Mick laid off the flirting after that, focusing on his meal while Reg had a hushed argument with Mark.

Maria prepped the last two slices of lasagna. Her mind was still whirling over the idea that her ex went from husband material, to cheated on, to monster, to dead in one weekend. She knew what shock was. The introduction to trauma psychology course (209) specifically for her field was an elective she took last year, instead of the 101 or 105. Of course hers was not medical shock as there was no physical trauma to speak of, but that wasn't stopping the feeling of a mushy brain, the increased level of pain from nowhere...

Amazing how I couldn't see it until Nico died.

She had been in this loop all weekend. It underwrote her lust-filled haze, and never left even after she sobered up with Mark's help. Once she put the lasagna in the oven, she sat down at the table visibly shaken.

Mick was still eating, at that point, but he got up and gave her a glass of water. "You ok?"

"Probably not." Maria found herself laughing softly. What the hell is so funny? "It's just a bit of a nightmare right now."

"Was Reg right to fuss?"

"Ah...Mark is intense, but he's got a lot more self-control than I expected." She took refuge in the water, raising it to her lips to prevent more words.

"So you've already slept with him."

Maria choked on her swallow. Hell, I would have choked on air. "We're not that far along yet. No one has taken off clothing."

She couldn't technically say there's been no touching, not without lying, but nothing like sex came from it.

"But there's a yet."

"Yeah."

"I don't see anything wrong with him, but he's had a couple of accusations that tick Reg off because she wants to believe every person out there."

That alarmed Maria a little, given that she just found out what Nico really was like. Believe All Women, right? "What kind of things?"

"Drugging them at a bar-there's never been any evidence he goes to a bar at all. He's only ever on cameras around his home, the library, and the grocery store. This is the first time there will be evidence of him leaving those three places-and I mean to the minute, entire records of his life type thing. That and there's always some guy caught at those places within a few weeks of the accusation."

Mark's personality was definitely abrasive and right up on the side of strange-frankly he scared her half to death, at first. The problem was she could see an excuse for almost everything he did. She had accidentally attacked him first, and he had used some self-restraint, giving her what she needed and let her decide on things that went beyond it. Authoritative didn't mean controlling, let alone that.

What was it like for other women? Was he just as much an evil as Nico? Was he worse?

Lugh trusted him--that's all she had to go on.

Maria felt good enough to get the last plates out the oven and on the table.

Reg and Mark finally joined them. Maria pushed a plate towards Mark, who smirked but didn't pick up the fork. He did lean back and cross his arms, trying to force a relaxed pose. "Reg wants to check over the attic apartment in my house, see if it's better than this."

"What, you're not even asking her?!" It was amusing to watch this tiny woman smack a man that had Maria pinned to a bookshelf.

Mark subtly shook his head at her. "I'm telling her the conditions when she's already not staying the night here by your own admission, Reggie. She is an adult. If she wants to tell me no, she has a voice. While I'm supposed to be guarding her, we've not been able to talk much."

Maria shrugged. "Lugh left me in your care. Until I can contact him again, especially with demons involved, I'm going to go with whatever is most convenient."

There was a core of truth to that. She didn't like playing spoiled rotten like this but it was a lot to navigate at the wrong time. Perhaps next week she'd wrestle her future back into her own hands?

"Are you sure?" Reg looked at her dubiously. "Mark ain't some wholly innocent buddy best friend, here."

"I had plans to hang out with Mark on Monday anyway."

The crow choked back a laugh on that one, his glance more than a bit wicked. "I didn't know you were planning on spending the night already."

It was on the tip of her tongue to quip back with, You think I'd be done after 1 session? She turned a bit pink at that thought being paraded in front of virtual strangers. Fucking hell, every one of them is a virtual stranger. I've got no clue what I'm getting into.

"I was going to hang out in your house. If just being in your home is a threat to me, well...and Lugh trusts you."

~~~

With lasagna picked up for the siblings, everyone helped her finish packing what little she needed to get out that night and checked his apartment over-a mirror image to her original one. Mark made a show of leaving before Reg and Mick did. The siblings didn't take much longer.

For the first time in days she felt like she could breathe...except there was more to clear with Mark than she wanted to leave until Monday.