Going Once, Going Twice, Going Never.

XXIV - Expressing Gratitude

"Holy shit how was Kai running with this thing?" Rey mutters as she hauls the painting into the living room in its black satin bag.

It's the next day after we had an entire day of eating in Chicago and no one has the courage to tell Rey about the brand new belly she is sporting.

Ariadne pouts at the bag, "If you would have given me proper dimensions beforehand I would have used a better material."

Yeah... Elara might have messed up the dimensions of the painting and forgot to correct them when she remeasured it.

"Dude you're strong," Rey says to Kai as we enter the house. I pull my hair loose out of my too tight ponytail as Kai stands up.

"Nah I just know how to carry weights to my adavantage," She shrugs her shoulders and begins to walk towards the stairs with Rey in tow, asking Kai to teach her how.

I pick the painting up and hand it over to Dharuna who had been sitting there ready, with Elara and Alby on her sides.

I nod at Elara, "Fetch me some profit," I glance over at Alby who is admiring Elara's new finished painting of Sirenhead, "And keep them safe, Dhara. Chicago underworld is sketchier than Philly."

Dharuna nods confidently and checks up on all the weapons she is keeping hidden beneath her robes.

Rey suddenly appears by my side, "Yeah don't worry I'm going with them as back up."

Elara frowns at Rey, "By that you mean 'sit in the car and wait for the signal'."

Rey nods a bit too quickly, "Right."

Ah great I'm not getting a profit.

And the brownie trading group of ours goes out the door in a matter of minutes after Rey stocked up on some knives and her handy pistol with a very trippy security handle that she just doesn't care about even though it scares the shit out of everyone else.

Monique also slipped on a silicon ring with a taser on the front on both Elara and Alby's index fingers for extra extra protection.

Kai had volunteered to sneak around and be their 'shadow' of sorts but then again we got Rey for backup and sending a large team for such missions is always a risk.

Instead, I sent Kai to pack up Rey's shit because I know the girl wouldn't be bothered to fit her stuff properly in one bag and will need several unnecessary ones.

I did send Yuri with Rey in another car just because it felt right to send Yuri. I don't know, my gut just told me to.

So here we are now, packing up Ariadne's little studio and I carefully look over my shoulder at Ariadne inspecting the dresses we wore yesterday and I break a sweat, thinking if I stained it in some way or another.

I release a breath which I had been holding for a miraculously long time as Ariadne sets down my dress and starts inspecting Cassie's.

Minnie hops into the room with an apple in her hand, wearing a T-shirt which displayed an apple with crosses for eyes and a stitched up mouth.

It is oddly terrifying.

"Alicia!" She groans after plopping onto a bean bag, "I need another glass of that scotch man! That shit is addicting!"

I frown at my best friend, "Then maybe you shouldn't drink any more of it."

She flips onto her belly and places her chin in her hands, "Hot security man bought it for me, how could I say no?"

I lift an intriguing eyebrow, "So... Did you guys hit it off?"

She just smiles at me, "Now wouldn't you like to know Miss In-Denial."