Chapter 319: Tough Morning for Christopher [1]

"What do you mean, Mei rejected Ryan?"

Christopher’s voice carried a mix of disbelief and amusement as he stood in the middle of his room, one arm halfway through the sleeve of his vest, eyes fixed on Sydney like she’d just told him the sky had turned green overnight.

A full day had crawled by since the hostage exchange had failed as expected, since Mei had stood her ground in that tense moment and sent Ryan away telling her to not come for her. And yet, true to his stubborn nature, Ryan had already decided he wasn’t done. Mei’s rejection hadn’t stuck. Her words, don’t come for me had bounced right off him like everything else did. He’d made up his mind to go back into Brigantine himself and pull her out, whether she wanted it or not.

Not long after, he’d left for the Boardwalk with Molly and Maribel, honoring the promise he’d made to Marlon about pulling his weight over the next few days. But before going, he’d laid the whole plan out, the broad strokes of his half-insane idea to slip into Brigantine and extract Mei directly. Everyone had heard it. Everyone had, with varying degrees of reluctance, agreed to it.

It was a crazy plan. The kind that only worked on paper and in desperate situations. Which, to be fair, this was.

Sydney had shown up that morning to check on Christopher, who was healing at a pace that bordered on unreasonable for someone who’d taken the kind of hit he had. She’d barely stepped through the door before skipping past any conversation about the plan, and what happened there altogether, and launching straight into a detailed account of the conversation between Mei and Ryan. Her version of it, anyway since she wasn’t even there to witness it!

"She did," Sydney nodded, letting out a long sigh like she was still processing it herself. "You should’ve been there, Christopher. Ryan walked up to her, cool as anything, telling her he was definitely coming to get her, like it was already decided and Mei just..." She paused, almost for dramatic effect. "She cried. Actual tears. Asking why that blockhead couldn’t understand her feelings."

"Wait." Christopher stared at her. "For real?"

He honestly couldn’t picture it. Mei crying. Mei saying something that embarrassingly honest out loud to Ryan’s face. The Mei he’d known, sharp-tongued, composed, the kind of person who’d rather swallow glass than show vulnerability didn’t line up with that image at all.

"I am telling you, I was standing right there," Sydney said, her sigh deepening. "And you should’ve seen Ryan’s face when she slapped him. Told him she hated him. Told him not to come for her."

"Okay, now I’m starting to doubt you," Christopher muttered, grimacing slightly as he wrestled the vest into place, his healing side still protesting the movement with a dull, nagging ache.

"What is there to doubt?" Sydney threw her hands up. "Even an idiot could see Mei’s already on the first step of falling for him. She’s just not there yet, she’s fighting it."

Christopher pulled the vest straight and gave a noncommittal shrug. "I mean... I don’t know about falling for him. But she was definitely more irritated around him than any of us. I’ll give you that."

"Exactly," Sydney said, crossing her arms with the satisfaction of someone whose theory had just been confirmed. "Tsundere. Classic case. She won’t admit it easily, probably not even to herself."

"Maybe," Christopher said slowly. "But here’s the thing, I’m pretty sure Mei isn’t oblivious. She was in my class, I know how she thinks. She’s likely already figured out the kind of... polygamous relationship you and Ryan have going with the other two. Rebecca, Daisy may be oblivious but I doubt she is, like Miss Ivy by the way.."

Sydney’s expression shifted, a brow arching with curiosity. "You think she knows?"

"I’d bet on it," Christopher said flatly. "Which means if she does have feelings for Ryan, she’s not just dealing with her own pride, she’s dealing with that on top of it."

Sydney went quiet for a moment, stroking her chin slowly. "Hm. So you’re saying she might be... positioning herself? Trying to find a spot?"

Christopher turned to look at her. "Not everyone thinks the way you do, Sydney. Not everyone looks at a situation like that and sees an opportunity." He grabbed his jacket off the chair. "And honestly, Ryan wouldn’t have ended up tangled with multiple women if it weren’t for his Curing ability pulling people in. You know that. Half of this happened to him, not because of him, and he still loses sleep over Rachel, Elena, and Cindy. He hasn’t moved past any of that."

Sydney clicked her tongue, shaking her head like she was watching someone leave money on the table. "That’s exactly what I mean. He’s a goody-two-shoes idiot. He’s got everything it takes, the ability, the presence, honestly the looks if you clean him up, and he doesn’t even realize it. Just stumbles around feeling guilty while half the women around him are quietly losing their minds. He should think about expanding his harem!"

Christopher stared at her speechless.

She was, without question, built differently from everyone else he knew.

"Thank god he isn’t like you," he said finally, grabbing the door handle. "And honestly? Thank god you weren’t born a man." He pulled the door open and stepped out into the corridor.

"If I’d had his power and been a man?" Sydney followed right behind him, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Fifteen women. Easily. Probably more by now."

"That says a lot about you," Christopher scoffed.

Sydney snorted, then let the grin settle into something more self-satisfied. "Alright, alright. So, finally heading to go find your beloved Lucy?"

Christopher didn’t dignify that with a glance.

"I still can’t believe Ryan actually told you to seduce her," Sydney continued, glowing with approval. "Honestly, I’m proud of him. Real growth."

"He never said anything like that!" Christopher spun around mid-step to glare at her. "We’re just using the fact that she’s obsessed with her brother. That’s it. We leverage that, we get what we need. It’s manipulation, not—"

"Manipulate whom?"

The word landed like a stone dropped into still water.

They both stopped.

At the far end of the corridor, just where the hallway opened up near the staircase, Lucy stood watching them her arms crossed.

"What is this woman wandering around here like she owns the place?!"

Christopher’s voice came out sharper than he probably intended, but he made no effort to dial it back. The sight of Lucy standing there, calm, composed, like she hadn’t just been living on the other side of a very real enemy line less than two days ago, scraped against something raw in him.

"She had some urgent needs, Christopher." Rachel materialized beside Lucy almost on cue.

"Urgent needs." Christopher repeated it slowly, letting the words sit in his mouth like something sour. "Right. That’s a fun one coming from her, that’s basically her signature move. Flash a need, reel someone in, and then put a knife somewhere painful." He crossed his arms, jaw tight. "Ask Rebecca how her urgent needs worked out for her."

Lucy didn’t flinch. She didn’t fire back, didn’t even blink at him for more than a second. She just leveled him with a long, flat stare then turned and walked straight past them toward the staircase, heading up to the top floor where they’d given her a room.

The silence she left behind was somehow more aggravating than anything she could’ve said.

"Wonderful," Sydney said, her voice dry as dust. "Really masterful work, Christopher. Very convincing. I’m sure she’s already warming up to us."

"What do you want from me?" He turned to her, genuinely baffled. "She was standing at Callighan’s side until yesterday. Like, literally yesterday. You want me to roll out a welcome mat?"

"I want you to not torpedo the only plan we have before it even starts," Sydney said plainly.

Christopher opened his mouth, closed it, and decided that particular argument wasn’t going anywhere useful.

Sydney, apparently unbothered by the tension still hanging in the air, tilted her head with the look she got when her brain wandered somewhere it probably shouldn’t. "You know... you did put your life on the line for her, Chris. That’s not nothing." A slow, thoughtful nod. "Though I have to wonder what exactly inspired that level of sacrifice. Her temper? Very fierce, I’ll admit. Or maybe..." Her gaze drifted upward in theatrical contemplation. "...the more architectural aspects of her. She is built impressively. Nice sexy figure. The rear view especially, genuinely worth noting."

Christopher went very still.

He turned to look at Sydney with the hollow, slightly dead expression of a man questioning his own life choices.

He thought, not for the first time, about Ryan. About the fact that this woman was one of Ryan’s girlfriends. That Ryan woke up and dealt with this energy on a regular basis, voluntarily, and still managed to function as a human being.

"I pity Ryan..." Christopher muttered, and turned to walk the other direction, down the stairs, away from where Lucy had gone.

"Hey... hey!" Sydney spun around after him. "Where are you going? We’re supposed to be going up! The plan, Lucy, the guilt, the leverage, what happened to all of that?!"

"I’m hungry," Christopher called back, not slowing down. "I need food before I deal with anyone."

"Deal with her, okay I don’t know why that came out sounding vaguely erotic but please keep it professional, Christopher, we need her functional—"

"Why aren’t you at the Boardwalk with Ryan?" He asked flatly, hitting the bottom of the stairs. "Remind me."

The question landed. There was a brief, uncharacteristic pause from Sydney, just a beat too long.

"He refused," she said, sighing. "Said he’d rather stay with that warrior girl." She sighed through her nose. "Maribel. Though honestly, give it a week. She’ll be head over heels and I’ll be completely unsurprised."

Christopher paused on the last step, glancing back up at her. "Maribel? The one from that group?"

"That’s the one," Sydney said, perking back up. "Funny enough, she’s cut from the same cloth as Lucy, that whole dangerous, intense, will-probably-hurt-you type." She gave him a pointed look. "You’d like her."

Christopher turned back around and walked down.

Some conversations, he’d learned, were best ended by simply removing yourself from them entirely.