THE LOVE POLYGON OF DARKNESS: A DAMIAN PRIEST NOVEL

Shotzi's one night with Kassandra

Shotzi was setting the game up for beer pong and Trish paid for their food and drinks. Hania combined two braids in Kassandra's hair to make one long braid and Kassandra was checking her schedule on her phone.

Trish: Food's here, you guys.

She sat the food and drinks down on the bar and they sat down at the bar.

Rhea: After this, we're playin' beer pong.

Kassandra: I'm opting out.

Hania: Kassie, come on, we're in Hawaii.

Kassandra: What's that got to do with anything? We're on an island, eatin' good food, enjoyin' their culture, havin' fun on the job, and goin' to lots of parties meetin' the native Hawaiians. All I'm sayin' is every time I get drunk, I get humped, and then, it's lights out.

Trish: It's okay to let your inner whore come out sometime.

Kassandra: Yeah, in the bedroom with your soulmate not with a stranger, and I thought that you were the sexy, goody too shoes, ass kicker.

Trish: I was never a goody too shoes. I've had my share of being a whore. All of us has that inner whore in us and some of us don't show it. Some of us show it in the bedroom while the rest of us shows it in public.

Rhea (getting angry): I'm stuck on the stranger part. Define that, Kassandra.

Kassandra: Well, what I mean is that I'd rather get to know a person before I screw them while I'm drunk. If I don't know the person all that well, and I'm screwin' them while I'm drunk, that makes me feel like a whore.

Rhea: And I'm the stranger. Wow, you really know how to make a woman feel special.

Shotzi: Okay, am I missin' somethin' here? Did you guys screw each other?

Rhea: We didn't just screw each other. We fucked each other, am I right, Galley Girl? Or is it I sexed you to death, until, you exploded?

Kassandra felt awkward and nervous.

Hania (half-laughed): When did this happen?

Rhea: Last night, your friend, Angie, was supposed to be stayin' over because you guys were supposed to be havin' a slumber party, but I wanted to talk to Kassie alone, and Kassie told Angie that it was okay for her to leave.

Trish: And from then on, you guys took it from there.

Kassandra: I didn't know I was gonna be Rhea's plaything. I thought she was only gonna talk to me about what happened between Damian and I.

Rhea (smiling): Well, you thought wrong, and best case scenario, she remembers the ordeal from start to finish. She was drunk, too, when it went down.

Kassandra: I take it I'm not the first woman you've screwed, but I was the first woman that you screwed while they were drunk, you're so full of it. Stick to screwin' men, Rhea, not women. That's Sonya's playground you're tryna imitate.

Rhea: I like'em both, and for your information, sweetheart, I'll fuck you when you're sober, too.

Kassandra: No, you can't, because I won't let you, and I'm not gonna go through that again. I know exactly what to watch out for when it comes down to you, Nightmare. I'm gonna go watch Kiss of the Dragon.

She got up from the bar and left with her food and drink. They followed her into the living room and sat down. An hour later, they were playing beer pong, and cheering each other on. Two hours later, they were playing Truth or Dare, and Shotzi and Rhea were sitting beside Kassandra.