Page 133 of Winning Bid

If I chase after her, this is only going to get worse. She needs to cool off, which means, I am staying out here. I’ll give her an hour. She’ll come out and apologize soon. No big deal.

But the thing is, she doesn’t. I don’t hear a peep from her before bedtime.

Ah, well. Nothing like sleeping on the couch the night before you’re going to lose your freedom. When I wake up, joints crack that I didn’t know could crack. But I stretch and make coffee, seeing it’s four in the morning. No wonder it’s still dark out.

The machine beeps when it’s done—I’d forgotten it does that. I hope it didn’t wake June. But as I pour my cup, I hear the bedroom door open. “Sorry, I?—"

She wraps her arms around me from behind. “I’m sorry, too.”

I turn around to face her. She looks like she’s been up all night. “I was apologizing about the machine beeping, but I’m sorry about everything else, too. I really got it in my head that … well, what are we fighting for, if not justice? That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

“I’m fighting for our freedom. Fuck justice.”

I snort a laugh. “Coffee?”

“That’s not a question.”

I bob my head and pour her a cup, too. We sit at the table, kind of quiet. “Justice is the only real way we’ll have any freedom, June. It’s a gamble, sure, but?—"

She laughs under her breath in response.

“But, it’s true. Think about it—if we lied and hung Moss out to dry, we’d be looking over our shoulders forever. Either because of the law or because of Moss, because you know he has scary friends. Point is, we wouldn’t actually be free. We’d be waiting for everything to fall apart.” I sigh. “And I need the world to make sense again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I need to believe there’s justice in the world. I don’t want to bring kids into a world where that’s a punchline.”

She murmurs, “Kids … with me?”

The odd question makes me laugh. “Who else? My other wife?”

“You’re not mad at me for last night?”

“June, it’s amazing we haven’t been at each other’s throats before all of this. I’m not happy with some of what you said, but I’m not mad, either. We’re under a shit ton of pressure right now. We’re going to say things we shouldn’t.”

She sips her coffee. “Thank you for not holding it over me.”

“If I get out of this, I look forward to some groveling.”

She giggles at me. Fuck, I have missed that. “Deal.”

“I hate to say anything that’ll take that smile off your face, but in case this goes south, I want a nice long shower. Okay?”

“Enjoy. I need more caffeine.”

I kiss her cheek on my way to the shower. In case this all goes sideways, I decide to spa things up. I light a few candles, turn on some relaxing music, and keep the lights low. Once the shower is nice and steamy, I close my eyes, letting the water run over me while I try not to think I’ve doomed us both.

A small hand snakes around my waist, and I almost jump. “What?—"

“Hey.”

Again, I turn to face her. She’s beautiful and naked, and I know she’s too sad for fun, but it’s hard not to let my body respond at the sight of her. “You’re very sneaky today.”

“Last chance for sneakiness. Thought I’d take advantage of it.” She presses her tits against my chest. “Thought I’d take advantage of you, too.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “You can take whatever you want.” I press a kiss to her lips, still willing my body to remain flaccid. She might take back what she just said at any moment and?—

But then she strokes me to life, and all uncertainty dies.

---