Dirty, Dirty Liars [Mature/Editing]

[17] 十七

A/N: The following chapter contains mentions of blood and injury. If you are squeamish, you may want to avoid the portion that takes place inside the house.

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Three days without Ryuzo felt like three weeks. The news of my contract extension weighed heavily. It could ruin what we had, make things harder for us, or it could be good. I wouldn't know how he felt about it until I told him.

When I was done with my shift, I grabbed my bag from my locker and saw the missed calls from him on my phone. I called him back, and he answered with a playful jab. "Mina-chan. Too busy for me again?"

"Well, you're very shitty at being a sugar daddy, so I still have to keep my job, unfortunately."

"How would you like me to change that?"

"I'll show you later," I laughed. "Speaking of daddies, I started my period right after you left, so . . . congrats on your pullout game, I guess."

Ryuzo laughed a bit too hard.

The process of getting the morning after pill was invasive as hell. Privacy and body autonomy still fell second to what the doctors thought was best. They grilled me, gave me a mandatory lecture, and made me fill out paperwork asking for Ryuzo's name and contact information. I had to refuse the last portion, letting them believe I was slutting around with strangers rather than expose my relationship with him. After going through all that, I bypassed it by going to one of my team's doctors for a monthly pill prescription. While that was rare here, too, I preferred to get shamed once a year rather than after every slip-up.

"I'm glad you were able to get what you needed," he said. "And I'm sorry. I won't make a habit of it."

"You promise?"

He did not answer that. "Which entrance do you use at your hospital?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Because I am parked outside the one with a glass overhang."

"What?"

I hung up on him and ran down the stairs, only slowing my pace to keep from scaring people in the lobby. Outside, it didn't take me long to find him.

He stood against his sexy ass car, suit on, his hair down. His black sedan was unidentifiable after its modifications, but it was a mature style of luxury inside and purred like a lion. The contextually appropriate cat-like smile spread across his face the closer I got.

"Welcome back, handsome," I teased. He cooed words I didn't know, then took me by the chin and kissed me. "What is this?" I asked about his newest toy.

He hummed. "Someone told me motorcycles are dangerous, so I hoped she might approve of this instead."

"You just up and bought a car because I gave you shit?"

He smirked. A yes. 

His mood seemed light and playful — perfect for my plan. He moved away to open the door for me. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw Ayumi standing at the curb. Our eyes met, but I couldn't decipher the message she intended to send me before I sat.

"Something wrong?" Ryuzo asked.

"Oh, no. I'm just ready to go home."

He touched the power button, and his big cat purred to life. "Home? I had something else in mind."

. . .

We parked at his house, but he took me somewhere else. Halfway between his house and my apartment, he looked suspicious as we walked a narrow pathway to behind a plain, concrete building.