Chapter 13
My body hurt in the best way.
There was a deep ache in my thighs and a sweet stretch-sore between my hips. The kind of tired that meant I’d worked out and shown out.
At some point last night I’d ended up on top of Kasen, palms flat against his chest, riding him slow until my legs shook and my voice went hoarse. I’d had to breathe through the way he filled me, had to talk myself through getting used to how thick he was, how deep that curve hit.
I’d taken over without meaning to.
And when I’d slid down his body and wrapped my lips around him, just to see if I could handle all of him down my throat? He’d come faster than he did the first time he slid inside.
The stunned look on his face had been almost as good as the power rush I got from it.
The room was quiet and dim, curtains still mostly drawn. The AC hummed softly and I was wrapped up in Kasen’s arms.
His chest was warm against my back, one big hand cupping my hip, the other tucked under my pillow. Our legs tangled. My bonnet half off. His breaths slow and steady near my ear.
I would’ve gone back to sleep if it weren’t for the soft kisses.
Little ones.
On my shoulder first. Then the back of my neck. Then my cheek.
I smiled before my eyes even opened.
“Batman,” I mumbled. “What you doing?”
“Waking you up,” he said, voice rough with sleep. Another kiss hit the corner of my mouth. “We gotta go get baby girl.”
Right.
Real life.
“Mm.” I rolled over carefully until I was facing him, sliding a leg over his hip by instinct. “Do I still have clothes here?”
“Yeah.” His hand settled on my thigh like it belonged there. “I put them in their own drawer.”
My eyes opened fully at that. “You did what?”
“The second one in the dresser,” he said, like it was obvious. “Your leggings. A couple shirts. Serenity’s pajamas. I didn’t want y’all living out of bags.”
My heart squeezed.
“How long you been up?” I asked.
He shrugged a little, eyes tracing my face like he was memorizing it. “For a while.”
“Doing what?”
“Thinking,” he said simply.
“About?”
“You,” he said. “The girls.” A pause. “Disney.”
“Disney?”
“I know it’s last minute,” he said. “But…they liked SeaWorld so much I was thinking about taking them to Disney tomorrow. If you’re cool with it.”
My brows lifted. “Disney Disney?”
“Yes.”
“Like…Mickey Mouse Disney?”
He smirked. “There’s only one.”
I laughed, then sobered. “I have no classes for the next few days,” I said. “So schedule-wise, it’s fine and this would be Serenity’s first time going.” My throat tightened a little at the thought. “She might actually combust from happiness.”
“Then let’s make her combust,” he said, deadpan.
I snorted. “Don’t say it like that.”
His mouth curved. “You know what I mean.”
I did.
He was offering more than a trip. He was offering another stitch in this little family we’d accidentally built.
“You good with Kori going too?” I asked.
“Wouldn’t feel right if she didn’t,” he said. “I’ll talk to Kasey today.”
I nodded. “Then yeah. Let’s go tomorrow.”
He leaned in and kissed me again—soft, slow, morning-warm.
“Okay,” he murmured.
Hours blurred into logistics.
We got dressed. Stopped for coffee and picked up Serenity from Kasey’s, he talked to her then texted me about tickets and times.
By the time I finally herded Serenity through my front door with her overnight bag and half of Nana’s pantry in her backpack, I was exhausted.
“Mommy, look,” she said, dropping her bag in the middle of the living room. “Grandma gave me snacks for the road.”
I looked inside.
Fruit snacks. Chips. Juice boxes. Enough contraband to feed a daycare.
“My mama trying to get me in trouble,” I muttered.
“Can I watch TV?” Serenity asked, already halfway to the couch.
“Yeah, for a little bit.” I glanced at the stove clock. “Bath in an hour.”
She flopped down, cartoons loading before I even found the remote.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
BATMAN:
Turn your laptop on.
I frowned, toes already aching as I kicked off my slides.
Why
Because I said please in my head.
I smiled and dropped my phone on the counter then grabbed my laptop from my bag, and flipped it open on the dining table.
It took a second to wake up.
The second it connected to my Wi-Fi, the Czar Tech little notification popped in the corner, something about a security check then disappeared.
Then my entire screen went black.
“What the?—”
White text slid across it like an old-school command prompt.
Be the Kitana to my Liu Kang?
I stared at it.
Then laughed out loud.
“Really?” I called toward my empty kitchen.
My phone started ringing.
I snatched it up and hit FaceTime.
Kasen’s face filled the screen, glasses off, locs loose around his shoulders. He looked…smug.
“You hacked my laptop?” I asked.
“I own the company that secures it,” he said. “I didn’t hack it. I simply just sent a message.”
“Through my operating system.”
“Yes.”
“Nerd.”
He almost smiled. “You got it?”
I turned the camera so he could see the screen.
“You are so dramatic,” I said. “Kitana and Liu Kang?”
“You like Mortal Kombat,” he said. “I like Mortal Kombat. It made sense.”
I rolled my eyes, but my heart was doing that stupid soft thing in my chest.
He watched my face carefully. “So?”
“So what?”
“Answer the question,” he said. “You coming to Disney…as my Kitana or just as the mother of my niece’s sister?”
“The titles you make up,” I muttered.
He waited.
Serenity yelled from the couch, “Mommy, is that Batman?”
“Yeah, baby,” I called back. “Say hi.”
She ran over, popped up into the frame with a wide grin. “Hi Batman!”
“Hey, trouble,” he said, fond.
“We going to see princesses?” she asked.
“If your mom says yes,” he replied.
She twisted to look at me. “Mommy, we going?”
I looked at my laptop screen.
At the silly, nerdy message.
Be the Kitana to my Liu Kang?
A part of me wanted to make him sweat. To drag it out just to watch his ears turn pink through the phone.
Instead, I lifted the camera so he could see my face clearly.
“Yes,” I said.
His eyes softened immediately. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’ll be your Kitana. At Disney. In life. Whatever the hell that means to your gamer brain.”
A real smile broke across his face then.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “Then I’ll see you in the morning.”
“You better,” I said. “We got princesses to terrorize.”
“Goodnight, Sevyn.”
“Goodnight, Batman.”
I ended the call, looked back at the laptop screen one more time, then hit the little X.
The text vanished.
In its place, my regular desktop came back—with one small new icon in the corner.
MK: US.