“Hello, Myra,” I said. “Is something the matter? I’m putting you on the loudspeaker. Deen is here with me.” Deen and I exchanged looks, hoping that this wasn’t some huge problem to ruin the day. I had just started my hot chocolate!

  “Hi, Erind. Hey, Deen,” Myra replied. “Good morning and stuff. Sorry for calling this early. It’s not an emergency or anything, but it’s a concern of sorts. Well, uh, I’m looking for a place to stay.”

  “To stay?” I repeated, raising a brow.

  After defeating the Tea Party, Deen and I called over Myra to help us deal with the aftermath. She brought Suppressors for us from La Esperanza, and we were able to pass the tests at the police station with no issue. I thought that she’d return to La Esperanza soon. Instead, Myra stayed in Vegas, something about relaxing and catching up with her friends in the city. We were also trying to spy on the Vegas group of hero wannabes led by Jubjub.

  Myra had mentioned that she was staying at her friend’s place. Deen and I hadn’t seen her for a couple of days already and were expecting her to have finished whatever business she had in Vegas.

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Myra. “My friend got relatives coming over. Gonna be packed at her place. She says I could still stay, but I just know it’s gonna be awkward as hell. It’s like I’m intruding on their little family reunion.”

  “Oh, uh…” How should I reply to this? Myra hadn’t asked yet, but she probably expected I’d offer for her to stay at my condo. “We thought you already went back to La Esperanza.”

  “That was my plan yesterday. But my car broke down while driving my friends around. It’s just so much ass, but better that it broke down here than in the middle of the fucking desert. I’ll have to stay in the city for repairs and some insurance processing stuff.”

  I loathed what I was about to say next, but it was what my face would do. “You can stay at my condo,” I said.

  Deen gripped my arm and glared at me.

  I shook my head while continuing to speak on the phone, “Mom’s going back to Europe today. So, we’ll have space here. Me, Deen, and you.”

  “Thanks so much, Erind,” Myra said. “I don’t even have money to rent a frigging closet at a seedy motel. Kinda blew it all away drinking and gambling with my friends.” Myra’s laughter echoed in the room. “You’re a real one. I’ll be there at your place later.”

  “See you,” I cheerily said, even though my stomach churned at the thought of yet another person intruding upon my sanctuary. As a kid, I never wanted sleepovers at my house. As an adult, my sentiments hadn’t changed. Sleep was sacred, and alone time was paramount. Peace during sleeping time was one of the underrated luxuries of life.

  That said, I never had peace since Deen started to sleep in my room. Having Myra around wouldn’t make the situation worse, right? In fact, Deen might start to behave with Myra around. Mom was busy with work; she didn’t really care what was going on between Deen and me. On the other hand, Myra would definitely notice that something was… different… with us.

  “Okay, I can see on your face that you have lots of complaints,” I said.

  Deen’s grumpy expression made it clear that we shared the same thoughts. “We’ll already have your entire condo to ourselves after your mother leaves. There’s no need to hide our, erm, activities.”

  “Activities, huh? I guess we’re being really active.”

  “I’m serious, Erind. This’ll ruin our vacation.”

  “We weren’t vacationing here in the first place,” I said. “Well, I guess we kind of are. But that’s beside the point. Myra needs a place to stay and—”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “And she can stay at a hotel,” Deen said, suddenly hugging me. She nuzzled her chin on the curve of my neck. Her breath tickled. “I’ll foot the bill.”

  I was starting to think that having Myra over was a good idea. That would certainly keep Deen in check. Plus, we’d get to work on making sure that Myra was loyal to our little group, and not to Dario. We’d sniff out if she was actually a traitor.

  “Deen, money can’t solve everything,” I said.

  “No… But it can solve a lot of things. I know, because I have a lot of money. And I want to use that money so we can have our privacy. Myra can stay at a hotel, and we'll be here. Or vice-versa. Either one works for me.”

  “Don’t be like that, Deen,” I said, massaging her leg. I had to coax Deen into agreeing with this arrangement. Once Myra was here, Deen would change her demeanor. No way she’d try to kick out Myra. “It’ll only be for a couple of days.” A couple of days of peaceful sleep for me.

  “That’s a couple of days that I’m not… um…” Deen blushed as she looked away.

  I chuckled. “What were you going to say? A couple of days that you’re not fucking me? You just can’t control yourself, can you?”

  “Yes, I can! But I don’t want to.” Deen stuck her tongue out at me. “Fine! Myra can stay here.”

  “Uh, this is my place. I decide who stays here or not.”

  Deen ignored my comment. “This is how the sleeping arrangement will be. You and I will stay in your room. Myra can sleep in your mom’s room. Would your mom be okay with it?”

  “Yeah, I guess so. I’ll ask her later. But wouldn’t Myra find it weird that we’re sleeping together in my room? Wouldn’t it be more, I don’t know, the custom that the guests sleep separately from the host? Like, maybe I should be in my room, you’re in Mom’s room, and Myra will be on the sofa.”

  “There won’t be any issue,” Deen said. “We’ll simply say that we’re used to being with each other, and you want to give Myra her privacy. Not very private if she sleeps in the living room, right? If we’re careful and quiet, we can continue our late-night activities without Myra noticing.”

  “Can’t we take a break?” I asked, knowing Deen’s answer. “It’ll only be for two nights.”

  “No.” Deen held my hand. “You may think I’m not being reasonable, or even being a bit of a sexual degenerate—”

  “I do,” I said, grinning.

  “But this is only because I don’t want to waste time. This is the first instance in my entire life that I’ve felt a connection with anyone. And… it makes me happy to cultivate that connection.”

  “You’re going to describe what we do as cultivation?”

  “I’m being serious here, Erind,” Deen said, wrapping her arms around my waist and entwining her legs with mine. She pulled me closer to her. “I never thought I’d ever feel about someone this way.”

  “You’re being cheesy.” I turned away. I couldn’t handle moments like this. Disgusting. I never liked romance movies because the characters expressed emotions that I couldn’t have.

  “It’s a rare moment that I’ll be cheesy, so make sure to commit this to your memory.” Deen planted a small kiss on my cheek. An affectionate peck instead of her usual saliva-exchange affair. She must be really serious about expressing her feelings. “This may sound crazy to you, but for me, I feel that we shouldn’t waste any time. We should… you know… do it whenever we can.”

  I stared at Deen with a deadpan expression. “I thought you were going to say something profound.”

  “My little speech isn’t going to be eloquent. We survived the attack at the Greaves Tech Fair. We even survived the Tea Party base. And why are we here in Vegas? We left La Esperanza, which had so many BID agents because of the Adumbrae Titan. Before that? Your condo was destroyed. And even before that?”

  “We infiltrated the Eve Club and almost got killed by a mini-nuke explosion. I see where you’re going with this.”

  “We might die when the next… I don’t know… happens. That’s why I feel this urge to do whatever we can now. We’ll never know when we’ll experience a stretch of peaceful time next. That, and I’m really horny.” Deen hugged me tighter, rubbing her body against me, her marshmallow mounds squished against my flank. “It’s all so new and an exciting experience.”

  “After some time, you won’t find this new and exciting.”

  “Perhaps… And you can have a bit of rest by then,” Deen said. “But not now. How about we—?”

  A familiar click froze both of us. Someone unlocked the door to this unit. Mom was back!