Your Girlfriend Calls Me Daddy

Chapter 177: 178 | Problem-Solving

The three of us sat in silence for a moment. The ice cream was melting in my bowl, but I didn’t have the appetite anymore.

"We’re coming with you," Cheon said finally.

"She said alone."

"We’ll wait outside. Close enough to intervene if something goes wrong."

"And if she notices?"

"Then she notices." Cheon’s tone left no room for argument. "I’m not letting you walk into a situation like this without backup. Not after everything we’ve built." freewebnσvel.cѳm

Mera nodded. "What she said. Plus I want to see what the sister looks like. For research purposes."

"What kind of research?"

"The kind that determines whether I need to portal her into oncoming traffic."

"That’s murder."

"That’s problem-solving."

I laughed despite myself. These women were going to be the death of me. Or maybe the reason I survived. Hard to tell sometimes.

"Fine. You can come. But stay out of sight unless things go sideways."

"Define sideways."

"Screaming. Explosions. Sudden attempts on my life."

"So a normal Tuesday."

"Pretty much."

Cheon gathered the empty bowls, her movements carrying that particular efficiency she brought to ending conversations she’d decided were finished. "Sleep. Training starts in eight hours and you’re going to need those hours after what Leonhart’s planning."

"Yes, mother."

Her hand connected with the back of my head on her way past. Not hard. Just enough. "Try again."

Mera stayed exactly where she was, still pressed against my side in a way that had stopped registering as temporary and started registering as something else entirely. Her weight had become familiar. Expected. The kind of presence you notice when it’s gone rather than when it arrives.

"You’re worried," she said.

"I’m always worried."

"More than usual." Not a question. An observation delivered with the certainty of someone who’d been paying attention.

"Maybe."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

"Want to not talk about it in my bed instead?" She shifted position slightly, turning so she could actually look at me instead of just leaning. "Yours is uncomfortable and Cheon hoards the good pillows."

I looked at her properly. Green eyes carrying that specific combination of mischief and something that lived underneath it—the thing she let show when she’d decided the performance wasn’t necessary anymore. Her red skin had deepened slightly across her cheeks and down her neck. Heat rising to the surface in ways I’d learned to read over the past week. Want that didn’t bother pretending otherwise because pretending was exhausting and Mera had never been interested in exhausting herself for no reason.

"Cheon’s right there."

"Cheon’s in the kitchen. And she doesn’t mind sharing." Mera traced a finger down my chest. "You know this."

I did know. The three of us had established certain patterns over the past week. Boundaries that were less like walls and more like guidelines.

"Training at six."

"Four hours of sleep is plenty."

"For you, maybe."

"SPECIMEN keeps you at peak physical performance regardless of rest. I read the file."

"You read my file?"

"Cheon let me. For research purposes."

"That’s the second time you’ve used that excuse tonight."

"Is it working?"

Her hand slipped under my shirt. Her palm was warm against my stomach. The drain stirred automatically, reaching toward her Essentia like a flower turning toward sunlight.

"Mera."

"Rome."

"We should actually sleep."

"Should. But will we?"

Cheon’s voice drifted in from the kitchen, carrying that particular edge of exhausted patience that said she’d reached the end of her tolerance for our bullshit. "Just go to bed, both of you. Some of us have classes tomorrow."

Mera’s grin was unrepentant. "You heard her. Bed."

"That’s not what she meant."

"It’s what I heard."

She stood and grabbed my hand, pulling me up from the couch with the kind of strength that still caught me off guard. Her tail coiled around my wrist—possessive, deliberate, the kind of gesture that had stopped feeling strange somewhere around day three and now just felt right.

The bedroom was dark except for the ambient glow of Century City filtering through the windows. Mera didn’t bother with the lights. She pushed me onto the bed and straddled my lap in one fluid motion, her weight settling against me like we’d been doing this for years instead of a week and change.

"You’re thinking too much," she said.

"Story of my life."

"Stop it."

She kissed me before I could respond. Her mouth tasted like ice cream and something darker underneath—want, maybe, or just Mera being Mera. The drain opened without my conscious permission, pulling her Essentia through the contact in slow, warm pulses that made my nerves light up.

"There," she murmured against my lips. "Better."

"That’s cheating."

"Using your own abilities against you?"

"Yes."

"Then cheat back."

I rolled us over, pinning her beneath me on the mattress. Her red skin was luminous in the low light, catching the city glow and turning it into something warmer. Her horns gleamed like polished obsidian. She looked up at me with an expression that was equal parts challenge and invitation, daring me to do something about it.

"You’re beautiful," I said.

"I know."

"Modest, too."

"Modesty is for people who aren’t me."

I kissed the curve of her neck, right where her pulse beat strongest. She arched into the contact immediately, her fingers digging into my shoulders hard enough to leave marks—not that they’d last long with HARD TO KILL running cleanup, but the intent was there.

"The door," she breathed.

"What about it?"

"Lock it. Unless you want Cheon walking in on us." freewebnoveℓ.com

"Would that be bad?"

"It would be distracting."

I reached over and hit the lock button on the panel beside the bed. The door clicked shut with a soft finality that made the room feel smaller, more contained. Just the two of us and whatever was about to happen.

"Better?"

"Getting there."

Her hands found the hem of my shirt and tugged upward. I helped her pull it over my head, tossing it somewhere in the darkness. Her fingers traced the lines of my chest, mapping terrain she’d explored before but seemed determined to memorize anyway.

"You’re healing fast," she observed. "The bruises from the match are almost gone."

"SPECIMEN and HARD TO KILL working overtime."

"Useful combination."

"Has its advantages."

She sat up enough to pull her own shirt off. My shirt. The one she’d claimed as sleepwear and never returned. Underneath she wore nothing at all.

"Mera."

"Hm?"

"Were you planning this?"

"I plan everything." She pulled me down for another kiss. "Didn’t you know that by now?"