Page 18 of Marginally Yours
"Well, I'm not saying I don't believe you. Honestly, it makes a lot of sense, despite being absolutely off the fucking wall. Not to mention the implications that, if you're a real muse, then the whole Greek pantheon is...?" She nods slowly in confirmation, and I can feel the slow transformation from brain matter into soup as I try to process that information. "Yeah, we'll get to that shit later when my brain is solid matter again."
"I'm sorry. I know it's a lot," she mutters, eyes on the floor again. Wetness pools in the corners of them. "I'm a lot." Those three words shatter any hope I had of holding on to my anger about this secret.
"Hey," I say, pulling her chin gently to face me. "You're not a lot. You are who you are, andwhatyou are, and that's the perfect amount. This situation might be a lot, but you're perfect. Anyone who thinks you're 'a lot' can go find less and fuckingchoke on it."
When she looks up at me, her eyes are spilling over but her mouth is curling into a smile, so hopefully that was the right thing to say. I swipe my thumb at the tear falling down her cheek and lean in to capture her lips with mine. Her arms slide around the back of my neck, and she nestles her face into my chest, tears soaking my shirt.
She stays there for a few minutes before pulling back, mumbling something I can't understand. Despite everything, I let out a low chuckle. "Baby, I can't understand a single fucking thing you're saying right now," I tell her, brushing hair out of her face. She sniffs and tries again.
"They're going to reassign me if they find out," she says, and all of a sudden, I can't fucking breathe. “It’s not like anyone monitors us when we’re on assignments, but if I don’t come back, they’ll notice.
"What does that mean? They take you from me and send you to someone else?" She nods, her bottom lip quivering. My grip around her waist tightens like that's going to stop a fucking deity from yanking her out of my life. I feel myself going into manic mode. "So, what do we do? Can we stop it? Hide from them? What if we run?"
"There's no hiding or running. They'll find us. Well, they'll findme.I'm tied to my contract, and it's basically like a magical GPS." One hand drops to her lap in defeat, the other clinging to the back of my neck. "The only way out is if someone buys my contract, which has never happened before." Now I'm seeing red.
"What do you mean, ‘buys your contract’? For what? How much value do they place on your fucking life?" I can feel my voice getting louder and rein it in with a deep breath. "What's the cost?" I'm mentally tallying what I have in my account as if it's going to be enough because all I can do is grasp at straws at this point. How am I supposed to stop the fucking Greek pantheon from taking my girlfriend?
Huh. Girlfriend?Probably ought to discuss that at some point.
"No," she mutters softly, laying a hand on my cheek. "I... It's not a monetary price, Devon. And it's never the same thing, but the price isalwaystoo high. He’ll demand whatever is most important to you, and if you try to back out, he'll just kill you instead." I'm silent for a moment, wading through my immediate thoughts and the repercussions of voicing them before I finally answer.
Fuck it.
"And what if the most important thing to me is you?" Her mouth falls open in stunned silence, but I continue. "I know we haven't known each other for that long, and this whole thing is one big extenuating circumstance, but I didn't exactly have much going on before you got here. In case you can't tell," I say, gesturing around the room. "I don't get out much. I don't have many friends, and they're all just a step above an acquaintance. I don't have any immediate family left, and literally all of my hobbies share a main goal of escaping reality. I've really just been floating through life like a ghost until you showed up."
She squeezes her eyes shut and more waiting tears fall from the corners. She sniffs, wiping them away and meeting my gaze again before I continue.
"It doesn't really matter to me if you were sent here to be my muse. Even if it wasn't your job, you'd be my muse. You were dealt a shitty hand, and you still play it with a smile. Watching your face light up is like switching from an old black and white TV to 4K. I don't need whatever power you have to inspire me to write. All I need is you, laying in my bed while I bounce ideas off of you. A few weeks ago, I was just... existing. Haunting an empty apartment with all the lights off." I cradle her face in my hands. "Since you got here, it's like someone turned all the lights on and threw a party.All I need is you and the way you're looking at me right now."
She stares at me with gleaming eyes for the longest minute of my life before tugging on the back of my neck, dragging my face to hers as our lips crash together. When she pulls back, her eyes meet mine with a new resolve.
"I won't let you suffer to free me," she says firmly. "The cost will be too high and I'm... I'm not worth it."
My gaze hardens at her bullshit words. "Who told you that you're not worth it?"
"I... well...," she stammers, tripping over filler words to avoid the real answer.
"Look, I don't know how this works, and I don't really care, but there's nothing I have now that I wouldn't give up in a heartbeat to keep you to myself. So, make a call or a summoning circle or whatever you need to do, and let me talk to the fucker who thinks he can place a value on you."
It occurs to me that maybe she doesn'twantme to buy out her contract, so I add, "If that's what you want, anyway. I just assumed…"
"Yes!" She nods emphatically. "I just... I don't want anything bad to happen to you because of me." Her eyebrows knit together, and I can tell this is making her uneasy. It's obvious that no one has ever really given a shit about her. Not like she deserves, anyway.
"Look, nothing is going to happen to me," I assure her. "And if it does, good or bad, it'll be the first thing to happen to me in a long time either way. I'm done just existing, and I don't think I can reallylivewithout you around. Make the call." I press a kiss to her forehead.
"Okay," she says finally, placing a hand on my chest. "But not yet. I want you to be able to finish your book first. At least the first draft."
My eyes narrow on her. She's putting way too much faith inmy abilities here. "How fast do you think I write, Callie? I also have a job to go to, and so do you."
She barks out a laugh, and I realize how dumb the last part was. "Part of the job is having the ability to show up -and disappear -without anyone remembering I was ever there in the first place. As for your job, you've got like a billion hours of PTO saved up, right?" Before I can open my mouth to protest, she lays a finger over my lips. "That's not a muse thing; I'm just inferring from context clues. Take your vacation. If they give you a hard time, I'll work some magic and make it happen. Then I'll disappear and hole up with you here until it's done."
I consider her offer. It sounds like a good plan, honestly. And I do have at least a month of PTO saved up. They won’t be happy about it, but whatever. If I lose my momentum without her muse gifts, at least I'll have one good book under my belt. If that’s the only thing I ever get published, then we’ll figure something else out.
I can be a one hit wonder with a day job. We can travel, and she can show me all the places she's lived.Been assigned, I remind myself, and now I'm pissed off all over again. Who the fuck came up with this vile system where she's born into servitude? How is that right?
She pulls me out of my head, one hand sliding up the back of my neck to tangle in my hair.
"What do you say? I'm nothing if not a takeout-powered idea machine," she chides with an impish smile.
