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“I won’t bring a third person in on such a personal matter.”
“Agreed in most cases, but I’d be okay with Kirsten as the third party. If we hire her as a couple’s therapist, she won’t be able to tell even her lovers, should she agree to help us.”
Rather than argue the point, I asked, “Blindfolded arm wrestling?”
“It’s a combination of physical strength and magical strength, without allowing our gazes to interfere.”
“Let’s start with that and see what happens, but we’ll need to be in a shielded area, or at least away from other magical beings.”
“The cabin I took you to should work. It isn’t scheduled to have occupants again until Thursday afternoon.”
I did a quick internal check to see where the sun was. “We should have time to get there, arm wrestle, and return before dawn, but let me call for a limo to take us, as it might be close.”
He nodded, I telepathed Patience to let her know what I needed, and she told me one would be to us in twelve to fifteen minutes.
A waitress settled Ryan’s fried mushrooms on the table and brought me a glass of wine, and I told Ryan, “You have twelve to fifteen minutes to eat those.”
“I’ll drive and let the limo follow, so it won’t have to bring me back to my car. Have you started your driving lessons yet?”
I shook my head. “Not officially. Someone took me driving in our neighborhood a few nights ago, and a geek in the flock got me set up so I can drive on a video game thing, with a steering wheel, gas pedal, and brake pedal arranged like you have in a car.”
My new identity came with a driver’s license, so I wouldn’t have to deal with the whole learner’s permit and taking the tests for my actual license, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do everything possible to be an excellent driver before I turned myself loose on the open road.
When it was time to go, I rode up front with the limo driver, one of the leopards who’d worked security for Marco in New York. Someone he completely trusted, and who knew how much Marco cared for me. He’d make sure I was safe if he had to bring me home after sunrise.
I had him tell me the rules he was following as he drove, and he was great about explaining where he looked before he made a turn, how he doublechecked the blind spots before he changed lanes, and who had the right of way at every intersection we came to.
“I’m going to need you to drive back down to that Walmart we passed once you drop me off,” I told him when we pulled into the cabin’s driveway, and then I telepathed, I’ll let you know when you can come back.
“Yes Ma’am.”
When he was gone, Ryan and I looked at each other across the driveway from twenty feet away. After a few moments of awkward silence, I asked, “Do you have a table sturdy enough to support an arm-wrestling match between us?”
“A huge old oak had to be cut down in the back yard, and the previous owner had the tree service cut it at the height of a hi-top table. He poured some kind of clear epoxy on top of it. I figure that should do the job.”
I walked around back, saw the stump he’d been talking about, and went to stand in front of it.
Ryan handed me a blindfold, and I watched as he put his on first. I put mine on and said, “I guess we go by scent and sound from here. My left hand is in the approximate middle. Once we grasp left hands down low, it shouldn’t be hard to match our right hands up.”
With a little stumbling, we managed it, and Ryan said, “We both count down from ten together, and we begin on the zed in zero.”
“I was told to use zee in America.”
“Yeah. That’s right. Sorry.”
“Rules?”
“Elbows stay on the table, the left hands are only holding for leverage and shouldn’t be used as strategy. Anything I’m missing?”
“So, this is about a combination of physical and magical strength, nothing else?”
“I believe so.”
“Okay. Ten, nine…”
He picked up with me and we counted down in perfect synchronization, and then I threw everything I had into attempting to slam his hand down all at once the very microsecond my tongue went high enough for the vibration of the Z to kick in.
Ryan did the same, though, so nothing moved despite the fact we were throwing enough magic around for a dozen or more strong supernaturals.
