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“I will always love you, Phil. Everyone loves you. Remember what Yeye tells you when you get too down about parental stuff?”

“That children and grandchildren have their own fortunes and that parents shouldn’t be as a horse or ox for them.” His lips pulled up into a soft, sated smile as his legs remained around my middle. “He also says parents shouldn’t confine their kids to their own learning, for the kids were born in another time. Yeye is super smart.”

“Yeah, with age comes wisdom and creaky bones, he likes to say.” I stole a kiss and then another before we slowly untangled, my cock slipping from him. “Stay put.” I dropped a kiss on his knee and staggered into the bathroom, my legs rubbery still. I hurried to wash up then rinsed out the washcloth before returning to my guy. Phil was snoring softly just as I’d left him. Ass resting on pillows, legs splayed, his belly and pecs speckled with cum. His cock was limp, obviously as tired as its owner. I felt his exhaustion down to my bones. It would take days, if not weeks, to recover from Henry possessing me at the camp. Henry. I worried over the specter. He’d been cross, and not exactly pleasant, but he had helped save us from a terrible fate.

“Arch…” Phil mumbled groggily, rolling to his side from the pillow tower. I shook off my worries then returned to him. Dabbing off his spunk, I dropped the washrag to the floor, pulled the covers up over us, and big spooned him. “Thank you for always loving me the best.”

“We face the shit that life, and sometimes the afterlife, heaves at us as one,” I replied as I nestled in as close as I could get. We really needed to get that put onto sweatshirts. I pressed my lips to the back of his neck then dropped off yet again into restful sleep. No happy fish or ancient Taoist ghost hunters appeared, but I did dream of lotus and my mother’s soft laughter. Perhaps that was the most restful dreamscape of all time…

Chapter Eleven

What woke us up the next morning was in no way, shape, or form a dreamscape.

It was Yeye and Monique. They’d driven like demons to get to us, and they looked like every worrisome mile of road they’d clocked. Yeye ambled into our room with his cane in hand, gave us and the tousled bed a look, and then pointed to the bathroom with his cane.

“Shower, then we talk,” he snapped. We both nodded, hitching the dirty sheets we’d wrapped around ourselves when the hammering of a walking aid on a cheap door roused us from a deep, deep sleep. “First. I need hugs.”

Yeye enveloped me first, kissing my brow, and then did the same to Phil. Monique clasped me to her, kissed both my cheeks, and then gave me a look that warned of a firm talking in the near future.

“Good, you’re safe. Now wash. You stink like the underside of a dock at low tide.” Yeye motioned once more to the bathroom. Phil and I grabbed our bags then rushed into the tiny bathroom. We wasted no time in shaving or fooling around. It was lather, rinse, dress. Maybe take a second to pull a towel over our wet skin before trying to step into our clothes. Once we emerged, we found the bed tidied somewhat. The coverlet we’d kicked off had been flattened over the mattress. I blushed to the tips of my hair to think that Monique had made our sexed-up bed.

“We have ordered something from the eatery. A breakfast pizza and some strong tea,” Yeye informed us as he sat regally in the lone upholstered chair. Monique was seated on the very edge of the bed, her dark eyes on us as we slunk around to take a seat on either side of her. She gave us both a pat on the arm. “It will be some time before the food comes, but someone called Eddie will arrive.” Yeye took out his phone, swiped the lock, and showed me his banking app.

Well shit.

“Please tell me what has happened in our lives that I find myself in possession of such a vast amount of money.” Yeye looked over the top of his glasses at me, his wild silver eyebrows tightly knit into a knot. “Archimedes, I would hear from you first, please. Phil, I will listen to your accounting of this next.”

“Yes, sir,” Phil muttered, his gaze on his sock-covered toes.

I drew in a breath, let it out, and told my grandfather everything. From the moment the senator arrived at the season opener to our being woken up by them at the door. Okay, so I didn’t tell them everything. I left out the fucking last night. That seemed prudent. Also, they already knew we’d been having wild lemur sex, so yeah, no need to rehash it.

Monique said nothing as Phil and I spoke, but she did reach out to either side to hold our hands. Yeye sat straight as a bowling pin, his hands resting on the crook of his cane, his lips puckering more and more as the story unfolded. When it was all out in the open, Yeye had very crinkled eyebrows as well as tightly puckered lips.

“Well, the intention was honorable,” Monique spoke up, giving our hands a squeeze. “That you two were thinking of your family’s comfort is commendable, don’t you agree, Jaw-Long?”

“Hmm, yes, I agree that the thought was honorable. I am touched by your concern over me in my golden years.” Yeye finally smiled, the first upward quirk of his lips since this tale began. “I am not angry with you two. I could never be angry with two fine young men who sought to aid an old man. What I am angry about is the way your father used the two of you. He twisted you to his own means, which was cold as an eel’s heart.”

“Well, to be honest, we could have said no,” I offered, which was true. Mostly. “Phil wanted to, but I sort of got lured in by the cash. I feel really crappy about being greedy.”

“Sūnzi, never would anyone who knows you consider you to be greedy,” Yeye explained. “None of us feel that is the case. I too would falter at such a huge amount of money. We are not wealthy people. Being presented with a sum that large would turn my head as well. Do not think lesser of yourself for being human. My ire lies with the man who turned his love from his only son for years, and then, when it suited his needs, he opened up communication with Phil. Not only does he show no respect for the fine young man that Phil has become, but he has threatened you with legal action when you both fulfilled your duties. The man has no honor, no class, and obviously possesses a micro penis!”

The three of us blinked in shock then laughed out loud. “Yeye, where did you ever hear that term?” I asked between chuckles.

“On the YouTube,” he replied as if everyone had a granddad who tossed out dick slams like a pro. Even Phil laughed, perhaps the hardest of all, and I was happy to see it. This newest hurt wouldn’t go away easily, if ever, but he had a new family now. Mine. And we would do whatever we could, and dis whatever peen needed dissed, to make Phil smile his winning smile. “So, this man is being ugly about your work ethic for him. Odd, but not unusual.”

“Yeah, we have to go back and redo things, which is fine, though. There was a ghost there, Henry, who dove into a monster to help us eradicate it, so I’d like to check on him.” I looked around Monique to Phil. Phil nodded soundly. “Maybe if I read over the Kee journal, I can find a way to help him over, if he’s not traumatically anchored to the fire pit.”

“I hope you can find a way to help him and others who are stuck in this realm. Monique and I will rent a room to rest. We drove from the south to here in a mad rush. Also, this money that is mine, once you perform the cleansing rites, I will not use it. Not a penny.” I suspected that would be the case. My grandfather was incredibly honorable. He also adored Phil. Anyone who hurt Phil was scum in his eyes. “I have an idea as to what we can do with that money, though. Something that will benefit many.”

A knock on the door drew all our attention. “That’s probably our food,” Phil said as he jumped to his feet. “Let me get it.”

“No, no, you have a truck to repair. I will get it,” Yeye replied, which led to the two of them standing at the open door, bickering over who would pay the tab.

Monique and I were sitting on the bed, shaking our heads at our men. A thought popped into my head. I turned to face Monique.

“I had a dream, a vision, where Kee Huang spoke to me,” I told her softly over the ruckus of bill payment taking place not far away. “He advised me to not use the key that Papa Legba left for us. What do you think?”

She reached up to pat her new short hairstyle as if pondering her answer. “I think that your ancestor is a smart man.”