Chapter 409: Sydney wants a Threesome
Rebecca was still frozen in the doorway.
Sydney slowly turned her head toward her.
Cindy was as frozen as me.
"Rebecca," I said, trying to sound normal.
She blinked once.
Then twice.
"I..." she started.
Nothing else came out.
Sydney looked at me with a grin that told me she was about to make this much worse.
Before I could stop her, she leaned toward me again. Her tongue brushed along my cheek in one slow, shameless movement while she kept staring directly at Rebecca.
Rebecca made a small noise in the back of her throat and recoiled.
Her face turned as red as her hair. She stumbled one step away from the doorway, eyes wide enough that I could tell she was barely processing what she had just seen.
"W-Wait, Rebecca—" I called, reaching after her.
She had already spun around.
Her shoes slapped against the hallway floor as she ran away, disappearing around the corner before I could even take two steps.
Fuck.
I stood there staring at the empty hallway, wondering how the hell I was supposed to explain any of this. Rebecca had already seemed suspicious lately. She had been watching Sydney, Cindy, Rachel, and me too closely. She probably had a dozen questions she had been too nervous to ask.
Now she had gotten an answer without asking any of them.
"Is this maybe bad?" Cindy asked quietly.
She sounded a bit worried. Her hand was still holding mine, but she had lowered her eyes to the floor.
Sydney shrugged as if Rebecca had just walked in on us eating somebody else’s snacks.
"Not really. She was already suspecting Ryan and I were together anyway."
"She is probably suspecting the same thing about Rachel and me too," Cindy said. "I think she just confirmed that something really wrong is going on with all four of us."
Sydney gave a short laugh.
"Well, so be it. It had to come out eventually." She glanced down the hallway Rebecca had run through. "Though I do feel a little bad for Rachel. She is going to have to explain that she has been fucking Ryan in secret for the last three months without telling her little sister anything."
"You really take everything as a joke, huh?" I said.
I reached over and pinched both of Sydney’s cheeks.
"Hey," she complained, though she was still smiling. "Stop that."
"You brought this on yourself."
She pushed my hands away and rubbed one cheek with exaggerated annoyance.
"Come on. You have to admit, hiding it has been a pain in the ass." Sydney folded her arms. "Hiding from Margaret’s community is one thing. We had to be careful there because people would gossip, judge us, and make everything annoying. But hiding it from Daisy and Rebecca? They are part of our group. They are around us every day. It’s annoying."
She looked toward Cindy.
"They are the only two people who still do not know that we are all together."
"Really?" Cindy asked. "What about Miss Ivy?"
Sydney did not even hesitate.
"She knows too."
Cindy looked at me like she expected me to say Sydney was lying just to mess with her.
I let out a breath and nodded.
"Yeah. She was one of the first people who found out, actually. Back when Elena was still with us."
Thinking about that time made my mood sink a little. A lot had happened since then. Too much, honestly. People had left, people had died, and people we thought were enemies had somehow ended up living beside us in the same hotel.
Cindy stared at me.
"Miss Ivy knows?"
"She does," I said. "She found out a while ago."
Sydney’s smile returned immediately, and I knew I had made a mistake by saying anything more.
"And she was curious about Ryan and one of us being affectionate, wishing to watch," Sydney added, looking straight at Cindy. "So, Cindy, are you up for embarrassing him even more?"
Cindy’s entire face went red.
"W...What?! No!"
Sydney laughed under her breath.
"Come on. Don’t be so shy. We could give Ivy a story she will never shut up about. A beautiful threesome."
"D...Don’t decide things on your own!" Cindy shouted.
Her voice echoed down the hallway. She immediately seemed to realize how loud she had been and covered her mouth with one hand, glancing toward the nearby rooms.
Sydney only looked more entertained.
"If you do not want to, I can always ask Rachel instead."
"Rachel would never agree to that!" Cindy shot back.
Sydney tilted her head.
"Are you sure?"
Cindy opened her mouth, ready to argue again, but no words came out. She looked at me instead.
That was the moment Sydney decided to throw me directly into the fire.
"Well, Ryan would probably be up for it all day."
My face heated up so fast I could feel it.
Cindy stared at me.
I stared back at her for half a second, then looked away toward the wall because I had absolutely no idea what expression I was supposed to make. My brain had already betrayed me. The idea Sydney had casually thrown out there had gotten stuck in my head, and the more I tried not to think about it, the worse it got.
Sydney saw all of it.
Of course she did.
"You only think about sex, do you?" I said, glaring at her.
Sydney stepped closer, her grin turning softer for once.
"I only think about you."
Before I could answer, she kissed me.
It was quick, but it still caught me off guard. Her lips pressed against mine while Cindy stood beside us looking like she wanted to vanish through the floor.
When Sydney pulled back, she looked completely satisfied with herself.
"Whatever," I muttered. "I am leaving so tell the others."
I turned toward the stairs.
"What?" Sydney asked behind me. "Already?"
There was an actual disappointed edge in her voice this time.
"Yeah." I looked back over my shoulder. "I need to practice with Marlon for a bit, and I have to help out afterward. Tonight is Shannon’s birthday."
"Shannon?" Sydney repeated. "You mean the underage girl who has a huge crush on you, Ryan?"
I groaned and rubbed my forehead.
"Why do you turn everything I say into something weird?"
"I am just saying facts," Sydney replied, completely serious for about half a second before a smirk returned to her face. "You clearly like her a lot too. I do not want to force you to stay here when she has a birthday tonight. Still, you know we miss you when you disappear all day."
That took some of the annoyance out of me.
I looked at her properly. Sydney was trying to sound casual, but I could hear the real meaning behind it. Ever since we had taken the Golden Nugget, there had been meetings, patrols, training, repairs, planning around Brigantine, and people constantly needing help which I was providing. I had been spending more time away from Sydney, Rachel, Cindy, and the others than I wanted to.
"I know," I said, letting out a breath. "I am sorry about that."
"It is fine," Sydney said. "You just have to repay us later. A hundred times over."
"I am looking forward to it," I replied.
Sydney’s smirk widened immediately.
"Really? Then how about now?"
She looked down both sides of the hallway as if she were seriously checking whether anyone could see us.
"We could pick an empty room and—"
"Enough already, you horny woman!"
Cindy grabbed Sydney by the arm before she could finish and pulled her away from me.
Sydney stumbled a step to the side, more because Cindy had caught her off guard than because she had actually used much strength. She looked over at Cindy with a long, exaggerated sigh.
"Got it."
Cindy kept hold of her arm anyway, her cheeks red from embarrassment.
I laughed despite myself.
My eyes moved toward the nearby room where Mark had been working.
"I do not want to bother him," I said, "but is he making progress?"
"Yep," Sydney answered. "He said we might have electricity back in a week. Two weeks at most."
I looked at her.
"Wait. Really?"
The idea sounded ridiculous even though I had seen the equipment Mark and Kunta had been working with. The Whitesun had become livable, but it was still a half-damaged hotel filled with survivors using candles, flashlights, scavenged batteries, and whatever else they could find. Having actual electricity again would change everything.
Lights in the hallways.
Working elevators.
Maybe even hot water if enough of the building’s systems could be fixed.
Could Mark really understand an alien device well enough to connect it with Earth technology? Kunta had probably helped him with the parts she recognized, but Mark was still the one trying to make it work. The old man had always seemed smart, but this was on another level.
"Lucky, we have a modern-life Einstein with us, right?" Sydney said with a grin.
"You bet," Cindy replied, giggling.
I shook my head, still trying to imagine the elevators working again. Christopher would probably celebrate more than anyone else. He had been complaining about climbing the stairs every day since we arrived.
"You two can come tonight for Shannon’s birthday too," I said.
Sydney’s expression softened, but she shook her head.
"No, it is fine. We barely know her, and it is her birthday. Let her be surrounded by her people and her lovely crush. That is all she needs."
"Right," I said.
I ignored the last part because I was not giving Sydney another chance to turn Shannon’s birthday into a whole thing.
Cindy glanced at me with a more serious expression.
"Then, Ryan... did you hear anything new about Mei?"
The hallway suddenly felt quieter.
"Tommy said he is working on it," I replied. "He is halfway done, apparently. He will contact me before we start planning anything."
"Really?!" Cindy’s face brightened instantly. "Then we will get Mei back soon? And Emily too?"
"Yeah," I said, nodding.
I could not promise it would be soon. Brigantine was still dangerous, and Gaspar could not suspect that anything was wrong. One mistake could ruin the whole plan before we even got close to Emily and Mei.
Still, Tommy had made progress.
That was more than we had had before.
Sydney folded her arms and sighed loudly.
"The tsundere Chinese beauty and Ryan’s first love, who has not been stabilized for three fucking months. God help us."
"Shut up already," Cindy snapped.
She grabbed Sydney’s ear and tugged it.
"That hurts, Cindy!"
"You deserve it."
Sydney tried to pull away, but Cindy held on for another second before finally letting go. Sydney rubbed her ear and glared at her, though the two of them were clearly struggling not to laugh.
I smiled as I watched them.
Then I remembered why I had come upstairs in the first place.
"Anyway," I said, "take care. Tell me immediately if Zakthar wakes up."
Sydney’s smile faded.
"He does not look like he is waking up anytime soon," she said. "We still have no idea whether he made that weapon for Callighan, or what kind of weapon it even is."
"Let’s hope he did not finish it," Cindy said quietly.
"Yeah."
My eyes drifted toward the room where Zakthar was being kept.
I felt bad about what had happened to him. His injury had come from me. At the time, though, I had not been thinking about protecting him. Sydney had been in danger, and we had been facing two Hybrids. I had acted before I could think through anything else.
That did not make the memory easier to sit with.
At least Ivy had said he was not gravely injured. His head trauma was serious enough to keep him unconscious, but she had not sounded like she expected him to die from it.
I wondered if I should check on Ivy too.
The thought brought back that uncomfortable feeling again.
Ivy.
I could not explain why thinking about her made me feel strange lately. She had been around us for a long time. She had helped people, treated injuries, and stayed with us through more than enough dangerous situations. There was no clear reason for me to feel awkward just because I thought about seeing her.
Still, I did.
I looked toward Zakthar’s door for another second, then forced myself to turn away.
Lucy was waiting, ready to head down to the Boardwalk with me. I gave Sydney and Cindy one last look.
"See you later."
"Do not get yourself killed during training," Cindy said.
"I will try."
"And more important, if you happen to cure another woman, tell us in advance. We need to be aware as the main harem members," Sydney added.
I nearly tumbled forward.
This woman was too dangerous.