Yun slept in her room, with Kenyon having risked picking her up to take her to bed.
And itwasa risk, given her history and reputation.It seemed the nickname Blizzard sure suited her, after all.
Kenyon had assured us that she was healthy—just overwhelmed and exhausted.It seemed the girl truly had no sense of her limits, having guided until she could no longer keep her eyes open.
The fool.
“We need to keep her.”Ingram spoke that as though it were an obvious and forgone conclusion.
Which I struggled to argue against.
Still, devil’s advocate and all… “She’s not a thing to be owned.She’ll stay or not—it’s up to her.”
He shook his head, already on his third beer.Alcohol didn’t affect espers as much as humans, so that wasn’t enough to loosen his tongue.“You’ve felt it.Her guiding’s like nothing else.I’ve never felt this good, not once in my whole fucking life.Whatever it takes, we gotta keep her.”
“She’s good,” Kenyon offered, a soda in his hands.He didn’t like drinking much, so usually went for something without alcohol.“It feels like back when I first became an esper, before the corruption started to build.I’ve never even heard of this being possible.”
“None of the other squads reported anything like this,” I pointed out.“Why is it like this now but not before?If she guided like this, do you really think the other squads would have let her go?”
“Maybe we’re different,” Ingram said.“Fuck, I don’t know, but isn’t like, compatibility a thing?What if she just fits with us?”
I offered him a chiding look.“That sounds like some romantic bullshit that little girls believe.”
“Yeah, well, argue with the results, then.Youexplain it.”
I leaned back on the picnic table, staring out at the dark ocean.The beach was closed this time of night, but that didn’t stop us.
Espers didn’t really follow the normal laws, and cops around here knew us on sight.They pretty much let us be.
What human was stupid enough to want to take on an esper, especially for something as trivial as enjoying the beach after hours?
Not one who lived very long, that was for sure.
“She won’t let you touch her,” I pointed out.
“She’ll change her mind.”Ingram reached down and grabbed his groin, adjusting himself, his erectionstillthere.I nearly reminded him that after four hours he should go to the ER, but why?
That man lived with a hard-on.If it hadn’t fallen off by now, he was probably fine.
Besides, worrying over his cock was hardly my job.
“What if she doesn’t?You okay with having a guide long term who you can’t fuck?”
Ingram waved off the concern, the beer bottle hanging between his fingers, the liquid inside sloshing but not spilling.“So she’s a little gun-shy?I’ve dealt with virgins before.Trust me, that girl’ll warm right up with a little time.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but couldn’t get the words out before Shear spoke, him sitting on the table, his legs crossed in front of him, a water in his hand.“She’s not going to just get over it.”
“Oh, did you maybe take a little trip through her mind?”I asked.
“You say that as though you hadn’t expected exactly that.”
I didn’t bother to deny it—he knew me better than to believe that.Instead, I took a drink of my beer and shrugged.
“She’s been inside a dungeon.”
Thatdrew all conversation to a rapid and abrupt stop, like slamming a car headfirst into a wall.
It was like saying a kid had been in the middle of a war zone.
