CHAPTER 4
Chirping echoes from directly beneath my face and I groan as the alarm tries to coax me awake.
My confused mind asks what time it is and why everything’s so loud and…
And why my comm is directly underneath me, instead of on my nightstand where it normally lives through the night.
Because you fell asleep texting him.
I reopen the messages and sure enough… I fell asleep mid conversation.
After three unanswered texts, he finally said,
Sleep well, Cherry. I hope the morning is kind to you.
It’s something Kita has said before, so it doesn’t feel like a vague threat, the way it might have from someone else.
I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I’m sorry.
Dragging myself out of bed, I stretch out the tightness in my shoulders and take the comm with me to the bathroom… where I get a cloth hot and try to smooth out the impression of it on my face.
I don’t mind. It was late and I felt a little like I was abusing your attention.
He might not feel that way once he gets the bill.
That thought makes me pause. How much is Phantom charging him for this?
I am not about to ask.
When are you booth next?
I’d like to see you.
Well… you know what I mean.
I know the answer—three hours from now—but… If he works all the time, I don’t want him to have to ask multiple times.
Switching screens in the app, I pull up my schedule and tap on a button I had seen before, but never had a reason to consider using.
Beside the plus sign icon where I add shifts, there’s an envelope and when it opens, it shows me all the accounts I can share my schedule to.
Before, it was just the other women I work with… but the tentacle icon profile with Sirin’s name under it is among the options now, too.
I send the next week’s schedule to him and a reservation request comes through, immediately.
I want to see you today.
Do I seem too desperate?
I accept the request. Maybe I like desperate.
Maybe I just like him enough for it to not feel desperate.
I’m not going to answer that question.
Don’t work too hard beforehand. You better save up your energy for me.
Another message comes through—not in the app—and I rush through getting dressed. I don’t even brush my hair before I twist it up into a top knot. Kita doesn’t care what I look like and Kita’s the only one I want to see between now and the appointment I’m a little too giddy for.
He keeps chatting with me as I lock my apartment and make my way through the residential corridors on my level. And I smile all the way until I see who’s standing with Kita.
The gang’s all here, as they say.
She looks at me with an irritated scowl and when I’m close enough, she leans over to say, “We need to find another place to get our morning bev.”
“Yeah, we do.”
But I order my cappuccino because we’re already here. I get it to go so we can leave as quickly as possible.
I move as far away from the others as I can, without edging into another group’s space, and send,
Stopping to grab coffee and something to eat with a friend.
I’ll let you have your time with them.
See you in a little bit.
As soon as I hit send, a comm dings and I flinch.
Is he here?
Looking toward the sound, but trying not to look like I’m looking toward the sound, I see Markoban pull his comm out of a pocket.
No. That is absolutely not possible.
First of all, Phantom wouldn’t lie to me about his name. Secondly, Phantom wouldn’t let him lie to me… right?
Markoban’s job is part time. Half of his friends—and he definitely has friends—joke that he lives like a trust fund kid without any money.
He taps out a response to whatever came to him and my comm doesn’t ping when he sends it.
But… the concern lingers longer than I’d like it to.
I watch him out of the corner of my eye, not trusting what I think I know. I barely pay attention to the conversation, just enough to know if I need to add anything—I don’t.
And when my coffee comes, I let Kita drag me away, immediately.
“Tomorrow, we are going to the Juice Box instead. I will blackmail them into getting a coffee machine if they don’t already have one.”
Her irritation makes me smile, but it doesn’t set my mind at ease at all.
“What’s Markoban’s full name?”
“Markoban.”
“No, I mean… What is his second name.”
“Oh, that is his full name, we just squish it together, it’s Mar,” she slices through the air with a tentacle to make sure I understand the break. “Koban.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“I thought I might have accidentally been texting him through Phantom’s.”
“That’s a thing?”
“Yep.” I explain the set up and then briefly touch on my conversations with Sirin.
“His privacy is just as important as mine,” I say… ignoring the hypocrisy in trying to figure out if Markoban was actually Sirin.
“Sure, but also… you be safe.”
“I will.”
“And maybe don’t fuck any Opodeans unless you know who they are?”
I stick my tongue out at her. “Can’t make any promises.”
She laughs at me and I almost wish I could laugh too.
But I have an appointment, and I’m not going to give Sirin up unless I absolutely have to.