Right of retribution, p.17
Right of Retribution, page 17
Daria was looking at him with wide eyes and a somewhat horrified expression.
“What?” he asked.
“You weren’t supposed to ask her out. She was supposed to ask you out,” she murmured. “She won’t cancel, and you’re going to end up going to dinner with her.”
“Oh,” Warner said, looking ahead of himself. Then he sighed.
“Your future visions make this very difficult,” he said. “I didn’t even consider I’d change things by acting on it.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it,” she muttered, putting the car in reverse. “I didn’t expect you to do that. If you’re going to keep acting off the script, it’ll make all this harder. In telling you about what might happen, we can end up making it very different.”
“Right, sorry. On script,” Warner said.
And script means… dinner with Daria tonight and possibly more.
Then dinner with Aelia and… god only knows.
“On script,” Warner repeated. “So… dinner?”
“Dinner,” Daria said after a second, her frown replaced by a smile. “Dinner and a good time. I’ll put Maya in her room. We won’t get home till late, and when we get home, we’ll still be busy.”
His extreme confidence from righting scales seemed to muscle its way to the front as soon as Daria finished speaking.
“Sounds great,” he said, deciding on bedding Daria.
Repeatedly.
Dinner and definitely more.
Sixteen
“I’m really sorry. I’m on my way. I shouldn’t be much longer. Just a few minutes,” read the text message from Aelia. “I’m really sorry.”
Unable to help himself, Warner smirked and leaned to one side.
He was already sitting at their table and had been for the last ten minutes.
Glancing to the time in the corner of his phone, he found that it was only five minutes after when they were supposed to meet.
Slowly, Warner began tapping in a response.
“You sure you just don’t want to meet me? We could meet up another day or I could swing by your office tomorrow with the money,” Warner wrote.
“No! I want to have dinner with you. I’m going to make this work,” Aelia had sent, followed by another message. “I just had to take care of a few things that I hadn’t expected.”
A new message popped up, this one from Daria.
“Fed agents stopped her and wanted to talk to her about the bombing. In the outcome where she’d asked you out, she was too mentally worn out after dealing with the officers to see you.
“In this one, because of how you treated her, she’s excited to go to dinner with you. Condoms are in your glove box if you decide to go that route.”
Raising his eyebrows at that, Warner still couldn’t quite understand Daria.
Their own dinner had gone amazingly so. Followed by a night of bedroom play that rivaled even what he’d done with Althea.
Only to wake up and find Daria already cooking breakfast for everyone in the house.
Something he’d never been treated to before.
Always ended up doing all the cooking didn’t I?
And the cleaning.
And the shopping.
I did… I did everything, didn’t I?
Now, he had someone to rely on. Someone who told him what she felt was best, even if it wasn’t something she wanted.
He had a partner.
“Should I?” he sent back to Daria.
Thankfully the psychic had gotten a lot better about responding before he could do anything.
Instantly, he got a response from her even before his message read “Delivered”.
Like she’d already written her response and was waiting.
“I think it would definitely help in the short term and bind her much closer to us,” read the start of the message. “Long-term, I’m not so sure. She fights with Althea a lot and doesn’t like me much for a bit from what I can see. She slides into the harem easily enough, though.
“There’s a certain point I can’t see beyond and I can’t speak after that. Honestly, I can’t even tell you where that point is till we’re closer. Like there’s a major divide in the path we’ll be coming to and it’s not something I can see yet.”
“Right. We’ll tackle that when we get there. Your answer though, Daria?” Warner asked, pushing for what her opinion was. If she told him to sleep with her, he would.
This time her response took till after it was delivered.
I wonder what that’s about.
“Sleep with her. Her place. No condom. Don’t let her get on top. Don’t stay the night. We have work tomorrow,” read Daria’s message.
“Okay. I’ll do that then,” Warner replied.
He was about to put his phone away when it chirped again.
“Hey. Okay. I’m here. You’re inside?” Aelia sent.
“I sure am. Straight in from the door, can’t miss me,” Warner wrote. Then he put his phone in his pocket and looked towards the door.
A minute later and he saw Aelia come through it.
Wearing a pure white dress with a black belt circling her narrow waist, Aelia looked incredible. Her hair was down and styled, her makeup artful and light, and the way she moved was light and free.
Easily outclassing Daria and Althea with the barest of makeup and wardrobe change, Aelia was a strange thing for Warner.
She also fit the expectation of the place extraordinarily well right now. With as expensive and rich as the restaurant appeared to be, she was the type of client they wanted.
Unfortunately, the reek of her injustice was like being next to a half-empty pond which had been a recent breeding ground for geese and ducks. It was extraordinarily odd.
He was both attracted to her and repulsed by her at the same time.
Smiling when she saw him, Aelia breezed past the hostess podium and went straight to him.
“You really are here,” Aelia said, coming up to stand next to him rather than sit down. “I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I wasn’t sure if you were tired of waiting.”
Leaning in quickly, Aelia kissed his cheek and then sat herself down in the chair across from his own.
“I said I’d be here, and I’m here,” Warner said with a smile and then sat down.
“How delightful,” Aelia murmured, arranging herself and getting comfortable. “I have to admit I’ve never been here. Never had a reason to come. And in my line of work… well… I don’t meet too many of the type that I’d hope would ask me out to this kind of place.”
Technically she said she wanted to go here but… we’ll let it slide. She seems happy.
“I’m not going to give you a discount, you know,” Aelia said looking up from her lap to Warner.
“On what?” he asked, confused by where she was directing the conversation.
A waiter came up and bowed his head to Aelia.
“Good evening, welcome to the Hill. Here’s our menu,” said the man. “Your companion has already selected a fine red for the drink of choice for the evening for you. Unless there was something else you’d like?”
Aelia’s mouth slid open a fraction and Warner could see she was once against attacking her canine with her tongue tip.
“Some water to go with the wine, but that’ll be all,” Aelia murmured taking the menu.
“Very good,” replied the waiter and then left quickly.
“A discount on goods,” Aelia explained, picking up the conversation.
“Okay?” Warner asked. He wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at. “I have the full amount in the car by the way. I figured this whole thing would go easier if I gave you it all up front. Rather than in two parts.”
Tilting her head to one side, Aelia watched him. She shook her head in an odd fashion and then laughed.
“Alright. That’ll… yes, that’ll make it easier,” Aelia said. “Does that mean I don’t get to go to dinner with you again later?”
“Huh? Why not? We could go to dinner a week from now on your next day off, if you like,” Warner countered. “Or sooner, if you prefer.”
Daria had made it seem like the goal was to drag Aelia close enough that she could be a long-term asset. Even giving him her opinion that he should sleep with the woman.
So he’d do just that. Drag her in close.
Regardless of the fact that her stench made him want to crush her skull.
Watching him quietly for several seconds, Aelia slowly tilted her head the other way.
“Okay,” she said. “Dinner again this coming Monday. My place this time. I’ll make the meal for us.”
“Great. I can’t wait to see your place,” Warner said, giving her a smile.
“Mm. I bet,” Aelia said, her eyes slowly brightening as she continued to stare at Warner.
***
Sliding into his car, Warner was shocked to discover Daria sitting in the passenger seat.
Dozing quietly.
Not really sure how to handle this, or even what to do, he put the key in the ignition and turned to her.
There was a note attached to her jacket.
“Just wake me up,” it said.
“Right,” Warner said. Laying a hand on her shoulder, he gave her a gentle shake.
Snorting, Daria lifted her head away from the headrest and her eyes opened slowly.
“Oh, hey. All done with her?” Daria asked with a yawn at the tail end.
“Yeah,” Warner confirmed. Aelia had been vigorous and surprisingly into sex. Each time she tried to get on top though, he’d done as Daria had suggested and not allowed it.
Pinning her to the bed or rolling her to the side.
“Mmkay,” Daria mumbled, and reached up to rub at her eyes with her hands.
“Why are you here exactly?” Warner asked. “You said you’d watch Maya.”
“And I did. But I’m here now because this is where I should be. I can’t say anything else,” Daria said and then sighed. “Ugh. That was hard to watch, you know? I thought it would be easier after Althea. It wasn’t.”
“No, I don’t know,” admitted Warner. “But I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it. Okay, get going,” Daria said flicking her hands forward and then putting on her seatbelt.
Chewing at his lip, Warner felt like he didn’t have another option available to him.
There was also a fear that if he remained, Aelia could come out of her house and spot him with Daria.
Getting rolling again, he started off down the street.
“Can’t tell me cause it could skew the results?” Warner ventured.
“Exactly. See? You’re learning. It’s a good thing my partner is so bright,” Daria said sleepily.
“How about you tell me and I promise to react how I normally would,” Warner offered.
“No. No more future views like that. You changed Aelia again,” complained Daria. “Now she’s going to fall in love with you to the point that we’re almost always stuck with her. Stays even when Althea leaves or I leave.
“Stays when neither of us leave, too. You only end up killing her in a few outcomes from there, which is surprising. All because you can’t seem to keep your brain where it is before I tell you what’s coming.”
“Sorry,” Warner offered.
“Don’t be. It’s hard. I know it is,” Daria said.
“Well… uhm… are you hungry or anything? Should we stop somewhere?” Warner asked.
Laughing, Daria leaned across the seat and laid her head on his shoulder.
“Aww, you feel guilty now about having Aelia. It’s okay. I get it. And no, I’m good,” she murmured and then fell silent.
“Daria?” Warner asked.
There was no response.
She’d already slipped right back into sleep.
Shifting his arm around till Daria’s head was pillowed on his shoulder and the side of his seat, he kept driving.
Making his way home, Warner was eventually aware of the fact that he kept noticing a pair of headlights behind him.
A set that’d been following him for a considerable distance at this point. They’d made every turn he had and kept with him on the highway.
Despite there being many open lanes and Warner only traveling several miles per hour over the limit.
He glanced down at the top of Daria’s head, where it rested against his shoulder.
Was this what you were talking about?
Or is the fact that I’m questioning right now what you were talking about?
Hm.
Hm, hm.
What would I do if I was alone and I thought someone was following me?
I’d… I’d brake and let them pass.
Warner began pressing down on his brakes. Then for good measure, he tapped his turn signal on. Creeping ever lower in speed, he kept his foot on the brake.
When the headlights behind him didn’t move or shake off, Warner realized he did indeed have a problem.
Okay. Next… next, I’d pull off.
Moving to the right, Warner slid off the main street and into a small shopping area with a grocery store.
Moving to the front of the darkened storefront, Warner glanced into his rearview mirror.
At the same time, a car pulled up next to him on his side of the car.
It was a car full of people. He couldn’t tell what their ethnicity was or what they looked like. The lights from the open store nearby didn’t seem to be working all that well.
Daria mumbled something and leaned away from him. Shifting around in her seat, she laid her head down on the inside of the passenger door.
An interior light turned on in the car next to him for a second as someone opened a door which was rapidly closed again.
Warner saw there were three people in the back seat, and two in the front.
They were all wearing face masks, but he could vaguely tell that two appeared to be white and two were black.
The other one—sitting in the back seat furthest from him—he couldn’t even see, other than that they existed.
Making a hand motion at Warner, the passenger clearly wanted him to roll the window down.
Gritting his teeth, and not really wanting to deal with this right now, Warner rolled the window down. Making a show of it looking like it was a hand-cranked window.
At the same time, he tried to disguise his other hand going to the center console and retrieving his last firearm there. The revolver he’d taken so long ago.
Leaning back in his seat, Warner pushed the revolver up against the inside of his door. Pointing straight at the person across from him.
Strangely, there wasn’t a strong sense of injustice coming from these people. There was a general sense of injustice from them, but not much more than what he’d come to expect from anyone he encountered.
The normal run of the mill everyday stuff that all of humanity participated in.
“Yeah?” Warner asked. Part of him was hoping this was just a young person prank and they’d ask him if he had any mustard.
“You just left someone’s house.”
Surprisingly, Warner had been wrong, it was a young woman, not a young man.
“Okay?” Warner asked, not wanting to really respond to that in a positive or a negative way.
“Uh… did you leave a certain person’s house?”
“I think most of us did?” Warner replied.
“Yo, what the fuck?” said someone else in the car.
“Shut up,” said a third.
“Did you just leave Aelia’s house?” asked the person at the window directly.
“Yeah, why?” Warner asked again. “And why is it any business of yours? Why were you following me? You have masks on, should I be calling the police?”
One and all of the people in the car seemed genuinely spooked at the questions.
“Uh,” said someone intelligently.
“You’re not… you’re not—” said a second, then eventually became quiet.
“If that’s it, I’m leaving,” Warner said. “And stop following me or I’ll call the cops.”
“Wait,” said the young woman. She pulled her mask down.
Young, pretty, with dark skin and light brown eyes. Her black hair peeked out from under her hoodie.
“I just—that—ahhh… look. Look. Aelia? She’s a gunrunner,” said the woman. “She sells guns to people who shouldn’t have guns. And then people get hurt or worse. She doesn’t care and she needs to be stopped.”
Huh. Young vigilantes trying to balance the scales.
Too bad for them, I actually need Aelia. Otherwise, I’d have already killed her myself.
“How dare you,” Warner said, glaring at the woman. “How dare you talk about her like that? How… how absolutely dreadful. Go home. Go home to your parents. It’s a school night.”
Shaking his head, Warner rolled up his window and looked away from the car.
Seconds afterward, the car peeled out of the parking spot and zoomed away, leaving Warner in his own car.
With a groan, Daria sat up in her seat and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Ugh. Alright. I’m glad that’s over,” she muttered. “We’re going inside the grocery store now to pick up a few things. Bacon for starters.
“I seriously underestimated how much you like it and I don’t have enough to make breakfast for everyone tomorrow. At least, if I want to make sure Maya gets some. With how much of a sweetie she is and is part of your life, I need to make sure I keep her suitably taken care of.”
“Uh, what?” Warner asked, looking at her.
“We’re going into the store,” Daria said pointing at the grocery store they’d parked in front of. “Come on. You can push the cart while I fill it up. It won’t take long at all. I promise.
“And if you’re an especially good helper, I’ll make sure I take care of you tonight when we get home. I know exactly how you want it every time you know. And I know Aelia didn’t hit every itch you had. I’ll scratch ’em. I just never know how sex will feel for me.
“Have I mentioned how exciting that is? Sex is amazing.”
Daria opened her car door and then got out. She did a little stomp with her feet and started running her hands up and down her arms like she was cold.
