I closed my eyes, trying to rest my overworked brain. This damn talk took too much out of me with all those details, decisions, and estimates. Kouzuki twins had entirely too much fun with this whole ‘taking over the world’ idea.

Fortunately, this overly luxurious car’s seats were extremely comfy, so I had an opportunity to relax.

“Dear,” Bella said, sounding quite irritated. “Why didn’t you tell me something so important?”

Yeah, I expected at least this much.

“I forgot,” I replied, refusing to open my eyes.

Time trickled by as I waited for the moment my special woman exploded.

“You fucking what?!” Bella roared, not betraying my expectations.

I let out a long groan, fighting off the ringing in my ears.

“Between everything that happened since last Friday, this completely escaped my mind,” I tried to explain myself. “And our yesterday's talk, not to say anything about morning continuation, distracted me even more.”

“What else have you forgotten?” My explanation failed to calm her down.

“No idea,” I responded with a shrug, my eyes still closed.

Her screams started setting me off, to be honest. What the fuck was her deal, anyway?

I heard my special woman cursing something in Spanish under her breath.

“Michael.” Her tone became level.

I hummed, indicating my attention.

“If you don’t start treating things like that seriously, count me out,” Bella finished her words.

Well, it was a great run while it lasted. A wave of complete apathy washed over me, killing the building-up irritation. Since the result I wanted just became unreachable, should I try Plan B and see how accurate my estimates were about Helen route?

With Boredom trying to take over, I opened my eyes to look at Bella.

She was fuming, judging by the little signs I had grown used to over the years. The expression on her face, the body language, and the look in her eyes.

In the next moment, she most likely noticed my own expression, judging by how noticeably paler she went all of a sudden.

Using the cracks that were already in place, I wrestled back control.

“I’ll try,” I squeezed out the answer.

The lifetime of trial and error already showed me how much of a pipe dream that was, though. Twenty-something years of attempts at changing myself—and failing to do so once and again—were a good indication.

I closed my eyes again, breaking this line of thinking. It led nowhere.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Awkward silence filled the car’s interior.

I couldn’t trust myself to say something without escalating this situation any further, and, to be completely honest, I felt rather hurt that Bella, of all people, chose to say this out of a long list of things I did wrong. And yet, she went straight where it was the most painful.

Bella, in her own turn, knew that she had gone too far, but she also thought she was on the right side of the argument.

I wasn’t all that new to this whole 'relationship' thingy not to be aware that it was par of the course. But, for fuck’s sake, it still pissed me off royally.

Worst of all, we still had a decent chunk of the road ahead of us.

***

I stood in a parking lot, trying to decide where I should go now.

Well, I had three choices in mind, and one of them would lead straight to a disaster, so I vetoed it outright.

Going into the night, looking for some obscure ‘distraction’. Yeah, the junkie in me still craved a relapse. Fuck that.

Which left two more: Olivia and Helen.

Helen was, well, Helen, and was a better choice from an objective viewpoint. I couldn’t choose someone else instead of her twice in a row without it having some bullshit consequences down the road.

I chose to ignore the fact that I was grasping at straws. Thinking otherwise was simply too boring.

Olivia was a solid choice as well. I could really use that sense of peace and comfort she brought to me.

I spent five more minutes mulling it over before taking a coin out of my pocket. Yeah, to hell with it all.

***

I steered the car into the private parking lot of Helen’s apartment complex.

Yeah, that whole coin toss was rigged from the start, and I knew what side it would land on at the same moment as my thumb finished the initial motion.

No matter how out of shape I was, a trick as simple as that was well within the scope of my abilities. Not to mention the fact that I could just catch it at any moment.

I lacked the remote control for the outer gate, so I had to leave the car and press a key card onto a reader.

Helen slid it into my wallet last Sunday—or maybe Saturday night, I wasn’t quite sure—after seeing I had one for Bella’s place. My best guess would’ve been that it sparked some sort of competitive spirit inside her, but, eh, who actually knows?

The elevator brought me up, and, just as I reached for the last door in my way, a realization dawned upon me.

I forgot to call Helen. Or message, for that matter.

If she wasn’t home or wasn’t alone, then what? Well, quick shower and sleep if it’s the former, and some extra distraction if it’s the latter.

With this in mind, I opened the door and took a step inside.

Huh.

What a surprising picture that caught my eye first thing inside.

Helen, wearing, for some reason, my hoodie and a pair of comfy-looking undies, with her lush hair gathered into some hybrid of a lazy bun and a tail, with a greenish beauty mask on her gorgeous face, was sitting on a couch in a living room, watching some drama on TV and painting her toenails.

Huh.

All that was missing was a half-empty wine bottle and, maybe, a cat or a few.

Huh.

Helen finally noticed me, judging by the way she dropped—however that thing was called—the thingy she used for the pedicure and the change in her expression.

Huh.

Yeah, not in any number of lifetimes could’ve I imagined ever seeing Helen Smith looking like that. Such a possibility never even crossed my mind.

Maybe I was too used to Bella looking fabulous in any given situation. Even back when she drank entirely too much, and I had to hold her hair as she barfed her stomach out.

Fuck it, whatever I was concerned about stopped looking so impossible in comparison.

“Hey,” I said, greeting her with a wave. “Remind me to tell you something important tomorrow. In case I forget.”

Not waiting for a response, I left toward the shower.