[Bonus chapter]The Morning After

Sunlight had just begun to stream through the curtains in Malachi's bedroom and came dancing on the bodies of the two adults that were laying beneath the sheets.

Mal had been awake for the last hour or so, yet he hadn't moved from his current position for even a second.

His hand was still intertwined with the lightly bandaged one of his sleeping girlfriend, and he was more than a little reluctant to pull away.

It had taken her forever to fall asleep last night, and Mal was worried that if she sensed that he was gone for even a second, she would wake up immediately.

The longer he stared at her beautiful sleeping face and swollen eyes, the more sure he became that he couldn't leave this woman behind today.

Holding out his hand, he called his phone over to himself using telekinesis and began to dial a number.

It only took a moment for the phone to connect, and when it did he immediately began to whisper lightly into the phone.

"Hey Luna... I don't think I'll be able to make it to training this morning."

On the other line, Luna immediately became concerned as she knew Malachi well enough to know that he wasn't one to avoid his responsibilities.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, it's just... Some things came up and I have to take care of Sei today."

Luna's eyes became complicated as she leaned further back into her leather chair.

"Alright... You'll still be able to participate in your dungeon raid in two days, won't you?"

"Of course I will. I still have to redeem myself from that embarrassing first run."

"Fufufufu~ You did alright."

"Maybe so but I want to give the women rooting for me a better show this time around."

"Oh?… Might you be talking about all of your fans that showed up at the last event?"

"I certainly appreciate the support, but nah. I only have two women who can motivate me like this. "

"Oh? Aubrey and Aisha?"

"I said women, not roaches."

Luna could not help but giggle as she smiled like a woman madly in love.

But despite how Mal's words made her feel, she knew that they were coming dangerously close to crossing the line she'd drawn between them.

"Mal, you… I'll see you tomorrow morning."

With that, Luna hung up the phone and tossed it onto her desk.

'That boy… he's too dangerous for his own good.'

-

It took a few more minutes, but eventually Mal separated from Sei and slipped out of bed.

After freshening up inside the bathroom, he quietly tiptoed through his apartment to Aubrey's room where Serana was currently sleeping.

Luckily, his younger sister spent most nights at her girlfriend's place nowadays and she didn't mind Serana sleeping in her bed while she was gone.

Mal's apartment had a spare bedroom and bathroom , but because he didn't know what to do with it until now, there wasn't anything in there.

'When we go shopping I'll buy her a tv and a bed too.'

His plan for today was to take Sei and Serana to the store and buy them whatever they needed.

Almost 80% of their house caught fire last night, and while they didn't lose everything, it certainly felt like they had.

Sei was especially distraught to lose the house that had been gifted to her by a woman who was like her second mother, and even though Mal couldn't turn back time to save the house, he could replace the things that were in it.

But there was a problem.

He was 90% sure that Sei was not going to simply allow him to spend an exorbitant amount of money on her in one day.

She would want to wait for the insurance company to settle things, but something like that could take weeks and Mal didn't want them to go without basic comforts for that long.

Sei didn't even have a phone anymore, as it had been left upstairs when the fire first started.

Leading Mal to his current plan of attack.

He was in the kitchen, preparing a nice and hearty breakfast the likes of which Sei would absolutely love.

She wouldn't have the energy to argue with his generosity if her stomach was full.

Or at least that was what he hoped.

In the kitchen, Mal was whisking together a bowl full of eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Once everything was incorporated fully, he grabbed a whole loaf of brioche bread from the pantry and grabbed a knife to start cutting thick slices.

In the midst of this, Mal suddenly paused when he sensed someone approaching his front door.

Worried that they would ring the doorbell and wake the girls, he rushed to open the door before that could happen and was surprised by who he found.

"Jesus, fuck… why don't you have a shirt on?!" Anna asked with a red face.

At that moment, Mal remembered that before Sei and Serana showed up at his house, Anna had texted him to ask what time his day started and what he was going to be doing.

When he told her how early he had to be at the guild, she left him on read so he assumed that she wasn't going for it.

But apparently that wasn't the case.

Although the bags under her eyes and cup of coffee in her hand indicated that she wasn't doing this willingly.

"Sorry, I'm just kinda always like this at home." He said apologetically.

Mal then looked at what Anna was wearing and realized that she wasn't exactly one to talk.

The tomboyish goth girl was wearing black sweatpants and socks with slides.

Her dark hoodie was fully unzipped, allowing him to get a good look at her impressive chest that was covered by a sports bra from a famous brand.

Mal could also see that she had quite a few tattoos that he hadn't noticed before, some were on her ribs and a few where on her delicate looking fingers as well.

"But should you really be talking? Your outfit isn't much better than mine."

Anna looked down at her clothes in sheer confusion before tilting her head to indicate she didn't understand.

"What's wrong with this?"

"Nothing, never mind."

Anna finally rolled her eyes and pushed past Mal into his apartment.

Taking a look at her surroundings, her mood improved a small amount and she wasn't as grumpy as before.

"Nice place… I'm really feeling the black floors."

'Big shocker.' Mal thought with a chuckle.

"I'm glad you like it but I've got some bad news."

"Oh yea? What?"

"We're not going to the guild today. I have some other things to take care of."

Almost immediately, Anna's face became ugly and Mal thought she was going to beat his ass.

The look on her face was so scary that he had forgotten that she was still a regular human.

Currently she looked more like a beautiful yet vengeful demon.

"You got me up… at seven in the morning… for nothing…?"

"It wasn't intentional." Mal said sincerely.

Yet Anna didn't seem to buy it for even a second.

Her mind began to run at 1,000 miles a minute, and she realized the absurdity of this situation.

"This was all apart of your plan wasn't it."

"….come again?"

"Having me show up at your place alone, opening the door shirtless, you just think I'm some easy little loner girl that you can play with as much as you like and then dump her onto the street when you're done."

Malachi sighed before going into the laundry room and pulling on a simple sleeveless t-shirt.

"You're being crazy. I'm not some sort of creep who would try to take advantage of you like that."

"Oh? Then do you care to tell me why we're suddenly not going to your guild? Don't tell me it's cause you're embarrassed to be seen with me."

Before Mal could respond, a sleepy yet sarcastic voice suddenly spoke.

"Wow Mal…. If I knew my house burning down was going to cause you this much trouble, I would've made sure that we kept a fire extinguisher around."