Skins & Needles (COMPLETE)

Late Night Groceries Part 2

Arsen

I left the next morning before Charlotte awoke. When I went downstairs after getting dressed, she was curled up in a ball in the bend of the sectional. She held a pillow in her arms, and the blanket I had given her was covering only up to her knees. Her shirt had ridden up to expose her stitches and side tattoos, and her wild red hair was strewn around her in messy waves.

Gorgeous, I thought as I turned away.

Forbidden.

The drive to work was spent refocusing my mind on the day's tasks. Since the Nathairs had declined our request for access to their territory, we had to come up with some other way to monitor more of the area giving access to the Pass. However, with this being the day after Solstice, there would be a myriad of new deals between circles, families, and gangs to finalize. That day, I would be doing desk work.

On any other day, I might be scoping out territory boundaries, meeting up with connections to find out who was talking to who or what family was doing business where, or making my rounds dealing drugs and weapons to willing buyers. Sometimes I'd even have a hit to carry out, or a tedious meeting with a circle boss for Kase. But instead, I had agreements to write up, territories to redefine, and a bunch of mind-numbing bullshit that did nothing to get my mind off a certain situation at home.

A situation that I had to drive back to at some point.

I stayed later than I usually might at our warehouse— a massive building disguised as a used car dealership— procrastinating going back to my house where Charlotte was on what we nicknamed "Samwise lockdown," in lieu of a Fellowship of the Ring reference. By the time I left, the sky was dark, and the city was slowing down.

When I pulled up to my house, it was lit up on both floors. I heard music playing as I approached the door, and when I opened it, the smell of cooking flooded my senses. I was taking my shoes off when Charlotte walked down the stairs, her hair tied up in a towel and wearing one of my shirts with the shorts Dr. Shannon gave her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed when she saw me. "I didn't know you were here."

"I just got home," I said slowly. "Uh, what are you doing?"

To this, she responded with a hand on her hip, though I saw the briefest flash of pain on her face when she moved.

"Listen," she began, and moved to stand before me. She smelled like my soap, mixed with her own unique scent. So it hadn't been her perfume... "We have a few problems here."

"Oh?" I felt myself smiling at her forced serious expression, and nodded for her to go on.

"For one, I have no clothes." To this, she motioned to herself, and my eyes were momentarily drawn to the damp white button-up of mine clinging gently to her curves.

"Yes, that does seem like a potential problem," I agreed, my eyes returning to her mocking ones.

"It does! And another thing— you are painfully low on groceries. Like, you have a lot of meat in your freezer, so that's the upside here, but where are your other staples? Vegetables? Milk? Pasta? Rice? Eggs?" She said these with increasing hysteria, and a burst of laughter erupted from me uninvoked. She was acting like she owned the place, and I couldn't even be mad.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked through laughter, and she scowled dramatically.

"I had some wine, okay?" she retorted incredulously. "And you know what? I still made a bitchin' steak and broccoli stir fry! Somehow with frozen broccoli!"

So that's what I smelled.

"We'll see how bitchin' it is, hmm?" I stepped past her into my kitchen and found a full skillet sitting on my stove set to low, and the sink containing my cutting board and a bowl with sauce residue. The truth was, I didn't cook much besides meat and light seasoning for myself, opting to either eat out or hunt my meal in wolf form, but that didn't mean I didn't like other things. I was just busy and living alone, and didn't care enough to do all the extra stuff.

"I made enough for two, plus leftovers, so go nuts," Charlotte said from behind me. "If you like it anyway."

I turned to see her holding a glass of wine, and took a deep breath.

Malbec.

"That was a cheap bottle," I told her, stepping to stand in front of her. "You could have picked one of my nicer blends."

"I'm a guest," she argued, waving her free hand. "I might help myself to your fridge, but I'll go easy on your booze collection. Which, by the way, is much better stocked than your pantry."

"I don't cook much."

"I can tell. Now try it! Or not. But I'm starving."

And in all honesty, I was too. I hadn't eaten at work, and didn't even consider that Charlotte was here alone. I reached behind her and felt her tense up, but I steeled myself from acting on the sudden urge to tug her closer and pulled down a dish. At the last moment, I remembered to grab a second plate, and headed toward the stove to serve us both up. It smelled divine, and I felt my stomach grumble as I began to scoop our meals. I had to fight back my wolf side's instinct to scarf food out of the skillet, and was again reminded why Charlotte and I couldn't be involved.

When I had both of our dishes served, I handed Charlotte hers and leaned back against my kitchen island.

"Now, we feast," Charlotte declared, and handed me a fork. I took it from her, my fingers drifting over hers as I did, and stabbed it into a hunk of steak and broccoli. I brought the bite to my mouth and...

Decadent.

"You mentioned grocery shopping?" I asked after a few more bites of the delicious, home-cooked food.

"I mean, a week is six more days," she reminded me. That way she looked at me when she sipped her wine had me turning away and eating off the island.

"Could you be fast?" I asked in between bites of stir fry. Where had this woman learned to cook?

"Of course," she replied, as if I was stupid for even asking. "You have no idea."

I thought about the whole scheme while I finished my meal, and decided that this plan would alleviate certain issues enough to go through with it.

The first was that seeing Charlotte in my clothes turned me on.

The second was that her cooking was amazing, and it gave her something to do while she was literally trapped in my house.

The third was, the less time I spent alone with her, the less time I had to cross the invisible barriers that divided us.

---

I'm the worst at updating lately, but that's what happens when I give myself wayyy too much to do at once. I'll be better, I promise! Just gotta get moving on the last chapters.

Random fact about S&N: It was actually nominated for a bunch of categories in the Indie Ink Awards (2022), my favorite being This Book Made Me Hungry/Thirsty." Char cooks a lot during the first half of this book, and I'm ecstatic that someone appreciated it.

My other fav categories this one was up for were Wittiest Character, and Best Book Cover & Cover Artist.

Anyway, full permission to yell at me if I'm taking too long between updates. I have some chapters written ahead, but am also really trying to finish the book.

Hope everyone is having a lovely November, and happy reading!

-Haybails