mobster mash

Athena woke up the next morning and blinked sleepily, realizing that she wasn’t alone. She was snuggled up against Max, and everything from yesterday came back to her. She suddenly felt a little shy but she was happy to see him there. It was sort of funny seeing a big tattooed biker in her fairy princess room. He was already awake, watching her a little nervously.

“Good morning,” she said, yawning softly.

“Great morning,” he replied and she smiled, shifting around a little so she could sit up and kiss him.

“So no regrets?” he asked. “Because if you’re realizing it was all a heat of the moment thing, I’d understand.”

“I have no regrets about the best night of my life,” Athena said, wrapping the sheets around herself. Then she blushed and looked down, worried that sounded clingy or weird.

“Sorry,” she said. “That probably sounded like…too much. I’m sure it wasn’t that big a deal to you, there were lots of pretty girls at the track who were clearly interested in you. I just meant that I like you and—“

Max sat up and kissed her, cutting off her rambling.

“To be honest, you were the only person I was happy to have there,” he said. “And it was a big deal. Last night, I mean. Because I like you too.”

Their faces were both pink and Athena laughed after a moment.

“I’m not always this awkward,” she said. “I guess with the weird circumstances I just worry that I’m a huge nuisance to you.”

“Nah. This is the most interesting my life has ever been.”

“Oh please.” Athena rolled her eyes. “You expect me to believe that Mr. Hellhound-born Champion Racer doesn’t have better things to do than chauffeur me around and make eggs?”

“Racing was nothing compared with trying not to burn the house down making those eggs,” Max said, poking her in the side. Athena giggled and tried to wiggle away but he grabbed the sheet she was wrapped in and pulled her back to kiss her again.

“Well while your efforts to scramble eggs and cook pasta are very valiant and adorable, I’m going to take charge of breakfast today,” Athena said, finally forcing herself out of bed. She grabbed Max’s discarded t-shirt from where it was draped over her desk and pulled it on.

“Are you blatantly stealing my clothes?” Max asked.

“You packed other ones,” Athena replied primly. “Besides, I assumed you didn’t really like this shirt, with how fast you took it off.”

“Wow, you are a cheeky little thing in the mornings,” Max laughed. Athena smiled and scampered out of the room to start breakfast. She figured they should be well fed before they went on their search for Fletcher. She made chocolate chip pancakes from scratch and fried up a bunch of bacon and eggs.

“So this is what breakfast is supposed to smell like,” Max said as he came into the kitchen. “It’s a lot better than burnt toast.”

Athena laughed softly. “Come on, I’ll show you how to flip the pancakes. My dad used to make these for me every Saturday morning, till I learned how to make them myself.”

“I don’t mean to pry, but you never mention your mom.”

“She wasn’t around,” Athena said dryly. “When my dad got in trouble with the hospital for doing a treatment they told him not to, my mom informed him that she’d wanted to be married to a prestigious surgeon, not a disgraced one. And confessed she’d been having an affair anyway. So dad moved out here so he could help people without bureaucracy in the way, and I came with him since mom’s boyfriend didn’t like kids. The last contact we had from her was when she sent someone to serve Dad the divorce papers.”

Max grimaced. “That’s rough.”

Athena shrugged. “We’re probably better off. Dad is good enough for two parents.”

Once they’d gotten through breakfast, Athena called the mysterious Leonard to tell him they might have a lead on Fletcher.

“We’re going to check it out today,” she said. “I’m not positive we’ll find him, but we should at least be getting closer.”

“That’s great news,” Leonard said, and he seemed genuinely relieved. “Please keep me posted. I’m currently getting things in order to help orchestrate giving the memory card to the Red Queen. Then I can return it to Mr. Stratford and he and Dr. Winters can finish their project.”

“Assuming the Red Queen doesn’t just kill us all,” Athena replied.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you and your father get out safely.”

“Talk to you soon, Leonard.”

Athena hung up with a sigh, anxiety setting back in. Max reached over to squeeze her hand.

“It’ll be all right,” he said. “I’m sure this ordeal will be over soon and you can go back to your respectable doctor work.”

Athena smiled. “At least some good came out of this whole thing,” she said. “If I hadn’t coerced you into helping me, I might never have seen you again.”

“I’m sure I’d have broken my nose again,” Max chuckled. “And I would’ve come straight back to you to fix it. But I have to admit, I’m kinda glad we didn’t have to wait that long.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Athena realized she was just sort of staring at him and blushed.

“I should go take a shower before we go track down Fletcher,” she said, standing up. “I’ll be back.”

Her nerves set back in with a vengeance as they drew closer to the neighborhood Rudy had talked about, keeping an eye out for the Starlight Motel.

“Are you familiar with the Black Dragons?” Athena asked, remembering Rudy had said this was their territory. “They’re not some enemy gang who’ll shoot you on sight, are they?”

“No. The Hounds don’t have a close relationship with them, but we’ve never had problems either.”

“Good.” She glanced over at him. “I don’t want you getting hurt again because of my crusade to find my dad,” she said seriously. “I still feel bad that I got you punched in the face.”

“Good thing I know a talented doctor,” he replied. Athena tried to throw him an exasperated look but it was hard not to smile. Then she glanced up and nodded.

“If that flickering neon sign is correct, then the Starlight is up ahead,” she said. “I guess it’s time to say hi to Mr. Fletcher.”