Mike walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever god was listening that a beer had been tucked away behind the milk. He popped off the top and sat down, putting the mouth of the bottle to his lips. It wasn’t even his favorite brew, but it was the most delicious thing he had drunk in days.
“Not gonna watch them fuck?”
Mike coughed beer out his nose, foam rolling down his lips. He turned in his seat and scowled at Lily. She leaned against the kitchen counter, her tail tracing shapes on its surface.
“You startled me.” He used his shirt to wipe the beer off his face. “And no, I’m not going to watch them have sex.”
“You’re not a little curious?” Lily walked past him and pulled down one of the blinds. “Don’t you wanna know what college pussy looks like?”
“I…no. No, I don’t.” He frowned at his beer. She had caused him to waste a bit of it. “It was obvious that she wasn’t into it.”
“But she was. She hungers for it, you know? Your cum, specifically. You could have made her do anything, made her beg, taken advantage of her desperation.” Lily turned around, her breasts in her hands. “Oh, Mike, come in my mouth, I’m so hungry.” She spoke in Dana’s voice.
“Shouldn’t you be standing on somebody’s shoulder right now?” He pulled another drag off his beer. “Talking them into suicide or something?”
“You’re really not gonna look?”
“No. I haven’t heard the full story, but I’m ninety-nine percent certain that this is somehow my fault. I imagine she’s going through some hard changes right now, and the least I can do is give her her space.”
“Wow. You really aren’t going to look.” Lily’s tail swished. “Now that I’m back, I suppose you want to give it to me though, right? Pound my ass against the counter?” She bent over, wiggling her butt.
“Honestly? I just want to finish this, see if they need any help out front, then go to bed. Oh!” Mike slammed his beer on the table, causing it to foam over. “I do want to give you something!”
“This oughta be good.” Lily crossed her arms and smirked. “Did you draw up a roommate agreement for me? Blow jobs every Thursday? Anal Mondays? Since the week is gonna fuck you up the ass, might as well do it for real. We can get that printed on my coffee mug so that I don’t use yours by accident.”
“Why do I feel like you’re punishing me for something I didn’t do?” Mike pulled open the kitchen drawer and pushed aside the scissors and the keys. His fingers closed on the little jewelry box.
“What can I say? I have trust issues.”
“Clearly. Here. I bought this for you.” He held out the jewelry box.
Lily recoiled. “What is it?”
“A rosary. I figured it’s about time you found Jesus.” He laughed at the look on her face. “It isn’t a rosary. I saw it online and thought of you, so I bought it. Almost forgot I had it.”
“What do you want in return?”
“Nothing.” Mike shrugged. “I mean, if you don’t like it, I can send it back. Like I said, made me think of you.”
Lily took the box, a dubious look on her face. She opened it, her eyes growing wide. “Where did you get this?”
“eBay. May I?” He pulled out the necklace. It was a red agate stone set in silver with Chinese script around the sides. “The red made me think of your hair. And your eyes. And your attitude, if I’m being honest.”
She held up her hair so he could fasten the clasp behind her neck.
“I kind of figured it could be a peace offering. I felt like the last time we saw each other didn’t end as well as I would have liked it to. This place is still your home, if you decide to stay. I want you to believe that.”
Lily held up the pendant. She looked through it and him, focused on something he couldn’t see. Several seconds passed, and the hint of a tear appeared in her eyes.
He was about to say something when she suddenly disappeared into a cloud of black smoke, the stink of sulfur filling the room. He coughed, waving a hand in front of his face. The odor was bad enough that he set down his beer, a bad taste in his mouth.
“Demons,” he muttered. He left the beer behind and went out to the front yard to see how he could help.
BIGGER ON THE INSIDE
“Ugh.” Mike was in his bed, and he held up a hand to shut out the intrusive light of the sun. It had been a late night trying to lay down all the new sod in the front yard. The lightning blasts and storm had killed off most of the grass, and only a few of the shrubs had survived. The delivery had shown up six hours late, and Mike and the others had had to hastily unroll the sod beneath a scorching afternoon sun. Tink had crawled into bed with dirt on her hands and feet, her goggles pulled down over her neck. Mike had fallen asleep in his shirt, his back sore from hauling sod.
“Rise and shine, lover,” Naia called out from the bath. “Sofia said to tell you that breakfast is ready, and if you don’t come down soon, there won’t be any left.”
“Mergh.” He slid out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.
“You’re filthy,” Naia declared, standing on the surface of the water in the tub.
“Yeah. I was so tired.” He stretched, his joints cracking. A yawn slipped out of him. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Remodel of the garage. Zel
