Page 80 of Inextricably Tied

Agony stares. “Nothing else to do.” Except think about your dick in both our hands. How warm you are when you’re asleep.

Romance: disgusting.

It’s the most awkward day they’ve had, so naturally, they spend it crammed in the same car. There are minor reprieves at meals or when they have to fill up the tank, but those stops aren’t safe from the weird cushion between them. Invisible padding that keeps them shifting around each other, so they don’t have to acknowledge the very profane way they fucked in a holy room.

It’s uncomfortable, but doable. The night’s motel, on the other hand, presents a problem.

“Sorry,” coughs the wizened satyr at the front desk, “only one bed. It’ll be a tight fit, unless you want another room?”

Flint’s jaw clenches. “One’s fine.” But he takes the keys so abruptly, he nearly elbows an elk centaur waiting in line behind them.

The three of them unpack, making the bed with Harbinger’s sheets, looking for excuses in the bottoms of their bags until Agony tries the TV.

It won’t cut on. Flint jumps at the opportunity. “I’ll ask the front desk about it.”

“Actually…”

Both men turn toward Harbinger, who’s flicking the zipper on her pack. “There’s something we need to figure out. Probably best with no distractions.”

The room is deathly still. Her eyes roll. “Gods, it’s not that big of a deal…”

Flint and Agony speak at once.

“I don’t know if now is —”

“It’s probably not —”

Harbinger cuts in. “We need to see exactly how deep the connection between Agony and me goes.”

Oh. Flint and Agony don’t move. She scowls. “We know he’s connected to me — that he can visit my dreams, that he can feel some of what I do — but we don’t know about my connection to him.”

Agony watches her warily. “How would you want to test that?”

“Flint can do something to you, and we’ll see how much of it I can feel. He’ll hold back his emotions. I’ll go into the bathroom so we know I’m not responding to any other stimuli. And Flint’s not going to risk hurting us, obviously…”

“Obviously,” Flint clips.

Harbinger’s gaze drifts. “So it would make sense…”

Flint’s eyes narrow until she confesses.

“If you two agree, I think you should have sex.”

Agony chokes. As soon as Flint looks toward him, he smooths his features into nonchalance. “I don’t think your bodyguard’s gonna stick his dick in —”

“Fine,” Flint answers.

Agony does nothing to hide his offense. “‘Fine’?”

“If it’s the only way to test it —”

“It’s not,” Agony splutters. “We could, I don’t know, stick me with a pin or —”

“It needs to be strong enough that I can feel it.” Of course Harbinger has an answer for everything. “Like the night after the fire.”

The room is sweltering. Agony fans himself. Does he even sweat?

“If you don’t want to do it —”