Chapter 232: 233 | The Girlfriend Sandwich
Liam was a prototype. The message Marcus Wei had intercepted used the word "abort" like it was standard operational procedure. Which meant there was a procedure. Which meant there were other subjects in other facilities undergoing the same process that had created the thing that attacked Building F.
How many? Where were they being held? How close were they to completion?
The questions multiplied faster than I could answer them. Every time I thought I understood the scope of what my father was doing, the picture expanded to include some new horror I hadn’t anticipated.
My phone vibrated again.
Mera: If you’re not back in ten minutes I’m opening a portal and dragging you through it myself.
I picked up the pace.
The penthouse looked different at night. Warmer. The lights inside cast a glow through the windows that made it look like somewhere people actually wanted to be rather than the overpriced bachelor pad the original Rome had selected as a monument to his own ego.
Mera opened the door before I reached it.
Her expression cycled through relief, anger, suspicion, and something that might have been hurt before settling on a carefully neutral mask that didn’t suit her face at all. Her horns caught the hallway light. Her tail swished behind her in short, agitated movements.
"You smell like her."
No point lying. "Yes."
"You couldn’t have showered first?"
"The meeting ran long."
"Stop saying that." She grabbed my collar and pulled me inside. The door slammed behind us. "We both know what kind of meeting involves coming home two hours late smelling like expensive perfume and thermal discharge."
The living room contained Aurora on the couch with a bowl of ramen, Cheon at the kitchen island with her tablet, and Noel standing by the window with her arms crossed. All of them turned to look at me as Mera dragged me into the center of the room like a prize she’d won and wasn’t sure she wanted anymore.
"Ladies."
"Don’t you ’ladies’ me." Mera released my collar but stayed close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from her skin. "You were supposed to talk about blood work. You were supposed to be back in an hour. Instead you came home looking like you lost a fight with a space heater and won a fight with someone’s underwear."
"That’s remarkably specific imagery."
"Rome." Aurora’s voice cut through the rising tension. Soft but carrying weight. "Did something happen?"
"Several things happened." I walked to the couch. Sat down next to her. Let the exhaustion I’d been carrying since I drained myself nearly empty the night before finally show on my face. "The blood work is being delayed. The NEA inquiry is being fast-tracked. My father has federal connections we didn’t know about. And yes, before anyone asks, I slept with Professor Reeves."
Silence.
Cheon’s fingers paused on her tablet. Noel’s expression shifted from suspicious to calculating. Aurora’s hand found mine and squeezed once. Mera stood in front of me with her arms crossed and her tail rigid behind her.
"You slept with our professor."
"She’s your professor. She’s my mentor and apparently my lover now."
"That distinction makes it better somehow?"
"It makes it different." I met Mera’s eyes. Held them even though part of me wanted to look away from whatever I’d find there. "She came to me. She chose this. She understands what it means and what it costs and she wanted it anyway."
"And you?"
"I wanted her too."
Something shifted in Mera’s expression. Not acceptance exactly. More like acknowledgment that the situation had changed in ways that couldn’t be changed back. She sat down on the coffee table directly in front of me. Close enough that our knees almost touched.
"Tell me why."
"Because she’s powerful enough to matter when everything falls apart. Because she has connections I need to survive the next three weeks. Because she sees what I am and wants to be part of it instead of running away." I paused. Let the truth settle into my chest before speaking it aloud. "And because when she looked at me, she saw someone worth investing in rather than someone to fix or save or pity."
Aurora’s grip on my hand tightened.
Noel uncrossed her arms and walked closer. "She’s manipulating you."
"Probably."
"You’re okay with that?"
"I’m okay with being useful to someone who’s useful to me." I looked at each of them in turn. Mera with her hurt and her fire. Noel with her strategic mind and her guarded heart. Aurora with her warmth and her unwavering support. Cheon with her data and her quiet loyalty. "That’s what all of you are doing, isn’t it? Finding value in each other that makes the arrangement worth the cost."
"It’s not just about value." Aurora’s voice was soft. "It’s about caring. About wanting to be together even when it doesn’t make strategic sense."
"You think I don’t care about her?"
"I think you care about everyone in this room." Aurora leaned closer. Her shoulder pressed against mine. "I think you care so much it terrifies you, so you dress it up in language about value and utility and mutual benefit because admitting that you just want people around who make you feel less alone would mean admitting you’re vulnerable."
The accuracy of her observation hit somewhere between my sternum and my spine. That place where truths you don’t want to acknowledge take up residence and refuse to leave.
"When did you get so good at reading people?"
"I’ve been watching you." She smiled. Small and genuine. "You’re not as complicated as you think you are, Rome. You’re just scared and pretending you’re not."
"I’m terrified," I said. "Constantly. About everything."
Mera’s posture softened. Just slightly. Just enough to notice.
"Then why do you keep putting yourself in situations that make it worse?"
"Because the alternative is giving up." I met her eyes again. "And I refuse to give up. Not on the match. Not on surviving my father. Not on any of you."
She was quiet for a long moment. Her tail gradually relaxed from its rigid position. Her hands unclenched from fists she probably hadn’t realized she was making.
"She better be worth it."
"She is."
Mera stood. Walked around the coffee table. Sat down on my other side so that I was sandwiched between her and Aurora like some kind of human filling in a girlfriend sandwich. Her head dropped onto my shoulder. Her tail wrapped around my wrist in the familiar gesture that had become her way of claiming me without words.
"I’m still mad at you."
"I know."
"And jealous."
"I know that too."
"But I’m not leaving."
"I didn’t think you would."
Comments