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Scarlett elected to walk home and tried not to feel like she'd been screwed over. Either Hunter had had a genuine emergency or he was a really good actor. She hoped it was the former. Well, not hoped, but she preferred that over the other. She lit up a cigarette and tilted her head back to look at the sky as she exhaled a stream of pale smoke into the cool air. It was overcast, as was usual for England, but the moon was bright and full through a gap in the clouds. She remembered her mother telling her once that full moons made people act funny, but Scarlett only ever though it applied to women, even though her mother had never mentioned that. Maybe the full moon messed with guys' heads, too. Or maybe he was some kind of werewolf or something. Scarlett snorted loudly and choked back a laugh that both hurt her head and made a couple of guys she was walking past give her an odd, confused look. Yeah, Hunter was a werewolf. That was rich. She needed another water and a good night's rest.
She was pretty damn cold by the time she got home and was regretting having not gotten a cab instead. In the foyer of her building she rubbed her arms and stamped her feet in an attempt to warm up before mounting the stairs. When she got to her door, however, and searched her pockets and then her bag for her keys, panic started to mount, and then frustration and anger. Not in her pockets, not in her bag. Where were they? She racked her mind. On the fucking kitchen counter where she'd thrown them last night, of course they were! She pounded on the door as if that would get it to open, and growled. She stopped just short of hitting her forehead against the door too; her head hurt enough without adding more pain to it. She was muttering curses under her breath and scrolling through her contacts list for her landlord's phone number when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Locked out?”
Scarlett sighed and turned around. “Yeah.”
“You know you're not gonna reach him this late on a Sunday, right?” Titus said.
“Can't hurt to try,” Scarlett mumbled.
“Just saying,” Titus replied. He leaned against the wall close by and waited while Scarlett dialled the landlord and while the call rang through to voicemail. She left a quick message then ended the call and resisted the urge to throw her phone down the stairwell.
“Wanker.”
Titus laughed. “Could be worse. Got somewhere to crash?”
“My parents I guess. Put up with my mum giving me a lecture about making sure I have everything before I leave the house like she did every time I left my keys in my car like she doesn't do the exact same bloody thing all the time.”
“Why don't you come on upstairs? I don't have anyone staying over tonight so I can make up the couch for you.”
“Yeah, no thanks,” Scarlett replied. “I already told you I don't do one night stands.”
“It's not like that, I swear,” Titus said. He looked and sounded genuine. Scarlett took a deep breath and let her frustration go.
“I'm sorry,” she said. “Had a shit night. My date ran out on me.”
“Talk about wankers,” Titus replied with sympathy. “Seriously, you shouldn't have to put up with your parents unless you want to.”
Scarlett sighed. “Yeah, all right, but no funny business.”
Titus moved his finger in an x over his chest. “Cross my heart,” he replied with a smile that seemed serpentine. Scarlett followed him up the next flight of stairs and waited while he unlocked the door and let her in. She stepped over the threshold she looked around the living room. There wasn't any difference in size or layout from her own flat, but the décor was dramatically different. Scarlett's place was decorated with a collection of knick knacks and odds and ends brought from her parents' house or picked up after she got her own place. Titus' home was more refined.
“Lots of dragons,” she said rather obviously.
“Too much?” Titus asked.
“No, no,” Scarlett replied. “Dragons are cool.”
“They're a symbol of luck.” He headed down the hall to the linen closet.
“Are you superstitious?” Scarlett asked.
“Isn't everyone in England?” he joked. He pulled a large quilt off a high shelf then grabbed a pillow from the bedroom. He put them on one corner of the sofa. “Drink?”
“You got a fizzy drink?”
“Yeah, sure.” He popped into the kitchen and poured a Coke into a glass for her. He sat down on the sofa and patted the cushion next to him. Scarlett sat. “Do you wanna talk about what happened?” he asked.
“I'm not really sure what happened to be honest,” Scarlett replied. “It was going fine, and then an alarm went off on his watch and he just split. Said it was a family emergency which I don't believe for a second. He paid, at least, but honestly I'm more than a bit pissed off.”
“I would be, too,” Titus said, “but maybe it really was a family emergency. Shit happens, yeah?”
“Yeah, shit happens.” Scarlett sipped at her soda, letting the bubbles fizz in her mouth. “You sure it's okay if I crash here?”
“Yeah, of course,” Titus said with a grin. “What are neighbors for? Think of it as an apology for being so loud all the time. I know the floors are thin.”
“It's fine,” Scarlett said. “Stopped bothering me a long time ago. Each to his own, right?”
“Glad you see it that way,” Titus said. “Tell me more about this guy you saw tonight. What's he like?”
“Tall dark and handsome,” Scarlett said with a little snicker. “He bought me a drink on Friday then asked me out yesterday and I said yeah. Probably a bad idea, in hindsight.”
“Well, if you ever want something a bit... lighter,” Titus said suggestively. Scarlett blushed but she didn't feel uncomfortable. Titus was being flirty but he had made no moves towards her and all in all was being very polite.
“I'll keep that in mind,” Scarlett said. “So, what do you do when you're not banging random chicks?”
“I'm a historian, if you can believe that,” Titus said.
“Oh really?” Scarlett asked. “D'you teach?”
“No, I just help compile information for documentaries and textbooks and sometimes for private authors. I'm an expert on British mythology.”
“There a lot of those around?” Scarlett asked. “Seems like there's always someone claiming to be an expert on Arthurian lore.”
“Not as many as you'd think,” Titus replied. “At least not good ones. I'm in fairly high demand.”
“Why are you living in a shithole like this then?” Scarlett asked. “Why not get some big fancy mansion for you and all your dragons?”
“I do have a country house,” Titus said without a hint of modesty, “but I'm often here for work, so I figured it'd be prudent to have a place here as well. The other place is mostly for vacation now.”
“Oh,” Scarlett said. She didn't have a rebuttal for that. “Good on you then.”
“Let me know if you'd ever like to see it,” Titus said. “Might as well be a museum with all the things I've crammed in there over the years.”
“Busy bee,” Scarlett mumbled.
“Of a sort,” Titus replied. At Scarlett's startled look he chuckled. “I have very good hearing.”
“No kidding,” Scarlett said.
Titus looked at the gold watch on his wrist. “Still early yet. You want to play a game or something? Or do you want me to piss off?”
“What games have you got?”
Titus was quiet for a moment while he thought. “I've got a deck of cards. You any good at poker?”
“No.”
“Gin?”
“Not strip gin, right?”
“Not unless you want it to be,” Titus said, smirking. He stood, went back to the closet, and returned with a battered deck of playing cards. “Playing for fun or for cash?”
Scarlett searched her pockets and bag. “I've only got twenty quid,” she said.
“Just for fun, then.” Titus sat cross-legged on the other side of the coffee table, letting Scarlett have the couch, shuffled the deck and dealt out a hand to each of them. Scarlett scooted forward, put her drink aside, and settled in to play. Occasionally she glanced up at Titus, feeling a familiar warmth in the pit of her stomach. If only she had it in her to do one night stands... she sure would have rattled his bones. She considered asking him if he wanted to go on a date with her, but right now she still felt a loyalty to Hunter. Until she found out what really happened it would be cruel of her to go on a date with another guy behind his back. But if it turned out that Hunter was full of shit...
“Gin,” Titus said.
Scarlett looked down at the table. “You bastard. Are you cheating or something? This is the third round in a row you've won, what the hell?”
“Told you dragons are a symbol of luck,” Titus said, winking. “Here, you shuffle. I need a piss.” He pushed the deck to Scarlett's side of the table and got to his feet with a grunt, stretching his arms high above his head. His shirt rode up, exposing the base of his stomach along with the hint of abs and the V of his hips. Scarlett nearly dropped the cards, her fingers suddenly clumsy. The heat in her stomach returned, and made its way up to her chest. She let out a soft exhale through her mouth, half a sigh, and roughly shuffled the cards. When Titus returned she dealt.
“Your face is red,” Titus said. “You okay?”
“I'm fine,” Scarlett said. “Just feel a bit warm. It's warm in here.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Titus replied. “I don't do so well with cold.”
“Sucks living here, then.”
Titus laughed. “Yeah, it's a pain in the winter.” They played in silence for a while. Scarlett tried to get the image of Titus' naked torso out of her mind. At some point Titus grabbed a beer from the fridge, then got one for Scarlett as well. They toasted and drank. The game continued on for a good couple hours. Titus was the one who suggested going to bed and Scarlett did not argue.
“Don't bother waiting around for me in the morning,” Titus said. “Just lock the door on your way out.” They said goodnight and Scarlett stretched out on the couch, which was far more comfortable than she had assumed it would be. Hopefully she wouldn't have to wait long for the landlord to let her into her own apartment in the morning, but she probably would, and she'd likely be late for work because of it. Not much she could do about that, sadly. As she settled in her thoughts turned to Hunter. She hoped that he was okay, and that he family emergency was real, as awful as that sounded. She didn't want him to have stood her up for no reason at all. She genuinely liked him.
And she was starting to like Titus, too. A night of gaming had showed a side of him she would have never imagined existed. She always just thought he was a playboy, but clearly he was way more than that. The offer to go out to his country house was a nice one as well. Scarlett had never really considered herself much of a history buff, but that didn't mean she couldn't have an appreciation for things that didn't include the centuries-old buildings she passed every day.
She yawned and felt her body grow heavy as she neared sleep. When she did fall asleep she dreamed. The dream was weird in the way that dreams are, featuring both of the new men in her life; one light and one dark. She was sandwiched between them, feeling hot and heavy, hardly able to breathe. She didn't know whose hands were where or who was kissing her neck or who was kissing her chest, because she couldn't open her eyes, but she could smell both of them, feel both of them. Her alarm startled her violently out of it, blaring its happy little jingle by her ear. Blearily she fumbled to turn it off and reluctantly sat up. The first thing she did was call the landlord again. This time at least there was an answer. He wasn't happy, but he said he'd drive up as soon as he could. Scarlett knew that would be a while, regardless, so she called work to explain she'd be late. She didn't want to linger in Titus' flat, but she didn't have anywhere else to go.
She scrolled through her texts with Hunter on her phone. There hadn't been anything new from him overnight. Scarlett toyed with the idea of texting him. She was well within her rights. She opened up their conversation but hesitated. She didn't want to sound like a jackass, but she wanted to know what the hell had happened last night. Had he really had a reason to leave so quickly or had he just suddenly decided he didn't like Scarlett's company? She hadn't seen any signs of him being uncomfortable. In fact he seemed to be having a great time until his alarm went off. Maybe there really had been an emergency. She texted him.
//Hey I know it's early but is everything okay? You left quickly. Just checking in.
She sat and waited for a reply.