8 - Melika of Raleigh

“God, it’s so beautiful here,” Casey said, leaning on the guide rail looking over the lake.

“Yes, fuck!” Lilah agreed, holding the rail tightly. Hale had his hands on her hips, pulling her ass apart as his cock speared into her sphincter.

“I’ll say,” Alicia agreed, lazily rubbing Lilah’s clit.

The other girls were down the slope, packing up the tent and gear. Reika, Dakota, Ivy, and Nique had all cum first last night. It was the fairest way to assign chores.

“Oh my fuck my god!” Lilah said, grinding her teeth. Anal wasn’t something she had ever asked for, but with a friend rubbing her clit as her asshole throbbed around Hale’s cock, it was making her cum in stupid ways. Every thought in her mind struggled to press through the fog of mental razor wire. She just managed to curse and scream.

A trucker’s horn blasted. Hale raised his hand in celebratory cheer as Lilah stared madly at the passing tractor trailer.

“Looks like they’re finishing up,” Casey said, stepping back from the look off to squat behind Hale and take his testicles in her mouth. Alicia dropped down and gave Lilah the clit-licking that sent the blonde singer into paroxysms.

“OH fuck FUCK fuck you girls!” Lilah whimpered, rubbing her tongue against the underside of her top lip as she came. Her whole body sagged as her pussy gushed. Her breasts, hanging free, bounced madly with Hale’s furious pounding.

“God, I hate cumming,” Ivy said, hauling up the tent bag towards Betty.

“Yeah, I call horseshit, you hair trigger slut,” Dakota said. She sighed. “Sorry, we’re stopping for coffee, right?”

Hale responded but his vocalizations were as scatterbrained as Lilah’s. Casey smiled proudly around his sac.

“Cumming?” Dakota asked with a big smile as she watched the sexual knot shiver and buck.

“Christ fuck...” Lilah whimpered, stretching and arcing as she felt Hale’s ropes of cum spray up and into her.

Reika slapped Betty on the hood. “Cuddle!”

“Dammit,” Ivy said.

Casey and Alicia helped Hale and Lilah tumble down on the roadside grass. Hale squeezed Lilah’s breast, leaving the new ring encircling Lilah’s nipples.

“They just, uh, show...”

“Breathe,” Alicia said, rubbing Lilah’s back. Casey took the ring and hopped to her feet.

“They just show up out of nowhere?” Lilah asked.

“Always from my hand onto a girl’s skin,” Hale said.

“I think that’s right,” Casey said, trying to remember the original appearances. “Next stop North Carolina?”

“And the home that came with the truck,” he said. “I can’t wait to show you all. It’s right on the beach and...”

He looked around. Alicia helped Lilah to her feet.

“We need a North Carolina girl,” he said.

“No, you will be taking on three women in North Carolina.”

They turned and saw a Coyote sitting at the end of the K-rail.

“I only have the one ring,” he said. “It’d take ... twenty days to--”

“You have eight rings,” the Coyote said. “I’ll see you soon.”

“You can’t fucking talk! You’re a coyote!” Lilah screamed a full twelve-seconds later, after the coyote had loped away.

Seldom did everyone ride in Betty’s cab. There were usually two girls in the trailer. It was only meant to sleep four, and even that was tight beyond belief.

Ivy and Casey were riding in back as they crossed into North Carolina. The first time ever Ivy had ever opted out of Betty. Everyone else liked a break from time to time. Reika never left the cab, but she needed the break more than everyone else.

“He’s not going to do it,” Ivy said.

“But he might have to?” Casey was tired of the conversation going in circles.

“And what? He just kicks two of us out of the team? For whatever skanks some coyote has settled on? You know they’re not going to be ring-worthy.”

“We have no idea why or how any of this works,” Casey said, waving the ring. “But we do know the Coyote has been telling Hale that he owed him for Reika...”

“And so many of us...”

“I don’t think I need the ring,” Casey said. “He said, right from the beginning. He couldn’t give me away. It was one of the rules.”

“Rules he made without a trickster coyote signing off on them,” Ivy said.

“What I’m saying is, I liked him before I had this,” Casey waved the ring. “I can lend it out to somebody so Hale can do whatever voodoo he needs to to satisfy the magic.”

“Someone tries to take the ring off my finger, I’m biting their fingers off,” Ivy said.

“You don’t think you could love him without the ring?”

“I don’t think I could love everyone all the time forever without magic,” Ivy said. “Hell, this makes me love you and sometimes I want to slap you silly.”

“You silly or more silly than that?”

“More silly.”

“That’s a lot of slapping,” Casey said.

“Look, it’s not a question because he’s not going to do it.”

“What if the coyote tries to hurt us?”

“It’s thirty pounds or some shit. I say the next time he opens its stupid face we stomp its head in,” Ivy said.

“That is a plan,” Casey said. “You don’t think it’s been the same coyote though?”

“Wait, it’s all coyotes?” Ivy said.

“You don’t think a coyote followed a truck from California across the country do you?”

“Not anymore,” Ivy said. “I never really thought about it.”

They frowned at each other.

“He’s not going to do it,” Ivy said.

“Dr Bjarnsson!”

Soren turned and saw one of his new grad students clicking down the hallway after him in her stilettos and suit. Melika was dressed in a light summer yellow skirt suit with an open collared white blouse underneath. She was a gorgeous Hawaiian girl, lithe and soft, athletic and sweet-faced. Her green eyes were alight with joy.

“Miss Lani,” he said, smiling. “I’m sorry, I didn’t make time for any meetings today.”

“Can I talk with you as you walk back to your office?”

“Of course,” he said.

“I was looking up the Draupnir,” she said.

He frowned, darkly.

“I saw the pages open in your office at our last meeting. I must admit, Norse mythology has always been a favorite of mine.”

“You’re voracious,” he said. “What isn’t a favorite of yours?”

“I’m a bit tired of the colonial era,” she said. “And I never could get into the history of mathematics class I took last year. I don’t want to blame it on Mr Xanthopoulos dry and disinterested lectures, however. And, I understand of course that material sciences and engineering are key to--”

“It was a rhetorical question,” he said.

“Oh, of course,” she said.

“Soren, took you long enough,” Terry was waiting for Soren at his office.

“I’m sorry, Miss Lani,” he said. “We’ll reconvene later. I do have quite a busy day.”

“Oh, of course,” she said.

“Don’t run away too quickly,” Terry said. “Introduce us Soren.”

“This is Melika, one of my teaching assistants,” Soren said, visibly put upon. “Melika this is an associate and benefactor of mine, Terry Hofstedder.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Melika said.

“What part of the occult does she study?”

“I teach histories of the religion and--”

“I’m currently very interested in Norse and Germanic mythologies,” Melika said.

“Well, fantastic,” Terry said. “Many hands make short work. Perhaps you can help us with a little archaeology project.”

“I’m sure Melika has many responsibilities to--”

“Actually, I’m hanging loose until September. I’d love to help with anything,” she said. “Truly.”

Soren looked at Terry. The look was incredibly heavy.

“Right, we’re not prepared yet for a third,” Terry said. “However, assuming we tidy this first hiccup up quickly. We’ll need some help then.”

“Lay it on thicker,” Soren muttered under his breath.

Melika kept her cheeks from blushing. This Terry was thirty years older than her and in middling shape. She decided Soren’s dismissal was in fact a protective measure for herself.

“I hope you do keep me in mind,” she said. “I hope we can speak again soon, Dr Bjarnsson.”

“Yes, of course,” Soren said. “Terry.”

Soren held the office door for Terry and locked it behind them. Melika sighed. She really had so little to do for the next few weeks. She had been so deep in her work and studies, she wasn’t even sure she knew how to have fun and help pass the time until the fall semester started.

Betty rolled into Raleigh, Hale patted Dakota on the head, hurrying her up. He didn’t like driving downtown getting head as much as he did on the highway. There was something about cruise control and fewer blind corners that made the drive’s safer.

Dakota smiled around his cockhead, rolling her tongue left and right under the lip of his foreskin. Her wrist stroked his cock as hard as possible.

“What’s his name?” Ivy asked, pushing the warrior panda into the back of Nique’s ear.

“I don’t know,” Nique said, swatting over her shoulder. “Ask Lilah.”

“She’s in the camper,” Reika said.

“No shit sherlock,” Ivy said. Casey squeezed Ranger a little tighter.

Dakota did her best to ignore her travelling companions and that got easier as Hale seized, a hand flat against her skull as he ejaculated into her mouth. Slurping loudly, she gathered him all on her tongue, before sliding off of Nique’s lap to tilt her head back and swallow.

“Hoo,” Hale said. “What do we do in Raleigh?”

Everyone was a little underwhelmed since the coyote. They hadn’t done much in North Carolina besides fuck and find roadside diners.

“There’s a scrimmage game ... The season doesn’t start until the end of the month but we can probably go tailgating?” Reika said.

“Football?” Casey said, perking up.

“Wait,” Dakota said. “Why are you suggesting football?”

“I play sports,” Reika replied.

“Yeah, she’s a master a tonsil hockey,” Ivy said.

Hale laughed.

“Tennis,” Reika said.

“Yes, we know,” Casey said. “Tailgating sounds fun. And you know who goes to college ball?”

“Everybody?” Dakota asked.

“Cheerleaders,” Casey said.

“So?” Nique said. “It’s not like we have a spare ring.”

It was pre-season. No college would be risking their stars, but it was time to earn some money from the stadiums and get some practice in for the rookies and the second, third, and fourth stringers. Carter-Finley Stadium was home to the NC Wolfpack. It was going to be a promising season.

Hale pulled the camper and truck behind the pickups and SUVs. The girls jumped out, raring to get in. Hale slid out, looking for some enthusiasm, his eyelids drooping as he tried to stay awake.

“Woo!” Alicia was beaming as she stepped out of the camper. Dakota was helping her carry a twenty-four pack onto Betty’s bed. They unhooked the trailer and moved Betty into the space next by.

“Hey!” The stadium wasn’t packed for pre-season but there were enough Duke jerseys and people around to spark some rivalries around a few different trucks. The girls caught the eyes of many and soon Betty was a hub for much of the pre-game shenanigans.

Hale was sitting on Betty’s tailgate, drinking a beer, and people-watching mostly. Dakota had taken to his laidback attitude, sat on his left, knee to knee with him, though her beer was disappearing much faster.

“What’s eating you?” she asked.

“That obvious?”

“You’re not difficult to read,” she said, dropping her head on his shoulder. “Plus I love you. I pay attention.”

“I’m still a bit overwhelmed to read all of you so well.”

“You’re also very much a guy,” she said, laughing. “C’mon. Talk through it, it might help.”

“I’m not going to help the coyote,” he said.

“Well, we knew that,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Casey’s got a plan though,” Dakota said. “Seriously. I think it’s a good one.”

“Well then,” Hale said. “See any new potentials?”

She jabbed him with a finger.

“Wrong question?”

“There were three, earlier,” she said. “But I wrote them off.”

“Why?”

“Because she arrived,” Dakota said, pointing to a brown woman who looked out of place in and somehow alone despite three men talking to her. She was wearing a yellow suit jacket. She looked like she should be in a law office, not at football game.

“You’ve got a great eye,” he said. “She looks overwhelmed. Let’s go rescue her.”

Dakota kissed him. “You’re such a hero.”

He squeezed her knee, hopped down, grabbed her hips and helped her down onto the asphalt.

Terry and Soren arrived at the stadium following the pictures from Casey and Reika’s Instagrams.

“You don’t get tickets?” Terry asked. “You’re a professor here.”

“I don’t care for American Football, and I’d rather they spend that money getting me dental coverage and--”

“You’re in America, be American.”

“I’m not going to shoot up a school or invade an oil rich nation,” Soren grumbled.

“Shut up,” Terry said. He cross-reference two pictures. “They’re parked over there.”

“It’s busy,” Soren said.

“It damn well better be, your tax dollars built this stadium. If it didn’t bring in money, you wouldn’t be free to do your esoteric helpful only to me research.”

“One of those rings is mine,” Soren said. “And one to study.”

“And one to study?”

“Yes, and,” he said. “The other is for my lab assistant.”

Terry said. “That is the deal.”

Soren frowned. Terry needed constant reminder of the terms. It was getting so tiresome.

Melika hadn’t been to any sports game since she was a freshman. She had learned, years ago, that she didn’t care who won and she especially didn’t care for the guy who had brought her to that game.

But for the first time, she had all the time in the world on her hands.

She didn’t know what to do with herself.

A day of sitting her studio apartment, masturbating to the romance novels she had always meant to read hadn’t satisfied her. She had friends, online, no one in Raleigh. She had downloaded Tinder, but that had reminded her of the emotionless encounters that had turned her away from sports from the first place.

But was sports the problem?

Or just incurious sexually-pushy men?

And that’s how she ended up in the crowd. Three sexually-pushy men were already latched onto her. She was reconsidering giving that book about the girl getting pregnant by a sasquatch turned out.

“Hey,” a young native woman bumped her hip. “Sorry guys, this one’s spoken for. See the redhead and the Latina over there? They’re total you’ll get- nowhere teases, but they do have free beer.”

The guys stuttered for a moment. “My name’s Dakota.”

The strum of a guitar boomed and Lilah started belting out Hot Guy on a Hot Truck from atop Betty’s bed. The song wasn’t as well known as it was in Nashville, but it quickly got the co-eds jumping. Alicia leading the pack of the college girls bouncing practically out of their tops.

“Rescue success,” Hale said, as Dakota walked Melika up to him. “Hi, I’m Hale. You seem a bit out of place.”

“Hi,” Melika said, looking him up and down. It was hard to guess his age, but she suspected she was older than him. But when the slender native girl went in under her arm a prickle ran up the back of Melika’s neck. Something compelling her to compete with the girl. She had to take a long deep breath to evade the thought. She was in no mind to question it. “I’m Melika.”

“Yellow’s not a team color,” Dakota noted. “Are you as out of place as we are?”

“I’m North Carolina State,” she said. “Go...” It took her a moment. “Wolfpack.”

“Go Wolfpack,” Hale said. “You want a drink.”

He handed her a beer and she looked at it funny. She wasn’t driving and the point was to go out and have fun. She took a sip.

“That is a raunchy version of the song,” Dakota said.

“You know her?” Melika said. “She’s kinda amazing.”

“Understatement,” Hale said. “Yeah, Lilah’s one of our traveling buddies. Road trip across America.”

“That sounds fun,” she said. “I wish I could do something like that.”

“Don’t let yourself stop yourself,” Hale said. “What are you studying?”

“Oh, I’m doing my masters in history,” she said. “I haven’t settled on a discipline, but there’s a great Norse and Viking scholar at the school.” She was shocked to see a genuine interest on his face. She tilted her head. Dakota was still here. Melika sighed. The good ones were always taken.

“Do you know Norse runes?” Dakota asked, she put out her hand for Melika.

“Not ... without a reference book,” Melika said, but as she picked up Dakota’s hand and looked over the ring. “Yeah, but you should look up Dr Soren Bjarnsson, he--”

“Doesn’t need to hear his name three times to appear,” Soren said. Melika nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Hale, son!” Terry stepped through Melika and Dakota and forced a hug around Hale’s shoulders.

“Uh ... Is Mom here?” Hale asked.

Terry just smiled.

“Come on, let’s go somewhere we can talk. I’m sure your girlfriend can spare you for a few minutes,” Terry pushed Hale.

Hale looked at Dakota. “Tell the others.”

Melika watched Terry and Soren all but force-march Hale through the crowd. Dakota went towards the truck but Melika grabbed her hand.

“What?”

“He had a matching ring, didn’t he?” Melika asked, running her finger over the runes. “Come with me. I have some books on something like this.”

Dakota frowned. “I have to tell the other girls.”

“Tell us what, chere?” Nique asked. She bloomed into an excited smile to look Melika up and down. “Bonjour.”

“Hi,” Melika said, looking this new blonde up and down. Her eyes zeroed in on the rings. She turned to Dakota. “Bring your friends as well.”

“Look, I’m not going any further,” Hale said, coming to a stop outside of the crowd in the parking lot. Most of the partiers were already moving inside anyways. “It’s good to see you Terry,” he lied. “But if Mom’s not here--”

“Listen, little shit,” Terry dropped the act immediately. “This doesn’t belong to you.”

He grabbed for Hale’s hand and Hale pulled his hand away.

“Stop, Terry,” Soren said. Just because they were out of the crowd didn’t mean they were away from witnesses. Plus it was clear the boy was more than ready to lay out the older man.

“The ring, it’s not yours. However you got it, this is the end. It was important to my father, he had pity on you kid. That’s why he gave you the truck. This isn’t about pity. This is about legacy.”

“No, I have written proof the ring and the truck were meant for me,” he said.

“Written proof?”

“Yes, written proof,” Hale reiterated. “I’ll send a copy over to the lawyers. That’ll settle this, I’m not giving it up.”

“You’re running around getting your wick wet!” Terry lost control of his voice. He looked at Soren and calmed himself down. “You’ve been given the goddamned Mona Lisa and you’re scribbling on it with fucking crayons! I want the ring. Now.”

“Never,” Hale said. “Your Dad knew better to let it end up in your or any of your siblings hands. You tore apart everything he ever owned chasing them down. No, you’re done. I’m done. We’re done. This is how it is.”

Hale shrugged Terry off and jogged back across the parking lot.

“Great plan, Terry,” Soren said.

“It’s not over yet,” Terry said. “We know where he’s headed?”

“After my TA?” Soren asked.

“What?” Terry’s lips turned into a bright wide smile. “Yes, she does meet his taste, doesn’t she?”

“His taste is physically attractive, so yes. I guess she does,” Soren said, sighing before racing to catch pace with Terry towards the car.

“Hale!” Ivy hit Hale with a side-tackle hug.

“Hi,” he said, frowning. “Where are the girls?”

Casey, Lilah, and Alicia had packed up the mess. Nique, Reika, and Dakota were gone.

“They went honey-hunting,” Ivy said. “With the Hawaiian mamacita you picked out.”

“She’s a Norse history grad student,” Lilah said. “She’s interested in the rings. Slow pitch over home plate it looks like.”

Hale nodded.

“Where’d they go?”

“School buildings are just down that way,” Alicia pointed. She then frowned, before lighting up. “They have cell phones.”

“Right,” Hale said. He scratched through his hair. “Text them we’re missing the game.” He went to the bed to grab some of the trash and cart it to the receptacles.

“That sucks,” Alicia said. “Who’d you run off with?”

“He’s my stepfather,” Hale said. “His father, Marcus Hofstedder, gave me this.”

They looked at the ring.

“And he knows about it,” Hale said. He carried the trash to the bin. Yellow ears and bright eyes shot up before he could empty his hands.

“And it’ll take three fingers to get rid of him for good,” the fox said. “The first is Old Marcus’s estate lawyer.”

Hale frowned.

“Just leave the rest of the trash,” Hale said. “We can dump it elsewhere. Casey, do you have the ring?”

“I trusted it to Dakota,” Casey said. “She had ... Melika’s ear.”

“Find somewhere to go and text us the address,” Hale said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Oh, sorry,” Melika said, after rambling for so long.

“Don’t be!” Dakota said.

“Oui, non,” Nique added. “Such passion and excitement. It’s what I wanted to see when I go to school in September.”

“Are you starting here?” Melika asked.

Reika frowned, slowing to a stop. It took a second for the rest of the girls to notice.

“What’s wrong, petite?” Nique asked.

“Casey and Hale are going back to California?” Reika said. “I kinda thought this was forever.”

“I think it is,” Dakota said, turning the ring on her finger. “Even if we’re not together for a little while.”

“You all didn’t start the summer road trip together?”

“We all got picked up along the way,” Nique said. “Dakota was second.”

“Third,” Dakota said. “Ivy and Casey were first.”

“Oui?” Nique frowned. “I can’t imagine how Hale handled just the two of them.”

“Hale sounds like some guy,” Melika said, frowning. Trying to infer which of the girls he was dating. She could imagine that maybe there was some cheating going on, but for it to be in the open? It wasn’t like there weren’t polyamorous groups on campus, they were just ... more predatory or more vapid than this. Melika frowned. “In here.”

She held the door and followed the others into her small office space. She was the only one around, most of the other grad students were having what little summer vacation they could before getting into their theses and dissertations.

There was a stack of books on her desk, all about Norse mythology and especially Draupnir.

“Let me write down the runes,” Melika said.

Dakota slipped her hand into her bag, but brought out her buzzing phone. She frowned. She looked and saw Reika and Nique had been messaged to.

“Stop, not yet, I’m coming to you.” And an address.

Dakota just let Melika lift her hand and scribble out the letters.

“Give me your number,” Dakota said.

“Oh, that’d be great,” Melika said, pulling out her phone. She was beginning to get excited. Dr Bjarnsson would make a great advisor and this inscription would be just the thing to get his attention.

Hale took directions from Reika and Nique as he jogged across campus, made wrong turns, and finally started getting clear and concise and nonconflicting directions from Dakota.

He found his three girls in a second floor hallway outside of a cluster of offices.

“Hi,” Dakota said.

“Where’s the girl?” Hale asked.

Dakota looked panicked between Nique and Reika.

“You told us not to,” she said, a second later.

“No, that’s right,” he said, hugging her.

“What’s up?” Nique said.

“I’m going to have to talk to the coyote,” he said.

Reika, Dakota, and Nique all grabbed their rings possessively.

“How do we find a coyote for a powwow?” Ivy said, when everyone had arrived back at Betty. They were in a cheap hotel parking lot several blocks from the stadium. Hale kicked a trash bin, but no beady eyed head popped out to stare him down.

“He gave us a place to start,” Casey said. “The estate lawyer.”

Hale went into Betty’s cab and started digging through the secret space.

“I have the letter and papers here,” Casey said, tapping Hale on the shoulder.

“Thank you,” he said. Sighing, quickly. He ran through the names at the bottom of the legal letter. Anne Kipling was the only obviously feminine name. A quick google search of her name and the firm and he had Anne’s associate on the line in a matter of moments.

“Hi, my name’s Hale Valmont. I’m calling on behalf of my ... inheritance to the Hofstedder estate. Marcus Hofstedder.”

“Please hold,” the associate said. Hale kicked and danced impatiently to the music. It seemed like four hours, it was closer to three minutes.

“Hello Mr Valmont, Anne Kipling speaking. You’re calling about the keys to the Wilmington house?”

“Yes,” he said, after a second to control himself from acting crazy. After all, the rings were secret. Right?

“Very good, do you know when you’ll be arriving in Wilmington? You’re based in California, are you not?”

“I’m actually, currently in Raleigh,” Hale replied.

“Oh, that’s convenient. Do you have a pen? I can give you the offices here, or I can meet you somewhere if you prefer?”

“Um ... Let’s meet somewhere. I need something to eat.”

“May I pick the restaurant, we’re still on retainer to the Hofstedder estate, so a business meal is on us, and I do have a few favorites I’m sure you’ll love too,” she said.

“Certainly,” he said. “I’m not alone.”

“Oh, please, bring a date. And dress up. I’ll text you the reservations,” Anne said. “See you in a couple of hours.”

“Yes, thank you,” Hale said.

He hung up and relaxed with a deep breath. He looked around and cursed himself. She said to bring a, singular, date. Choosing a favorite amongst the girls wasn’t easy. Lilah and Nique had fit in so perfectly, while they were the newest and least integrated, they were still such an amazing fit.

“You’re taking Casey,” Ivy said, reading his face.

“Huh?” Casey said.

“Actually, I have a better choice for your companion,” the voice was silk and daggers. They turned to see a coyote with a wagging tail.

“I’ll do it,” Casey said. She pulled on her ring, but without Hale’s confirmation it didn’t budge. “Someone has to.”

“Not it!” Ivy said. She shrank back from the glare of the others.

“We need the first ring first,” Hale said, looking at the unclaimed ring between his pointer finger and thumb. “Dakota, you know you’re way around campus. Come with me.” Dakota looked around, gripping her enringed left middle finger as she climbed into the passenger side of Betty. Hale shut the door.

“You need a suit,” Nique said. “This restaurant, it is high end.”

“I have one in the trailer,” he said, reaching the driver side door. “I’ll be back.” Betty drove off.

“One of us has to take her ring off,” Casey said. “Look, I’ve known Hale for the longest. I’ve been friends before the ring, it was only a matter of time before we started dating without the ring. I can take it off and not lose anything.”

“I don’t believe you,” Ivy said.

Casey frowned, not sure how to deal with that.

“Besides, sugah,” Alicia said. “He needs three rings. That’s not just you.”

“I...” Reika said. “If I take it off, I might end up going home, going to school, not being part of this anymore. Don’t ask me to.”

“I gave up two jobs and my music career,” Lilah said. “Don’t ask me either.”

“I have plans and school coming,” Nique said. “I don’t want to leave, but I had a life planned out beforehand. I’ll be the second.”

Everyone sat quietly, no one wanted to agree.

“I’m worried about Dakota,” Alicia said. “She’ll do the right thing and it’ll break her heart.”

“Why’d we let them go alone?”

Hale’s patent leather shoes felt like they were made of concrete. His lip rippled in disgust at the sixty-something old woman on his arm. She was chubby and severe. Her makeup too much and the ring on her finger made his stomach turn.

Not as badly as the pair sitting inside his breast pocket.

No word from the Coyote.

No cheer on Hale’s face.

“Professor Gammel?” the Maitre D’ asked of the woman at Hale’s side. “Your usual table.”

“I’m here with the young man,” Professor Gammel said with a scratchy voice.

“I’m expected by an Anne Kipling,” Hale said, robotically.

“Of course,” the Maitre D’ said. “Follow me.”

He led the pair through a cool dark restaurant to a private side room where a tall woman in her early fifties with obviously dyed blonde hair was waiting in a sharp and expensive skirt suit. She stood up and walked over for a handshake. She looked Professor Gammel up and down.

“Donna? How are you with Mr Valmont?”