𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

36

HER PREY

I got into the Jeep next to Lowen, changing the station to something I wanted to listen to as we left my place and headed to her's. Not too much later, we pulled up in Lowen's driveway, and my eyes immediately darted over to Willow's place next door.

"Wrong house, she's to the right of us," Lowen pointed.

"Oh, okay," I nodded.

"My only advice: Stay upstairs with me, okay?" she stated as we got out.

I glared in the direction that I now knew was Willow's way. That minion bitch wasn't about to do shit to Lowen. She left her bag in the car and we went inside the house. "We can watch TV in my room, if you want. I guess we'll leave when my mom gets home. She'll likely be the first one. Maybe you'll get to meet her sober this time," she added with a chuckle.

"Hopefully so," I murmured, following her up the stairs.

I fell on Lowen's bed and she laughed, taking my shoes off for me. "I wanna watch something supernatural. Oh!" That reminded me that I left my book in the car. "Gimme your key," I held out my hand.

She looked down at it like I had extra fingers or something, not that anything is wrong with that. "I don't understand?"

"I needa get something out of the Jeep. Gimme your keys," I repeated.

"I'll go get it. What is it?" she asked.

I tilt my head up at her, "You really have so much to hide-

"Fine. But don't take forever. And if Willow approaches you, ignore her," she warned, sitting back on her bed with a pout and flipping through Hulu.

I went downstairs, and left the house, Lowen's keys in my hands. I was tense the entire time, expecting Willow to pop up out of nowhere. I got my murder mystery out and went back inside.

Back upstairs with Lowen, I relaxed and placed the book on her night stand. "What we watchin'?"

"I don't know, Zootopia look cool," she commented.

"I said some supernatural, not super kiddie," I complained, "Please, Lowen bunny," I poured, grabbing her face and placing it in my chest. I could feel her laughing against me as she pulled her head back, "That'd be even better if you had your hoodie off."

I glanced around the room, "All the blinds closed? I ain't tryna give Willow a free show. Or, Maeve for that matter either."

She nodded, slipping my hoodie up and exposing my breasts. She kissed each one until they were hard, pushing my head back until my exposed neck was towards her. She sucked on it, leaving behind two massive hickeys.

Flipping me over on my stomach, Lowen came up behind me and pulled my sweats down.

"Lowen, you said we was over here to chill. And I don't think this is a good idea to do here. We sposed to be watchin' the house 'cause of Willow, and this is better to do," she started kissing me, breaking up my sentence as her soft lips brushed mine, "at my own crib 'cause we know when my parents comin' back is a whole lot later than your's."

I pulled my bottoms back up, sitting on my ass.

"Mhm," she nodded, "Keep talkin'. You sound so sexy, Casei," she mumbled. I started kissing her, as she came on top of me and I fell back on the bed.

"Why'd you stop talkin'?" she asked, sighing against my chest as she grazed her teeth between my breasts.

"What do you want me to say to you, Lowen?" I asked quietly.

"Anything," she mumbled, pecking me on my face and on my lips and on my forehead.

"I looked up your claw. The photo search on Google. And-

Her head snapped up and she moved off of me quickly, "You took my necklace?"

I held up my hand, "I'm talkin'. And it told me it belonged to a certain species of cat that isn't sold in this region for one reason or another. Could be endangered, could be a temporary shortage, I don't know. It's been goin' on since 2015, and," I followed her across the room as she got up and started pacing, "I did further research and it told me the age of the claw. It was too young. Where did you get that cat from, Lowen?"

"It was wild and I rescued it, Casei," she turned to me all of a sudden. "You're grabbin' at nothing, sweets!" Her tone softened as her chest huffed, "It was my pet. Her name was Mystery. I had to lay her to rest."

"What about the other necklaces?" I asked after a moment.

"You wanna scan them all and see? Do you really, Casei?" She went over to her jewelry box and dumped it on the bed, "You want the truth so bad, here it is, Casei! These creatures were my heart, and you doin' all of this is only tuggin' at old wounds."

I didn't look at the necklaces covering the bed now.

I opened my book and took out Lowen's necklace.

I got off the bed, half naked as I walked to her. I hooked the necklace back around her neck, regret in my eyes. "I'm sorry, Lowen. I'll stop," I vowed.

"Yeah, you better," a sad smile crept on her face, as she blinked her watery eyes. She pulled me forward by the neck, kissing me again. "I talked to Brian yesterday."

"Yeah, what did he say?" I asked, going back to the bed and helping Lowen put her necklaces into the box.

"He's chargin' Maeve's cousin and allat. She went in and apologized to him after the cops left, of course, he wasn't tryna hear allat. She explained she told the guys to beat up a stud, and you know Brian," she sighed. "He got his nails done and allat other stuff 'cause he be on his feminine bottom shit and they thought he was the stud Maeve was talkin' about, I guess they ignored the chin hairs- and that's why he got fucked up."

"Shit crazy," I shook my head.

I closed up her jewelry box, handing it over to her, holding her gaze, "I'm sorry, Lowen."

"I was wondering where my shit had went," she stated. She went back over to her desk and put it down. Coming over to me, she slipped the necklace off. "Casei, I want you to have this. Mystery means a lot more to you than she means to me."

"Lowen, I didn't mean to come off as so obsessed and shit-

"She'll fare better alongside you than me. All I get is bad emotions and regret when I think about her," she said, putting the necklace around my neck.

"Put on some clothes. I wanna tell you about Euphemie."

I softly brushed the glossy claw at my neck, "About Euphemie?"

She pressed her lips together. "You have to understand my story to grasp why I almost gave up my freedom for them."