by Tia LaBeau
“Olivinia erased the coordinates from your call. She knew it was Xerxes comms, so she didn’t answer in case he was calling to ask for a refund. She figured he just needed to spend more time with you, and then he would see that you two could be good for each other. But she didn’t want there to be any evidence left behind, so before she died, she erased your video, and erased the record of Xerxes.”
“She thought up all that, huh? Was that Olivinia psychic or something?” I ask.
“Nope, but very intuitive, which can yield the same results.”
“Well, then what about our marriage?”
“Oh, that’s real. Too bad. Your new identity is Juno Vivey. You can’t do anything about that now. Cleo Chou is dead metaphorically speaking, and legally, Juno Vivey is married to Xerxes Nic.”
“Hmm,” I say. “Well, if Freda wants to go with you, she can. I think she should. But find her a good husband okay. And I want her to be able to decide who she goes with, okay? I lucked out here.” I turn to Xerxes and pat him on the chest. “Not everyone can be as swell as you.” I wink at him. He grabs my hand.
“Awww,” Freda says. “I’ve never seen you so happy.”
“And to think it comes on the eve of my death. The story of my life.”
“We can get you all out of here,” Celeste says. “We don’t even know how much the Governor knows concerning your whereabouts.”
“I’m not running anymore, Celeste,” I say.
She frowns.
“You a Mooner?” I ask, actually taking her in now that she has been in my apartment for a while.
“If you mean Earth’s moon, yes.”
“Cool. Why don’t you take my sister there?”
“The Moon Company Headquarters is located there,” Celeste says. “That might be a good idea.”
“So I guess, I’ll just sit here and wait for the Governor to come looking for me again, in my own backyard. Go, Freda, pack so that you can go with Celeste.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Freda wines.
“Get out of here, Freda,” I say. “I’m still your Mister, so you must obey.” I stretch out my arm and point towards her room. “Go.”
“What’s a Mister?” Celeste asks.
“Mister is a name I made up a long time ago. It’s the combination of mother and sister. M for mom, drop the s from sister.”
“Oh,” Celeste says. “That’s cute.”
“That is me, cute all the time,” I say.
“Fine,” Freda says stomping away, off to her room.
I feel bad for her, but she’ll be all right. I hope. Right now she’s acting like a big ole baby. Well, she better put on her big girl panties now because shit’s about to get real— more real than it already has if that’s even possible.
“Don’t forget your fucking space suit,” I yell after her.
“Yes, Mister,” she drones.
Celeste watched Xerxes and me. Rocks back and forth toe to heel, toe to heel. She pokes her tongue in her cheek. “So, you too like each other, eh?”
“No way,” I say with a smirk.
“Oh yes, you do like each other. Cleo and Xerxes, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”
“Shut the fuck up, Alfred,” I say. “Ain’t no fucking baby carriage coming after any of this shit.”
“Does that disappoint you?” she asks. “I caught that reference from Batman. Classic.”
“It is right? Love Batman returns. That’s my absolute favorite. Though, they could have stopped at the Catwoman becoming Catwoman sequence.”
“I know right,” Celeste says.
Xerxes smiles.
“It’s okay, big boy,” I say. “I’ll get you caught up on good ole ancient American cinema.”
“So no baby?” Celeste asks. “You two would make cute babies.”
I avert my eyes. “No. I’d make a terrible mother.”
“I don’t think so,” Celeste says. “Look at what you’re doing for you sister. That’s one hell of a ‘Mister’ if you ask me.”
“I didn’t ask you, so…”
“Cranky much? If I were you, I’d be cranky too. But you can still run, Cleo. You don’t have to be so brave. It’s okay to lean on somebody else some time.”
“Lean on who?”
“Well, the big fella over there for starters.” She leans over. “He’s packing isn’t he?” she asks, whispering. “I bet he is.”
Xerxes has his back turned to us now. He’s looking at the family pictures on the wall. Celeste fixes her hands like she’s sizing up something, except she’s doing it vertically from her crotch down.
I shake my head. Then I nod and turn away grinning.
Xerxes turns around. “You were a very cute baby,” he says.
“How do you know that’s me? That could be Freda.”
“I can tell it’s you, by the wild look in your eyes. You had it even when you were a baby.”
“She does have fire in her eyes,” Celeste says. “Even Olivinia said that about her. Personally, I think they’re kind of dull. Now get a load of these lookers,” Celeste says pointing at her own eyes. They’re pretty, big blue baby doll eyes.”
Freda comes back into the living room, holding more stuff than she ought to be able to carry.
“You silly, goose, why are you trying to take all that crap with you?”
“These are my greatest hits,” she says.
“Yeah, whatever.” I roll my eyes.
“Okay, then, well. Let’s go,” Celeste says.
“Comms me if anything goes wrong,” I say.
“We’ll be in touch somehow,” Celeste says.
“Wait, Freda,” I say. I grab Freda, gather her into my arms. This sort of hug feels so familiar, even though I’ve only ever held Freda like this two other times my life. “You take care of yourself. Don’t worry about me. Keep your eyes open. Stay true to yourself. All that and then some,” I say. “Pound ‘em.”
“Blah, Blah, Mister,” she says squeezing her fingers together like a duck bill quacking.
“Whatever,” I say slapping her hard on the butt.
She’s crying, I’m crying. It’s hard to see anything now. My eyes are so clouded with tears.
She and Celeste leave the apartment before any of us has the chance to change our mind.
It’s just Xerxes and me.
When the door closes, I turn to him. “Just you and me till the end unless you want to leave. I mean maybe you should. Who knows how vicious the Governor is. He might send his hounds in here with guns blazing. They may take out anything that’s in front of them.”
“We have time. I doubt they’ll be casing this place again, probably will come looking soon, once they run out of new ideas for where to look. But it doesn’t matter because I’m staying,” Xerxes says to me.
I look into Xerxes big pitch blacks, and I think to myself, that seeing his face last works for me. “I can’t let you stay, though, bro. I want you to go on. Hit Celeste up. Find yourself a new Moon Company Bride. Buy that asteroid.”
“I have no need for the asteroid. I only have need for you.”
“How do you know?” I say. “You don’t need me. I’m not worth having.”
“Don’t you think you deserve happiness?” he asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I suppose I don’t really care either way.”
“Is it that you don’t care, or that you are afraid to care?” he asks.
“Either one, same fucking difference,” I say.
He shakes his head. “You are the clearest enigma I’ve ever seen.”
“And you’re the biggest oxymoron, I’ve ever met.”
“Come here,” he says. “What was it you said back on the mobil about having goodbye universe sex?”
“Yes, goodbye universe sex. Let’s do it. Although, I might be drier than usual. Impending death will do that to you.”
“Not me. It makes me want to fuck better than I ever have in my life. The last hoorah,” Xerxes says, raising his fist in the air.
&
nbsp; I think I’m rubbing off on him. Maybe not in a good way. “Come on, let’s go to my bed,” I say.
I grab his hand and lead him into my bedroom. I think to myself, well at least I’m fucking home.
He swats me on the butt. I turn around and swat at him. “Don’t do that, I’m in mourning,” I say.
“Mourning what?”
“The life I could have had.”
“Is that so? You can still have it.”
“I don’t think so, bro.”
We’re standing in front of my bed. I push Xerxes down onto it and straddle him. He’s already stiff.
He licks my neck. I want to keep all of it bottled up, every touch, every stroke, and keep it locked away. If there’s an afterlife, I hope it’s Xerxes doing me on replay. For everybody. Everybody deserves a treat like that, except the fucking Governor. The Governor is a fucking cock block.
“I want you inside me,” I say rising on and off Xerxes. I’m rubbing myself on his hardness. It feels so good even through my clothes.
“All ready?”
“All ready,” I say. “Over and over, until the Governor’s henchmen or the security comes knocking.”
He whips me around, so stiffly, with so much control that even though he does it fast, it feels slow. He lays me down on the bed, brushes my forehead with his fingers, and moves the hair out of my face. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Cleo Chou,” he says.
“Lucky for you, that won’t be too long,” I say, trying to make light of a heavy situation. I grab his face and pull it in for kissing.
We kiss hungrily. This is before I die sex, after all.
His tongue is strong and hard in my mouth, and all I can think about is how strong and hard he is when he’s inside me.
I rip off all my clothes. It’s so fast. It’s kind of a blur, but I know he’s getting naked too.
I say to myself, Cleo, chill, sister, let it all soak in. If I can remember even a fraction of him, that will be enough. I grab at him. He gets on top of me and enters me hard. I love it. I fix my eyes on him. I want to see into his soul. If I could, I’d take my time, but I’m greedy now. I want as much of him as I can have.
He stops.
“No, no, no, don’t stop,” I say. I probably sound like I’m about to cry.
“Wait,” he says. “I want to see you.”
He stares at me. I might as well come right now because fuck! He pushes into me, and fuck it if I don’t come right then and there in like zero point one seconds.
I shiver and shake. Xerxes is a part of my insides, like permanently.
The pleasure is shooting up through my stomach, into my chest. My heart is growing like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The pleasure moves up my throat like a salve, into my nose smelling so sweet, moves up into my eyes, now I see the light. Then it’s into my brain where there is a burst of colors, wisdom. I have lived. In my own little way, I have lived, and that’s all that matters.
He pounds into me and then his lermi squirts out of him, and he deposits some on my tongue—from his mouth as he kisses me. This is more than I can stand. I come again. I come so many times, up then down, up then down, that I don’t know whether this is an aftershock or a bunch of small separate orgasms.
He rolls over spent.
There’s pounding at the door. Death comes knocking sooner than one thinks.
“Let me answer it,” Xerxes says.
“No, this is my apartment. I answer the door.”
“We’re married, so this is our apartment, fifty-fifty, so I answer the door,” he says.
I shake my head. Once again we’re arguing over who’s gonna die.
I dress quickly in a robe and run to the door before he can even get his pants on. I’m not stupid. I’m not just going to open the door. I look through the blasted peep-hole first. All I see is black. Someone’s covering it up with their finger so that I can’t see them.
Xerxes slides into the foyer. “Shh,” I say.
“Who is it?” he asks.
“I don’t know. I’ll be back. Don’t open the door okay?”
“Yes,” Xerxes says.
“Xerxes, promise me you won’t open that door.”
He promises. I go into my bedroom and get my dad’s gun. He had left it in a package for me before he died. His best friend gave it to me at the burial vault after my parent’s funeral. Then we laughed at how prepared my father always was. The thought had never crossed my mind that he would die before me, and it certainly didn’t cross my mind the day that he left. So many people have gone out on ships, and they’ve come back, but my parents aren’t among those lucky people. I lament.
I hold the gun in my shaking hands and go back into the living room. When I get there, Xerxes has some guy up in the air. He’s holding him by the throat.
I skirt past them and look out in the hall. There’s isn’t anybody there. I don’t see the guy’s face until I come back into the apartment.
“Mr. Drek?”
“Cleo,” he says. “Can you get this guy to let me go.” Xerxes is sitting on him now.
“What are you doing here?” I ask
“Let me up, and I’ll answer,” he says broken, in between labored gasped. Poor Mr. Drek, his face is redder than an ancient pomegranate.
“I’ve put a surveillance team on your place. We saw Freda leave. I’ve been watching over her while you’ve been gone. Saw you come back.”
“You’ve been watching Freda?”
“Damn skippy,” he says trying to straighten himself out. “I’m glad you’re back. I think you can help us.”
“Help who?”
“Rock Security,” he says.
“It’s okay, Xerxes,” I say, patting Xerxes on the back. Xerxes is looking at him like he’s going to kill Mr. Drek. “You can let him be.”
Xerxes was doing all that and hasn’t even broken a sweat. I can believe he had Mr. Drek so high in the air by his blazer collars. Mr. Drek must be wearing one helluva heavy duty blazer.
Xerxes doesn’t seem convinced. He’s poised to attack.
“You ought to work for us too,” Mr. Drek says to him. “You’re so strong. I’ve been trying to recruit a Sewvian for a long time. Where’d you find this one, Cleo?”
“If I tell you, I might have to kill you, Mr. Drek,” I say. I feign punching him.
He pulls his jacket closed, brushes himself off. I brush his shoulders off for him.
“Why did you run, Cleo?”
“Because I knew the Governor wouldn’t play fair.”
“You were right to think that.”
“So then why the fuck are you working for him?”
“Well, working for crooked people is never outside the purview of a security firm, but I only do it when I need to get something straight.”
“I see, and what do you need to get straight?”
“I’ve been hired, by another client, to go after the Governor. My client believes that what the Governor’s son tried to do to your sister is only the tip of the iceberg. We believe he’s got his hands in some very dirty business.
“The Governor has enemies, people who want him out of the picture, righteous people. I thought the best bet was to play it like I was going after you, that way I could get to you first, see. I knew when you called me that night, that shit was fishy. When I got your sister alone in a room, to ask her what happened, she fed me that cock and bull story you told her to tell me. But, I’ve been doing this kind of work for a long time Cleo Chou, so I knew she was lying.”
“Damn, I should have taught her how to lie better.”
“You don’t lie too well yourself, Cleo. We’ll have to work on it, okay?”
“Okay, Mr. Drek. So now what? The Governor is still gonna want my head on a pike.”
“He may, but I can put you in protective custody, harbor you basically until we get everything straightened out. And I’d still like you to come work for me.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that Mr. Drek. I app
reciate everything you’ve done for me,” I say. “But I don’t think I want to be running all over Teros secret squirreling around after the Governor.”
“Well, you could go back to the asteroid belt where you picked up this one.”
“Hey, how’d you know where I met him.”
“Told you I been at this a long time,” he says and winks.
“Did you know where I was the whole time?”
“I can’t tell you everything, Cleo.”
“Damn, I say.”
“We will do whatever you wish, Mr. Drek,” Xerxes says from behind me. “As long as my Cleo will be safe.”
“The hell we will do whatever you wish.”
“I’ll give you some time to think about what you want to do with your career, but for now, take my advice, go on back out to the belt. I’ve pulled some strings, Mr. Xerxes. Nobody will be able to touch you out there.”
My mouth falls open. “Mr. Drek?”
“I’ve got friends in high place, Mrs. Nic. But Like I said, I can’t tell you everything. There’s a transporter outside. Why don’t the two of you get the rest of your clothes on and get the hell up out of here.”
I look down. My housecoat is barely hanging on to any sense of propriety.
Xerxes is in pants at least, but he’s not wearing shoes.
“We’ll be out in a minute,” I say to Mr. Drek.
He walks out. “Don’t worry about anything. I got eyes everywhere, okay?”
“Okay,” I say.
Mr. Drek walks out of the apartment. I close the door.
“So it looks like we have some choices to make,” I say. “You don’t want to make all of this permanent do you?”
“Oh, now that you are not a murderess fugitive you have no need for me anymore?” Xerxes asks.
“I need you, all right, in my bed,” I say.
“Now who is using who?”
“We were both using each other,” I say. “To come!”
He frowns. “Nice one?”
“I guess so,” I say.
He grabs for me, wraps me in his arms. “So what do we do now?”
“I’m going to contact my parents and tell them what I think about their decision not to come to Teros.”
“And then?”
“And then, I don’t know.”
“I think we should go get that asteroid you want. I got twenty-five percent of what Olivinia charged you. Let me put in on it.”
