“Yes, please, help me lift him.”
There were shuffles, shadows shifting, hands on my shoulders as half my body was lifted off the couch, but I was back down soon after, except this time, my head wasn’t on the pillow; it was on soft thighs—Zahra’s thighs.
“Thanks, the black cat almost clawed my eye out, and I’m not exaggerating. They hate me.”
“You give off anti-cat pheromones. And… they sense bad energy.”
“Well, thank you, Upper, that’s an accurate observation nobody needed.”
“I am delighted to have been the one to provide the observation,” Upper responded. “Anyway, I know a little about the kind of medicine one can take to ward off a fever, and the mad headache the poor lad must be experiencing.”
“You do?” Elia asked, hopeful.
“Yes, I took care of myself for a couple years before, uh… well, yeah, and there were some medicines left for me should I suffer a fever; I could stop by the medical wing and see if they have some of those things?”
“I’ll come with,” Elia said. “Fuck, I don’t want to leave—”
“It’s okay; I’m here,” Zahra reassured him.
A shuffling. “Okay, you’ll call me if anything happens or changes—”
“Sure, hurry before Dog is done in the kitchen.”
Footsteps were descending. A door opened and closed.
Zahra sighed, and the cloth left my head.
A moment later, it was back, but colder. Her fingers entered my hair, stroking softly.
I let out a much steadier breath.
“You’re not sick because I didn’t give you a response earlier, are you? Because that’s just fucking embarrassing on your part, and I might just change my mind and say no. I’m not about tobe dealing with this shit every time we fight.” She said for only our ears, “And we’re going to fight every time; I’m a fucking handful. I’m not above stabbing or shooting you in the foot even though you make me feel all mushy inside; I’m a crazy bitch.”
I groaned.
“Yeah, that’s right, groan all you fucking want; you’re stuck with me now, Dad.”
“Please…” I fought out of my dry throat. “Shut up.”
“You know exactly what to do to get me to shut up. Get well right now and go back to being healthy because you scared the shit out of Devil, and I do not like a panicked Devil; it makes me panic, and I hate panicking. Why the fuck didn’t you call me?”
I cracked my eyes open slowly, catching her frown almost immediately. “You blocked me,” I told her.
“I didn’t—” She stopped, then her brows went up, eyes widening. “Oh, shit, yeah. I did that a while ago because, you know… I wanted to be the one to do it first before you did it. You know? Always get the upper hand, which by the way, I have the upper hand in this relationship, and I have all the control, and you don’t have shit. I am running this whole game, this whole fucking show, me. You don’t get a say, you get bupkis out of this, zero, nada.”
I slowly blinked at her.
“Hold on.” She lifted herself a little but held the side of my head steady as she settled back down, her phone in her hand.
Her fingers worked the screen.
“There, unblocked. Not sorry. I can be petty sometimes, and I own my pettiness.” She cleared her throat. “That’s also something you’ll have to get used to.”
“Just say no… it’s okay.”
“I already said yes. And I told Street. Too late to back out. If anyone is backing out of this relationship, it’s me; you don’tget to call things off, only I have that right; if you ever feel like you’re tired of me, tell me subtly, and I will end the relationship. For now, I’ll just give you a set of things you should look out for.”
“Zahra—”
