23- what are we doing?

"It's not a church," K stated the obvious the next morning, "Are you really not apologizing to me?"

Church, is the man's name I note, ignoring K's whining. He had bombed himself by mistake. I firmly believe now that a department should be installed for stupid deaths. Death by mistake? Shouldn't this be under suicide or something?

"Ah what a sh*tty headline," I mutter for it didn't really matter which department took the soul as long as it reached the Underworld, to Wolf. His department decides what happens next but still, I dislike disorder. I reach for the soul of the man and remember that V is not with me as I notice the thin ring. My storage is low when she is not with me. I step back and gesture for K to go ahead.

"My storage is low," he says to me.

"So is mine, V is being cleaned," I reply and instruct him to get his ring cleared the next day. But K frowns.

"I don't have a V," he grumbles as he took the roaming soul into his ring and gives me a dirty look. I don't know why I hadn't realized this before until K said it.

Why wasn't K assigned to a partner?

***

I stare at Hannah the next night when she barges into my office with her demand. Not even a question but a demand.

"Let me sleep with you tonight," she repeats.

"I'll call you back," I tell Jace, who is on a video call with me. I have to say, the young adults of today-wow. You just put it out there. Arching my eyebrow at her, I wait for an explanation and even close my laptop folding my arms across my chest, giving her my undivided attention. "Video call by the way," I inform her and her cheeks turn in a pink shade, as she pulled in her lips before exiting the same way she came in.

"So sorry," she squeaks as she closes the door.

Shaking my head, I finish up my emails.

The next night she repeats her action as the day before but this time she is silent when she enters.

My elbows prop my hands on the back of the laptop and my fingertips are pressed together in a diamond shape. "This is an office. Keep your conversations clean as possible and respect this space, please. You cannot simply barge in-"

"I don't want to sleep with V."

My eyebrow arches higher and I bend my head, scratching a non-itch on my forehead, travelling my fingers all the way to the back of my head before looking back up at her and going back to my diamond finger shape stance.

"It's not like I want s*x. I mean I do- not from you. Not her either-" she starts to wring her hands- "I want s*x someday just not with you-" she slaps her forehead and tries again, "I looked at a movie- horror and now I'm scared."

Ah. I remember she did say she was scared of horror shows- but also that my eyes reminded her of it. She looks at me as if that was supposed to make sense. She sees me looking at her nervous hands and hides them behind her back.

"If you are scared so much, why would you watch it?" I remark, cocking my head slightly.

"Well- because it's fun-duh."

Ah, because it is fun- how could I not know this my sarcastic thoughts ask me rhetorically.

"It's fun to be scared?" I frown slightly for I do not understand what she is saying. "Why frighten yourself?" I stand up, slowly moving to the front of my desk and lean slightly on it looking at her. She still is standing just inside the closed door.

"Yes?" she says but with an expression that she knows she should say no. The movement of her pulling her toes inwards into her slippers tells me so.

Is it? Interesting. Things look brighter suddenly after the gloomy Friday night.

Something inside me is wiggling to come out. Hiding my wicked smirk, I blink dropping my slow gaze from her baby-pink slippers to her white nail-polished covered toes. "Where'd you sleep last night?"

"Uh, in my room," she answers quickly as if wanting to assure me of something. Hannah is cute but I think she's playing a game with me- perhaps herself. To tease me into sleeping with her. Why else would a woman want to go to bed with a man? I fear my dear little Hannah is trying to seduce me.

Turning my head to another angle but my eyes still on her, I say quietly, "So why not tonight too, Hannah?"

With K and V, minding their own business, I am free to do as I wish with Hannah. Even if K is a witness to me sleeping with Hannah, I very much doubt he would run to tell Wolf. K just doe not seem to be that type. And well V is always in my corner whether she agreed with right or wrong, rules or no rules…she supported.

Maybe, I scare young Hannah into behaving.

Slackening the knot of my tie, I unbutton the top two buttons of my white shirt, my grey jacket long ago discarded on the back of my chair. She stares as I fold my sleeves to my elbows. Jutting my chin up a bit, exposing my neck more to her, I clench my jaw tightly, knowing the effect the cheek muscle has on young adults. My intention is for her to see the movement of the words I utter to her as my throat muscle work their magic.

My vocals low, "Are you ready to sleep now?" I watch her slowly from her face to her small, lilac colour t-shirt-covered chest, black shorts and bare legs, to straight down to her white toenails.

"Y-yes."

Catching my bottom lip between my teeth, slowly releasing it when I see I had her attention, looking at her, "Sure?"

"Never mind," she whimpers, turning around, opening the door to make her escape but I'm not having it.

"Come here."

She halts her steps but did not move. Strolling behind her, I push the door shut, leaving my hand on the frame. I could feel her body's vibration although I am not touching her. "Turn around Hannah," I huskily say above her to her left side.

"No, you're doing it again." Her voice is barely a whisper but my hearing is impeccable.

"What's that Hannah," I say bending lower to her neck so my voice is closer to her ear.

"That seductive thing you have," she barely gets out.

No, I did not. My shield is up, I swear but I am curious as she did accuse me of it before. I was enticing her, she had said. If I, had the shield off as she accused, her back would have been facing an entirely different direction now. She would have been begging me…well she knows what.

"My dear girl, you can wear a little thing like this," I tug on her waistband, my tone still low, "And expect a man to not want to see what is beneath it."

From my side view of her face, I see her close her eyes, her neck pulse racing. I smirk.

"Fine, I'll ask K," she says softly.

The smile leaves my face as her words made an impact on my brain. Of course, I did not believe her, for she would sleep with V rather than K but the words were said to irritate me. And they did. "Go," I say to her and open the door. Hannah scrambles out as if the devil is behind her.

When I finally made it to my room after a short night of soul collecting, she is on my bed. When I pull the sheet over me, a wide smile spreads across my face as I see she has changed into long Pj bottoms.