Syn

I drummed my finger along the table as I waited for Queen. Did I upset her? I wanted to be honest with her as she requested, but maybe I went a bit too far.

From where I sat I could see the inside of the restaurant and my eyes had hardly deviated from it since she left. My cell phone vibrated in my pocket again for the umpteenth time tonight and I rolled my eyes. My father had been trying to reach me for hours and I wasn't surprised. The man always wanted the last word and usually, I obliged. Simply for the sake of not hearing his fucking mouth, but I didn't want to deal with it right now.

I'd speak to him later though, I wasn't petty enough to die without letting him and my mother off the hook. I was just angry at the world when I unburdened myself to him earlier. He did deserve to be plagued with questions for a short while...but not forever. When I truly thought about it, that wasn't what I wanted for him and my mother. The only thing they were guilty of when it came to me was being blinded by ambition on his part and for her; pure naivety from having a child far before she was ready.

I heard footsteps approaching and I looked up to see Queen. My worries temporarily became an afterthought as she smiled at me and I relaxed. "You're thinking a lot tonight," she said. Instead of sitting back in her seat she came directly to me and sat on my lap.

I moved back to accommodate her and my arms wrapped around her. "I have a lot to think about," I said.

"Hm." She hummed, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I think that's enough thinking for tonight."

"Is that so?"

"Mhm." She nodded.

I smiled. "What do you propose we do then?"

The abrupt change in emotion threw me for a loop but I didn't question it. I wanted to see her happy. I was tired of thinking and arguing about the inevitable. Besides, not seeing another tear from her tonight wouldn't hurt.

Her eyes twinkled with excitement as she smiled. "We should get drunk."

"You were drunk last night," I reminded her. "Are you developing a problem I should be made aware of?"

She pouted. "I had a good reason last night. But we have never been drunk together before." She leaned into me and raised her brows suggestively. "Please?" The offer was enticing. Especially with the way she was looking at me— and this damn dress...

She could talk me into anything.

But I promised her a date.

"I have to drive, Princess."

"You don't have to. We can portal and tomorrow I will get the car myself."

"The parking fee." I threw in for shits and giggles.

She laughed softly. "I'll pay it."

"And if it gets towed?"

"I will pay that too." The woman came and went, setting down the appetizers I ordered. I heard her say something but neither of us were focused on anything else. My eyes were begging for her to talk me into it and her eyes were daring me to say yes.

"Queen..." I said.

"Syn." She drawled out my name, her eyes falling to my lips. "What is it that I heard you say before? Carpe diem?"

"Seize the day," I said, considering it.

"Mhmm." She nodded. "Let's do that. This has already been the best date and I'll remember it forever. Give me the rest of the night and I'll return the favor."

Return the favor...

The waitress cleared her throat when she approached us this time. "Are you guys ready for the main course?"

I nodded slowly, tapping my finger against the table before looking up at her. "In a moment," I said. "For now, we'll take another bottle of the strongest thing you have in there."

"Yes, sir."

I looked back at Queen and she giggled, a slow grin spreading across her lips. Funny how life worked. I was the King of the Underworld, yet I just felt like I signed a deal with the Devil.

And a sexy Devil she was.

꧁꧂

My head throbbed- there was an incessant painful pounding that was breaking its way through the thick cloud that was my mind. My body ached as I shifted on something cold and hard. What the fuck?

I forced myself to open my eyes and was greeted by two rectangular fluorescent lights buzzing down at me. I hardly remembered much of last night and I for the life of me couldn't figure out how the fuck I ended up in here. My confusion was becoming insurmountable but my immediate thought was Queen. It spurred me to my feet quicker than any medication would've and I looked around the small room. I was alone in here.

"Queen!" I yelled. I rushed to the thick door in the corner. There were no handles from the inside for me to pull at so I settled on pushing and kicking it but it wouldn't budge. After a few fruitless attempts, I burst out laughing. And I couldn't stop.

Life was really fucking something.

Less than a day left to live and I had managed to get myself kidnapped. It just didn't make any sense. I was drunk, but not drunk enough to let someone get the drop on us like that.

It was amusing for all of thirty seconds before pure rage began to engulf me and my fist went flying toward the door. "Open the fucking door!" I roared, knuckles to the metal until blood stained the cold door. "Shit!"

I looked around the cell. There was a large bed with cotton sheets and a thick comfortable to the left corner. It was definitely out of place. I'd been held in plenty of cells, basements, and dungeons but none of them ever had a bed- let alone one that looked as welcoming. Perhaps I had a hospitable captor. The thought of that only made me angrier.

I couldn't feel any power in my body but it didn't stop me from snapping my fingers until they were cramping. There had to be something within these walls stopping me from being able to use any magic.

All my efforts to use my strength were futile. The last resort was my memory. I had to remember how the fuck this happened and then maybe I'd be able to get the fuck out of here and find Queen. Whoever the fuck it was, if she had so much as a scratch on her, I'd rip their fucking head off.

I sat on the edge of the bed and buried my head into my hands. I closed my eyes, willing my mind to focus on the parts of last night that I could remember. Bits and pieces came back to me but not nearly enough for me to get the full picture of this bullshit.

"Queen, calm the fuck down." I grabbed her waist and pulled her away from the building.

"She was...flirting all night and I ignored it!!" She said in a slur. "I'm going to kill her. Let me go." I held her against me, struggling to stand on solid ground myself. Everything was...spinning. Teetering. "And you!" She pushed at my arms. "Never. Ever. Wear this again. No more black. NO- no more cologne. No more working out. Fr-from this day for...from now on tomorrow."

I laughed out loud. "What?"

She frowned and shook her head at me as I took measured steps forward. "Don't- don't do that. I'm not dumb. I'm the smarrrrtest in the whorth-hole...hold," she tripped over her words, and the sounds jumbled through my head, tickling a part of my brain that couldn't stop my laughter. She smacked her pink lips a few times. "Fuck!"

A few people in the area turned in our direction and I put a hand over her mouth. "Shh. They're looking."

She ripped my hand from her mouth and yelled, "What?!" to the closest person near us.

I held back a laugh and tightened my hold on her. I turned toward the man."My...ap-apop...logies. That's a strange word." I thought to myself. "Please accept my condolences."

"I love you!" Queen shouted at him before kissing her fingers and blowing the kiss in his direction. I fanned the air in front of her to block it before looking at him.

"She should've asked permission," I said. "I'm sorry for her."

"Huh! What'd I do?" Queen asked me before looking at him. "W-what..."

Suddenly a door opened a few feet from us and a man walked in our direction. I took a step back, pulling Queen with me as I eyed him cautiously. He looked at us before walking toward the man we were speaking to. He picked him up in a single swoop and I blinked a few times.

Queen gasped in my arms as the realization dawned on the both of us. It was never a man, it was a fucking mannequin.

"Syn. Did you see that?" Queen whispered, patting my arm.

"Yeah." I nodded as the man disappeared back into his shop. "I did."

"He just turned that man into stone, Syn."

"Yeah," I said again. Wait- "No, no, that's not what happened."

"What are you?" She whispered toward the shop and I furrowed my brows. "Let's go, Syn. You need to be more careful. That could've-- it could've been us."

"I would never let that happen to you," I told her as she walked ahead.

She pointed a finger up at me. "Y-you didn't even do anything when he took the man. How are you going to protect me?"

"He was doomed..from the start."

"Maybe, maybe we should go save him," she offered, spinning around to face me fully.

I winced and shrugged. "I don't feel like it."

Queen squinted her eyes and nodded slowly. "Me too."

"Me neither," I told her to correct her.

She looked around before nodding slowly at me. "Okay...I know."

"Then why didn't you say it?"

"I said me too," she whined.

"It's wrong!"

"So we should go save him?!" She asked me.

"What are you saying right now?"

"What are you saying?" She shot back at me.

I chuckled and took her hand. "You're pretty when you're mad."

"I'm not pretty when I'm not mad?"

"No." I shook my head and her face fell. "No. That's not what I meant."

"Syn." She stepped closer to me until she was in my circle.

"Queen."

"Can I have your card?"

"Okay." I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and handed her my debit card. She took it from my hand and a mischievous smile spread across her lips. "Why?"

"Ice cream," she whispered, staring down at my card.

"Ooh." I followed behind her, keeping my finger hooked into the strap of her dress.

I shut my eyes, letting her lead the way and after what felt like an eternity, she opened the door to the ice cream parlor. I glanced back to see how far we had walked and saw the store we were just standing in front of about thirty feet away.

Impossible.

"Syn, come." She pulled me inside and led me to the counter.

"Hi, what can I get you both today?"

"Ice cream," she told him.

He smiled at her and I tightened my hold on her. "Cone or cup?"

She thought for a moment before answering, "Cone."

"A waffle, sugar, or cake one?" He gestured toward the displayed and a wrinkle formed between Queen's brows. He was stressing me out so I knew he had to be stressing her out.

"I'm going to think about it." She frowned before tapping me. "You go."

"I will get the cup," I said to him. It seemed like the path of least resistance as she'd already hit a roadblock.

"Small, medium, or large?"

Motherfucker.

"I think I want the waffle one..." Queen said lowly.

"Let her go first." I needed to think.

"Got it." He picked up a waffle cone. "Flavor?"

"Strawberry cheesecake."

"How many scoops?"

She paused a second before sighing. "This is...more difficult than I anticipated..."

"Two," I told him and held up my fingers. He looked at them before pausing.

"Two or three?" He asked me.

"What?"

"You held up three fingers..."

"Oh. One scoop is fine for her."

"Yes," she agreed with me. "I'm on a diet."

"Three scoops," I told him. "She will have three."

She giggled. "It always works."

"Hm?" I turned to her. "What works?"

"Nothing." She walked around me to the register and I looked down at the variety of flavors. I was stuck on the size I wanted but hadn't even asked myself what flavor I was going to get. There were so many...How the fuck was I supposed to know what to choose?

"And for you sir?" He came back to me and I glanced at Queen. She had her cone in her hand and a spoon in the other as she waited for me. Aww. I smiled.

"Answer him."

I turned my attention back to him and decided on a small.

"What flavor?"

Here we go.

I looked down at the display and everything swayed under me, the ice cream spreading far and wide into a fucking illusion that made my head spin.

After a few moments, I spoke. "I'll just have mint--"

"You better fucking nawtt!" Queen interrupted.

"What? It's my favorite."

"It's the only one you eat."

I shook my head and glanced at the display again. "I've never had these other ones." Aside from vanilla and chocolate, everything else was foreign to me.

"You can try them if you'd like," the man behind the counter spoke up. "We have sampling spoons. Just let me know which ones you'd like to try."

I tried them all.

In the end, I chose mint chocolate chip with a grin as I entered the pin to my card. A choice for a tip popped up on the screen and I made sure to be more than generous. Aside from the twenty-one-question game he tried with us, he was helpful.

When he saw the tip his eyes widened and he said a million thank you's as we walked out. When we were finally outside, Queen looked up at me. "How much did you tip?"

"That...is a problem for the Syn of tomorrow." I stuffed my mouth with the ice cream and she giggled. We walked side by side on the sidewalks. Neither of us said much of anything since multitasking was beyond the realm of possibility. Bottomless mimosas were something I'd heard of but tonight, we had bottomless...hard liquor.

And we were completely fine.

Then we weren't.

I threw my empty cup in a nearby trash can before coming back to her side and strolling along. "Do you want to try mine?" She held out her cone. I shook my head. "Why?"

I cringed. "It's pink."

"Yours was green."

"I'll pass."

"So because it's pink you think it won't be good?" She asked me and I nodded. "Interesting."

"Why is it interesting?"

"Because I can think of a few pink things that you've tasted and eaten.." my mouth dropped and she smiled, "...you seem to like them. So..." She held up her ice cream cone again and raised a brow.

"Well played." I leaned down to taste it, my eyes still locked on hers. My tongue dipped down into the cold sweet dessert and Queen watched me, desire swimming in her eyes. "Mm." I moaned. "It is good. Nothing compared to you, but...good."

Her mouth parted and her eyes dropped to my lips when I stood up straight and licked them. After a moment, she swallowed. She wet her lips before meeting my eyes and taking a step toward me. "I'm curious...about something."

"What?" I looked down at her.

"My favorite ice cream," she said, her fingers curling under my chin. "My favorite person. I want to taste them together."

Shit.

"Then...you should do that." My eyes dropped to her lips and her mouth curled into a smile.

"Coating your dick in ice cream and then sucking it off probably wouldn't be comfortable for you so I'll take your mouth this time," she said before licking her ice cream.

My eyes shot open. What-

She pulled me down and claimed my lips, stealing the question right from the tip of my tongue. The ice cream somehow suddenly tasted infinitely better. She kissed me deeply, relishing in the taste of her concoction and my head fucking spun. It felt like I was buoyant and the only thing keeping me grounded was her sweet lips.

Fuck me.

She took a few steps back, pulling me along with her until we were off the sidewalk and into an alley. My mind dizzied as she kissed me, my lungs using her mouth as oxygen. Her back hit the brick wall of the building, breaking our kiss for a moment. She looked up at me with hazy eyes before kissing me again and I groaned into her lips.

How the fuck was I going to be able to say goodbye to this?

A warm feeling built up in my chest before slowly creeping up my neck. It circled in my head, making me take a step back and blink a few times. "Are you alright?" I heard Queen ask me as she held my arm to give me support.

"I'm drunk."

Her giggle echoed in my ears. "Maybe that's enough kissing for you."

"One more," I whispered, pulling her against me and ignoring the foreign feeling.

"As you wish."

Our lips met again in a slow kiss and suddenly, darkness took over.

I wracked my head for anything else, but that was all I could remember.

I could hear footsteps getting closer from the other side of the door and I immediately stood up. I focused on them- they were light, too light for a man so it wasn't like I needed to be prepared to attack immediately but they caught me off guard.

"Open the door, please," I heard a familiar voice speak.

Queen.

I rushed to the door as the latch opened and when she came into view, I wrapped my arms around her. The door immediately closed behind her, but I couldn't be bothered to even try to stop it. I was more worried about her than myself and what mattered right now was making sure that she was unharmed. "Fuck," I whispered as I closed my eyes and breathed in her scent. I pulled away and cupped her face in my hands as I checked her for bruises. "Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?"

She looked up at me in confusion. "Why would anything..." She paused and as if she realized something, she winced. "I could see how this would be confusing for you."

"What..." I prepared to ask her what she meant until I felt something poking at my torso between us. I looked down to see her holding a tray with several different foods and fruit. "What...is this?"

"Ah, I brought you breakfast." She smiled. She walked past me to the bed and set it down before looking back at me. "I hope the floor wasn't too uncomfortable." She looked down at the singular pillow on the floor beside the bed and I took note of it. That's where I slept.

No.

There was no fucking way.

"I tried to carry you onto the bed," she said in an apologetic tone. "As you can see I couldn't so...pillow."

I let out a huff of laughter. This was so unbelievable that it was almost laughable.

Almost.

"Did you..." I ran a hand through my hair and looked around. "...fucking kidnap me?"

"I, uh, tsk," She tilted her head. "I wouldn't consider it kidnapping. I want you with me and you want me with you. I didn't like your decision so I decided to make my own."

"Your own..."

"Yes." She nodded. "I've decided I'm going to keep you."

"K-keep me?" I asked in shock. "Have you lost your mind? What the fuck do you think gives you the right to make that decision?"

"Because." She shrugged a shoulder. "You belong to me."

꧁꧂

Author's Note

Oop. Welp😭.
I hope y'all enjoyed the chapters✨ I'm excited for y'all to read what's next hehe🤭 I shall see y'all very soon, and I swear it won't be a long ass hiatus again😂 I will be sharing the next drop date sometime in the next couple of days❤️

Feel free to share any thoughts, comments, and concerns✨ Muah!