True Love (The Society #4)

Chapter 11 – Turkey Noodle Soup

Friday – November 24, 2023

Ash

I lowered my fur hat to cover my ears better. But I just kept shaking. I wrapped the blanket tighter around myself, but that didn’t help either.

I was cold to the bone. Like my cold evil slut heart.

I sneezed and grabbed a tissue to blow my nose. As soon as I took off my magical healing ring, I’d felt terrible. And every hour since then I felt worse. It was like all the sicknesses that I’d avoided were hitting me all at once.

I sneezed again and pulled my fur hat down over my face.

I just wanted to suffocate and die.

Which sounded dramatic.

But what was the point of living when germs could hurt you and you were a terrible person that didn’t deserve love?

My thermometer started beeping under my armpit.

I pushed my hat off my face and checked my temperature. It was 98.6 degrees. Bullshit. I put it back under my arm to get another reading. But I was pretty sure my thermometer was broken. I knew I had a temperature of at least 101 based on how much I was shivering .

I never should have hugged my grandson last night. The cute little germ fest.

I started crying. My grandson. Jacob wasn’t my grandson anymore.

I was barren.

And alone.

And sick, despite what my thermometer said. I coughed weakly. The sickness was getting worse by the minute. I was starting to worry that some of Tanner’s relics may have still possessed germs from the plague. Because I was pretty sure that’s what I had. The plague.

My thermometer beeped again. I pulled it out. 98.4?! How was it going down?! This was one sick sickness with a terrible sense of humor. Definitely the plague. I coughed.

I wished I had Tanner’s magical healing ring back. But I didn’t deserve it. Horrible sluts didn’t deserve nice magical things and perfect magical boyfriends.

Seriously...what had I been thinking banging his whole team? Of course he was friends with them. He was never going to want to speak to me again.

Tears trailed down my cheeks.

My life was officially over.

Tanner was the only man I’d ever loved. And he was the only man I ever would love. Because I was going to die alone, just like I deserved.

I fell backward on the couch. I needed a Sharpie. So I could run around my apartment giving myself devil horns in all my pictures.

I was so cold that my whole body started shaking. The plague was a terrible thing to have .

I closed my eyes tight and pictured Tanner’s arms wrapped around me. But that just made it worse. Because his arms were never going to wrap around me again.

My phone beeped.

I would have hoped it was Tanner, but I knew he was never going to speak to me again. He was a magical billionaire. He’d probably already moved on. I reached out of my blanket and grabbed my phone. It was probably just Chastity wondering where I was.

We’d planned to celebrate Black Friday by going shopping and seeing who could get the most free stuff exclusively by fucking black guys. You know…since it was Black Friday.. Like Chastity always said, why get something for 50% off, when you can get it for free AND get a huge cock?

Anyway, that plan was now off. My days of whoring were over. And my days were over. Because I was probably going to die any minute from the plague.

I clicked on my phone to see her message. But it wasn’t Chastity. It was a text from Mr. Frost. He was asking why I wasn’t at work.

Seriously? I’m not at work because you gave us the day off after Thanksgiving, you monster!

I shook my head. He wasn’t the monster. I was. The biggest slut monster there was.

I texted him back: “It’s Black Friday. It’s a holiday.” I hit send.

My phone buzzed right away with his response: “Black Friday isn’t a real holiday. Get into work. Now.”

Fuck you, my life is in shambles! I texted him back: “I can’t. I’m sick.” I didn’t bother warning him that I was dying. He’d figure it out come Monday when I didn’t come in. Since I lived alone someone would have to knock down my door to find my corpse. Or maybe they’d wait until I started to smell. God, what if cats ate me?!

I coughed. I guess it didn’t matter. I’d be dead. Let the huge rodents feast. If they could figure out a way to get in, I was all theirs.

I waited for Mr. Frost to text back something snarky. But he did not.

Good. I pulled my hat lower again. I could die in peace.

I stared at the ceiling as I slowly died.

My breathing became shallow as the germs overtook my body. It’s almost time, cats...

I could feel the sickness spreading. I could even feel the soles of my feet being taken by the plague.

There was a knock on my door. “Go away!” I croaked. Couldn’t a slut die in peace?! For fuck’s sake!

The person knocked again.

“Go away for your own safety!” I yelled. And then I sneezed. I didn’t want anyone to catch the sickness.

But instead of leaving, the person just kept knocking.

It was probably Chastity. She was never scared of my germs. She’d regret it this time though. I rolled off the couch in my blankets and grabbed one of my hazmat suits that I kept on hand. I opened the door a few inches and held the hazmat suit out the door for her.

But instead of taking it, Chastity just pushed the door open.

Nope, not Chastity. I stared in horror .

Mr. Frost walked into the apartment hazmat-suit-less. He closed the door behind him. “Here,” he said and awkwardly thrust a brown paper bag into my hands.

What is this madness? Had he brought me a bag of take-home work? “I can’t work today,” I croaked.

“I know.” He tapped the bag.

I peered inside. It wasn’t binders full of nonsense. It was a bowl of something. And not a takeout bowl. It was a glass bowl that was clearly something homemade. I lifted the lid off the bowl. It was filled with turkey noodle soup. Had he made this out of leftover Thanksgiving turkey? For me? I looked up at him.

“Where are your spoons?” he asked. But he didn’t wait for a response. He strolled into my kitchen and started opening drawers.

Seriously...what the hell is happening right now? Am I hallucinating? I nodded. That was probably it. Mr. Frost handed me a spoon. At least my hallucinations involved food. I plopped back on the couch and started to go to town on my soup. “Thank you, hallucination Mr. Frost.”

He smiled as I slurped up some broth.

I ignored the hallucination as he sat down next to me on the couch. He looked so out of place in here. Part of me wanted to poke him. Didn’t that make things disappear? Or make them wake from nightmares or something?

But the more soup I ate, the more real the situation seemed .

Every spoonful of soup made me feel a little better. And Mr. Frost was still sitting in my apartment staring at me.

“Are you real?” I reached out and poked his knee with my spoon. He didn’t disappear.

He smiled. “Is the soup helping?”

Why was he here? And why was he being nice to me? But...the soup was helping. I slowly nodded my head.

“I was worried about you.”

“ You were worried? About me ?”

He nodded. “I know how seriously you take work. And I figured you must be really sick if you didn’t come in.”

Oh. Well...that was nice of him to notice how seriously I took my job. And it was very nice for him to bring me soup. I took another bite. “Thank you.” I didn’t deserve kindness. But I did appreciate it.

“Of course.”

I’d said some really terrible things about him behind his back. And now I was feeling kind of bad. I realized I was awkwardly staring at him. I can’t believe he’s here right now...

“I like the hat,” he said with a smile.

I awkwardly touched my furry hat.

“I should let you rest.” He stood up. “Take as much time as you need, alright?”

I sniffed. For some reason, I wanted to cry. Mr. Frost was usually so cold and cruel. If he could find a way to be kind to a monster like me...maybe there was a chance that Tanner could forgive me too. I shook my head. No. It was time to die. “Thank you. I owe you one. If you see any cats on your way out, feel free to let them in.”

He gave me a weird look. “What?”

“Nothing.”

He cleared his throat. “If you’re serious about owing me one… I actually do need some help.” He sat back down.

I internally sighed. I was definitely gonna have to be on diva duty again. Or have to go on another business trip. If I somehow lived through the plague, whatever this was was going to suck balls.

“So...um... Christmas is coming up,” he said.

“Yup.” I started eating my soup again. The warmth was helping chase my germs away.

“And I could use your help.”

“Sure, whatever you need.” There was only a small chance I’d live to do it anyway. I lifted up my bowl and started drinking the broth from the side.

“I need you to be my fake fiancée for Christmas.”

I choked on the broth I’d just tried to drink.

He clapped me on the back to help. “My older brother just got engaged and now my grandmother is threatening to cut me out of the will if I don’t make steps towards starting a nice family like my brother.”

I opened my mouth and closed it again.

“So...is that a yes?”

Who cared? Tanner hated my guts. And I had the plague. I’d never live to see Christmas. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Great.” He smiled and stood back up. “This is going to be great. Great,” he said again.

That was way too many greats. I saluted him with my spoon. “Great, boss. I mean fiancé.”