Natural Consequences(9)

“Ugh. Yes, and I feel awful for her. I don’t even have her phone number or her email. Can’t even apologize.”

“It’s not on you to apologize. I’m telling you, this is about Olivia being a crazy bitch. Shit happens. You can’t make it all about you.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad.”

“Fair. Hey, I’ll talk with Stephanie’s guardian. Maybe we’ll bend a couple rules about interventions to make it up to her.”

Alex nodded and slumped down into his chair. He knew he should set to clearing out his desk, but fuck it. He was entitled to a few minutes for this to sink in.

“Anyway, screw this job,” Rachel said. “You don’t actually need it. You can’t tell me filing all day long was a thrill a minute.”

“I liked having this job,” he scowled.

Rachel made a face. She looked at the file racks and the pile of papers in his in box. “For fuck’s sake, why?”

“Because after the way all my other opportunities coming out of high school fell apart, it felt good to at least have an adult job. This might not be exciting, but it beats working a register or standing behind a deep fryer. That’s all most people my age can find.” He paused and added, “It felt good to have a job to go to after all the other craziness in my life, too. Helped keep me grounded. Made it feel like I wasn’t just sponging off Lorelei.”

“You don’t need to stay grounded, love. What you need is a long, sustained stretch of party time. No, seriously,” she said as she saw the objection rise to his mouth. “You’ve had life after life of hard knocks and sacrifice. I know you don’t remember any details anymore, but it weighs on your soul. I see it.”

“Other lives. They weren’t me.”

“Yes, they were, dork-ass,” Rachel sighed, reaching out to nudge at his heart. “It’s all the same soul. It’s who you are.” The thought gave her a bit of a frown. “Nobody should have that kind of consistency, but there it is. You made all those choices. You carried all those burdens. It’s time to dump ‘em. Relax. Have some fun with this life.”

His eyebrow rose. “You don’t think I have enough fun with you and Lorelei?” he asked, his lips hinting at a grin despite his stress.

She mimicked his expression. “You could have more,” she suggested. “I’m kind of surprised life isn’t all strippers and sex clubs for you and Lorelei yet. You’re under a succubus curse. If you try to deny it, you’ll go nuts. You’ve gotta manage it, and that means letting your freak flag fly sometimes.”

“That’s what I’m saying, though,” he said as his grin faded. “You and Lorelei are incredible. Shouldn’t that be good enough? More than enough?”

“It’s not a question of ‘good enough,’ lover,” Rachel answered patiently. “For either of you. It’s a curse. It’s not supposed to be fair.”

“No, but I should be.”

Rachel let his statement hang in the air before she spoke again. “Y’know, this isn’t the only open relationship in the world. We didn’t invent the term. The others don’t come from demonic curses, either. The healthy ones just get there through a whole lot of honesty.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been working on that.”

“I know,” she said. Rachel sat up on the counter, gracefully sliding over to put both her feet on the arms of Alex’s desk chair. “I should probably get back on the job. Still got things to deal with in the bay. All kinds of nasty tentacled shits trying to move in down there. Ugh. So fucking gross. I’ll come back to you when I’m free again. You gonna turn into a mopey emo bastard on me?”

“This happened like two minutes ago. Give it a chance to sink in, okay?”

“It’s just a job,” she reminded him evenly.

“It is,” Alex sighed. “I’ll get over it.”

“Go home. Talk it out with Lorelei,” the angel nodded. “She loves you. So do I.” She leaned in to kiss him softly. Then she was gone.

Alex opened his eyes to find a scowling security guard looming over him. His nametag read “Lambert.” The man pushed an empty trash bag in his hands. “Two minutes, creep,” said Lambert. “Get your shit and get out of my building.”



* * *



Gathering his belongings didn’t take long. Alex wasn’t one for pictures or trinkets, but like anyone in an office for almost two years, there were a few things he wanted to save. He had a good pocket knife, a coffee mug, an iPod dock with speakers and a few holiday cards. His daily LolCat calendar. The small blue police box pencil sharpener that Kat gave him last Christmas.