Lara felt her cheeks flush.  She nodded mutely, gulped the rest of her coffee, stood up, gathered the blanket and pillows in her arms.

“Oh leave that.  Hotel staff will take care of that.”

“Okay,” Lara nodded and looked around for the bathroom.

“Over there,” Helena nodded her head, and watched appreciatively as Lara walked away with just a slight bit of hip sway. “A pity,” she thought, before letting her mind move on to her plans for tonight.  If all went well, and she was not going to settle for anything else, she and Bette would be negotiating dates and budget for Ellen’s show by the end of the evening.

*~*~*~*~*

Shane kissed Tina’s face and left a note on the pillow, telling her she had some appointments today and she’d be back by five, plenty of time to get ready for what she had come to think of as a necessary ordeal.  Tina was going because she needed to show that her life with Bette was firmly behind her.  Shane was going to make sure that Bette understood that.  Clearly.  And if not, she’d be happy to prove the point.

Between now and then, though, she needed to keep on the move.  She still felt edgy and an inexplicable lust was still thrumming in her bones…all the more surprising for all the sex she’d had with Tina last night and early this morning.  It wasn’t that she couldn’t cum.  She could.  She had.  Several times.  Still, she’d woken with that vague twitch and tickle in her clit, and had nearly woken Tina up to satisfy it.  Instead, she’d taken a long hot shower, the water steaming and pounding her back, loosening tight muscles and clearing her head.

Was it like this for Jo, she’d asked herself, regretting that she didn’t dare ask her.  If Jo found out what she’d done….tremors of fear rolled through her.  What if she already knew?  What then?  She wasn’t ready to find out.  Instead, she counted the money from the pockets of last night’s jeans, holding them gingerly as if her sin had seeped into the fabric, to cry her out…vampire.  She found enough wrinkled bills to cover a full tank of gas, a few shots of expresso at The Planet, and a pack of smokes…enough to keep her moving, driving to nowhere except, she hoped, beyond Joe’s reach.