Page 78 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
And I needher. I need her friendship. But to earn it, there can’t be a secret of this magnitude between us.
“You’re sure?” I ask him.
He nods.
I exhale hard and walk to the front door of the lobby. I lean out to see Irene fixing a colorful ribbon around a tree lining the road. She’s marked several of the trunks with these teal ribbons and it creates a sense of driving through an arch. I love it.
“Hey, lunchtime!” I yell out to her. “Sammies and chips!”
She turns to me. “Okay!”
My heart thunders in my throat as I walk to the apartment. This is happening really fast, but I’m out of time to start hiring staff. What if she freaks and runs? Apollo’s hands grab my shoulders, halting my pacing. I look up at him. He’s still in his handsome, human guise.
“It’s going to be all right.”
“How do you know?” I whisper, watching Irene approach through the window.
“Because this work, and you, make her very happy. She feels so grateful. A little magic isn’t going to scare her off.”
I swallow and suck down a deep breath, then go to the fridge. I pull out the container of premade sub quarters and put them on the dining room table with the bag of chips. I go back to the fridge and pull out a bottle of champagne.
Fuck it.
Let’s do it.
Irene avoids the main building and comes straight to the apartment, knocking once on the doorframe despite the door being thrown open. I wave her in and hold up the bottle.
“Hell, yeah, day drinking. Let’s go!”
I pop the cork and Apollo is beside me in an instant with three glasses. I pour the bubbles and we sit around the table as a fall wind blows through the room. It smells like the moments before sleep. Like wrapping myself up in a big blanket against the cold and listening to rain on the window. It’s the perfect time to tell her.
She raises her glass. “To a stellar launch that’ll knock everyone’s socks off!”
“Cheers,” I say, smiling genuinely despite the nerves bouncing around in my gut.
Our glasses clink and everyone takes a sip. I break open the container of sandwiches and let Irene talk about what she’s done all morning while my brain whirs away on how to break the news.
“All right, what’s going on?” Irene asks.
I blink up at her. “What do you mean?”
She raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “You haven’t touched anything and you’re staring at my face like you’re looking into an abyss.”
I pull down a deep breath and Apollo grabs my hand under the table.
“I need to talk to you about something.” I start, hesitating.
“You have to let me go,” Irene says with a frown.
“No.” I shake my head, trying to find the words.
“Sylvia, just tell her,” Apollo says gently.
“Oh, shit…” She grins. “You guys want to have a threesome?”
I gasp, choking on my spit, and then laugh. “No, no. I mean…” I eye her up and down and we both laugh. “No. I want to ask youto join me full-time, but some of the work won’t be ideal since you don’t want to go in there,” I say, jerking my head toward the springs.
“I can get over it,” she says resolutely. “I’d like to work with you full-time. These have been the best weeks I’ve had in a long time.”
