Page 14 of Krampus Kruk
“You don’t care why.”
“I saidindulge.” I poke her side, and she giggles. “Indulge me,” I breathe, pressing my lips to her stomach, slowly kissing as my hands explore her.
“I needed an escape.”
“An escape from what?”
“My family. I already told you.”
“What did they do?”
“Everything.”
She grabs for the hem of my shirt, and I pin her arms down. “Give me a real answer, and I will take my shirt off.”
“I’m fucking naked and you’re fully clothed. Take your shirt off.”
“It’s not my fault you’re easy.”
She tries to resist the grip of my hands on her wrists, and it makes me chuckle. “It’s cute that you think you can fight me when I’m twice your size.”
She huffs. “Real answer. Everyone has so much shit going on, and they are all living life with their heads buried in the sand. God forbid I make an informed, rational critique.”
“Pot calling the kettle black, no?”
“No!”
“Baby girl, I just met you, but if I was in a room of a few of you, I think I would need a drink too.”
She giggles, deeply. “Well, lucky for you, all that happened, and now I’m here.”
“You’re the lucky one. I’m fully clothed, and you’re the one who just came.”
She bites her tongue, and I grab her chin, playfully swaying it back and forth. “What were you disagreeing about?”
“Like you care …”
“I’m curious what gets you riled up.”
“Algorithms. I’ve made them before, I understand them, and even though I’m literally more informed on the topic than ninety-nine percent of people … my family tells me I don’t understand how the world works.” I caress her arms, and she continues, “We are in the attention economy. People are saying wilder and wilder shit to keep everyone’s attention, which only makes them more money. Everything is about money.” She huffs.
“I used to worship money. Then, I realized it’s fake.”
I think back to obsessively checking the Cryptoball app on my phone, watching my net worth double in a matter of days around this time in 2017. Then, it doubled again and kept climbing for years. No work. No effort. Just Bitcoin’s value rising. I asked myself what the point of working was when I already had more money than I’d ever imagined. There wasn’t one.
“Well …” She giggles, looking around my cabin. “It seems you have a lot of fake money.”
“I do, but I don’t care to make any more. When I internalized that, my life changed.”
“Retirement. Sounds nice.”
“It is. Thank you for giving me a real answer.” I lean in and place a kiss on her lips. “I’m a man of my word.” I cross my arms, swooping my shirt off and chucking it aside.
11
Fuck, Krampus is chiseled. “Do you believe in that shit?” I ask, seeing he’s wearing a gold chain with a cross.
He shrugs. “I’m still alive.”
