Chapter 14: Stolen Sweets & Sticky Fingers
The steam from the spring clung to their skin as they finally climbed out, the grotto’s cool air a sharp contrast to the water’s embrace. Ivy’s vines had already provided fresh, simple garments woven from moss and something that felt like softened bark. Harmony shivered, pulling the strange fabric closer. It smelled of peat and rain.
“I’d kill for a chocolate bar,” Harmony mumbled, her voice small as she curled up on a bed of particularly soft moss. “The kind with the caramel and the nuts. My whole body feels… weird.”
Harley, who was attempting to wring the water from her pigtails, stopped and grinned. “Aha! The sacred monthly hunger! I know it well.” She tapped her temple. “Former doctor, remember? Also, a frequent participant.”
Ivy, tending to a cluster of violet, pulsating flowers, didn’t look up. “Your body is shedding a unfertilized uterine lining. It requires iron and complex carbohydrates, not processed sucrose.”
“It requires a double-fudge brownie sundae, Red,” Harley shot back, her eyes sparkling with a sudden, manic idea. “And I just so happen to be the queen of provisions.” She darted over to a crevice in the grotto wall, hidden behind a curtain of glowing lichen. She rummaged around, muttering to herself. “Aha! Knew I stashed it for a special occasion.”
She emerged triumphant, holding a small, crumpled cardboard carton. It was a pint of ice cream, its lid dusted with a faint fuzz of frost and something darker that might have been dirt. The label was smeared and unreadable.
“Ta-da!” Harley presented it with a flourish. “Rocky Road! Or… it was. Now it’s more like Rocky Path. Still good!”
Harmony’s eyes widened. “Where did you get that?”
“Stole it from the guards’ break room weeks ago, sugar!” Harley chirped, prying the lid off. The contents had melted and refrozen into a single, lumpy mass. She jabbed at it with a finger. “See? Perfectly preserved. The permafrost of Arkham’s top-notch appliance sector.”
Ivy sighed, a long-suffering sound. “Harley, that is a biological hazard.”
“It’s a humanitarian aid package!” Harley insisted, plopping down next to Harmony. She dug her fingers into the semi-frozen mound and pulled out a chunk of ice cream, marshmallow, and what might have been a nut. “C’mon, open up.”
Harmony hesitated for only a second before leaning forward, her mouth opening obediently. Harley pushed the messy globule past her lips.
The cold was a shock, followed by an overwhelming wave of sugar and the faint, chemical taste of freezer burn. It was, without a doubt, the best thing Harmony had tasted in months. A low, grateful moan escaped her.
“See?” Harley beamed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Medicinal.”
She scooped up another fingerful. This time, as she guided it towards Harmony’s mouth, a thick drip of melted chocolatey cream escaped and slid down Harmony’s chin. Harmony moved to wipe it away, but Harley was faster.
“Waste not, want not,” Harley murmured, her gaze fixed on the drip.
She leaned in, her movement quick and fluid, and swiped her tongue along the line of Harmony’s jaw, catching the stray sweetness. The contact was electric and startlingly intimate. Her tongue was warm against Harmony’s cool skin.
Harmony froze, the taste of stolen ice cream and the sensation of Harley’s tongue short-circuiting her thoughts. She could feel Harley’s breath, warm and smelling faintly of the mineral spring.
From across the grotto, Ivy watched them, her expression unreadable. Her fingers stilled on the petals of her flowers.
Harley pulled back, a smirk playing on her lips. “See? All clean.” She didn’t move away, though. Her face remained close, her blue eyes bright with a chaotic, possessive affection. “You’re a messy eater, Hayes.”
She offered another fingerful of ice cream. Harmony took it, her eyes locked on Harley’s, the simple act of eating transformed into something else entirely. The chill of the dessert, the warmth of Harley’s proximity, the weight of Ivy’s silent observation—it was a confusing, heady cocktail.
Harley’s smirk softened into something more genuine, more dangerous. “Good, right?”
Harmony could only nod, her mouth full, utterly captivated and completely out of her depth. The grotto, with its eerie light and whispering leaves, felt like the only real place in the world.
The grotto, with its eerie light and whispering leaves, felt like the only real place in the world.
A slow rustle of foliage broke the moment’s intensity. Ivy had risen from her flowers, her movements fluid and silent as she crossed the mossy floor towards them. She didn’t speak, her presence itself a statement that demanded space.
She settled behind Harmony, her legs framing the younger woman’s hips. The air grew cooler, carrying her scent of loam and night-blooming jasmine.
“Move,” Ivy said, her voice a low thrum against Harmony’s back.
Harmony didn’t need to be told twice. She shifted her weight, leaning back until she was fully settled in Ivy’s lap, her head resting just below Ivy’s collarbone. Ivy’s arms came around her waist, not in a hug, but in a firm, possessive hold. The bark-like texture of Ivy’s sleeves was rough against Harmony’s bare skin.
Harley watched, her blue eyes flickering with a new, sharper interest. “Well, look at that. A captive audience.”
She dug her fingers back into the carton, scooping up another melting lump. She held it out, her gaze locked on Harmony’s mouth. “Open wide, bunny.”
Harmony obeyed, her body humming with the dual sensation of Ivy’s solid presence at her back and Harley’s focused attention in front. The ice cream was cold and overly sweet, but it was the entire ritual that consumed her.
A thick trickle of chocolate escaped the corner of her lips. Harley’s thumb, surprisingly gentle, swiped it away before it could drip onto Ivy’s arm.
“Gotta be careful,” Harley murmured, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Wouldn’t want to mess up the garden.”
Ivy’s chin rested lightly on top of Harmony’s head. “Just feed her, Quinn.”
Harley’s grin was brilliant and unhinged. She offered another fingerful, this one deliberately too large. Harmony took it, the cold making her jaw ache, but she didn’t pull away. She was suspended between them, the center of a strange and perfect gravity.
Harley leaned in again, her tongue darted out to clean a smudge from Harmony’s chin. This time, Ivy didn’t look away. She watched, her green eyes half-lidded, her hold on Harmony’s waist tightening almost imperceptibly. The three of them existed in a breathless, sticky silence, bound by stolen ice cream and something far more complex.