Eliza sits up in bed clearly feeling much better. Ash sighs and looks away from her. “Oh, hell no, boy!” She crawls across the bed and sits across his legs. She grabs his face and turns him to her. “Look at me, Ash. Right the fuck now!” She brushes his tears as they fall, and he looks up at her. She looks right into his eyes, “I love you, and I trust you. You did not hurt me on purpose. And I’m fine now.” He sighs,
“But you nearly weren’t. I fucked up.” He closes his eyes again, “I damned near killed you, Eliza.” She shakes his face and grunts,
“Look at me.” He sniffs deeply, and looks at her. She takes his hand and places it over her heart. “I’m right here. I’m okay. And now we know, no one feeds from me alone. It’s all of us together or it doesn’t happen.” He sighs,
“But Kai…” She scoffs,
&
Kai nods and sits back down. He’s worried, but Eliza has been through a lot recently and is clearly struggling. The funeral is probably weighing on her too. And now he feels like a jerk. He sighs and crosses his arms on the table,“We’ve not been very considerate today.” He sighs, and Ash nods. “She’s clearly not okay, but I have no idea how to make this easier for her.” Claudia raises an eyebrow,“You can’t.” Ash looks at her curiously, “Loss is felt differently each time it happens. If she needs time and space, then give it to her. If she needs you to hold her, then hold her. Just follow her lead, that’s all you need to do.” Kai nods, and runs a hand through his hair. He watches the toilet door for a minute, there’s no sign of her.“She’s taking a while.” Ash turns and looks at the door. Kai stretches his hearing to hear her sobbing. “Fuck this.” He stands and goes to the door. It’s a unisex toilet and a small room. He knocks softly and speaks quietly, “Baby,
Kai and Ash spend a few moments picking out several sex-based games, and the pack of cards he’d initially spotted, they end up with two each. They join her at the till just as Spencer finishes wrapping up her things and dropping them into a non-descript brown paper bag. She rolls her eyes at them and moves to the door while they sort themselves out. Claudia goes and stands with her. When they join them, Eliza is smirking and Claudia is giggling.“Okay, Baby. Is there anything else we need for tomorrow, that we haven’t organised.” She starts to speak but then her stomach rumbles loudly, “Food next.” He takes her arm and follows Claudia who leads them to a small café. They take seats at a table, and the guy who comes over to serve them is a satyr. He’d not met many in his time.“What can I get you folks?” He sounds old, and the fur on his legs is going a bit grey in places. Kai doesn’t let his eyes linger
“Baby, you said you didn’t like buying things for yourself.” Eliza smirks at Kai, who leads her back to the sofa so Ash can take the boots off and pack them back in their box for later.“It’s not just for me. Ash loves the jumpsuit and chose that, and you love the boots, so it’s for all of us, not just me. It’s not so weird when I think about it like that.” She plops back down and Ash sighs, unzipping the boots and sliding them off slowly. He really likes the boots too; they’re a good choice. Maybe they made them in other colours and he could get her some for the bedroom if she was into that. At least she wouldn’t be on her feet in them.Once they were done there, and packed up, with Gerald promising to message Claudia once the alterations are finished, he expects it to be no more than an hour. Claudia leads the way to a different section of the shopping centre.“You my dear are in need of a different bra for that outfit, so… We need a sex shop.” Eliza flushes a
Eliza turns her back on Monica and goes back to Claudia and sits next to her, linking her arm with Claudia’s. They’re on the sofa that’s there for people to try on the shoes, or to wait for people trying on dresses. Claudia looks at Eliza, confused, she sighs,“She gave you a disgusted look behind your back. I don’t let people mistreat my friends. Fuck that little bitch.” Claudia looks like she’s nearly in tears. Eliza leans in close, “I kill people for a living. If she acts up again, do let me know. I’d do her for free.” Claudia looks at Ash who is working the boots onto her legs, she’s grateful her jeans are bootcut so there’s room for him to get them on. She takes her arm back from Claudia to roll up the legs so she can walk around and still see them.“You kill people?” Claudia looks concerned, and Eliza smiles and leans in close to explain it better,“Yup, I’m an Assassin. In the Guild, so I only kill the deserving, you’re fine.” Kai laughs and kisses her on
Gerald looks at Claudia and Eliza sees his gaze heat a little,“If she would like that, otherwise I’d love to cook for her at my place.” Gods, he’s eager, he’s probably been thinking about this for a while. Eliza looks at Claudia, and gives her a theatrical bow,“You’re welcome. You two can sort out the details, Ash?” Ash takes the jumpsuits from Gerald with a grin and follows her into the changing room. Claudia and Gerald wander off to exchange details while Kai stands outside the door. The door hangs a few inches off the floor, but goes a fair way up. And with Kai outside, no one’s going to see more of her than she wants them to.Ash slides off her boots as she pulls her top off, then Ash pulls her trousers down for her. It doesn’t take them long to rule out the smallest one, it just isn’t going to work. The next size up goes on, but it’s uncomfortably tight around her stomach. Ash helps her get out of it without popping any stitches, and they move on to the l
“I’m sorry if that makes it more complicated, but it’s a tradition in his community.” Eliza isn’t sure how much to tell Claudia; she might be a dear friend to Ash and Kai, but she doesn’t know her yet. Claudia nods and looks at the men,“Are they going to need suits?” Eliza growls and facepalms, harder than she’d meant to, making Ash jolt and take the hand she’d just hit her forehead with.“Sorry, Sweetie.” She leans her shoulder against his as he holds her hand. He nods, but keeps her hand. “Ideally yes, also white, or off-white.” Claudia nods and grabs her phone and walks to a corner of the room to make a call. She turns back to Ash, “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to hit myself quite that hard.” He runs a thumb over her forehead.“It’s okay.” He gives her a crooked smile, “Are you okay?” She nods, and he leans over to kiss her forehead, she sighs as he does. “There, all better.” Kai grumbles, so she turns to him, and he kisses it too. He smirks and nods,“N