Reaper (Dark in You 8)

More, the couple didn’t confine their relationship to after-work hours. No, it had all happened right under Piper’s nose. He and Trinity had repeatedly snuck off throughout the day to have sex at the studio. The office, the stockroom, the break room, the restroom—anywhere and everywhere.

Piper had done her best to ignore it. Until last week. Realizing she’d left her cell at the studio after closing time, she’d hurried back to grab it … and found him fucking Trinity on the chair at Piper’s station. So she’d quit and then ignored all his subsequent attempts to contact her. No way was she going to work for a man who quite clearly had so little respect for her and so little regard for their friendship.

If Piper formed the anchor bond with Levi and was later forced to watch as he and Celeste became sexually reacquainted, it would be like tuning into the Kelvin show all over again, but far worse. She’d been able to walk away from Kelvin; she could move on with her life and never see him again. But there would be no walking away from Levi if they were bonded. Piper wouldn’t even be able to keep a huge distance from him, since it would be mentally uncomfortable for them to be apart for long periods of time.

Knowing she had zero chance of calming the organ in her chest if she kept reflecting on everything, Piper forced herself to concentrate on the road; to simply focus on turning, switching gears, and upping or slowing her speed. But the moment she arrived at her house and parked at the curb in her usual spot, all the thoughts she’d shoved aside fought for headspace.

Sighing, Piper closed her eyes. She’d never thought that her anchor might be someone who she couldn’t have in her life. She’d always imagined that she’d be thrilled to find them. Not simply because her psi-mate could strengthen her and stabilize her demon, but because she’d liked the thought of having someone who’d always have her back.

Oh, her mom and stepdad loved and supported her, but their dynamics were a little complicated. Whitney and Joe had met when Piper was just five and Celeste was eleven. The two girls … It wasn’t that they clashed. Celeste—angry at her parents’ separation and her mother’s abandonment—had simply been determined to dislike both Piper and Whitney, and that had never changed.

Piper felt sorry for Celeste in many ways. The woman had a right to her anger and hurt. But constantly and unfairly venting those emotions on Piper? No, that wasn’t cool.

Whitney and Joe never took sides. Piper understood why. But their inaction was part of the problem. Celeste knew she could pull all kinds of stunts but then escape any censure by crying “You love Piper more than me, you always take her side.”

The tears worked every time, especially since Joe was so busy trying to compensate for how her mother had up and left her.

For Piper, it would have been nice to have someone who wouldn’t be concerned with placating Celeste. Someone who would back Piper in every instance, no matter how many tears her stepsister shed.

There were downsides of having anchors, of course. Psi-mates could be as meddlesome and hyper-protective as they were territorial. But she’d have happily taken the bad along with the good, because the first could never outweigh the latter, in her opinion.

Thinking on how drawn she’d felt to Levi on sight years ago, Piper wondered if she’d subconsciously sensed he was her psi-mate. Back then, she’d done her best to hide her attraction to him. And she’d thought she’d been successful at it. Until she’d overheard a conversation between him and Celeste …

“Have you noticed that my stepsister has a crush on you?” Celeste laughed, as if it were sad and pathetic. “Not that I blame her or anything.” A pause. “You’re not interested in her, are you?”

“She’s not my type,” said Levi.

“You like curves and boobs and ass. She’s too thin.” Celeste sniffed in disdain. “Sometimes, I wonder if maybe she has an eating disorder. It’s possible, right?”

“Possible,” he agreed.

“Some girls can really work a size zero. Not her. She just looks sickly. She needs some damn meat on her bones for certain. Well, if she’s going for the ‘I’m dying a slow but certain death’ look, she totally has it down, right?”

“Hmm.”

“And she wonders why she doesn’t have a boyfriend.” A snort. “Well the rest of us don’t wonder, that’s for sure.”

“Hmm.”

Piper hadn’t waited around to hear more. She’d rushed off before anyone could notice she’d overheard them.

She hadn’t been hurt by Celeste’s words. She was used to the banshee criticizing her delicate build—a build that ran in Piper’s maternal family and was not at all the product of an eating disorder. But it had stung that Levi hadn’t disagreed with any of the bitchy crap the banshee spouted.