Luckily, Captain Sassy Pants was nearby. With her usual aplomb, she plucked a Cheeto from a to-go bag and flicked it at Amber. "Scurry off, little woman."
Amber made a sound of disgust, but took Gabrielle by the hand, and they retreated down the hallway.
"And I've made the world safe for one more day," Lindsey said as we headed down the stairs.
"You're a real pal."
"I'm taking Connor out for a drink after shift. If I'm such a good pal, I think you need to join us."
I shook my head. "Training tonight. Can't." That was but the first of the good reasons not to take her up on that offer.
Lindsey stopped on the stairs and grinned over at me. "Nice. I'd pick a little quality Catcher Bell time over me, too. Has he let you hold his sword yet?"
"I think Mallory's got his sword well under control."
We reached the Ops Room door. Lindsey stopped, nodded with approval. "Good for her."
"For her, less so for me."
"Why's that?"
"Because he's constantly at the house, and it's beginning to feel a little small for the three of us."
"Ah. You know the obvious solution to that - move in here." She pulled open the door, and we walked inside the Ops Room and moved to the conference table while guards already at their stations tapped keys, watched screens, and talked into their headsets.
"Same answers as last time," I whispered as we took seats at the table. "No, no, and no. I can't live in the same house as Ethan. We'd kill each other."
Lindsey crossed her legs and swiveled her chair to face me. "Not if you just avoid him. And look how well you've managed to avoid him for the last week."
I gave her a look, but nodded when she lifted dubious brows. She was right - I'd avoided him, he'd avoided me, we'd avoided each other. And despite the vague sense of unease I had whenever I stepped across the threshold and into Cadogan, the fact that we had managed to avoid each other made living here at least possible.
"So," she said, "your continuing to avoid him shouldn't be a problem. And just think," Lindsey whispered, "it's practically the O.C. in here. You're missing out on a lot of excitement by heading back to Wicker Park every morning."
"Yeah, that's really the selling point you need to focus on. 'Cause these last few weeks have been dullsville otherwise."
To be fair, it was kind of a selling point. I did enjoy other folks' drama. I just didn't need any more of my own.
Catcher, Mallory, and Jeff were at the gym when I arrived. I wasn't sure why Jeff was there, but since he and Mal were the closest thing I had to cheerleaders, I didn't so much mind the extra bodies.
Or wouldn't have minded, had I arrived seconds later, and missed Catcher pawing my roommate next to the water fountain.
I cleared my throat loudly as I strode past, which did nothing to prompt a disentangling of their bodies.
"Cats in heat," I said to Jeff, who sat sprawled in a chair in the gym, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes closed.
"Are they still at it? It's been twenty minutes."
I caught the tiny bit of wistfulness in his voice.
"They're at it," I confirmed, realizing it was the second time in a week I'd walked in on a union of pink parts I had no desire to see.
Jeff opened blue eyes, grinned at me. "If you're feeling left out . . ."
I almost threw out an instinctive no, but I decided to throw him a bone. "Oh, Jeff. It'd be too good - you and me. Too powerful, too much emotion, too much heat. We'd come together and boom" - I clapped my hands together - "like a moth to a flame, there'd be nothing left."
His eyes glazed over. "Combustion?"
"Totally."
He was quiet for a moment, his index finger tracing a pattern on the knee of his jeans. Then he nodded. "Too powerful. It'd destroy us both."
I nodded solemnly. "Probably so." But I leaned over, pressed my lips to his forehead. "We'll always have Chicago."
"Chicago," he dreamily repeated. "Yeah. Definitely." He cleared his throat, seemed to regain a little composure. "When I tell this story later, you kissed me on the mouth. With tongue. And you were handsy."
I chuckled. "Fair enough."
Catcher and Mallory walked in, Catcher in the lead, Mallory behind, one hand in his, the fingers of her free hand against her lips, her cheeks flushed.
"Sword," Catcher said, before dropping her hand and continuing through the gym to the door on the other side of the room.
"Was that an instruction or an agenda, do you think?" I asked Mallory, who stopped in front of me.
She blinked, her gaze on Catcher's jeans-clad ass as he passed. "Hmm?"
I cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'm in love with Ethan Sullivan and we're going to have teethy vampire babies and buy a house in Naperville and live happily ever after."
She looked over at me, her gaze as vacant as Jeff's had been. "It's just - he does this thing with his tongue." She trailed off, lifted an index finger, crooked it back and forth. "It's kind of a flicking?"
Before I knew what I was saying, but finally at the end of my Mallory-and-Catcher rope, I spilled out a plan in a quick tumble of sound. "I love you, but I'm moving into Cadogan House."
That got her attention. Her expression cleared, her brow furrowing. "What?"
Instantly deciding it was probably for the best, I nodded. "You two need your space, and I need to be there to do my job effectively." Left unspoken: I did not need to hear or see anything else regarding Catcher's sexual prowess.
"Oh." Mallory looked down at the floor. "Oh." When she looked back up again, there was sadness in her eyes. "Jesus, Merit. Everything's changing."
I squeezed her into a hug. "We're not changing. We're just living in different places."
"We'll be living in different ZIP codes."
"And, as I've said before, you have Sexy Bell to keep you company. You'll be fine." I'd probably be fine, too, assuming I could convince myself and the other Cadogan vamps that I could live under the same roof as Ethan without impaling him on the business end of an aspen stake. That was going to require some Mallory-worthy creative thinking.
Mal squeezed me back. "You're right. You're right. I'm being ridiculous. You need to get in there, do that vampire thang, mix it up." Then she quirked up an eyebrow. "Did you say you were in love with Ethan?"
"Just to get your attention."
Probably.
Shit.