Chapter 225 | The Call…
Dexter blinked. "Hey, Rachel. It hasn’t been all that long, actually."
He could feel Rachel’s smile through the phone as she spoke.
"Which means you haven’t been thinking about me all this time. That is really sad."
Dexter didn’t respond to that. He had learned, through several interactions with Rachel, that engaging with her flirtatious comments was like feeding a stray cat.
"I’ve been really busy," he said instead.
Rachel went silent for a moment.
"How are your wives doing?" she asked sincerely. "I hope they are doing all right and hope they are healing quite nicely."
"They are doing quite fine, thank you," Dexter responded.
He paused and the phone was silent. Rachel was waiting.
Dexter sighed.
"What about you? Hope you’re doing all right."
He could feel Rachel’s excitement through the phone.
"Yes, I am doing quite all right. Thank you for asking."
Dexter shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it. "Yeah, anytime."
Then Rachel spoke again.
"We should try to get together sometime. Maybe for breakfast. Lunch. Dinner or something."
Dexter frowned slightly but he didn’t respond immediately.
Rachel sensed his hesitation. She immediately added, "You know, as friends. Just to catch up with each other. Maybe take a break from other stuff."
The word "friends" was emphasized.
"I’m always busy," Dexter said. "I don’t have much time for taking breaks and stuff."
Rachel remained silent for a while. The silence lasted long enough for Dexter to hear the faint sound of traffic on her end. She was outsid, walking or maybe in her car.
"It’s all right," she said. "I understand. Maybe another time then."
Dexter didn’t speak and the conversation felt like it was winding down.
Then Rachel said, "Oh, right, before I forget. What do you know about Harvest Homes?"
Dexter’s eyes flashed coldly.
"What happened?" he asked. "Why do you ask?"
"I read a report down here," Rachel said. "About a sudden incident at Harvest Homes. A breakout. An altercation. And your name was also in that report. So I had to ask."
Dexter’s jaw tightened.
’My name was on the report?’
"How?" he asked. "Who filed it?"
"Hero Association internal intelligence," Rachel replied. "They monitor significant incidents involving registered heroes. The Harvest Homes event flagged automatically because of the scale of the damage and the cultivation levels involved."
She paused.
"Your name was redacted, though. It wasn’t quite clear. Your involvement wasn’t explicitly stated. But you were one of the people connected to the incident."
Dexter thought about it then shook his head.
"It’s nothing," he said. "I was just nearby Harvest Homes when that happened. Coincidence."
Rachel didn’t respond immediately. The silence on her end was evaluative.
"All right," she said. The tone was neutral. Neither believing nor disbelieving.
Then she continued.
"Oh, before I forget. Aurora."
Dexter blinked. "What about Aurora?"
"I heard you met with her. At the restaurant. Yesterday."
"Yeah," Dexter said. "She was there. At the restaurant. When I met with the squad."
"Aurora told me," Rachel said. "She told me you two are quite connected. Are you?"
Dexter frowned. "What do you mean, connected? She approached me after the meeting. She had a proposition. That’s all."
Rachel’s voice carried a trace of amusement. "A proposition? That sounds interesting. What kind of proposition?"
"Business," Dexter said flatly. "Nothing else."
"Mm-hmm," Rachel said. The sound was noncommittal. The verbal equivalent of a raised eyebrow.
Then he continued. "She told me you two are quite connected. She said you know each other now. Are you best friends? Or something?"
"No," Rachel said, answering her own question before Dexter could. "We are not family. And neither are we friends."
Dexter blinked. He was confused. If they weren’t family and they weren’t friends, what else could they be? Colleagues? Acquaintances? Professional contacts?
Then he could feel Rachel smirking through the phone.
"We were involved," she said.
Dexter’s stride stopped.
He was standing on the sidewalk, three houses from his bungalow, his phone pressed against his ear, his brain processing two words that had just rearranged his understanding of two women he knew.
"Involved?" he repeated.
"With each other," Rachel clarified. "For a while. Just casually. Nothing too serious."
She paused.
"She’s more busy now. And I also like someone else. So the fling had to eventually cut off."
Dexter was stunned.
Rachel. Who had kissed him at the hotel bar and Aurora, the S-Rank hero of this generation.
These two women had been involved with each other.
Romantically and casually too!
"Fling?" Dexter said. The word came out as a question, but it wasn’t really a question. It was a verbal placeholder. A sound produced by a brain that needed a few more seconds to process.
"Yeah," Rachel confirmed. Her voice was relaxed as she spoke.
"I’m not just straight, you know?," she said. "I am also bi."
Dexter felt something spark in his mind as his body trembled slightly.
Rachel was bisexual, which meant she was attracted to both men and women.
"Yeah, I’m also bi. That means I can be with a man or a woman. And I’m also comfortable sharing my man..."
The sentence trailed off deliberately and Dexter’s brain completed the sentence.
His brain completed it in multiple ways. Several of which were extremely inappropriate. All of which were immediately suppressed by the disciplined, practiced, iron-fisted mental filter that he had spent twenty years developing in the Ashford estate!
But the spark remained.
The implication hung in the air between the phone and his ear. Rachel was comfortable sharing. Sharing. A word that, in the context she had established, carried a very specific, very clear, very loaded meaning.
Dexter swallowed.
"Rachel," he said. His voice was controlled. Steady. The voice of a man who was absolutely not going to engage with the implication. "Is there a specific reason you’re telling me this?"
"Because I wanted to be honest with you," Rachel said. Her tone had shifted. The teasing edge was still there, but beneath it was something more genuine. More sincere. "I didn’t want you to find out from someone else and think I was hiding something."
She paused.