My Scumbag System

Chapter 628: He’s Mine Today

The morning light hit my face like an accusation.

I’d slept maybe three hours. Most of that time had been spent staring at the ceiling of my hotel room, running scenarios through my head, trying to figure out how the hell I was going to survive Thursday’s meeting while simultaneously plotting the complete and total destruction of Julian Valerius and everyone who’d ever shaken his hand.

Productive use of my time, really.

My phone buzzed. Reyna.

"Awake. Docs say my channels are recovering. Slowly. Very slowly. Veronica’s going nuclear on every Valerius asset she can find. It’s actually kind of terrifying to watch."

Relief flooded through me. Recovering. Not permanent.

"How do you feel?"

"Like someone scooped out my insides and filled me with static. But better than last night. Can’t manifest even a spark yet. Docs say maybe another 48 hours before I can do anything useful."

Forty-eight hours. That was both terrible and miraculous. The operative had said the effects could last days or weeks or forever. Two days was getting off light.

"Stay in bed. Rest. Let your sister burn the world."

"Absolutely not."

I blinked at my phone.

"Excuse me?"

"I’m not spending my last day with you before you leave lying in a hospital bed feeling sorry for myself. The docs cleared me for light activity. I want to go out."

"You just got hit with experimental Aspect suppression technology. Your powers are gone. You almost died."

"And? I’ve broken bones during training and competed the next day. I’ve fought through blood loss and concussions and one time a dislocated shoulder that I popped back in myself between rounds. A little nerve damage isn’t going to keep me locked up like some delicate flower."

I could practically hear her voice through the text. That stubborn set to her jaw. That fire in her eyes.

"Reyna."

"Satori. I want one normal day. No Gates. No politics. No VHC conspiracy theories. Just you and me and the city. Please."

That last word hit different. Reyna didn’t say please. Reyna demanded. Reyna took. Reyna challenged.

Reyna didn’t ask.

"Fine. But if you collapse, I’m carrying you back to the compound over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes."

"Promise?"

I snorted. Even powerless and probably still in pain, she couldn’t resist flirting.

"Meet me in the lobby in an hour. Wear something that doesn’t scream ’I’m the Crimson Comet please take my picture.’"

"Impossible. I scream that no matter what I wear."

She wasn’t wrong.

An hour later, I stood in the Olympus Rising lobby wearing the nicest casual clothes Helena had stocked in my equipment locker. Dark jeans that actually fit properly. A charcoal henley that showed off the shoulders the System had been building for months. My hair was doing that artfully messy thing that Emi always said made me look like a "bad boy from a romance novel."

Whatever that meant.

The elevator doors opened, and Reyna stepped out.

My brain short-circuited.

She’d gone for "incognito celebrity" and landed somewhere around "supermodel pretending to be a normal person." High-waisted jeans that hugged every curve the gods had given her. A cropped white tank top that left a strip of tanned stomach visible. Oversized sunglasses pushed up into crimson hair that she’d left loose instead of braided.

The outfit was casual. The body wearing it was anything but.

"You’re staring," she said, walking toward me with that athletic grace that made her hips sway like a metronome.

"You’re worth staring at."

"Smooth talker." She stopped in front of me, close enough that I could smell her perfume. Something floral and warm. "Ready to show me around?"

"I’ve been in this city for three days. I don’t know where anything is."

"Perfect. We’ll get lost together."

She took my hand. Her fingers were warm against mine. No lightning dancing beneath her skin today. No crackle of power waiting to be unleashed.

Just a girl holding a guy’s hand.

It felt strangely intimate.

We made it approximately fifteen feet outside the compound before the first camera flash went off.

"Holy shit, is that La Sirena?"

"Who’s the guy with her?"

"Wait, isn’t that the Stray Dog? The one who won the tournament?"

More flashes. More voices. Within thirty seconds, we were surrounded by a loose circle of paparazzi who’d apparently been staking out the Olympus Rising entrance in hopes of exactly this moment.

Reyna tensed beside me. Her hand tightened on mine.

"Just keep walking," I murmured. "Don’t engage."

"La Sirena! Is it true you’re dating the Stray Dog?"

"Nakano-san! What happened to Celeste Vance? Did you two break up?"

"Is this an official announcement? Are Olympus Rising and the VHC forming an alliance?"

The questions came rapid-fire. Cameras clicked and whirred. Someone shoved a microphone toward my face.

I stopped walking.

Reyna looked at me with surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Giving them what they want." I turned to face the cameras with a smile that I’d practiced in the mirror exactly never but somehow felt natural on my face. "Morning, folks. Nice day for a walk, isn’t it?"

The paparazzi went absolutely feral. More flashes. More shouting. More microphones appearing from nowhere.

"Nakano-san! Are you and La Sirena officially together?"

I tilted my head slightly. Let the smile turn a little more mysterious. "I’m just a guy trying to enjoy a day off with a beautiful woman. What happens after that is between us."

"What about Celeste Vance? Sources say you two were seen together at the Academy!"

"Celeste-san is an amazing person and I have nothing but respect for her." I shrugged one shoulder. "Beyond that, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell."

That got a reaction. Cameras went crazy. Someone actually squealed.

"So you DID kiss her!"

"I said a gentleman doesn’t tell." I winked at the camera. Actually winked. Like some kind of drama protagonist. "Draw your own conclusions."

Reyna made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a groan. She leaned into my side, playing along with the performance. Her hand slid around my arm possessively.

"He’s mine today," she announced to the crowd, her La Sirena persona clicking into place like a mask. Cool. Confident. Untouchable. "You’ll have to share him some other time."