Monthly Bonus Content #4 - Leave it in Dust (Morgan Spring Scenario) (Patreon)

I’d almost forgotten what sunshine looked like until the rain finally broke. It’s been a four-month deluge since the beginning of the year and to see anything other than thick, choking grey cloud is a blessing.

But now glorious Spring sunshine melts away the storm and spreads a spotlight of gold across my living room.

It also illuminates the dust that has lingered too long like an untouched film across my apartment.

“Here,” I say, shoving a duster in Morgan’s direction.

She stares at the item as though I’ve just offered her a bottle of poison. “What do you expect me to do with that?”

“Dust, obviously,” I reply. “You did say you’d help.”

“That was two days ago.” She eyes the living room in all its messy glory. “My offers tend to come with time-limits.”

I flick my gaze to hers. “How long are your limits?”

She smirks at me. “About an hour, if I like the person.”

“Does that include me?”

She takes the duster from my grasp, her eyes sparkling just like the sun through the grey clouds. “You’re lucky I seem to really like you.”

I allow myself a small triumphant smile before turning to set to work on gathering up the clothes that had somehow become strewn over the entire room. It’s easier to be motivated when the sunshine is out, though I notice Morgan stick to sidling around the shadowed corners of the room as she dusts—or does what I guess is her idea of dusting.

“You’re doing a great job there,” I state, waggling a finger up at the ceiling. “The spiders will be thrilled you managed to miss all of their webs.”

She turns on me. “Spiders are beneficial creatures.”

I eye her up and down before smiling. “Nat tell you that, did she?”

“A long time back. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever use that boring bit of information in my life,” she replies through a low chuckle. She waves the duster about, spreading about the dust she’d just swept up into a grey cloud. “Why are you bothering cleaning anyway? You spend more time with us at the warehouse than here these days anyway.”

I purse my lips. She does make a good point.

I shake my head and move towards her. “It’s still my home. And it would be nice to have it tidy enough that I don’t grimace every time I walk inside.”

She peers around me. “It’s not that bad.”

“It’s bad enough,” I comment, taking the duster and instead passing her the clothing. “Could you manage to throw these in the laundry basket instead?”

She nods, grasping the bundle into one arm as she heads for the bedroom.

A few minutes pass where I’m about as efficient at dusting as Morgan before I hear, “What’s this?”

“What’s what?” I call back, turning slightly away from the window I’m trying to clean to look at Morgan slouched against the doorframe of my bedroom. She grasps a small book.

The sight of it instantly makes my heart sink down into my stomach.

“It’s…apparently it’s a diary,” I mutter, unable to walk any closer and holding the rag in front of me as though it might shield me from the memories. “My father’s.”

Morgan nods. “Oh.” She glances from the cloth-bound, slightly moth-eaten book back to me. “Have you read it?”

I shake my head more fervently than I mean to. “No.”

“Why not?” she presses further, moving to take a seat on the sofa.

The temptation of her comfort draws me in until I’m sat sidled up beside her. Her body against mine soothes the ache of hollowness in my chest.

“Because it’s not mine,” I say finally.

“Then why do you have it?”

I shrug. “I could see it was too painful for my mother to keep with her, so I brought it here.”

“So as it can pain you instead?” Morgan asks, setting the book down on the table and draping an arm across me. For a moment, I get the urge to link my fingers into hers but resist as I don’t want to break the comfort she’s already offering.

“What I don’t know can’t hurt me,” I say before pointing to the diary. “And I don’t know what’s in there.”

“Sometimes not knowing can be the thing that hurts the most,” she states with a frown.

I flick my gaze up from my lap to meet her gaze. “Talking from experience?”

Her lips quirk into a half-smile as she taps a finger to her temple. “Sweetheart/Handsome, the last thing I want to do is remember anything from my past. Why get stuck there when we have now?”

“And what about the future?” I ask. “Do you think about that?”

She shrugs, the motion settling her even further against me. “Why? I can only be here. Now. What’s the point in thinking forward where I won’t be until I get there?”

I chuckle. “That’s a rather…refreshing point of view.”

“It’s hardly a point of view, sweetheart/handsome. It’s just living,” she states. “Not something I thought I’d care much about until—” Her voice cuts through with sudden thought.

I arch a brow. “Until?”

She turns her head to look at me, examining the confused expression on my face. Her fingers smooth over my shoulder. “Until you changed everything in my life.”

“Me?” I huff out. “I think you’ll find it was the other way around. I was simply living my life, day to day, when a group of vampires strutted in and threw me into a whole new world.”

She lifts her other hand to trace her fingers across my jawline. “You don’t sound like you regret it.”

I swallow down the flutter which lightens the grief that had previously smothered my lungs. “No regrets about it at all. But sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming to think where my life will go.”

“Then don’t.” She leans even further against me, nuzzling her face into the crook of my neck and planting a kiss against my throat. “Live in the now. With me.”

The request is purred against my pulse, which beats hard in desperation for her.

“So much for cleaning,” I murmur as I bring her lips to mine, tasting the sweetness of her kiss.

Her hands tug me flush against her as she gazes into my eyes, temptation flashing in them like lightning. “Did you honestly expect today to turn out any differently?”

I smile. “It’s turned out exactly as I hoped.”

We lost ourselves to another kiss which I indulge completely in. Being only in the now. With her.

Only her.