𝐒𝐲𝐧 ┃𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

10. 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑠

April 28, 2023 (Present)

Syn

I walked out of the car and stepped into the busy streets of New York City. The honking of cars made me want to snap my fingers until it was all quiet, but a warning look from Hades reminded me of the repercussions of exposing ourselves to the human world. Zeus, my driver placed our suitcases onto the sidewalk and I stretched as I looked around the city in disgust.

"Are you sure coming to New York had nothing to do with Queen?" Hades questioned again suspiciously. It had almost every reason to do with her, but I wasn't keen on letting him know just yet. He'd probably leave and I needed him for what I had planned.

"I've told you three times, Hades. I'm here on business. I wasn't even aware Queen was here until you mentioned it."

"But now that you do know, you're going to stay away from her right? You're not going to try to find her and rekindle shit are you?"

"Of course not," I lied. "I'm over her, Hades. It's been almost two years." The number of lies I had told him in the past twenty-four hours was becoming baffling to me.  I hated having to do it considering how loyal he's been to me for the past couple of years, but he was the only one who knew where Queen lived and was still actively speaking to her. I needed him here to get that information.

"Okay, Syn. Just remember that you're also here to explore your relationship with Stella. She's flying out here in a few days."

I held back the scoff that I wanted to let out and grabbed the suitcases to put them onto the luggage cart. Stella and I had been out on a couple of dates and I made it clear to her that I wasn't interested in dating so it became sex. Just sex. That's all there was between the both of us, but to the public, it may have seemed like more.

"I remember."

"She likes you, Syn," he reminded me. I shrugged and ignored his comment as I walked into the building. I'd been here plenty of times over the years for business, not knowing Queen was here. I stayed in this condo in the epicenter of NYC and I wondered how many times Queen passed it. Had we ever been so close without me being aware?

"Is there a room for her in the condo?" He asked.

Huh?

I stopped walking and turned around to look at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"For Stella. Is there a room for her? It's only the gentlemanly thing to make sure your girlfriend has a place to stay."

"Stella? Gentleman? Girlfriend?!...what are you going on about Hades? I'm single." I didn't like Stella enough to even sit through a full dinner with her let alone be with her. If sex meant that we were exclusive, then I had more girlfriends than I could count.

"Syn, I'm going to tell you this because no one else will." He sighed. I nodded and he shook his head slightly. "You're a man-whore and a heartbreaker."

"Harsh," I muttered before letting lobby attendant push our things into the building.

"I'm just being honest, man. You've been seeing Stella for the past nine months. You practically just made a baby together."