Page 18 of The Totally Typical Tale of Mappy McMapface (Ghostlight Falls #1)
Chapter seventeen
Carl's Adult Emporium
Mappy
I know it’s the right call, but it still hurts when Miguel says goodbye.
He seemed surprised that I was so ready to take his cock.
I may not have been with other people, but a map has needs, and I’ve found plenty of toys that can fill that hole.
Literally. I wonder how Miguel would feel about using some.
My head is pounding, and I can’t risk something happening to him again. I’m not even sure where exactly he is staying, which hopefully means Carter doesn’t know either.
I pace the house, scared to go to sleep. I don’t know how this whole thing works. We’ve swapped when I was asleep, so I know that’s possible. We’ve also switched during the day, so I guess I don’t need to be asleep. My head hurts so much I can barely think. That can’t be a good sign.
Deciding that being in public is probably safest, I head into town. Eventually, I’ll need to sleep and be alone, but maybe I can put it off long enough that Encephalon can figure something out.
Grabbing a drink at Kyle’s seems like a good idea until I’ve had a few and things start to get blurry.
I know I needed to stay out. And that seeing Miguel was bad.
But I also know that I really want to see Miguel.
More than I’ve ever wanted to see anyone ever.
He’s amazing and perfect, and there can’t possibly be any reason to not see him .
Waving goodbye to everyone, I leave the bar and head toward the neighborhood I think Miguel is staying in.
No. No. No. I can’t hurt Miguel.
I’m in the lab. Fuck. I’m holding a pen and was apparently mid-journaling when I switched back if the line scrawled down the page is any indicator. That’s weird. Miguel gave me the impression that Carter was more in control of the swapping.
Reading his notes, it doesn’t look like he would’ve wanted to switch when he did. In fact, he was in the middle of a sentence. A sentence describing horrible things he was planning on doing to Miguel. Seriously, making these notes seems like a really bad idea.
Given the notes, he was still in the planning stages, though. That’s a good sign. Maybe I stopped him?
Miguel left his phone here, so there was no way that Carter could use it to track him.
Unfortunately, this means I can’t contact him to make sure he’s okay.
We’re supposed to meet downtown. Checking my phone, I realize I’ve barely got enough time to shower before we meet up.
I rush through everything, running out the door all the way to the Visitors’ Bureau.
I leap into his arms when I see him, clutching his face and planting kisses wherever I can. He stumbles backwards, but catches me, like I know he will.
“Missed you too, Mappy.” He laughs, but when I stare at him, his cheeks in my hands, so thankful he’s okay, he must sense something happened. “What did he do?”
“Nothing. I don’t think. You’re okay. You are okay, right?”
“Yeah, baby. I’m fine.”
I drop my forehead against his, finally allowing myself to breathe.
“He was planning to…” I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter, because it didn’t happen. Yo u’re okay.” Miguel just holds me, giving me time. “I think I might’ve stopped him? I was in the lab, and I knew I couldn’t hurt you. That I couldn’t let that happen.”
“That’s great, Mappy.” He kisses my forehead.
“You’re still not safe alone with me. I don’t know how long it took or if I can do it again, but I’m so happy you’re okay.”
“Am I interrupting?” I’m not sure how long Angelina has been standing there. Miguel puts me down.
“What’s up, Lina?”
“E said to give these to you.” She hands over a syringe and a note. “He’ll keep working on whatever that is.” She nods her head at the syringe. “But he says it’s a temporary solution.” She shrugs.
“Did he tell you about—”
She holds up a hand. “I trust E. We all have stuff we’d rather keep in the past, so I didn’t ask questions. Just offered to deliver it because I was heading into town and he doesn’t always like to make the commute from the tower.”
“Thank him for us, will you?” Miguel eyes the note suspiciously.
“Sure thing.” Angelina waves as she walks away, tail swinging behind her.
“What does it say?” Miguel asks as I read the paper.
“Basically, what she said. It’s a temporary fix. It should keep Carter subdued for now, but Encephalon can’t guarantee how long that will last.”
“Sounds like we should make the most of the time we have. I need to pick up my car before Eli starts charging me rent for leaving it there. But then we can go back to your place?”
Interlacing our fingers, we walk toward the mechanic. I really wish the note had been more specific about the time frame. Are we talking hours? Days? Weeks?