“Shit,” he cursed, and a bunch of images of myself flashed before me. Trees on fire, my arms around a little boy in the flames, Vincent’s smile, us holding hands, Chastine’s cruel smile, Vincent and me sleeping in my bed, my eyes turning bright yellow as a lion walked beside me. I felt the hand on me tighten, and as if it never happened, I stared at the door of Pizza Pazza.
“We’re in that future. Let me explain.”
Chapter Eleven
Vincent
“It’s been an hour. Should I keep reading?” Emily asked over the phone, and I hit a button twice. That was our “no” code. I heard her yawn twice and knew she needed her rest. The call would cost me twelve hundred dollars, but it was worth it. Was I a jackass? Perhaps, but I wanted to help. I found the phone sex company she worked for and asked for her, with a special request. Read me stories. There’s no way in hell I’d have her moaning and telling me all the ways she touched herself over the phone. I’d cave, and I’d be a worse man than I already felt. So pretending to be a man with a reading kink was the path for me. Thankfully, she’d picked one of her favorite series about a demigod pre-teen and their camp, and not a romance. The troubles of the heroes in the story felt less complicated than the ones in real life. They fought monsters, plotting gods, and traumatized demigods. We fought other humans and kept people like us from hurting one another. Well, besides that one time fighting against the dead.
“Alright, goodnight.” She yawned, but I heard the smile in her voice. Worth it. I took the headphones off my head and left the twenty-four-hour coffee shop I listened to her in. For obvious reasons, phones didn’t work across timelines.
When I flashed back to my apartment garage, I sat on my bike and noticed a pink sticky note.
We need to talk. —Chasity
I sighed, took my keys out of the ignition, and entered the elevator. Today had been a good one, and I needed to keep that mindset while dealing with the devil. The silent apartment wasn’t very welcoming.
“Vince, is that you?” she called out from the direction of our bedroom. After slipping off my shoes, I followed her voice and found her in the bathtub with bubbles covering her body.
“Everything ok?” I scanned her for harm and saw none. Her red nails skimmed over the bubbles.
“I want a baby, Vince,” she stated flatly, and I gripped the wall for assistance to stand.
“Not with you. I know you associate with those heroes, and I don’t want their mutant genes rubbing off on you and into your sperm. I’ve been working with Roman. His family has beautiful genetics. I just thought you’d like to know we will have a child within a year. We may need to move to one of those neighborhoods outside of Seahill for the space.”
There was nothing. No words, no thoughts, just nothing as I stood there.
“You have adequate time to prepare yourself. While I’m not pregnant yet, I will likely be soon. We’ve upped the attempts to three times a day.” She settled further into the steamy water and exhaled calmly. How could she be so calm? What the fuck?
“You’re insane.”
“If I were a man, you’d call me tenacious,” she scoffed, and I was quick to shut that down.
“No. I’d call you insane. Do you even hear yourself anymore? ‘Oh, husband, we’re going to be parents, but don’t worry, I’ll fuck someone else like a gods damn rabbit because your genetics are shit.’ We’re not having a kid,” I seethed, my hand gripping the wooden doorjamb so hard it cracked.
“Well, then you both can fuck me and see which sperm is superior. At least a child of yours will be obedient.” She stood, and I couldn’t even look at her.
“I was touching myself during that conversation, priming up for Roman, but you’re here and we haven’t fucked like the good ole days in a while.” It was like my brain ceased firing. This woman was a nightmare. She’d cheated on me, stole money, committed fraud, and now this. She really thought I’d follow her to the bedroom and rut her like an animal.
“Oh, Vince, I’m needy.” Her moan went in one ear and out the other. In the past, I would have given in. Chasity wasn’t cold in the bedroom, she kissed me, embraced me, and I’d been starved for it.
Suddenly, Emily’s ketchup-gobbed face flashed into my head, and I couldn’t do it. I stormed out of the room with her screams following me. I took the stairs instead of the elevator and left this time.
Because what else was I gonna do but sit at the park in 2023? Just being in a world where Chasity wasn’t mine and Emily existed calmed the blaring rage in my head. What the fuck was I gonna do?
“V?” Emily’s voice called from down the path, and I placed my head in my hands.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping.”
“Yeah, I am.” She sighed and sat beside me.
I opened my mouth twice to let the words trapped inside tumble out, but stopped. Would she think less of me? I’d allowed so much shit with Chasity my stained soul would bleed into her pure heart. She’d been so worried about driving me away, but here I was with a knot in my gut over the same thing.
“I’m not coming onto you or anything, but I need a hug, plea—” My arms pulled her close before she finished. She climbed onto my lap as we gripped each other so tightly. Her body trembled as a soft sob vibrated against my neck. I wanted to take away whatever pain she felt. Fight it off or absorb it into me. Anything to help this sunshine girl find her happiness.
“I’m not ok.” She breathed, and I closed the already dismal space between us. Her nails dug into the muscles on my back, and I almost whisked her away to another time. A time when neither of our problems existed.
“I’ve got you” were the only words I could manage. Everything else followed the lines of things I couldn’t say out loud:
