Ben reached over to nuzzle against Selene's back. It was around ten in the morning, and they had both woken up at about the same time. They were in a spooning position, and she could feel him getting hard. "Again? But we did it so many times last night!," she exclaimed.
"I can't help it if I have a hot girlfriend," he teased as he started licking and kissing her shoulders. Their morning fun was interrupted by the sound of Ben's cell phone ringing. He wanted to ignore it but knew it had to be important what with everything going on lately. He sighed, "I better get that."
Selene didn't know whether to be disappointed as she had been getting turned on or relieved as she was still a little sore.
Ben sat up as he answered the call, "Hey Johnny, what's up?"
Johnny answered, "We found out where Victor's been. Shanghai. And guess what stop he made there? Our favorite factory's headquarters."
"Easy guess. He's acting pretty confident now isn't he?," Ben scoffed. "The two families have never crossed those boundaries. I wonder if his father knows what he's up to. I can't tell if Victor's getting cocky or desperate. But why didn't one of the Zhou brothers contact us?"
"Not sure," Johnny responded.
Ben sighed, "We'll have to let my parents know. But make sure they stay out of it. This is my fight."
"Our fight," Johnny stated resolutely.
"Of course. I only meant it wasn't there's," Ben replied reassuringly even though he could feel Johnny rolling his eyes. "Anyway, now that we know what he's up to, let's move ahead with scheduling a meeting with Selene and Hybrid. The sooner the better."
Johnny hesitated and then asked, "And she's sure she's up for that already?"
Ben looked at Selene with both concern and pride, then responded with, "She said she was, and I believe her."
Johnny told him that he was already on it as he provided the details, "We've picked a restaurant we can control. House Sushi for lunch. It's one story, only two exists. Since no one knows our connection, we can get our people in as servers and such. Added value is that they have their own parking so we can set our people there too."
Ben nodded as Johnny explained further details, while Selene looked on with concern, waiting for the call to finish. Once it did, she asked, "So…what was that about?" Ben explained the contents of the call and reassured her about all the protections they would take to secure the restaurant for the meeting. There would be no way for anyone to take her out of there without her consent.
Selene hugged him and said, "Ok, I feel better."
He put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. Then he lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes as he told her earnestly, "Until we get rid of Victor, I'm not letting you out of my sight. I told you that, and I wasn't kidding."
"You're actually serious," Selene said incredulously.
"I am," Ben replied as he got out of bed. "Now, let's get ready and have something to eat. I'm starved." He headed for the bathroom, leaving Selene on the bed with a stunned look.
She shook her head and pinched her eyebrows together in a thoughtful look. "I guess this is a good thing?," she thought. Then she jumped out of bed with a sly look on her face to join him in the shower.
After the couple showered and dressed, they had leisurely and uneventful brunch in the kitchen. Then around noon, Selene received a call from Peter saying that he and Lucy were coming over. It wasn't so much of a request as a "it's happening" type of thing. But, of course, Selene didn't mind as she didn't have plans anyway. Johnny was going to come over later to discuss some things with Ben but that was about it as far as the plans Ben had.
When Peter and Lucy arrived, Selene greeted them in the entry way. She gave Lucy a long hug and asked her how she was doing. Lucy shrugged and responded with, "Eh, about the same." Then Peter and Selene hugged.
Once they walked further into the house, right behind the living room area near the couches, Ben met them to give his greetings. Peter went up to him and said, "Hey Ben, remember that talk we had at Selene's house? Remember what you said to me?"
Ben looked confused for a moment and then he felt Peter's fist hitting him across the left side of his jaw. The force made him stumbled backwards. Both Selene and Lucy let out gasps as Selene reached for Ben. He kept himself from falling down by holding onto the back of one of the couches.
Selene shot a stunned look at Peter as she held Ben's elbow and cried, "What the hell was that, Peter? Have you gone insane?"
Peter shook off the pain in his right hand. Then he straightened his t-shirt and replied calmly, "That's for breaking your promise and hurting her. Again. You asshole."
Ben straightened up as he said, "It's ok. You're right. I deserved that. I did hurt Selene. That's why I'm letting you get away with the punch." He felt his jaw, moving it back and forth. Then he went up to Peter and whispered in his ear, "But if you try that shit again, I'll forget that you're Selene's friend and maybe even mine. I won't hesitate to punch back and believe me, you'll do more than stumble back."
Peter rolled his eyes, though he knew Ben spoke the truth, which scared the shit out of him a little. Then he proceeded to take Lucy's hand and walked as nonchalantly as he could into the house as he said, "I'm dying for some tea. Ben, be a dear, and make some for us will ya?"
Surprisingly, Ben did as he was asked and made them all tea. Once ready, he brought the four cups of tea out to the living room where the others had settled themselves, and handed them out one by one.
"How are you feeling, Lucy?," Ben asked, once he had settled down next to Selene, across from Lucy and Peter.
Lucy answered, "The same. Did Selene tell you I had to go to Peter's place because Kyle texted me he would be stopping off at mine to talk?"
"Yah, she mentioned that," Ben replied, nodding with a look of concern.
"Well, I finally just called him today and told him if he didn't stop harassing me that I would get a restraining order," Lucy said.
Peter interjected, "I told her it wasn't really doable since he wasn't threatening her per se, but it was worth a shot to scare him away."
"Did he buy it?," Selene asked.
"So far," Lucy answered. "Either that or he just realized that if I'm willing to go that far that maybe I'm serious about not taking him back. Either way, I don't care." Tears started falling as she continued, "It's bad enough dealing with the break up without having to deal with his constant calling and texting to get back together, you know?"
"Oh Lucy," Selene said, as she went over to sit by her friend and then reached over to rub her arm.
"Aw, dammit, I told myself I was done crying over that jerk," Lucy pouted.
Peter took the teacup from the coffee table as he said, "It's ok, these things take time."
"No, I don't want to dwell on it anymore. Let's talk about something else. How about you Peter, why don't you tell Selene what you told me this morning about your case?," Lucy countered.
Peter almost choked on his tea. His face flushed as he looked at Ben and then back at Lucy with a look as if to say why did you bring that up?
Ben read the room and suggested, "I can leave if you guys have something private you want to discuss."
Selene quickly chimed in with, "No, of course not. Right guys?" She gave them a stern look.
Peter replied, also quickly, "Of course not, of course not. I only meant that I'm not supposed to be talking about my cases, you know. And I let something slip so I was just embarrassed. We can talk about something else."
"It's ok," Ben assured them. "Johnny will be here soon anyway, and we have some things to talk about. So, I'll just head to the office to prepare and you guys can chat."
As he started to get up, Selene got up to follow. She reached for his arm and asked, "Are you sure?"
He kissed her forehead and squeezed her hand. "Yes, don't worry," he replied. "I'll rejoin you after I'm done with Johnny." He gave her a big smile and she returned it.
Once Ben was out of earshot, Lucy exclaimed, "Ok, so tell her!"
Peter leaned in and said, "So, last we left off, we had information that the DUI driver was connected with the Drakos family and we were working our butts off trying to make the connection. Well, let me tell you. The gods were on our side because we got a tip from an anonymous informant that had evidence that the DUI driver was a paid thug for the Drakos family, and with that we also got the name of the middleman between him and the family. The only problem was that there were some holes in the information we got to make it so that how it was received was 100% legal. So, we're having to do a lot of backtracking of that same information, which we can do, but it's going to take more time than we'd like. And guess who is still in charge of all this?"
"No?," asked Selene with eyes wide open in shock.
"Yup," Peter nodded.
"That's incredible!," she exclaimed. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Thanks," he beamed.
He continued, "It's a lot of work, of course, but being able to stay on the case now that it's getting this deep is a miracle. But, umm, now with what we know about Victor and all, this case hits a little different right?"
Selene looked down before answering, "Of course." Then she took a sip of her tea before she continued, "But, honestly, if he and his family have committed crimes, then they deserve to pay for those crimes. Just like he deserves to pay for kidnapping me. I don't care if they're my biological family."
"Really?," Lucy probed.
She slumped and replied, "Well, I guess on some level I care. I mean, I've always wanted to know who they are and they are family. I might be able to forgive Victor given all he's been through in his childhood and if he apologized or something, I don't know. That's a big if. But, he can't get away with murder for heaven's sake! I mean if it was him who ordered it, you know?"
"Yah, I hear what you're saying," Peter nodded. "It's all so messed up."
"And I'm just sick of thinking about it," she said.
Lucy nodded, "Me too. I mean about the Kyle stuff."
"Then why don't we just try to forget for a couple of hours and watch a movie or something?," Selene suggested.
Peter gave an over-exaggerated shocked look as he grasped his chest and said, "You mean like normal people? Us?" Then he laughed and the two women joined him.
"Yes," she exclaimed, "I mean us! Let's pick out something fun and watch it in Ben's home theater."
"Ooooo, fancy," Peter said in a mocking tone.
Selene rolled her eyes and said, "You hush."
After they got inside the theater, the friends decided to let Lucy pick the movie since she was the saddest out of the three of them. The only condition was that it had to be a comedy. Fortunately, she picked one that all three of them had wanted to see so it worked out.
The hour and forty minutes flew by and before they knew it, the movie was over. Selene and Peter went out to the kitchen to bring back snacks so they could watch another movie since they had so much fun. This time, they let Selene pick the comedy. At first, Lucy wasn't too sure she wanted to watch it, but it ended up being a good choice for all of them as they laughed throughout. In fact, the friends were still laughing as they were talking about their favorite scenes and making their way to the kitchen. There, they were met with the serious faces of Ben, Johnny, and Max, all sitting around the kitchen table in front of their respective laptops. Their heads turned almost simultaneously at hearing the voices coming toward them.
There was an awkward second of silence that Ben broke with, "So, umm, I think everyone here knows everyone. Max came by too since there were some details that needed his attention." They all nodded and said their hellos to each other.
After a moment, Selene said, "Um, it looks like we are disturbing you all so, um, we'll just head over to the living room to hang out."
Ben nodded and replied, "Sounds good. We should be done soon and then we'll join you."
When the friends arrived at the living room and got settled, Peter let out a breath and said, "Okay, that was way too awkward. And why? I have no idea."
Lucy blinked and nibbled on her bottom lip. She looked down, avoiding Selene's look. Then she leaned over to Peter and whispered, "Okay fine, I'll tell you."
Peter sat up straight and exclaimed loudly, "What?!"
"Shhhhh," Lucy whispered, before he could continue.
So, Peter lowered his voice and said through gritted teeth, "You mean there is something you both kept from me?"
"I was just embarrassed, okay," Lucy said sheepishly. She proceeded to fill him in on the details of her last encounter with Max.
After she was done, Peter tapped his chin with his index finger and looked thoughtful. "The awkwardness makes sense then—I mean between you and Max." He squinted his eyes and continued, "But why were you embarrassed? Nothing in that story had anything that should make you feel that way."
"I don't know," Lucy replied. She let out a deep breath and continued, "And now, with me and Kyle broken up, it's like, I don't want to keep flirting with Max as like a rebound thing you know? But then it's like he was so sweet about not hitting on me because I was with that jerk so how can I not want to try it out with him, right? But then it's like how could I try anything out with anyone when I just got out of a serious relationship? Do you see my dilemma?"
Selene and Peter both nodded. Selene's lips were pursed as she considered her friend's situation. "But maybe this is the universe's way of making way for a better relationship," she suggested.
Peter laughed and said, "You're a worse romantic than I am! I thought the same thing! But, I get what Lucy is saying too. It's too soon. She needs to sort out the broken up feelings."
Selene nodded. Lucy frowned. She couldn't help but feel disappointed. Max was hot after all. "Oh geeze, what am I thinking?," Lucy thought to herself. "Bad Lucy!"
Selene turned to Peter and said, "Okay so that explains Lucy. What about the weirdness with you and Johnny. What's that about? As far as I know, you last saw him at the BBQ."
"That's true, so I don't know what to tell you," Peter responded. "I can't really read him. I'm pretty sure we flirted, and we seemed to be getting along but he didn't really ask for my number or anything. But I think he's hot. Maybe that's why it's awkward?"
Lucy slapped his arm and said with a sly smile, "Why didn't you get his number then if you thought he was hot?"
Peter responded, "Well, I mean, I wasn't a 100% sure he was into me. But like, just now, when we made eye contact, it was definitely weird."
"How?" Selene and Lucy asked in unison.
"Stop it! You know it freaks me out when you two do that," Peter exclaimed. "I don't know. There was like a flirty smirk behind the look. I can't describe it."
The women both looked at each other. Selene looked up as if thinking, while Lucy looked to the side and nibbled on her bottom lip, also as if thinking. Selene said, "That is weird indeed."
"Yah, I don't know what to make of it either," Lucy said.
"Geeze, thanks for all the women's intuition and advice," Peter said dejectedly as he grabbed a pillow, hugged it, and laid back on the couch.
Then he sat straight up.
"What?," Selene asked, surprised.
"What are we going to do if they stay for dinner?," he asked as if it would be the worst thing in the world.
Lucy's eyes widened in horror as she thought of the possibility.
To ease the tension, Selene asked jokingly, "Flirt with them, see if they have feelings for you, and then have it end in fun or regret?" Little did she know that her words would become prophecy.