Chapter Forty-Eight – Family Matters

Chapter Forty-Eight – Family Matters

“Family’s important.

And if saving my family means that I need to kill some shareholders, then fuck em.”

–Guilty plea of Hernandez Smith, accused of multiple counts of homicide, 2027

***

“What do you think?” I asked Lucy while Burringham left. He had a bag by his side, and one of his bodyguards came up to take his new suit, wrapped in a layer of clear plastic and hanging off of a coat-hanger.

“He was charming,” she said. “Handsome too. I think he knows that he’s both, and he’s used to leveraging it. But I guess that’s pretty normal for a politician.”

“Makes sense, yeah,” I said. “He’s a career politician, at least that’s the way Myalis put it.”

“She gave you a report?” Lucy asked.

I nodded. “It was pretty detailed.”

“Can I see it? I won’t read it now, but it might be interesting to know,” Lucy asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah, sure. So, the gala thing, want to be my plus one?”

“Oh, what a casual way to ask someone out,” Lucy said. She grabbed onto my arm and leaned her head down onto my shoulder. “You know, it’s going to be a real fancy gala thing. We can’t just show up wearing whatever. Well, actually, you might be able to, as long as the whatever is samurai-ish enough, but poor little Lucy needs to wear something to blend in a little better.”

“You just want a pretty dress,” I said.

“No, I want to buy a pretty dress.”

I could assist here.

I decided to ignore Myalis because she’d get Lucy something with a cat-print and ears and Lucy would take it just to make me suffer.

“I really don’t see how that’s any different than what I said. Also, aren’t you going to buy the dress with my money?”

Lucy looked up to me, and I could get lost in those eyes, even if they looked at my pityingly. “You are such a useless lesbian,” she said.

“What?”

“Entirely useless,” she declared.

“I am not!”

“If I didn’t sit you down and tell you that we were girlfriends, you’d still be wondering now,” Lucy said.

“That’s not true,” I said.

“We went on like, three dates before you realized we were dating.” She shook her head, climbed to the tips of her feet and pecked me on the cheek. “Now, let’s look at pretty clothes to wear at the nice politician’s party.”

I rolled my eyes, but followed Lucy over to one of the nearest booths. “My uselessness as a lesbian aside,” I griped, “what do you think of Burringham’s promise?”

“He’ll keep it,” Lucy said. She gestured at her reflection on the screen in the booth, and her image was soon wearing a long, flowing dress. It was nice, a beige that worked well with her skin, little gems woven near the hem flashing prettily.

“You think?” I asked. “It’s a lot of money.”

“He hasn’t been in politics for very long, right?” Lucy asked.

“No, I don’t think so.”

She nodded. “Yeah, he was a bit too… you know, cocky? Like, he was quick to show off how good of a politician he’d be. Kind of giving me some daddy issue vibes.”

I snorted. “Wow, and here I thought you thought he was attractive.”

“I said he was handsome and charismatic, and he’s both, and he knows it. Bet you he got training for both.”

“You can train to be handsome?” I asked.

Lucy looked away from the dresses before her to nod seriously. “You can learn how not to be a twat while also not being all limp and beta-ish, and the other half of being handsome is mostly eating well and doing squats. You’re halfway there already.”