time. There will be a right time to ask her. This isn't the night. I don't want to sully her good time by dredging up whatever memory she's obviously trying to ignore at the moment.
Chapter Fifteen
Stephanie
"So, how are you feeling today, cousin?" Katie asks me.
We're eating breakfast together with Brent at Katie's apartment. I grunt as a reply and shake my head, but I'm smiling which is really something to me.
She continues, "I can tell you had an eventful day yesterday. And," she looks closer at me and leans in, "it appears you had a fun night to. Am I right?"
"You are definitely right," I reply. "Thanks for introducing me to Dan," I tell Brent.
He shrugs and continues to eat his food. I'm not sure what he's eating but it smells like it might be good. For my morning meal, I'm just sticking with some kind of sweet cereal and milk. I don't ask what kind of milk it is, but the taste is nice.
"I don't think Brent meant to introduce you to Dan," says Katie.
"Yeah, uh, sorry about that," he finally says. "I wasn't sure about leaving you with him, but you were pretty interested. I could tell."
"Oh well, it turned out well," says Katie.
I don't know what their problem with Dan is. "So, what's this about you being shared around?" I blurt out.
Katie's face freezes and she slowly looks over at me, then to Brent. He's just slightly smiling in the most mischievous of ways. Then Katie turns back to me.
"What are you talking about? Who told you—oh my God, it was Dan wasn't it?"
I smirk in a knowing way. It feels like I'm finally the more mature one, playing the parent who's discovered my teenage kid's secret. Only Katie isn't a teen anymore. "Why didn't you tell me you have two dragon mates and two vampire mates?" I demand. I'm not mad, just enjoying being in the know for the first time on this weird planet.
"It's not really any of your business, that's why. A person's sex life isn't meant to be public knowledge unless they choose it to be," says Katie angrily. I can tell she's putting it on though. Trying to seem more indignant that she really is.
Brent stands up to leave the room, having finished quickly wolfing down his food. "You should have told your cousin about your lifestyle as soon as she was an adult," Brent says. "What's there to be ashamed of?" He shrugs again, shakes his head dismissively, then leaves the room.
Katie edges her seat closer and turns it to face me. I feel like I'm suddenly in a very awkward confessional room at church or something. That would make me the one receiving the confession, right? I don't like what might come out now.
She says, "Look, I didn't believe in this kind of ... lifestyle, before. You know, polyamory, being 'shared' as you put it. I'm not just some slut—"
"I would never call you that," I interject before she can get the wrong idea any more than she already has. "You're my cousin, Katie, I look up to you. This doesn't change that."
"I'm glad to hear you say that," she replies with a smile. Suddenly she looks so happy and relieved that I could swear she's about to let a tear leak out. "So, I guess I should tell you everything, huh? Well, to be honest I couldn't imagine not having the four of my mates in my life. They really do make me feel special and very loved. Also, very sexually wanted, if I'm telling the truth."
"Please don't let this get too TMI,” I remind her. It's nice to keep some things to ourselves, right?"
She laughed as I say that, and I join in once I see she's not offended by my joke.
"Okay then, well I never knew I was special until I turned eighteen. After that, wow. Things got very intense and I wasn't sure I could handle all this."
"What do you mean?" I ask, feeling like I have to know everything now.
Katie smiles, then her lips straighten into a forlorn expression suddenly. It's a conflicting look. "With four mates comes a great responsibility," she says.
"Katie... you keep saying mates. What do you mean a great responsibility? You’ve got me intrigued here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Stephanie
Katie asks, “Do you want to go back home to Earth?
“The hell with that,” I tell her. “This is way too much of an adventure to leave now!”
She accepts that and doesn't try to pressure me