Page 98 of The Succubi's Choice

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Two days later, while she’s sitting at her desk and doing mind numbing boring paperwork on expense reports, she gets the following:

BLOCKED NUMBER (4:51 PM): Are you available tonight?

She raises her eyebrow at it, setting down the expense report for bullets that Katya needs, and picks up her phone.

MIRI (4:52 PM): Depends on what for. Finals over?

BLOCKED NUMBER (4:52 PM): He just finished one and the next one’s not for a few days.

BLOCKED NUMBER (4:53 PM): I have another late-night meeting downtown. Would you be my guest?

Her mind races, double time, before she deliberately takes a deep breath and pushes her squeaky chair away from her desk.

“Katya?” She calls, and hears her boss pause in typing. “I think I’m gonna be going out tonight. With him.”

She hears the identical squeak as Katya scoots back, then strides into the little front office. “Are you serious?”

“Just got invited, at least.” Miri holds up her phone, and Katya’s eyes dart to it for a brief second before going back to Miri’s face.

“They don’t track it anymore, do they?” She says, calm and cool. “So no one else but me would know.”

“Exactly.” Miri gives points to Katya for getting it. “So I’m not gonna have the fucking report with the Organization crawling up my spine.”

Katya’s eyes narrow thoughtfully, and she primly sits down in one of the standard folding chairs in the waiting room. “So this could be an experiment,” she says, her voice unfolding into a plan, as she so often does. “We can see what shows up, and how they respond.”

“Exactly.”

Katya thinks, and Miri can see her come to a decision in the space of a blink. “Text me,” she commands. “I know you need space, but text me. Give me updates.”

Miri raises an eyebrow at her.

“He’s still unpredictable, he’s still someone who might hurt you and the Organization, so keep me updated. Let me know you’re safe every hour.”

“I don’t think he’ll harm me,” Miri says, unable to promise that about the Organization, but she digs out her phone anyways.

MIRI (5:00 PM): I only have the one fancy dress, but sure.

BLOCKED NUMBER (5:00 PM): I can buy you another.

And that makes her raise an eyebrow at the phone.

* * *

When she opensthe door to her apartment, Thomas is waiting for her there, sitting awkwardly with Gabriel, who’s looking like he’s having too good of a time.

Miri pauses at the door, squinting at him, still in her khakis and polo shirt. “Thomas?”

“Yeah it’s me,” he says, and the awkwardness in his voice makes it abundantly clear it is, in fact, him and not the Archdemon. “Roommate will, uh, show up probably this evening. He does this.”

“So you can just tell the difference!” Gabriel all but crows, and Miri decides to ignore him the best she can, despite Thomas’s somewhat skittish glance over to him.

“Weird.” She drops her purse on the entry table, then picks it back up again. “Did he tell you you’re supposed to take me shopping?”

Thomas gives her the look like he can’t quite decide if she’s shitting him, but doesn’t exactly want to ask. “I read the texts.”

“So you guys share a phone? Doesn’t that get confusing?” Gabriel asks, super inquisitive in the way that only academics get.

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