24. P O W E R : Broken Heart

CHAPTER III

DAY TWO

Delvis yawned and scratched the back of his head as he stepped out of his bedroom, rubbing his chest and blinking his crusty eyes.

Then he paused.

Whynnie was fast asleep on the couch, her mouth wide open as she let out a series of earsplitting snores. Drool dribbled down the side of her face and there were notes scattered all over the couch and floor. She was still clutching her notepad to her chest, which rose and fell in rhythm with her snoring.

Delvis observed the mess incredulously. Then he threw up his hands and let them hit his thighs, letting out a sigh. "'I don't need sleep', she says," he muttered. "Right." He crouched down and began scooping up the notes, tapping Whynnie's shoulder as he did so. "Hey," he said as she let out a snort and began to wake. "Get up. It's time to go to work."

"Huh... wha'?" Whynnie mumbled, smacking her lips and sitting up. "Oooooh... my head," she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing her noggin. "What happened? Where am I?"

"Work," Delvis replied with a smirk, continuing to pick up notes. "I gotta say, I'm impressed," he added. "You checked out witnesses, investigated a crime scene, and took these notes—all while stupid drunk. Good job."

"Yeah, well..." Whynnie yawned and stretched. "Most of 'em don't add up to anything," she admitted, finally opening her red eyes and blinking blearily at Delvis. "Lotta dead ends n' such. Nice pecs, by the way," she added, gesturing to her shirtless roommate.

"Thanks." Delvis straightened up and began flipping through the notes. "Huh," he muttered. "Yeah, I see you got a lot of question marks. Not much of a difference between these and my own, to be honest." He handed Whynnie the notes. "By the way, you finish that paper—"

Whynnie took the notes and handed him a stack of papers simultaneously.

"—work." Delvis raised an eyebrow, taking the paperwork slowly. "Wow. I can see why Aphrodite keeps you around," he commented.

"It's actually because of my sparkling personality," Whynnie corrected him with a wry smile, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "Also, I checked your fridge, and you're fresh outta Buds. Might wanna do something to fix that."

"I don't drink," Delvis told her as he headed into the kitchen and started to make coffee. "Besides, your boss said to keep you off the booze," he called over his shoulder.

"You took that seriously?" Whynnie asked with a disbelieving scoff.

"Yeeeeup."

"Dang." Whynnie crossed her arms. "Okay, well... what am I supposed to do for fun around here?"

"Work," Delvis responded bluntly.

"I said 'fun'!"

"And I said 'work'." Delvis looked over his shoulder. "If you wanna get out of the house, head down the Xirxine and turn in that paperwork. When you get back, we'll go over possible locations for Veronika's next hit."

Whynnie huffed. "Fine." She picked up the remainder of the notes and slung her purse over her shoulder, turning around—and almost bumping into Delvis in the process as he reentered the living room.

"Whoa! Careful," Delvis scolded her, barely keeping his coffee from spilling. "That's hot coffee, yeah?"

"Right. Sorry." Whynnie's face flushed as she quickly lifted her gaze from Delvis's "nice pecs" to his eyes.