I shook my head again. “Okay, seriously,” I said, focusing on her, not even remotely in danger of my skin graying. “Serenity was one thing, but you’re really okay with me being with a third girl?”
Gabriella sighed. “It just feels right,” she admitted. “Maybe it’s my succubus intuition, if I really am part-succubus, or maybe it’s just because I wouldn’t mind having a relationship with her too.”
Fuck!
I tried to keep my mind blank, speaking slowly as I probed for more information. “Okay, seriously. I thought you weren’t sure if you liked women too.”
Gabriella took a deep breath, leaning more heavily into her seat. “It’s not that. It’s Avery. There’s something about her that’s really enticing. Actually, it’s her scent, now that I think about it.”
“The flowery smell?” I commented in confusion.
Gabriella looked at me in surprise. “Flowery smell?” she repeated, looking just as confused.
I nodded. “Yeah, she kind of smells like flowers. Like roses or something, I don’t know.”
Gabriella just stared at me for a second. “She doesn’t smell like flowers to me, Kai.”
“Oh?” I said in surprise. “What does she smell like to you?”
Her brow furrowed at that. “Honestly, it’s hard to think of a comparison. But something really amazing, like warm vanilla cinnamon. Sort of sharp and sweet. And really strong.”
“How strong?” I wondered, since when I smelled Avery, I felt like her scent was about as faint as a normal person. Only more floral than I was used to, not counting when people wore floral-scented perfumes.
Gabriella’s red eyebrows were knitted together, her arms crossed underneath her heavy chest now. “Well, I noticed it when we pulled up to the bank,” she admitted. “Like, when I told you I could hear better, and that you smelled really good. I also smelled something else too, but didn’t know what it was at first. And then it was so strong when we actually entered the bank that I thought someone had walked away spraying everything with perfume or something.” She sighed. “I didn’t fully realize it was coming from her until they started leaving the bank. Her mom has a similar scent, but it’s not nearly as strong.”
“And that’s how you knew Avery was involved in the accident,” I suddenly realized.
Gabriella nodded. “Yeah, I realized I could smell that scent again faintly, making me wonder if they were stopped in traffic too. But then when I focused on it, I suddenly realized she’d been involved in the accident, because there was something else with it — tainting it.”
I nodded slowly. “Probably fear,” I suggested. “You probably smelled her scent tainted with fear.”
Gabriella shrugged, clearly having no idea.
“That’s just so strange though,” I continued. “She smells different to you. I wonder why that is.”
“Well, the difference between us is that I might be part-succubus. So then, maybe she’s part-succubus too?”
I shook my head. “No, I can’t imagine that being true, because then wouldn’t she smell as amazing to me as you do?”
“Oh, right,” Gabriella agreed, her brow furrowed again. “I really need to get ahold of my mom. I’m surprised she hasn’t called me back yet.”
“Think she’s okay?” I wondered seriously.
“Oh, yeah I’m sure she’s fine. I mean, it’s Saturday, so if she was up really late last night, then she might still be asleep.”
“Partying?” I said in surprise, assuming that’s what she meant.
Gabriella grimaced. “Umm, no. Ever since I moved out of the house, Friday night kind of became their designated domination night. So, umm, she probably had a guy over.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was just so weird to think about. “And I assume your dad is aware,” I added.
She nodded, her voice a little strained. “Umm, yeah. He would be watching the whole time.”
I sighed. “I really am glad you aren’t like that,” I admitted, only to clarify. “Not that I have a problem with your parents. I’m just saying, I’m glad you aren’t wanting our relationship to be like that.”
Gabriella frowned. “I think it’s partly because I want to be the one to watch,” she admitted.
Well, fuck.
“Oh! I’m sorry,” she quickly added, realizing gray was showing on my neck. “Umm, fuzzy pickles!”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Why is that now your go-to distraction?” I said in disbelief.
She grinned. “It’s kind of funny, actually. As long as you don’t think too much about it. Otherwise, it’s kind of gross.”
I chuckled again, seeing that traffic was finally starting to move up ahead. “Well, I guess I’m glad you’re okay with me possibly inviting Avery to join what we have going on. But I would still need to ask Serenity.”
“I think she’ll be fine with it,” she replied. “But yeah, I get it. We’re kind of your two main women, so we both need to be alright with you adding another.”
My knuckles were white on the steering wheel now, feeling like I was in a twilight zone just from the mention of Serenity being classified as one of my main women. Never mind the fact that I was in a situation where I might have three women in total.
Fuck.
It seemed too good to be true.
Was this really even happening?
I mean, I knew it obviously was, but how was it that I was lucky enough to be in a situation where my fiancé and housemate both loved me enough to want to share, and also allow me to have relationships with multiple women? Was it because of my gold eyes? Were they truly hypnotic? Or was there something else about me that was so alluring?
Something else that made women want to please me?
Honestly, I didn’t know, and the idea kind of made me uneasy, to be honest, because it made it feel like maybe their behavior wasn’t natural. However, alternatively it sounded like Gabriella grew an interest in Serenity even before she met me. And of course, while my housemate had been around me all my life, from what I knew, she didn’t change when I joined my family and she subsequently met me.
Certainly, Serenity was thrilled to have a younger playmate, and to dote on him, but she’d already been like that when she only had dolls to play with.
So then, maybe their behavior was natural.
Like, Gabriella obviously had an invested interest in being with both me and Serenity. And from the sound of it, there was something that was especially enticing about Avery for her as well. Which meant this wasn’t just about me having three women. This was also about Gabriella having two women she was interested in, along with her man.
It wasn’t an unequal situation, at least not between me and my fiancé. She wanted us to have a four-way relationship, not only one between me and each woman.
My phone vibrated then, only for me to see that it was Serenity telling me which hospital they were at. Honestly, I was kind of surprised they’d already made it, but then again I supposed we’d been sitting here for a good ten or fifteen minutes at least. Plenty of time for an ambulance to get to the hospital.
“Anyway,” Gabriella continued, interrupting my thoughts. “If we are going to consider changing Avery, then we need to try to figure out what caused it to happen to me. Because I’m beginning to suspect that Serenity isn’t going to change from my bite.”