Chapter 22

The GPS had stopped being helpful about twenty minutes ago. First it lost signal, then it recalculated, then it just showed a little blue arrow floating in a sea of nothing, as if it were as confused as I was. An hour of driving on four hours of sleep, and the last stretch of it had been on a road that stopped being a road somewhere behind me. First the asphalt turned to gravel, then the gravel turned to packed dirt with two ruts and a ridge of weeds down the middle. The Panamera scraped its belly on that ridge every thirty seconds, and each time I winced like someone had stepped on my foot.

An accountant. A guy who did spreadsheets all day and punched a wall on weekends. I'd pictured a nice apartment in a decent part of town, maybe a gear closet, maybe a fold-out couch. Not this. Fog hung between the trees in thick, slow sheets, and the sun was barely a pale smudge over the horizon. The branches closed in over the path, thick enough to block most of the light.

I slowed to a crawl, gripped the wheel with both hands, and caught myself checking the rearview mirror more than once. This was exactly how every horror movie started, and here I was behind the wheel of a car that someone would happily ambush me for. Great. If I got murdered out here, at least Claudia wouldn't struggle to find me. I was pretty sure I was almost there. That is, she'd find me if she wasn't already dead, killed by a serial killer Felix. Nice guy on the outside, psychopath underneath, with a basement full of rope and a very good filing system for the bodies. Accountants were organized like that.

Then the trees opened up, and I actually let out a breath. A small clearing lay in front of me, a little field of soft green grass hemmed in by pines, the fog thinning over it in lazy curls. In the middle of it stood the house, and it looked a lot better than I'd feared. It was built of warm, honey-colored wood, two floors, with a deep porch wrapped around the front and a roof covered in neat rows of solar panels catching the first weak light. A big water collector stood at the corner, a tank with a pipe running down from the gutters, and next to it a vegetable patch with tidy rows and a little wire fence. Smoke wasn't rising from the chimney, but one window glowed yellow. It was peaceful. I parked at the edge of the grass and turned off the engine.

For a moment I wondered whether I should wait here or just knock. My phone said no service, so calling was out. I stepped out into the cold, damp air, and the pine smell hit me hard. The gravel crunched under my shoes, and somewhere nearby a bird started up, loud and cheerful. I'd barely taken three steps toward the porch when the front door swung open. Claudia stepped out onto the porch in one of Felix's flannel shirts, barefoot, her hair a messy knot. She had a mug in both hands. The man himself stood behind her, smiling. Of course.

"Morning, Oliver," Felix called, lifting a hand like I'd dropped by for brunch. "I hope my place wasn't too hard to find."

"Not at all," I lied, rubbing my arms against the cold. "Great drive. Very scenic. My car's never been so close to nature."

Claudia snorted into her mug and then looked down at herself, as if she'd only just noticed what she was wearing. She tugged the hem of the flannel down over her thighs, her cheeks going pink. "You're early!" She laughed, but it came out half apologetic. "I didn't get time to dress. Probably not the look you wanted to see when you showed up, right?" She winced and glanced back at Felix, who just shrugged with a grin.

I scoffed, trying to sound casual. "I've seen you in way less. It's fine." I climbed the porch steps, and she leaned in for a quick kiss on the cheek. She smelled like pine smoke, coffee, and a bit like him, which I decided not to think about. "Missed you," she whispered, and I squeezed her hand.

"We were up late. Coffee's almost ready, if you want some." He stepped aside and held the door open, the warm smell of coffee and woodsmoke drifting out. "Come in, man. Get out of the cold. Fair warning, the floors are creaky and the cat's a bit of a snob."

"Ah, we have one just like that at home," I said, stepping in. Claudia laughed and shut the door behind us. The house was warmer than I'd expected, all wood beams and mismatched rugs, with a kitchen glowing at the far end. A gray cat watched me from the back of the couch, tail twitching, unimpressed.

Felix headed straight for the kitchen and started pulling mugs off a rack. "That's Pascal. He's been here longer than I have, so he thinks he owns the place." He set a mug under the machine and glanced at me. "Cream or sugar?"

"Both," I said, still taking in the room. "A lot of both, actually. I've got a long day ahead of me."

Felix grinned and slid the mug across the counter. "I hear you had some good news at your studio yesterday. Claudia said a publisher sent over a contract?" His smile widened, genuine and a little shy. "Congratulations, seriously. That's huge. Claudia hasn't stopped talking about it."

I realized I had yet to process the good news myself. The contract had been tangled up with Blair and Cael's weirdness, and I hadn't once let myself just feel it.

"Thanks," I said. "It still doesn't feel real."

Claudia walked around the counter and leaned against my shoulder, her warmth soaking through my damp jacket. "I'm proud of you," she said, quietly enough that it felt like it was just for me. Her thumb brushed the back of my hand. "I'm gonna go get dressed before you two start talking shop, okay?" She squeezed my arm and padded toward the stairs, the flannel swishing around her thighs.

Finally the awkwardness settled over the kitchen, thick as the fog outside. Felix stirred his coffee a little too long, and I grabbed the mug he'd slid over. My girlfriend had just spent the night with this man, in a bed I hadn't seen, in a house I'd needed a horror movie road to reach. And here we were, two grown men holding coffee, pretending that was the most normal thing in the world.

Felix seemed aware of it too. He set his spoon down and rubbed the back of his neck, but didn't say anything. He was probably mulling over how to handle the amateur polygamist standing in his kitchen. I took a sip, burned my tongue, and decided to save him the trouble. "Look, this is weird for me, and I'm guessing it's weird for you too. Maybe mostly because it's weird for me?" I chuckled nervously and set the mug down. "But Claudia's happy, and that matters more to me than the weirdness. So I figure we can be awkward together and get through it."

"Deal," Felix said, and the relief on his face was almost funny. He raised his mug and clinked it against mine. "I do hope she had a good time. I mean, I think she did. Nothing serious about this. Just fun, you know? I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes." He winced. "Bad choice of words. She told me you're fine with all this, so did you the other day, but I'd rather hear it from you again."

"I'm fine," I said, and I was. It really helped that Felix seemed like the most harmless person alive. Hard to feel threatened by a guy who apologized for a figure of speech.

"Alright," he said, visibly loosening up. "Oh and thanks for driving all the way here. I would have offered to drop her off myself, but I need to be at work by nine, and I didn't want Claudia to have to wake up that early just to catch a ride."

"Would have ruined your night, having to wake up as early as I did," I joked, taking another careful sip. "We're all good here."

Claudia came back down the stairs in jeans and her own sweater, a bag slung over one shoulder, her hair still damp at the ends. "Okay, I'm ready," she said, looking between us. "Did you two bond?"

"We bonded," I confirmed with a straight face, and Felix nodded like we'd signed a treaty. "Mutual awkwardness. Very productive."

Claudia rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. She leaned against Felix and seemed about to kiss him goodbye, then hesitated, glancing at me like she'd just remembered I was standing there.

I examined my coffee with great interest. "Don't mind me. I'm just admiring the mug." I turned it in my hands, reading the faded climbing gym logo like it was a rare manuscript. I heard the soft sound of a kiss behind me, quick and quiet, and a murmured "Thanks for last night." I kept staring at the logo until my ears stopped burning.

"Okay," Claudia said, tugging my sleeve. "Let's go before my owner starts feeling left out." She grinned at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for the coffee, Felix."

"Anytime," he said, waving us out. "Drive safe. Watch the ridge."

We stepped back out into the cold, and the porch boards creaked under us. The fog had thinned a little, and the Panamera sat at the edge of the grass, beaded with dew, looking wildly out of place.

Claudia climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up, then twisted around to look back at the house. Felix was still on the porch, one hand raised. She waved at him until the trees swallowed the clearing.

"So?" She turned back to me, eyes bright and a little nervous.

"So what?"

"Oh come on, Oliver. You know what." She sighed, drumming her fingers on her knee. "How do you feel? About all this?"

I shrugged as I eased the car over the first ridge, wincing at the scrape. "Honestly? Better than I expected. He's too nice to hate, which is annoying. I'm still working out the rest."

She kissed me on the cheek, quick and warm. "Then I'm glad!" She settled back into her seat and tucked her feet up under her, watching the trees crawl past. For a while neither of us said anything, and the silence felt easy. Then yesterday's mess crept back into my head and I cleared my throat.

"Hey, so. Something weird happened at the studio yesterday after you left. Blair and Cael were acting off all day, and then Blair sort of propositioned me. I think something's wrong with her."

Claudia turned in her seat. "Propositioned you how?" She raised an eyebrow, and she clearly seemed more curious than alarmed.

"Like, dressed up for it all day, touching my shoulder every time she walked past..."

"Weird."

"Right?" I kept my eyes on the road, steering around a rut. "Then she outright asked me if I was interested. Hand on my chest, the whole thing. And Cael said Blair had a crush on me, but they looked like they were reading off a card."

This time Claudia was the one shrugging. "I mean, you're not as unattractive as you think you are." She smirked, then tilted her head. "And you're the Owner. Maybe she just got curious. You've seen the looks you got at the munch. You can control our minds, that's kind of a big selling point. Some women find it hot, you know."

I frowned at the windshield. "Blair never once acted like she wanted anything from it."

"Did she tell you why she was suddenly interested?" Claudia asked, finishing her own question.

"She said she'd been thinking about it lately. That the way I talk about my sex life at the office, the mind control and all of it, got her curious." I eased off the gas as the trees thinned.

"Well here you go, then," Claudia said, spreading her hands. "Mystery solved. She's curious, you're the only person on Earth who can scratch that itch, and you talk about it constantly. Honestly, I'm surprised it took her this long." She let her hand drop to her lap and gave me a sideways look. "So? What did you say?"

"That I'd think about it and talk to you first." I glanced over at her. "But seems like you're already on board with it."

"Sure," she said, like it was obvious. "Why wouldn't I be? We're opening up the relationship, and Blair's a grown woman who knows what she's asking for. You're the one learning to be comfortable with this stuff. I'm not the one who's nervous." She nudged my arm with her knuckle. "Do you like her?"

I scoffed. "Do I like her?" I repeated, stalling. "I mean, yeah. She's smart, she's funny in that bone-dry way, and she's been with us from the start. But she's also my employee, Claudia. That's not nothing."

"Do you wanna fuck her?"

I nearly missed the next rut. The Panamera lurched, and I corrected too late, wincing at the scrape underneath. "Jesus, Claudia. Warn a guy." I kept my eyes locked on the road. "I mean... yeah. Sure..."

"Then go for it! Besides, your other toy is unavailable for a week, right? Sonia's off arguing about free will on a mountain, and you're clearly happy to have more options than me."

"That's not—"

"Relax," she said, laughing, and patted my knee. "I'm teasing. Mostly. I just think you're overcomplicating it, like always. Talk to her, make sure she's okay with whatever happens, and have fun."

"Okay then..."

I let the word hang there while the trees fell away and the dirt track finally gave way to gravel again. The Panamera stopped scraping. Claudia hummed along to nothing in particular, watching the road. I nodded to myself, letting the idea settle. Things were turning out good since I'd allowed myself to stop fighting my relationship and title.

Hey there! This was chapter 22 of 4 Billion Toys 2. I'll be posting chapters here regularly, but if you want early access to the next chapters, feel free to support me on Patreon!

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