Page 98 of Radar

While the taxi driver concluded the call, Xander reached for Elyssa’s hand, and they laced their fingers together.

Elyssa was afraid of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, so she shut her mouth and waited to see what would happen next.

The place the driver brought them to was in a tiny courtyard. It was small, but clean and private.

“Elyssa, Radar hasn’t had any exercise in a couple of days now, and that’s not good for him. I need to take him for a run. Do you feel safe here by yourself?”

“Yes, I could use a shower and time to wash my hair. Do you think you’ll be long?”

“That depends on Radar, about an hour. Then we can get something to eat and head over to find Victor.”

He pulled out his phone and sent a text.

Xander-Is the family on the boat?

He laid the phone on the table while he went to use the bathroom and change into his running clothes.

When his phone pinged, Elyssa glanced over.

Adele –No.

When Xander returned, he read the message, then said, “She’s in Singapore.”

“Got it,” Elyssa said. But this was a whole new world to her.

***

It was nice to have some time to decompress with no one looking over at her to see if she was going to pass out on them.

Clean was a wonderful feeling.

Elyssa pulled her freshly washed and dried hair into a bun at the nape of her neck, then went to figure out her clothing situation with a towel wrapped around her chest.

Elyssa had four more days of panties because she always packed those into her carry-on like she was going to have dysentery and shit herself ten times a day. She picked out a pair that was both comfortable for athletics and made her butt look cute.

She was down to her only other pair of pants. They were good pants to have, though. Anti-microbial, so they wouldn’t stink, anti-stain, water-resistant, fleece-lined. They were her favorites because they slid easily over her thigh-high compression socks, and nothing got bound up.

There were no clean shirts in her bag.

She was standing there in her bra, dressed except for the question of what to do about a shirt, when there was a knock at the door.

“Me and Radar,” Xander called.

“Yup.”

He let himself in and shut the door behind them.

Radar’s tongue hung long.

So did Elyssa’s.Look at him. Wow.

And all Elyssa could think was that the timing was wrong. Yes, she wanted to have a relationship with Xander Belov. Yes, she wanted to spend her time getting to know him.

But how dare he show up in the End Times, distracting her like this?

It was really inappropriate.

Save the world, then—then.