Why on earth would she be tracking my every move? It was creepy, but with Princess, it almost felt expected.
"Okay, good. They are far away," Princess said, ignoring my shock. She stood up and finally pushed the button.
The lights flickered, the hum of electricity returned, and the elevator jolted back to life. It started moving down toward the first floor. I stepped out as soon as the doors slid open, trying to compose myself. While I was busy adjusting my clothes and trying to look normal, she was casually picking up her book before stepping out behind me.
I didn’t even have a second to breathe before I saw them.
"Faye, where were you?" Sasha asked, rushing toward me. Malo was right behind her, looking exhausted. "We need to find a way to kill Peamah before he kills us."
"For the 100th time, purple hair, he is not going to kill us," Malo muttered, his voice full of weariness. "We just need to figure out how he is even alive."
"Guys, shut up," I hissed, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Don’t shut me up," Sasha snapped, her voice rising in panic. "I am definitely not the one Peamah will be killing first. You know it’s going to be you. He saw you right before he died, Faye. You’re the one he’s coming for."
"Please stop," I begged.
My voice was barely a whisper. I was terrified because Princess was standing right behind me, and I was almost certain she had heard every single word.
