Streamers and a Stud: Ch. 18 - PART ONE (Preview) [5,023 words]

This is an in-progress update to chapter eighteen of Streamers and a Stud.

Author's note: Whew! Big preview here of what I expect to be a very large chapter. Expected to get this out a few days ago but was a little busier than anticipated. Lots of plot here, laying the groundwork for the upcoming scenes and Josh's attempt at redemption. Thought the depth of this introduction was necessary to really emphasize the changes that are happening. No smut in this preview unfortunately, but SPOILER: some will be following shortly. I plan to make quick work of these next scenes and have Jodi appear towards the end of part one, hopefully. Should have this finished before the weekend. Fingers crossed.

Finally getting texts back into the mix as well! Albeit in a different format, but I'm very happy to be implementing them in some way. They added a lot of immersion to the story in the past and I hope they do so as well here. The way I was doing them before caused a little bit of trouble, specifically with Wattpad, so this simple format should fix that.

There's also some improvement to the sentence structure, as I alluded to before. I noticed in the past that the way I wrote was a little plain. Sentences started and ended in a monotone way, maybe with some compound or complex structure, but nothing crazy. I've adapted a little to be more description oriented and not textbook, allowing slightly longer run on sentences that give the scene more details. I personally think it's a huge upgrade, but you may not even notice it. Either way, just wanted to talk about it because I'm a nerd.

***

His chest tightened noticeably–pulse ticking upwards and breath becoming short. If he had looked down in that moment, he would have seen the shape of his heart bulging out of his chest with each rhythmic thump, thump, thump. The world he had been carefully crafting was crumbling around him, evidently held up with nothing more than scotch tape and perverted hope.

Some stupid part of Josh’s brain had convinced him that he was infallible–mistakes were simply not in his vocabulary. If he pushed Kyedae’s well-established boundaries just a little too far, her submissive nature and recent training would simply convince her to ignore the red flags and embrace the discomfort. That was all a part of being his slut, right? Josh was the king; she was his pawn. If he demanded Pokimane to lick his cum off the floor, degrading her further than she’d ever been degraded before, a simple slap to her delicate cheek would quiet her once confident voice. If he hurt Valkyrae enough without leaving space for pleasure, she’d simply roll her eyes and smile at his rough edges..

.. right?

That’s what they had done in the past.

The girls he had so quickly taken to bed, the streamers he had so easily bent over and ravaged–they loved it, they loved him, emphatically and without condition. That’s how Josh perceived it, anyway.

Aimless intentions and general boredom often romanticize whatever is new. The honeymoon period–like when a head coach is fired after an abysmal season and replaced with another. New ideas, new mentality, and new hope for improvement. The locker room buzzes with anticipation just like the girls buzzed with misguided lust. One man, one stud, to control all of their lives and provide untold pleasure, nothing could possibly go wrong.

That was their logic, flaws and all.

Reality was different, of course. Under the surface, turmoil had been brewing for a long time, and a gust of wind was all it would take to send his castle tumbling to the ground.

Two weeks of pounding Emiru’s pussy in every cosplay she owned, two weeks of bullying Mizkif, two weeks of lies, two weeks of deception, two weeks of unfiltered, deranged, and completely sinful sex–that was more than the gust of wind that was needed.

By the end, not an inch of Emiru’s body was a stranger to Josh’s cum. Even at that moment, she lay on the ground of her room–naked, messy hair, and breathing heavily, with a fresh load of cum covering her boobs.

“Hah.. I used to hate the texture,” she mumbled aloud, still giggly and sweaty from being fucked to five other-worldly orgasms, hands massaging the sticky load into her large tits. “Of cum, I mean. Hated how it was so sticky, and like.. rubbery at the same time, you know? I didn’t want it anywhere near me. Fucking yelled at Miz anytime his got on me, but you totally changed that. I love playing with it now, I’m obsessed with it, totally. I want your cum everywhere! Maybe not my hair.. but everywhere else is fair game. I’m actually kind of pissed that you didn’t cum on my face this time–that always makes me feel so slutty, haha.”

No response from Josh followed.

But Emiru’s mood was undeterred–kicking her little legs in the air, still high from her recent climaxes, cheeks flushed and giddy. Recovering from the exhausting sex, she continued to play with her lover’s generous load. “At least you cum a lot–like, sooo much. I’ve never seen anyone cum this much, but.. hah, I guess I’ve never seen anyone with balls as big as yours either, so it makes sense. Your big loads.. give me so much to play with and still have enough to.. well, you know, heh. Mizzy’s going to love his dinner tonight. Can’t believe he hasn’t noticed yet–fuckin’ gulping down dozens of your loads like the faggot he is and.. fuck! It’s so hot how stupid he can be, haha.”

And again, her absent-minded trickle of dialogue was met with more silence. Not completely unusual–her silly rants were often ignored, here and there. Not everything a girl says is important enough to reply to, as Josh had said before.

Emiru continued, secretly hoping he’d speak up and add to her perverted thoughts. They had been great about bouncing mean ideas off of each other in the past few weeks, and she was eager to brainstorm a new plan to humiliate her boyfriend that day. She was still laughing about how they got his character killed in World of Warcraft–a well-timed distraction from Emiru and unplugged router. Just like that, over one-hundred and twenty hours of in-game grinding was wasted just before he was about to hit max level. They quickly snuck off and fucked late into the night, giving Miz no one to vent to. That’s the kind of mischief she was hoping to brainstorm, if only Josh would respond.

Still laying with her back to the floor, she added, “So.. are you going to explain yourself? Huh, asshole? Why didn’t you cum on my face? You love doing that. Am I not pretty enough anymore? Not slutty enough? I begged for it.. just like you asked..”

After a few more seconds of silence, Emiru finally got the feeling that something was off.

She sat up and looked over to Josh, appreciating his strong build, biting her lip at his masculinity. Completely nude, every muscle of his body was hers to feast on. It always surprised her, how rough he could be during sex–feeling like a tiny ragdoll that he’d throw around and shift to contort into the perfectly fuckable position. He plowed her into the mattress, against the countertops, into the leather seats of her car–always with so much force, so much vigor. It’s like he hated her, but now, looking, or more accurately, salivating at his incredible stature, his defined body, his massive hanging cock, she felt silly for ever questioning his strength. It was obvious why she felt like a ragdoll with him.

After a full minute, her gaze shifted upwards, finally noticing the worry on his face–he was staring at his phone.

“Is.. is everything okay?” Emiru asked, her voice damp with hesitation.

Josh finally heard her or finally found it reasonable to respond. “Yea–yeah,” he said, voice cracking–a first for him. “Everything is fine.”

Emiru bit her lip, hopeful that her meticulous ruse was not the cause of his unusual behavior.

“Okay, uhh,” she replied, antsy and eager to distract. “Do you want to play some more Dark Souls while I blow you under the desk? I haven’t had some good one-on-one time with your balls since yesterday. Gotta thank them properly for giving me so much yummy cum to play with–and for keeping Miz fed, heh. Always making his food extra nutritious!”

With no immediate answer, Emiru continued, “Or if you’re hungry.. we can go pick up some breakfast and I can deepthroat you in the car? If I get you to swerve, I win! C’mon, that’ll be fun!”

Josh shook his head, declining her offers and scrolling through all of his missed texts. “What the fuck? I don’t.. I don’t get it,” he said, mostly to himself. “I didn’t get any of these. I didn’t hear a single fucking notification.”

A heavy pit grew inside of Emiru’s anxious stomach–she knew she had to do something. Eyes widening, an idea came to mind. She quickly wiped herself clean with a nearby towel and stood up, running over to her closet, chest bouncing wildly. She had been saving her Luna Snow cosplay for him, knowing that he liked her in-game character. He never missed any opportunity to degrade her each time they played Marvel Rivals together, belittling her skills and forcing her to pocket heal him. If they lost a game, she knew it’d only take seconds before he was pounding his cock deep down her throat, blaming her for the loss regardless of her actual performance.

And the cosplay had just come in the day before. It was going to be a surprise the next time they queued up together–intending to purposely throw a game and run to hide in her closet, only to emerge, dressed and ready to be punished for the stupid healer that she was.

But that plan would have to be scrapped. Emiru snatched the outfit from its hanger and ran back out, hopeful that she could hijack his attention, just as she had been doing every day for the past two weeks.

“Is this thing on silent? Why.. why the fuck is ‘do not disturb’ on?” Josh asked aloud, searching the setting and confirming his suspicions. “No fucking wonder I didn’t get any of their texts! God, they’re pissed–they’re all pissed at me.”

Emiru had to salvage the mess. “Look! Look what just came in,” she announced, still naked but holding the cosplay proudly. “Would you rather look at your phone all day or would you rather.. I don’t know, skullfuck me until I’m unconscious again? Then use me as a floor mat until I wake up like you did the other day? C’mon! It’ll be–”

“Didn’t I ask you to read out one of these messages?” Josh asked bluntly, completely ignoring the outfit in her hand, her question, and her distractions. “The other day. My phone buzzed and I asked you to read out the text.”

Emiru’s heart dropped as she lowered the cosplay she was holding. It was true. Approximately ten days prior, Josh was laying in Mizkif’s bed, outstretched, with his hands behind his head, a smug grin on his face. Emiru was on the bed as well, naked and choking around his cock as she did her best to deepthroat his difficult size. Her boyfriend was unconscious on the floor–a result of yet another unfortunate misunderstanding and subsequent beating.

Several notifications rang from his phone about thirty minutes into the blowjob, prompting Josh to ask her to check the texts, mostly out of annoyance. Emiru was already aware of his relationships in Los Angeles anyway, so the request was nothing out of the ordinary.

The texts were like gut punches though.

[Valkyrae]

TEN DAYS AGO

hey josh

i know we haven’t talked much lately but the roomies said you were awol

just wanted to make sure everything was okay?

we all miss you and there’s a lot of shit happening

just want to hear from you :)

hello?

any idea when you’re planning to get back??

???

It was Emiru’s personal worst case scenario. From their conversations, Josh had made it clear that Lily, Kyedae, and Poki were still infatuated with him, but Rae was a different story. It was easy to get Josh to ignore the other girls–they were constantly sending nudes and loving messages, attention that seemed like it would never end–but Rae was a different story. Josh talked about her being upset, which spurred on dreams–or even nightmares–about her dating another guy. It was like he put her on a pedestal, giving her attention more value.

And here she was begging for him to come back.

Looking over at her bruised boyfriend and back towards the big cock in front of her, Emiru could hear the possessive demon on her shoulder whispering. She didn’t want anything to change; they had a great thing going on there in Austin. She wanted Josh to fuck her brains out, violate the deepest parts of her throat without remorse, and hurt her boyfriend over and over and over and over.

This text from Valkyrae threatened to ruin all of that.

And so, Emiru fed Josh a tiny little lie.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she replied, looking up and licking his cock to keep him pleasured and his eyes closed. “Poki is just asking how you’re doing. I’ll send a selfie back with your cock in my mouth, heh.”

But Emiru didn’t send anything. She simply cleared all of his notifications and navigated over to the settings, where she hesitated only for a moment before silencing all alerts. She then resumed her blowjob with twice as much enthusiasm as before–no one could please her man the way she could. That’s what she would guarantee.

Over the coming week, Emiru did her utmost to keep Josh distracted. Whether it was with a slutty new cosplay, an amazing dinner she cooked for him, a request to go beat up her boyfriend, a surprise blowjob, or simply by just taking off her clothes and teasing him to fuck her senseless–it all worked like a charm, day in and day out. His phone was the last thing on his mind, especially with no new notifications chiming.

So Emiru knew–she knew that a reckoning was bound to come sooner or later.

“I haven’t heard anything since that day, really,” Josh said, continuing his interrogation, slow cogs in his head beginning to turn. That day, the text she read, ‘do not disturb’ mode being on, her ansty behavior whenever he looked at his phone–it couldn’t have been a coincidence. Looking up at her once more, he shot her an accusatory glance. “You did this?”

Emiru bit her lip. “I.. I did what?”

“Don’t.”

Emiru shrugged her shoulders. “What? I don’t know what you mean–”

Josh held his firm stare. “Emiru, don’t. Don’t do that right now. Just.. just tell me the truth.”

She was caught–she knew it. She’d hoped to have had at least a few more weeks with him, but it wasn’t to be. Dropping her wide-eyed look of innocence, she lowered her shoulders and sighed deeply. “Okay.. okay, yes.”

“Yes what?”

“I put your phone on silent.”

Josh had a hunch, but seeing her look so guilty struck at his heart as well–she had tricked him. This conniving angel had tricked him and held that guilt for several days–the weight coming off of her shoulders was evident. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“.. why do you think?” she replied, spite in her voice as she became defensive.

The answer was obvious–she was jealous, only wanting him for herself. “I thought.. I thought you said you were cool with this? Me being with other girls..”

Groaning aloud, Emiru replied, “I am! I am fine with that, really. I would’ve shared you with anyone–here in Austin. Here, where you’re close to me. Maya, ExtraEmily, Cinna, anyone–but.. but that doesn’t mean I wanted you to leave. If you saw the way Rae and the rest of them were begging you to come back, you would’ve booked the first flight to LA.”

Josh shook his head in confusion. “And so, what? You’d rather ruin everything else I had going on? They’re all fucking pissed at me–no one is responding.”

Emiru felt bad, but she couldn’t hide her emotions. “Let them be pissed! I don’t care about them! We don’t care about them, right? They’ve already spent way too much time with you, hogging all your attention–the fucking sluts. I’m just taking my turn–it’s only fair!”

Josh shook his head. He couldn’t believe how far her jealousy went. “But.. Rae! Rae finally texted me–I told you how long I was waiting for that. Kyedae’s going to fucking Spain apparently. Poki’s pissed because she’s getting cancelled. Lily just wanted me to call her and talk. That’s it.”

“Uhhh, you’re stupid if you think that’s all she wanted,” Emiru spat back, crossing her arms over her naked breasts. “She was going to beg you to come back and she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. You told me what she did–fucking stabbed Michael just to keep your whole sex cult a little secret. She would’ve done a lot worse to get you back–they all would’ve!”

Scoffing in disbelief, Josh replied, “I can’t believe you. You were supposed to be fucking cool about all of this–you said you were! And now, I find out that you’ve been, what? Shutting off my notifications? Hiding my phone from me? Deleting messages, maybe?”

Emiru denied none of it, remaining silent and staring at the floor.

Josh looked at his phone and tried to call Pokimane–immediately being sent to voicemail. After a few moments of silence, he muttered, “I can’t believe you.”

The tension in the room was completely unique. The past two weeks had been spent almost as newlyweds. They fucked like rabbits, yes, but more than that, they had truly bonded. They played games together, Josh went on her stream and made her laugh in front of thousands of people, they talked about life late into the night. This was the first real fight between the two, and Emiru was afraid. It reminded her of her fights with Mizkif, and she despised that fact. She also despised how much she was fighting back when she was clearly in the wrong. This wasn’t Mizkif she was fighting with. This was Josh.

Finally acknowledging his reasonable anger, Emiru whispered out an apology. “I’m.. I’m sorry..”

“Oh, you’re sorry?”

“Yes, I’m sorry!” Emiru repeated, ready to confess her true emotions. She hated talking about her feelings, but now felt like as good of a time as any. “I didn’t want to lose you, okay? I think that I.. I lov–”

“No, you don’t give a fuck about losing me,” Josh blurted out, interrupting what would have been her first confession of love. “You just wanted someone to distract you from your miserable relationship–anyone could have done that.”

Emiru’s mouth dropped, the response striking her deeply, eyes narrowing. “You don’t mean that..”

“Of course I do. Any fuckhead could’ve waltzed in here and gave you what you wanted–a fucking distraction.”

With anger and tension swirling in the air, Josh grunted and moved to dress himself. He began packing as well, stuffing his few belongings into the duffel bag he brought.

Emiru shook her head, tears welling in her eyes–she fucking hated this. She hated being attached, hated emotions, hated arguing, hated that she cared.

Most of all, she hated that she was scared.. scared about losing the man packing his bags, readying himself to leave, right in front of her.

Unable to change, Emiru’s PTSD with confrontations forced her back to her usual method of response during arguments: anger.

“Okay, so fucking what?” she barked out. “So what if I’m just using you as a distraction? Yeah, I fucking hate Miz and I’m using you as an escape, whoop-de-fucking-doo! It’s not like you’re so innocent either–you’re using me too!”

Zipping his duffel bag closed, Josh scoffed and shook his head, angry with himself for being so focused on one person–one girl. It defeated the whole goal he’d set out for himself. “Oh, yeah? And how do you figure that?”

“My money!” Emiru blurted out. “You’re just here to fuck me and take my money. And I don’t care, I agreed to it, but you’re just using me all the same.”

Josh shook his head yet again. She had a point, but none of it seemed important–not anymore. It was as if he’d matured ten years in the last ten minutes. The idea of losing Rae, Poki, Lily, and Kyedae.. it sobered him from his drunken stupor of lust and greed.

“I don’t give a fuck about your money,” Josh finally replied, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, ready to leave. “You can keep it. You’re clearly selfish enough to ruin all of my relationships just to keep me in Austin for a few weeks, all to yourself–I never expected a cent of that money anyway. That’s what you are, Emiru–fucking selfish.”

Frustration boiling over, Emi snapped. She marched over to her pile of Kirbys, grabbed one, and threw it at Josh, repeating this three times over. They all bounced off of his torso as she replied, “I’m selfish? I’m fucking selfish? You’re one to talk! You bounce around, collecting sluts, stealing them from their boyfriends.. you want to have every fucking streamer on a leash, all to yourself! Selfish? You’re the most selfish person I’ve ever met!”

Bitter at her reasoning, Josh offered no reply. Within seconds, it was clear that the conversation–and their relationship–was over.

Turning around to leave, Josh only paused briefly to nod at the hamster in the corner of the room, reaching in to pet his head for a second, silently apologizing for having witnessed such an argument. He continued on and left the room, with no one following after him.

Emiru stood still, cheeks flushed, breathing heavily from the tension, for what seemed like minutes, tears cascading down her cheek and off her chin, only to rupture upon impact with the floor. She was more devastated than she cared to admit–a result of her stupid pride.

All at once, the consequences hit her.

Josh was leaving. Not to another room of the house, not on a drive to blow off some steam, not back to some apartment on the other side of town–he was leaving Texas. He was leaving and going back to his girls in California.

Feeling like it was now or never, Emiru sprang into action, running out of her room to chase after him–the man she loved. And hated. Hated to love? She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t care–she just wanted him back, even if it was to argue some more. It wasn’t until the cool air of the hallway hit her naked body that she realized her state of undress. Cursing herself, Emiru ran back to her room, threw on a pair of panties and a large sweatshirt, and resumed her chase once more. She almost tripped going down the stairs, jumping off the third lowest step and landing firmly.

She scanned the living room and saw nothing. Anxiety spiking, she focused on the front door instead and swung it open–the reveal forcing her to face the truth.

Josh was gone. She had lost him.

---

Grinding his teeth and squeezing the armrest of his economy chair far too tightly, Josh stewed in his own frustrations, making it easy to ignore the annoying flight attendant or the baby crying a few rows behind his seat.

How could he possibly have been so blind? So hyper focused on one girl?

He was supposed to make a harem–that’s what he wanted, his goal all along. He wanted ten, no–twenty streamer girls to be there, serving him and granting every perverted wish he could possibly conjure up. He wanted three women sucking his dick when he woke up, another two cooking him breakfast in nothing but tiny aprons, one to help him shower and scrub his body, one to dress the rest of them like sluts, several in maid outfits to clean up after the sexual chaos, and the rest in cages until he was ready to use them. He wanted control–control over all of them. That’s what he was after.

And yet, here he was now, alone, with no incoming texts, no responses to his apologies. Despite all of his success, he still managed to find a way to fail, fumbling every single streamer that was once firmly in his vice-like grip.

Josh wanted to blame it all on Emiru, but he knew that was too short-sighted. He alone allowed himself to be tunnel-visioned. She encouraged it through her deceit, but it was him who permitted it, sanctioned his own demise–now everything was fucked.

Maybe it was always going to be fucked.

Maybe, regardless of the choices he made, this was the only outcome that he was meant to experience–like fate, or worse yet, like a poorly made game that gave him the illusion of choice, prompting him to pick between dialogue options that were never going to make a difference.

That’s what it felt like–destined failure. The more he tried, the more he actively sought control, the further away it was.

Perhaps demanding control wasn’t the best way to attain it. Maybe it was only a consequence, after the fact, after committing, after appreciating, after loving. The relationships with the girls–that’s where his focus should be. If he had cared about more than just sex, if he had cared about how Poki’s day went or what artwork Lily was working on, he wouldn’t have been able to go two weeks without checking in on them. He wouldn’t have been distracted by Emiru’s incredibly tight, wet, warm puss–

“Excuse me, sir? Sir?” said a polite voice, derailing his thoughts, shifting his attention to the left. “You were in la la land for a second there! Would you like something to drink?” the pretty flight attendant asked, smile genuinely on display.

Forcing a half-grin, Josh nodded, “Just water, please–thank you.”

The heavy wheels of her beverage cart squeaked past him as he gulped down the ice cold drink, satiating his apparent thirst, calming his buzzing thoughts.

After a few moments of quiet, Josh managed to work out his next move. The girls were mad at him–no doubt there. They were mad about the no contact, mad about being forgotten, mad about how he seemingly didn’t care–which wasn’t true in the slightest. He did care, and he would prove it to them. Convincing the scorned streamers of that fact wouldn’t be easy, but all he could do is try.

Just then, as if on cue, Josh’s phone vibrated, startling him. He fumbled it out of his pocket and there it was. His first text from any of the girls that were ignoring him.

It was Kyedae.

[Kyedae]

TWELVE DAYS AGO

are you really just going to ignore us forever??

this is so stupid josh just say hi or what’s up

idiot

do you know how embarrassing it is to send nudes and not get a response

stupid moron

TEN DAYS AGO

tyson asked me to go to madrid with him next week

you know, madrid in fuckin spain

for a valo tourney

if you say no i wont go but you have to say no

or say anything ugh

does emiru have you that pussy whipped that you can’t even text other girls

EIGHT DAYS AGO

i just told him im going

we’re leaving next friday

fucking asshole

[Josh]

FIVE HOURS AGO

hey im so fucking sorry

been an insane few weeks

so much happened

im on my way back, hope you’re not too mad

THREE HOURS AGO

yo just checking in, making sure we’re good

when did you say you were leaving?

[Kyedae]

ONE MINUTE AGO

fuck off

its too late

literally at the airport going through security

just stay in austin idiot idc anymore

Josh’s eyes widened immediately. He hadn’t realized it before–the timing of her departure. It might just end up being perfect. The flight he was currently on was destined for the Los Angeles International Airport, LAX, which is the same airport Kyedae would be using to head out to Madrid–today, Friday.

[Josh]

what time is your flight leaving?

[Kyedae]

wouldn’t you like to know weather boy

[Josh]

shut up and tell me

also what gate are you at

[Kyedae]

why does it matter?

you’re still in austin arent you

[Josh]

my plane is landing at LAX in one hour

[Kyedae]

...

i’ll be gone by then

like i said you’re too late

catch another flight right back to texas

one way ticket loser

im sure emiru misses you already

“Fuck,” Josh mumbled to himself, accidentally startling the passenger to his right. That attempt would need to be trashed–Kyedae would be gone before he could even try to salvage their relationship. She’d probably be in Madrid for weeks, and there’s no telling what changes would happen during that time–it was hopeless.

Needless to say, his redemption was off to a shaky start–one strike already in the books. Discouraging thoughts began to creep in–what if this is how it went with Poki? With Lily as well? At least Kyedae responded to his texts–he’d received nothing from the rest.

“Hold the fuck on,” Josh whispered to himself, a prominent thought emerging in his head. He quickly scrolled back up through Kyedae’s texts and read them once more.

She was still at security, which was sure to take at least half an hour, depending on the lines–on a Friday no less. Knowing her, she would’ve planned for that, planned to get there early, at least two hours before her flight actually left.

There’s no way she would be gone by the time Josh landed.

Kyedae was just playing hard to get.

She was testing him, inadvertently perhaps, but testing nonetheless–a test to show effort. She wanted to see Josh try and win her back after spending so many days without trying at all. Even if he was being delusional, she’d reject him and he’d be right back to where he was now: bitchless.

Effort. Without knowing her gate number, departure time, or even the terminal that she was at, Josh would need pure luck to find her in time.

But low odds never stopped him before. An hour later, his plane was on the ground and he was the first person standing, whispering apologies as he passed by as many people as he could–made easy by only having his small duffel bag in tow but hard because of his size. Once off the plane, he scanned the clutter of people and signs–arrows pointing this way and that, confusing more than they helped.

Josh eventually found a large digital display showing all of the flight departures. Scanning through it quickly, the flights to Madrid were easy enough to find, but there were three that fit the bill, all leaving within the next hour or two, all in different terminals.

He rolled the dice, picked one that felt right and ran with it. Ten minutes of walking later, he reached it–terminal seven, gate fourteen.

It took a minute of scanning, but as sure as a sunrise, there she was.

Kyedae.