Page 52 of Marked by the Demigod

"I don't even know what time zone my body thinks I am in," he says, quirking a sideways smile, and it's heartbreakingly real. "Sometimes I go between four different zones a day, before finding a place safe to sleep."

They sit there for a few seconds. "You can sleep at my place tonight?" She offers, as if a rejection will be too rough.

He raises an eyebrow, slow, as if considering. "I would like to," he says, slow, as if speaking too fast will break the moment. "But I don't want to spend too many nights there, in case people are tracking me. If they found out where you were..." He shrugs, not meeting her eyes, instead staring at their decreasing pile of pierogi. His face twists, sudden, before he holds out his hand to her.

Tentative, she lays her hand on his. His lips quirk up into a smile, and --

And they're suddenly back in her apartment, on the couch and she's pressing up against his side. She jerks back, startled, and he grins wider. "You always look so surprised by that."

She blinks, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of her apartment. Both of her cats sit in the hall, staring at them with wide unblinking eyes, their fur on end.

The easy smile is back, as if their somewhat serious conversation hadn't happened seconds before, and his mood is whiplash all over again, whiplash she's too tired for.

But he's here, and she doesn't feel as hollow as she usually does.

So she pulls him up, takes him to the bedroom, the cats twining between their legs, and ignores the feeling that this is a very bad idea.

* * *

The bed is long coldthe next morning when she finally wakes.

It's past 11 AM, but Russ doesn't expect her to do any serious work after a late night flight. So she flops over on her bed, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes.

Both her cats stare at her at the movement from the bottom of the bed.

She lets herself lay there for a while, wallowing in the bottomless pit of feeling really fucking alone, until her phone buzzes.

TRIXIE (11:23 AM): I think our find my friend app is broken. It says you were in Europe yesterday.

Aimes groans.

AIMES (11:23 AM): My phone spazzed last night, sorry.

TRIXIE (11:24 AM) Lol.

TRIXIE (11:24 AM) Need Jetlag brunch?

And she's still full from the perogies the night before, but coffee sounds divine, and she chuckles at herself. Divine. In a world of gods and demigods and magical creatures, she's still calling coffee divine.

It sure is more reliable than the demigods.

AIMES (11:27 AM): Meet you at Nat’s.

* * *

She gets there before Trixie,and curls up in one of the plastic booths in the back with a full pot of their black coffee, feeling way more hungover than one beer. Nat’s is the antithesis of the fancy LA restaurant, with stained tile, cheap menus, and the most unhealthy food imaginable. And it’s glorious.

Pulling out her phone, she thumbs her way over to the one picture she has of him, fast asleep in that hotel bed with the quilt pushed down around his feet.

It might be a good idea to let Katya know that she popped out of the country. You know, with this big government organization that tracks things and such.

AIMES (11:49 AM): So he took me to Poland last night.

The three dots appear and disappear four times, as Aimes drinks as much coffee as she can.

KATYA (11:55 AM): Shit.

That pretty much sums it up.

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