My Scumbag System-Chapter 331: Everyone Wants a Fix

Jacob practically sprinted for the door, clutching his datapad like a lifeline. "I’ll have additional intel compiled by morning! Environmental analysis! Historical clear rates! Optimal pathing algorithms!"

He vanished into the hallway before anyone could respond.

Monica rose from the desk with deliberate movements. She paused at Bartholomew’s terrarium, giving the snail one last gentle touch on his shell before turning to leave.

"Thank you for the opportunity." She bowed to me. Formal. Proper. The noble upbringing showing through. "I won’t disappoint you."

"I know you won’t."

She left.

Emi bounced to her feet, shoving her notebook into her bag with the enthusiasm of someone who’d been holding back energy for the entire meeting. She launched herself at me, wrapping her arms around my torso in a hug that made my healing ribs protest.

"Goodnight, Captain! I’ll have my med kit ready by morning! And I made protein bars for everyone! Well, I tried to make protein bars. They’re kind of... crunchy? But in a good way! Probably!"

"Emi."

"Yes?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Breathing is nice."

"Oh!" She released me, blushing furiously. "Sorry! I forgot about the ribs! Are you okay? Should I check? I can do a quick diagnostic scan. It’ll only take a second..."

"I’m fine. Go sleep."

She hesitated, her sapphire eyes searching my face for any sign that I was lying. Finding nothing, she finally relented with a small nod.

"Okay. But if you need anything, I’m just down the hall. You can knock anytime. Or text. Or use the emergency buzzer. I installed an emergency buzzer in your room yesterday. It’s under the desk. Don’t tell Natalia."

She fled before I could ask why Natalia couldn’t know about the emergency buzzer.

Three down.

Two to go.

Natalia hadn’t moved from the bed. She sat there like a purple-haired empress awaiting tribute, her eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made the temperature in the room spike by several degrees.

"Dismissed, Captain?" Her voice dripped with honeyed sarcasm. "Is that how we’re doing this now?"

"For tonight? Yes."

"I could stay."

The words hung in the air between us. An offer. A challenge. A promise wrapped in silk and barbed wire.

I shook my head slightly. "Not tonight, Nat. I need to meditate on the build."

A lie. I just needed space to think without her presence scrambling my brain into horny static.

She knew it was a lie.

I knew she knew.

But she accepted it anyway, rising from the bed with the grace of a predator choosing not to pounce. She crossed the distance between us in three steps and grabbed my collar, pulling me down to her level.

The kiss was hard. Possessive. Her tongue invaded my mouth with the territorial aggression of someone planting a flag on conquered land. The Nectar hummed between us, and I felt her shudder against me before pulling back.

"Don’t stay up too late." She ran her thumb across my lower lip, smearing the moisture there. "You need your rest, Captain."

She walked out.

The door closed behind her.

One more.

Skylar pushed off the wall, unfolding from the shadows like smoke given form. Her violet eyes caught the dim light of my room, reflecting it back with an alien luminescence.

"Try not to dream about me, Stray Dog."

She walked to the door. Her fingers touched the handle.

She stepped into the hallway.

The door closed.

Silence.

I released a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

Finally. Peace. Quiet. A chance to process the absolute circus that my life had become without seventeen different people demanding pieces of my attention.

I crossed to my desk, avoiding Bartholomew’s terrarium. My water bottle sat where I’d left it that morning. I reached for it.

Click.

The lock on my bedroom door engaged.

I froze.

I hadn’t locked it. The mechanism required physical manipulation from the inside. Nobody else had access.

I turned around.

Skylar leaned against my locked door, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised in silent challenge.

The "Skylar" that had walked out into the hallway?

Gone. Smoke and mirrors. A perfect illusion maintained long enough to fool everyone, including Natalia’s paranoid surveillance.

"That was a neat trick." I kept my voice level despite my pulse jumping. "How long can you hold a solid illusion?"

"Long enough to fool the Queen."

She pushed off the door and walked toward me. No hesitation. No uncertainty. Her violet eyes weren’t bored anymore. They were dark. Dilated. The pupils blown wide enough to swallow the iris.

She looked hungry.

The Nectar. The addiction I’d accidentally created when I kissed her on that balcony. It had been days since then. Days of watching me with other women. Days of feeling the phantom high fade while everyone else got their fix.

"You said we had unfinished business." She stopped inches from me. Close enough that I could smell her. Clove cigarettes. Expensive soap. Something darker underneath that made my mouth water. "You said you had things to work out."

"I did say that."

"Everyone is gone, Satori."

She pushed me backward. My legs hit the bed. I sat down hard.

She followed, leaning over me, her hair falling forward to curtain both our faces.

"Work it out."

She didn’t wait for permission.

Her lips crashed into mine with none of the soft uncertainty from the balcony. This was a demand. A challenge. A declaration of war wrapped in the taste of nicotine and want. Her tongue pushed past my defenses without asking, claiming territory, mapping the inside of my mouth like she was memorizing it for later.

The Nectar flooded through both of us.

I heard her moan against my lips. Felt her entire body shudder as the divine drug hit her system for the first time in days. Her fingers dug into my shoulders hard enough to hurt, nails biting through my shirt into the flesh underneath.

She pulled back just enough to breathe. Her chest heaved. Her eyes had gone glassy with the high.

"I’m tired of waiting in line." Her voice was raw. Broken. Beautiful. "I’m tired of watching her touch you. I’m tired of Emi’s pathetic puppy eyes. I’m tired of pretending I don’t want this."

She kissed me again.

Harder this time. More desperate.

Her hands found the hem of my shirt and pulled.