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Ha.
Ha ha.
I twist my hands in my lap as the driver pulls up to my mother's psychic shop. He flicks his gaze at Kassam in the rearview mirror over and over again, but it doesn't bother me. It would have yesterday, before our shower discussion when Kassam told me that he considered our marriage to be a real one. That thought keeps turning in my head over and over again.
A real marriage.
With a god.
Who's cursed with hedonism.
And someone else tried to take out because he wouldn't marry them.
Yep, all of this leads to madness, but somehow I'm determined to race into it, face first. I force back my worries and pay the cab driver in the last of my cash, then get out of the car. Kassam follows behind me, and when he steps onto the sidewalk, he holds his hand out to me.
I take it, not thinking—and he zaps me with an instant orgasm.
A whimper escapes my lips and I turn to him, eyes wide. "What the fuck, dude?"
Kassam just grins at me. "You looked so very serious and sad. I wanted to give you something that felt good."
"I am about to tell my mother that I'm leaving this world," I whisper to him. "Maybe don't make me come while I'm trying not to cry?"
His expression immediately changes to one of consternation. "I forbid you to cry, Carly. I won't like that." He shakes his head, as if that decides it. "Your sadness makes me unhappy."
If only it were that easy to turn it off and on, like a switch. Kinda like he does with the orgasms. I give him a stern look, squeezing his fingers. "You can keep holding my hand, but if you give me another orgasm, I'm changing my mind about going with you."
Kassam's mouth twitches, and he does his best to look serious. "I will be on my best behavior."
Somehow I doubt that.
I head inside the shop, the neon PALM READING sign in the window bright and flashing. It's early in the day but my mom is open already, and I think guiltily of the stack of cash she gave me. Her shop runs on a tight budget, and I know she barely makes the bills. It's a labor of love for her and I hate that she's having to pass me money and even more that I can't pay her back. Ever.
The realization chokes me, and when my mom comes out of the back room with a stack of books in her arms, she looks so familiar and warm and mom-like that I burst into tears.
"Oh, pipsqueak," my mom says sadly. She sets the books down on the nearest counter and holds her arms out to me.
I release Kassam's hand and race into my mom's arms, holding her close and weeping. I haven't even gotten the words out yet, but Mom knows there's something wrong. How am I going to leave her behind? My mom is my best friend and the only family I have. She's held my hand through a dozen broken relationships, and those horrible years when my dad was strung out on drugs and took it out on his family. She's been my rock, for all that she loves to keep her head in supernatural clouds. How am I going to leave her behind?
"You don't have to explain," she tells me in that gentle, motherly voice as she strokes my hair. I notice the jangle of a quartz bracelet as she does, and dimly see Kassam retreating to the far side of the room to give us space. "I know what you're going to say, Carly."
"You don't," I promise her, my heart aching.
She steers me toward the small storage room, away from Kassam, and shuts the door behind her. As I fight to compose myself, my mom just gives me a knowing look, brushing a lock of my thick, straight hair behind one ear. "You're leaving with him, aren't you?"
"How did you…"
A smile curves her lips. "Lachesis came to me in a dream last night." Her expression turns both sad and loving. "She said you were leaving me behind."
That only makes fresh tears well up, and I bury my face against her shoulder again. "Mama, I can't. I love you. You're my family. I can't leave you here alone."
"Oh, my pipsqueak. Don't cry. The goddess said you're needed. That you have a great destiny waiting for you over in the other realm. How can I possibly keep you from that?" She cups my face and brushes my tears off my cheeks, a brave smile on her face. "I'll miss you terribly, of course, but how can I keep you from great destiny?"
I manage a small smile. Most other parents would probably roll their eyes at being given a message from the gods in a dream. My mother, however, believes all of it. She's exactly the kind of person that pays attention to messages from another world, and for the first time, I'm grateful that she's into all this woo-woo nonsense, because she didn't bat an eye when I said I was bonded to a cursed god from another world. She just looked for solutions. And right now, instead of begging me to stay, she understands. She's going to hug me and let me go fulfill my destiny, whatever the hell that might be.
