Sally was exceptionally grateful that her apartment was just far enough away that she could comfortably angry walk home. Cause she was so, so very angry.
Kyra had been confused at her change after returning from her toilet break. Sally had been tight lipped, she still had a lot to learn about the politics of the place before she would feel comfortable ragging on the boss.
Thankfully Mr North stayed in his office all afternoon, only paging through to Kyra when he needed anything. It made Sally mortified to realise he’d only been visiting them all those times before to scope her out.
As such Sally gave him no extra reason to spend time with her. At 4:20 on the dot she picked up her bag, said thank you to Kyra, and stalked home.
How DARE he do that. She didn’t care how young, pretty and seemingly unattached someone was. He was married. His wife was one of her bosses. She worked at the same fucken building as they did. What had he thought, that she’d be his little piece on the side?
And Celeste. Sally’s heart ached. She didn’t deserve a husband who thought it was ok to proposition his staff.How many other women had he tried it with? How many had said yes? She didn’t think he’d tried it with Kyra, the way she interacted with everyone hinted to the fact she was both happily married and not above chewing someone out when they were being a dick.
Did Celeste know? Did it have any connection to her walking out of the interview? Had she taken one look at Sally and realised she was her husband’s type?
Oh god, did she already assume Sally was the kind of girl to knowingly sleep with a married man?
Sally knew her thoughts were spiralling as she took the steps into her apartment building, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. The whole thing had her a mess and she was seconds away from sending in her resignation.
Yuki jumped in surprise when she banged the door coming into the house.
“Sorry,”Sally cringed, apologising. “I forgot you’d be home by now.”
“I thought you were going to work late,” she counted, watching closely as Sally threw her bag against the hallway wall and toed off her shoes. “What changed?”
“My boss did,” Sally heaved a frustrated sigh as she sat down next to her best friend. “Everything was going fine till he asked me out on a date.”
“Oh,” she nodded, “and you said?”
Sally bumped her shoulder against Yuki’s, a short, dark chuckle slipping out. “No, of course.”
“Oh,” Yuki said again, making Sally look at her incredulously.
“You don’t think I should have said yes, do you? The man’s not only my boss, but he’s married to my other boss. Even if I didn’t give a flying fuck about him being married, the probability of her finding out and firing my home wrecker arse is pretty high.”
Yuki sighed, running a hand through her short hair. “Look, you know I’d be totally on board with you pepper spraying the prick normally, but hear me out.” Yuki turned smoothly to face her fully, hands slightly in the air as if trying to sooth her.
Sally was entirely surprised with this change of events. She had never had an issue with bitching out the men who approached her at the supermarket, and there they didn’t even know if the guy had a family waiting at home. But here it was like she was almost defending the guy.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s something about these two,” she paused, obviously trying to come up with the best way to say what was going through her mind. “Something feels different.”
“You think I should have gone on a date with him?” Sally wasn’t sure who was currently posing as her best friend, but it was starting to freak her out. “I don’t even know if I like him like that!”
“But you like his wife, right?” She prodded.
Sally shrugged. “It’s just a crush.” Maybe, a traitorous part of her whispered. “ I am not about to break up a marriage on a crush.”
“So don’t go out with him yet,” Yuki grinned, sitting back, “but there’s nothing saying you can’t find out from her if she is happy with him dating.”
***
When Sally came in early the next day with an apology coffee for her boss and a aching head from the lack of sleep, Celeste was standing near the photocopier.
Sally hadn’t seen her since Monday, and she was sure the woman had only grown more beautiful since then. Rich, dark hair hung out in waves to her shoulders, framing her heart shaped face perfectly. Her full bottom lip was pulled between her teeth as she concentrated on the machine in front of her. She was taller then Sally by almost a full head and a slate grey suit followed her curves in all the right places.
Taking a deep breath Sally moved towards her, the office was empty this early and she doubted she’d get another chance to talk to her anytime soon.
“Mrs North?”
Golden eyes collided with hers as Sally came closer. She didn’t appear surprised to see Sally before her. In fact, she smiled warmly in greeting, dimples appearing in her cheeks. Sally had to bite back a swoon.
Just a crush, my arse, she thought furiously.
“I’m your husband’s new PA. Sally-“
“Smith,” Mrs North finished for her in a purr, forcing a shiver up Sally’s back. “I am aware, congratulations on the position.”
When their hands touched it was like a bolt of lighting skimmed up her arm, making her bite back a gasp. Mrs North’s pupils dilated in front of her as she sucked in a deep breath, like she was smelling her.
“Celeste,” her voice dropped lower, husky. “Please just call me Celeste.”
“Celeste,” Sally breathed, unable to take her eyes off her. She appeared to shiver when Sally said her name and she had to swallow hard.
“Your husband asked me out on a date.” She blurted out. She let go of the woman’s hand, covering her face in shock. Why had she felt the need to tell her like that? What the hell was wrong with her?
“Did he now?” Celeste chuckled throatily. Sally peeked through her fingers. So far she wasn’t fired, so that was good. Celeste almost seemed amused that Sally was telling her this. “And will you?”
“Will I what?” She managed as Celeste took a step closer, gazing down at her.
“Will you go out on a date with Hunter?”
At this point Sally was sure she’d give up her first born if Celeste just kept looking at her like that. Her breath hitched and all she could do was nod.
Celeste leant down, her breath fluttering against Sally’s parted lips. “Good.” And then she leant forward the last part, pressing her full lips against Sally’s in a hungry kiss.
Even if she hadn’t been able to smell her, Celeste would have known the moment Sally stepped into the office space. She could feel her presence all the way down to her bones.Hunter was enamoured with her; he had spun the tale of Sally defending her virtue into a story of epic proportions. After the roller coaster of the last few days, Celeste was delighted to see the joy Hunter got out of this, even if it painted him as the bad guy in Sally’s eyes.Celeste wondered what the girl would tell her when they finally got a moment to talk. As she approached her, Celeste smiled to herself. Her little mate was brave considering the conversation she’d had with Hunter yesterday,“Mrs North?”Celeste bit back a groan. The light, warm way she said her name was addictive, Celeste could listen to her all day. She turned from the photocopier, taking in her black pants and turquoise, long sleeved top as well as the waves of red curls falling
It had been a most amusing day.At some point around lunch Kyra pulled him aside. “Do we need to worry about her mental health?” She’d hissed and Hunter only managed to not laugh by shear force of will.He could understand Kyra’s point. Sally had been walking around in a daze for most of the morning, yesterday she had been competent and fun till Hunter had asked her out, and then she had been short and cool with everyone. Without any context, Kyra must have been getting whiplash from the changes.“I’m sure it’s just new job jitters, the retail position she was in did not let her reach her full potential.” That had been painfully obvious when Hunter had contacted them Monday after the interview. While they were quick to be angry about him poaching their worker, they were quicker to accept compensation. If nothing else came of a relationship between the two of them, he was happy to get her out of there.
Sally certainly hadn’t expected their night to be as fun as it was. Hunter was attentive and interesting. She could hear his passion for environmental architecture and understood instantly why north industries had flourished so.The pub was cozy even if Hunter was a dirty fish eater she hadn’t had a date like this in a while.The underlining current of what was to come couldn’t be denied and Sally realised she wanted to be with both of them. It felt surreal to her. Maybe in her wildest dreams had she thought of having two lovers at once. But here she was, actually contemplating a relationship with a married couple.It was something so far out of her comfort zone that she probably should be worried. Instead she was excited.“Would it be too early to ask for one kiss?”Fucken Hell, the man was sin on legs. Her knees practically went to jelly and she had to close her eyes to get some form of cohere
As Sally lived close to the office, Celeste decided she would catch up on some work while Hunter had his date.After the day they’d all had, Celeste had no doubt that they would hit it off. Sally had even appeared excited at the prospect of a date with Hunter this afternoon and she knew the fucker could be charming.“Will you mind if I kiss her?” He’d asked before he left.She’d given him an eye roll, bumping his shoulder with her own. “If you don’t I might divorce you.”His smile was delightful and she could feel his love pulse through their bond. He’d slung an arm around her shoulder in half a hug. “Promises, promises,” he’d teased.Celeste smiles and hoped they’d had a good night. She wanted to take Sally to the Clan’s house this weekend. Maybe have a picnic near the bush land and show her their powers. Celeste wanted to take things slow,
This was not supposed to happen.Hunter was still furious with members of the Clan interfering with this. And he knew Celeste’s Nona would not have stood for it. He couldn’t hold her leaving against her though. The Clan would never have accepted them if she hadn’t left; he just wished she was here to give Celeste a chance to be with her mate.As it was, they sat in the small living room, in nervous silence while Hunter made them a hot chocolate. He didn’t feel like there was much else he could do, but he needed to do something.Giving Celeste hers she offered him a pained smile that tugged at his heart. He tried to hand Sally hers but she wouldn’t unwrap her arms from around her body. He sighed, placing it on the coffee table in front of her and sitting on the arm of the chair Celeste had sunk into.“What’s going on?” Sally whispered. She wouldn’t even look at Celeste and his ma
“Oi, sweet cheeks!” Yuki called through Sally’s closed door, “you’re gonna be late to work, move your butt.”Sally buried herself further under her blankets.“I’m sick,” she managed loud enough for Yuki too hear. “I’m not going in today.”The lack of sleep and constant tears lent realism to her fib. Sally’s voice was croaky and dry, and her exhaustion filled each word. She felt bad lying to her best friend, but not bad enough to tell the truth and have to talk about it. At least she’d had the forethought to send a text to Kyra. It wouldn’t look good, it being her first week, but there wasn’t much else she could do.“Do you need anything, hun?” Yuki’s voice was instantly softer, worried. Sally wallowed in her guilt.“Just gonna sleep,” she managed, grateful for the soft ‘kay’ as her friend left her to it.&nb
After a night of tears and numbness, Celeste was ready to kick some arse.She’d showered, dressed in comfortable sweats and hoodie and stood waiting for Hunter at the door. After slipping into pants he’d chuckled, kissed her lightly on the nose and ushered her out the door.“I have a few loose ends to tie up here,” he’d murmured against her lips, “I’ll meet you at the Clan house just before lunch.”Hunter rarely got involved in Clan workings. It was something they had worked out many years ago. Hyena’s were a proud and stubborn lot, and a male Lion trying to lead had rubbed most of the Clan the wrong way at the start. After the first few bouts of in-fighting they had decided together it was best if Hunter ran the company and Celeste settle Clan business.They still came together when needed, but things always appeared to run smoothest this way. She still wished beyond all else that Hunter was with her
Hunter knew he’d made the right choice when Sally had opened the door. Their poor little human was a mess. She still wore her outfit from the night before, her eyes were red, puffy and drooping with fatigue. Her hair was mostly out and fell about her in a messy tangle.He hated the look plastered on her face, that vapid, hollow smile. Like she felt she couldn’t be sad in front of someone, that she had to protect their feelings over her own. As soon as she realised it was him, the fake smile dissolved, leaving her sadness in it’s wake. Hunter didn’t want to admit how happy he was that she felt safe enough with him to be true to herself.“Well, don’t you look fetching all bed rumpled, my love?” Her eyes widened and he could almost feel her happiness that he was here. “Would you invite me in? There are things we need to discuss before we go.”“Go?” She asked, even as she moved back to let him in. Aga