Chapter 5

5

Traveling on Darcy’s array is just as strange the second time as it was the first, except this time I get to watch how he makes the thing—out of his blood, if anyone’s curious. He literally cuts a stripe into his arm and uses the blood to draw the array on the floor of the space station while everyone watches. As soon as it’s drawn, we step onto it, he tosses something like glitter he takes out of a pocket on his utility belt into the air, and the platform lifts us off the floor. We immediately drop through the floor, falling for maybe fifteen minutes down to Earth before we land in my apartment.

It’s actually pretty cool he brought me all the way home.

I step off the array before he can drop me like last time and fall onto my couch, looking up at the man and trying not to get my attention caught on the baseball bat in his pants. It’s distracting, but I said what I said—

“Alright, I changed my mind. Let’s fuck,” Darcy suddenly announces, eyeing me like I might be as delicious as I think he is.

I take a second to gawp at him—he deserves a bit of open mouthed staring for that, and then I shake my head. “I said I needed to be in a healthier mental place before we fuck. I’m currently on a roll with terrible choices in my sex life—”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

That is not coming from outside of my apartment.

“Shit, I forgot about that pig fucker,” Darcy mutters, stepping off his array and walking toward my hallway.

The array disappears and I have a moment to question whether I want to lever myself back up or if I want to let him deal with the banging he forgot about. Honestly, my leg hurts and I don’t want to keep having to be on it. It’s been a long day of mostly being on my feet, I want to rest, but then again… it is my apartment.

I sigh, push to my feet, and follow Darcy down the hall to the bathroom where he’s wiping blood off the door. “I’m fixing to let you out, and you best behave!” he calls through the door.

“Fuck you!” Stalker Steve shouts from the other side.

“The fuck?” I whisper, disturbed that he’s still here; I guess running away from your problems doesn’t really fix them. Rude, honestly. He should have left.

“Because when I came here to find the baby, I found this fucker instead. He chose to treat me like an enemy—I don’t blame him for that. I am his enemy, but I wasn’t before he took a swing at what is essentially a demigod.”

“Demigod? That’s cool.” I hum, impressed but not surprised he’s that powerful.

Darcy shoots me a smirk then opens the door, and I’m face to face with the asshole that made me run away to Italy for the summer, and I guess he also triggered the world hopping I did today, so I can’t say nothing good ever came from having him in my life.

Stalker Steve’s red face indicates he might have some blood pressure problems, which isn’t unheard of with guys that use steroids to build their muscles up. He’s a step down from a true bodybuilder, but only because he hasn’t had enough time to get there. “Why you little—” he starts, but he stops when Darcy raises a fist.

“I’ll kill you, and I ain’t gonna blink about it. No one’ll miss you, no one’ll report you missing, no one’ll care. I’ll make sure of it. You want that?” Darcy threatening him is the sexiest thing I’ve seen since I first caught sight of his flagpole dick. So it’s only been a few hours, but that dick is the sexiest thing since… I don’t know, maybe Henry Cavill’s debut as the Witcher? IDK, something like that.

Anyways, my dick perks up like I’ve been in a savannah drought since breaking up with Stalker Steve. I mean, I haven’t had sex in three months, but it wasn’t a drought—I do know how to take care of myself.

“I—I don’t want to die,” Stalker Steve stutters.

Darcy smiles—it’s the meanest fucking smile I’ve ever seen in my life, and my dick goes from chubby to fully erect. Yay for terrible decisions and bad taste in men.

“Willpower, remind me what you are.”

A rumble of evil laughter pours out of Darcy as he pushes me back. I step with his push, stumbling on my hurting leg, but Darcy keeps me steady before I find myself on my ass. I don't think I could get up from another fall today; I’m in too much pain. I’d probably end up dragging my ass to bed and then just laying there until the throbbing stopped in about three days.

“You may leave now. If you come within three blocks of this apartment, I’ll kill you. That’s not a threat. I’m telling you what I’m gonna do. Now go on, git.”

Darcy is scary enough that Stalker Steve hustles out of the apartment. He calls a parting shot as he leaves, but it’s not even worth much, just the angry words of a man who knows when he’s outmatched.

I chuckle, heading back to the living room to flop back onto the couch.

Darcy follows me and shuts the door of my apartment (Stalker Steve left it open), locking it and muttering about the chain lock. “This really should have fallen under the new laws from the council. I think technically this counts as collateral damage.”

I think he’s talking to the broken chain lock. I’m going to have to hire someone to come fix it.

“You think someone else should pay for that? You think you can convince them to? Because I spent my wad in Italy, and I’ve got to pay all my bills before I’ll know if I’m going to be able to fix it.”

“Yes, I can probably petition to have someone come and fix it,” he replies, walking back to me. “Are we having sex?” he asks, like our conversation wasn’t interrupted by a prisoner in the bathroom.

“Yeah,” I agree, clapping my hands on my thighs. “But not today because I’m too tired and in too much pain to really enjoy it. I could probably do a little kissing and light petting, or I might be able to get off if you wanted to suck me off. But I need to get out of my pants first. My leg is killing me.”

“Were you injured?” Darcy demands, looking at both of my legs like he’ll be able to see what’s wrong.

“Not today,” I laugh, shaking my head. “If you still want to fuck, come back tomorrow. I’ll be better with a bit of rest and some pain relievers.”

Darcy glares at my legs—with my shoes on and my long pants, he’s not going to be able to see the issue. “Maybe I will, but I don’t usually revisit my sex partners. Single serve only, FYI.”

No wonder he’s never had a relationship, but I respect his boundaries. They exist for a reason, and I’m not his therapist. “Ok, sure. So wait until tomorrow to suck me off. I don’t think I’d be able to return serve today.”

“What’s wrong with your leg?” he asks.

I suppose it would be kind of me to tell him before he gets me naked, but I wasn’t planning to take my pants off all the way for sex. I was just going to shove them below my ass and bend over. “It hurts,” I shrug. “I walked too much today. Bones spurs are a bitch.” Ok, that’s true and not really my issue, but too much intense walking could lead to bone spurs… for other people. I’m not going to get them with my equipment.

Darcy glares at my feet. “I’ll go see about getting the chain lock fixed. Be better tomorrow. I’m gonna fuck you.”

I nod, waving dismissively. “Sure, sure. See you tomorrow.”

Darcy leaves the same way we arrived—he throws some of that glitter stuff in the air and his array reappears—so I guess he’s not a car person, and as soon as he’s gone, I unbutton my pants and shed them. With them on the floor, I take off the prosthetic on my left leg and set it aside, rubbing the skin around the osseointegrated implant that my leg attaches to.

Once it feels less bad, I stretch out on my couch and let myself doze. I’ll have to deal with unpacking and all that later, but I’ve been to more planets and realms than I can count right now, and I deserve a nap. It’s a therapeutic nap, if anyone asks. Sleep is good for processing.