Chapter Text
Reyna was used to getting to work ten minutes early at the latest. Being on time was always considered as being late in her agenda. She wasn't used to being exactly on time. But then again, she wasn't used to stopping by the little cafe a couple of blocks away from her apartment every morning for breakfast with Thalia Grace. And as much as she liked routines, she was starting to realise that she liked Thalia even more, and with spending so much time with her, Thalia was, unfortunately, starting to rub off on her.
"We've been doing this for... what? Almost two weeks now?" Thalia asked over her plate of pancakes, waving her fork around in the air.
Reyna didn't bother looking up from her laptop when she answered. "Eleven days."
"Eleven days! Just you, me, and the East River Strangler!"
"Technically speaking, The East River Strangler only joined us five days ago," Reyna answered absentmindedly as she scrolled through her case files, looking over all the evidence before her.
Thalia let out a sigh and dropped her fork onto her plate. "Baby, it's eight in the morning. Work doesn't officially start for another thirty minutes. You're not going to find new evidence in there."
Reyna finally looked up to meet Thalia's eyes only to find her pouting like a sad puppy demanding attention. Well, actually, that was exactly what she looked like.
"You're not gonna be paying attention to me till tomorrow morning, probably, so can you at least give me these thirty minutes?"
Thalia made a compelling point. Reyna felt a bit guilty.
"I'm sorry," she told Thalia, closing the laptop to give her the attention she wanted and deserved. Reyna hadn't exactly been the most present the past week. "I'll make it up to you."
Reyna placed her hand across the table, palm up, and closed her fingers in, asking for Thalia to give her her hand. Reyna laced their fingers together across the table and squeezed Thalia's hand gently, sending her a small smile.
"How are you gonna do that?" Thalia asked, her interest peaking.
"Come over for dinner tonight?" Reyna blurted before she could even take a second to think about the offer she was making.
They had been technically dating for the past, well, eleven days. But mostly, it was just breakfast dates before work and the occasional quick make-out session whenever they managed to get some privacy around the precinct but that was damn near impossible. Dinner at her place was much more intimate than anything they had done so far. Much more serious. Reyna had been thinking about it for some time now. Really, there were only two things occupying her mind. Thalia and the serial killer she was hunting. The one that worried her the most was her romantic relationship. Catching a serial killer? That, she was an expert at it. Catching a romantic partner and managing to keep them around? Now, that was unchartered territory. She had no idea what she was doing in all honesty.
But Thalia kept coming back every single morning. She texted Reyna good night, every single night, and good morning, every single morning. She met her at this exact cafe, every morning an hour before work. Reyna must have been doing something right. All she could hope for was to not mess it up somehow.
"I didn't know you could cook," Thalia answered instead, completely disregarding the actual question Reyna had asked her.
"I don't— I mean, I get by. But, we could order something," Reyna explained, suddenly feeling flustered and nervous.
"What, are you kidding? No way! We're not ordering food," Thalia answered, shaking her head furiously. "We'll make something together. I make really great spaghetti."
Well, that certainly surprised Reyna. "You can cook?"
"I gotta eat, don't I?" Thalia responded with a cheesy grin before stuffing her face with a large mouthful of pancakes.
"I've never seen you eat an actual, honest to god, healthy meal in the last three years, so forgive me for being taken by surprise," Reyna said with a small laugh.
Thalia simply shrugged and thankfully had the courtesy to swallow her food before speaking.
"That's because you've never seen me outside of work," Thalia replied, which was pretty fair. "So, your place, then?"
Reyna nodded. "Yeah, how does seven o'clock sound?"
Thalia chuckled. "It sounds great, but I'm pretty sure you're still going to be at work by then."
"I promise I won't be," Reyna reassured her. "If that serial killer follows his own schedule, he won't be hunting for another victim until tomorrow. I don't need to worry about it tonight."
Thalia didn't seem too convinced but she sighed and nodded anyway. "Alright, fine. I'll be over at seven."
"Great," Reyna replied, sending her a small smile and squeezing her hand gently. "You ready to leave?"
"Yeah, just let me head to the bathroom first." Thalia got up, patting her mouth with the napkin before disappearing off to the bathroom.
Reyna left some money on the table to cover their bill and grabbed her laptop bag and both disposable cups of coffee off the table. She made her way outside to wait for Thalia who came out just a minute later, sunglasses already on. She pressed a kiss on Reyna's cheek and grabbed her own coffee before pulling out the keys to her bike.
"You know, I think we deserve an award for managing to keep this a secret from everyone for almost two weeks," Thalia said with a small laugh as she pulled on her helmet.
"Yeah... I give us another two days before Nico or Annabeth find out and start talking shit to everyone," Reyna replied with a chuckle, following Thalia toward her vehicle. She had parked her car just across the street.
"I think they already know. They're just waiting for solid incriminating proof," Thalia noted and Reyna couldn't deny that she thought the same thing. And it was only a matter of time before they actually found the proof.
"Honestly, I'm genuinely surprised Travis hasn't opened his mouth yet," Reyna chuckled, thinking back to her first day back at the precinct when Stoll had almost seen too much.
"We both scare him shitless. He won't say anything," Thalia reassured her; it was quite an amusing thought to Reyna. "Still, though. We set a few rules when this started, and we actually followed through, so, we should be proud, right?"
Reyna pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded her head. "Yeah, we should."
The visor to her helmet was still up so Reyna could see Thalia's small smile. "Hey, come here," she said, grabbing Reyna's hand and pulling her toward her.
Reyna moved closer until the gap between them closed completely and they were kissing. It was slow and sweet, and still ended much too soon for Reyna's liking, but they were still in public.
"Drive safe," Reyna told Thalia once she had pulled away. She pulled her visor down for her to cover her face and then turned around to leave, making her way up to her car.
See, on their first breakfast date, they had decided that in order for their relationship to work was, they had to set down rules that couldn't be broken. They weren't many, but they made sense.
First, they agreed that they wouldn't tell anyone until things between them had really settled and started working. They didn't want to jinx anything and knowing the people they worked with, aka their friends, telling them would totally do that. Second, they were going to take things slow. Diving in headfirst could probably end in a lot of awkwardness at work if things ended badly. And third, no work-talk whenever they were together outside of work. Except, Reyna broke that rule three days in and Thalia wasn't all that surprised. They were okay with it.
It was working out fine for them so far.
When Reyna parked her car in her usual spot, she could see Thalia already making her way inside the building, holding the door open for Annabeth. Thalia glanced back just before the door closed behind her and sent Reyna a subtle smile and a wink, then turned back to laugh at something Annabeth had just said. Reyna grinned to herself and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat and her cup of coffee from the cup holder.
She made her way inside only to find the elevator doors still open and Thalia and Annabeth waiting inside, having some sort of heated conversation. Annabeth stopped talking abruptly and turned to grin at Reyna.
"Morning!"
"Morning," Thalia murmured over her cup of coffee.
"Hey," Reyna responded as she stepped inside the elevator. "You guys didn't have to wait for me."
"Nonsense. We have manners," Annabeth insisted, which made Reyna turned to look at Thalia with raised eyebrows. Annabeth laughed. "Right— one of us has manners."
"Hey— I do have manners!" Thalia grumbled, snaking her hand behind Reyna to press the floor button. Reyna jumped slightly when Thalia's fingers grazed the small of her back underneath her blazer as she was returning it to her side and Reyna knew for a fact that it was on purpose.
Annabeth seemed to have noticed Reyna's sudden change in demeanor though thankfully she kept it to herself.
"Thals, I say this because I love you, you have the manners of a twelve-year-old boy who was raised by wolves," Annabeth told Thalia, setting a gentle hand on her friend's arm.
Reyna snorted at how accurately specific that description was, almost choking on her coffee.
Thalia on the other hand did not enjoy it one single bit. She shook Annabeth's hand away and took a step closer toward the elevator doors so she could be the first to escape.
"I do have manners— I just choose to ignore them," Thalia defended herself and as soon as the doors slid open, she was storming off into the bullpen toward her desk.
"Because that makes you so cool and bad-ass, yeah?" Reyna mocked her, making sure to deepen her voice as much as possible, trying to imitate Thalia's preferred manner of speaking.
Annabeth let out a gasp before cackling loudly. "Oh my gosh, Reyna. First of all— love it. The sass and everything. Immaculate. Second of all, where is all this coming from?"
Reyna just smirked and shrugged her shoulders casually. She met Thalia's gaze across the bullpen, watching amusedly as she rolled her eyes, responding to Reyna with a playful glare.
"I don't know, I guess it just started after I got shot," she replied, though before Annabeth could inquire into it further, she decided to change the subject. "Sarah-Jane Matthews' parents should be coming in for an interview in about an hour. I want you to handle it. Jason and I are going to check the first crime scene again. There's gotta be something we missed."
"There always is in a first crime scene," Annabeth replied with a sigh. "Alright, you got it." With a small nod, Annabeth headed off to her desk, her notepad already out.
Reyna lingered for another second, glancing at Thalia who was already seated at her desk and logging on to her computer. She finally turned around when the elevators dinged. It was Jason and Nico.
"Hey, hey!"
"We're leaving in thirty minutes. Get everything ready," she told Jason who held up his hands defensively, taken aback by her abruptness.
"Wow, Rey, come on. I won one game of uno last night. One. Out of three. You can't still be pissed about that!" Jason cried out, taking larger strides until he was standing right next to Reyna.
"You totally cheated and I'm going to prove it right after we find the East River Strangler," Reyna told him in a monotone voice and pushed past him and Nico to get to her office.
"I think finding that serial killer's gonna be much easier," Nico said with a small chuckle.
"You were there, Di Angelo. You know he cheated!" Reyna called out.
"Leave me out of this!" Nico responded as he walked over toward the coffee.
"You're just a sore loser, Rey!" Jason said in a sing-song voice and dashed over to his desk.
As soon as Reyna hung her jacket on the back of her chair and settled down in her seat, her phone buzzed. She grabbed it from her bag and checked the notification, completely unsurprised when she saw that it was from Thalia.
Thalia Grace — NYPD:
bathroom in 5?
Reyna glanced out the glass windows of her office to find Thalia watching her expectantly. She elaborately pulled her cup of coffee up to her mouth and took a long sip which made Reyna sigh and look away.
But still, her heart jittered in excitement and she pushed her chair back, pushed her phone into her pant's back pocket, and stepped outside. She made sure not to make eye contact with Thalia as she walked through the bullpen, past her desk, and toward the hallway, all the way down to the bathrooms. They were usually always empty this early anyway.
She waited in the first stall for exactly two minutes before Thalia burst in.
"I thought you said five minutes?" Reyna started, making sure to lock the stall door behind them.
"I got impatient. You look really good in purple pants," Thalia rushed her words out before pushed Reyna against the door and kissing her hard.
Reyna had to suppress a moan. Her hands settled in Thalia's hair, pushing it backward as she kissed her back.
"Grace, I've got a lot of work I need to get back to," Reyna murmured against Thalia's lips, but she wasn't convinced.
"You wouldn't be here if it was urgent," Thalia grunted and went on to trail her lips down her jaw. Reyna's heart was hammering hard in her chest. Her thoughts were starting to turn to mush.
"There is literally a serial killer out there who's picking a third college student to strangle and mutilate her," Reyna told Thalia. This seemed to grab her attention. She took a step back and raised an eyebrow, deep in thought.
"Okay, is it weird that everything you just said kinda turned me on a little?" Thalia asked, running her fingers through her hair to push it back and awkwardly scratch the back of her neck.
Reyna took a second to process her words. "Huh... psychopathic tendencies," she said, trying out the words, and then nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm really not all that surprised."
That earned her a shove from Thalia and her head slammed back against the door just a little. It didn't hurt but she still shoved Thalia back with a little grin playing on her face.
"That was totally uncalled for," Thalia huffed, but Reyna could tell she was trying to fight back a smile.
Reyna grabbed Thalia from her belt loops and pulled her toward her once again.
"Anyway, you have that McLean report to finish, don't you?" Reyna changed the subject, though, her body language was still completely stuck in their previous conversation.
"Uhu..." Thalia hummed, curiously watching Reyna with those blue eyes she had recently found that were incredibly easy to get lost in. Thalia's hands found Reyna's at her hips and she laced their fingers together, pressing them against the door, just above Reyna's head.
"I need it on my desk in an hour," Reyna told her, using her sergeant's voice. It was strong, authoritarian, demanding, and maybe she added just a little bit of... edge to it, one she knew would definitely get Thalia going.
Thalia furrowed her eyebrows. "You're gonna be gone in twenty, though."
"Yes, and I still want your report. On my desk. In an hour. Email me proof."
She held her head up high, even in her position with Thalia's whole body pinning her against the bathroom stall's door, and dared Thalia to defy her. She wouldn't.
Thalia cleared her throat, tilted her head to the side, just a little, and sent Reyna that famous shit-eating grin of hers.
"Yes, ma'am," Thalia breathed out and it was all it took for Reyna to lean in and kiss her again.
Thalia had just slipped her tongue past Reyna's lips when the bathroom door opened. Thalia pulled back and jumped up onto the closed toilet seat lid, the heels of her boots making a ridiculously loud noise as she landed, rather smoothly actually.
If Reyna hadn't been slightly panicked, she would've found the situation hilarious. Still, she couldn't fight back the amused smile. Thalia grimaced, reaching her hands out to hold her balance against the walls.
"Everything okay in there? Reyna, is that you?"
"Annabeth," Thalia mouthed, running her hand over her face in frustration. She could ruin it all for them for sure.
"Uh, yeah, it's me. What's up?" Reyna responded, trying her best to keep her voice as steady and unsuspicious as possible.
Annabeth chuckled. "Nothing. Did you just trip in there?"
Reyna shared a glance with Thalia who silently urged her to reply with anything, and by that Reyna knew Thalia meant for her to lie.
"Uhm... yeah, the floor's disgusting. Cops, am I right?"
Thalia buried her face in her own lap, shaking her head furiously.
"Right, yeah," Annabeth replied with a small laugh. Reyna heard the water start running. "The Matthews' are just coming in for their interview right now."
"Yep, sounds great." Reyna cleared her throat, letting out a quiet, frustrated sigh.
Thalia's legs had started shaking due to her crouched position and Reyna was worried she wasn't going to last sitting on the toilet like that for much longer.
"Hey, have you seen Thalia?" Annabeth asked, her heels clicking against the floor as she walked toward the hand dryer.
"She's not at her desk?" Reyna asked, trying to play clueless when Thalia was literally right there in front of her, trying her best to stay up on that toilet seat.
"No, she said she was going to the bathroom, like ten minutes ago," Annabeth spoke up over the loud sound of the dryer. "She's probably in the break room."
"Yeah, probably. I'll tell her you were looking for her if I see her first," Reyna offered, giving Thalia a pointed look. She wanted to laugh at how awkward their current situation was.
And then, Thalia started slapping her leg. "Cramp," she mouthed, throwing her head back and silently wincing in pain.
"Are you okay in there?" Annabeth asked, the clicking of her heels becoming closer and closer.
"Huh?" Reyna asked, grimacing as panic started bubbling up in her chest. "Oh, yeah. I just... had a lot of coffee for breakfast."
Even with her leg cramping up, Thalia had to slap her hand over her face to stop herself from snorting too loudly. Reyna shot her an icy glare. This was all technically Thalia's fault in the first place.
"Oh, god. Been there," Annabeth let out a small laugh. "Good luck."
Reyna forced out an awkward laugh. "Thanks."
"Well, if you see Thalia..."
"Right! Of course!"
And then, Annabeth was finally gone and Reyna let out a sigh in relief. Thalia on the other hand jumped down from the toilet seat really loudly, groaning at the top of her lungs as she tried to stretch her legs.
"Motherfu—" Thalia struggled through gritted teeth, continuously punching her knee.
"Are you okay?" Reyna asked through a laugh, holding her hand out to help Thalia.
"Yeah," she huffed out, taking Reyna's hand and standing up straight. "She's onto us. She knows I'm in here. She was just stalling to see if I'd give myself away."
"Yeah... Those two days I gave us have suddenly been reduced to an astonishing two minutes."
Thalia snorted, shaking her head as she tapped her foot against the bathroom floor repeatedly.
"Alright, I really gotta go, babe," Reyna told her. She leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Thalia's cheek before opening the door and stepping outside and walking toward the sink.
"And I still want that report on my desk, by the way. I wasn't just saying that," she added, passing her hands under the running water.
"Ugh, fine, buzzkill," Thalia grumbled, stepping up toward Reyna. There were two other empty sinks but she still chose to bump Reyna aside and use the same one to wash her hands.
Reyna couldn't help but smile at Thalia as she turned around to finally leave. "See you tonight, detective Grace."
"Seven p.m. sharp, Sergeant Ramirez," Thalia responded, giving her a quick salute.
As Reyna walked back through the bullpen toward her office, she was very aware of Annabeth's eyes watching her closely all the way from her desk with Percy and Piper. Oh, she definitely knew Thalia was in that bathroom stall with her. Damn it.
She stopped at Jason's desk on her way and tapped her nails on the wood to get his attention.
"Hey, are you ready to go?"
"Oh, yeah! Let's go," Jason agreed. He closed the tabs on his computer and pushed his chair bag to get up. "Wanna drive?"
"No, I wanna look over the file on our way to the crime scene," she replied. She passed by her office on their way to the elevators, grabbing her files quickly.
"Hey— I'm coming with you guys," Nico exclaimed as he rushed to keep up with Reyna and Jason. He pushed past the elevator doors just before they had closed.
"Nico, you're not even on this case. Shouldn't you be busting a drug dealer?" Reyna scolded him, pressing the button to the underground parking level.
"Did that. The guy's in custody," Nico told her, shrugging his shoulders like it was nothing.
"Dude, it's not even nine, when did you manage to do that?" Jason exclaimed, letting out a quiet whistle.
"I'm good at my job," Nico said casually. "Anyway, I thought you guys needed an extra set of eyes."
"Fine, whatever," Reyna sighed and pushed past the boys to get to Jason's car.
"And also, we have a lot to talk about," Nico announced as he stepped into the backseat and Jason sped out of his parking spot.
"Like what?" Reyna asked while opening up her case file and going to the page related to the crime scene they were about to revisit.
"Like how you and Thalia were just boinking in the bathroom."
Jason stepped on the breaks so hard, Reyna almost hit her head against the dashboard.
"Dude, what the fuck?" Jason exclaimed, turning around to glare at Nico but then his glare turned toward Reyna. "Dude, what the fuck? My sister?"
"I— what? No, I am not boinking your sister— and who says boinking?" Reyna responded, letting out an angry huff. Technically, she wasn't lying. "Can you drive?"
Jason didn't like it but he continued driving anyway.
"Alright, here are the facts," Nico began.
"There are no facts," Reyna muttered.
"There are facts," he insisted. "Fact number one: for the past week, you've been coming in perfectly on time. Not early, not late. Perfectly on time. You've never been perfectly on time before."
"I've been appreciating an extra thirty minutes of sleep every morning," Reyna responded, surprised by how casually she managed to lie.
"Nope. Fact number two: every morning for the past week, you've come in with a cup of coffee from that one cafe a few blocks away from your apartment. Will likes it. We've been there before. So I easily recognised the cup," Nico continued.
"I like getting coffee in the morning from a cafe that's near my apartment. Sue me," she rolled her eyes, turning the page around.
"And here's the twist," Nico exclaimed excitedly. "Fact number three: Thalia has been coming in, just minutes before you every day, with coffee from the same exact cafe."
Jason gasped dramatically, turning to glance at Reyna with wide eyes. "YOU TWO ARE BOINKING. MY BEST FRIEND... AND MY SISTER..."
It was almost comical how his whole body shivered.
"We're not boinking, jesus christ— can we stop saying the word boinking?" Reyna cried out, slamming the folder in her lap shut.
"Alright, fucking," Nico suggested. It wasn't any better. "The fourth and final fact: You two were just in the bathroom together banging it out, and yes, everyone noticed. Except for Jason, bless him."
"I'm literally right here, Nico," Jason grumbled, leaning his left elbow on the window.
"Enough, Di Angelo," Reyna snapped. "Detective Grace and I are not boinking or banging it out, or whatever else you want to call it," she insisted, and seriously, she wasn't lying.
"Alright, but you are dating," Nico stated calmly and when Reyna didn't give him a snarky answer, or any answer for that matter, he simply leaned back against the leather seats of Jason's car and grinned crookedly at her through the rearview mirror.
"I rest my case."
"Rey, you would tell me if you were sleeping with my sister, right?" Jason practically pleased her.
"No, my sex life literally does not concern you," Reyna muttered in irritation. These two were starting to get on her nerves.
"You never denied it though!" Nico butted in and god, Reyna was so close to punching that kid.
"Nico, I swear to god—"
"Just admit that you two are in a secret relationship and I'll let it go!"
"I'm not gonna admit that," Reyna snapped through gritted teeth.
"Why not?" Nico insisted.
"Because it's none of your business, pendejo!"
"Oh, busting out the Spanish insults. This is really bugging you," Jason noted, taking a quick sideways glance at Reyna. "Nico's right, isn't he?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Reyna muttered under her breath, pulling at her braid frustratedly. "Alright, fine. Thalia and I may have started seeing each other a little over a week ago."
"I KNEW IT!" Nico exclaimed, throwing his hands up excitedly.
"SO YOU WERE JUST BOINKING MY SISTER IN THE BATHROOM?"
"STOP SAYING BOINKING!" Reyna cried out, slamming the file in her lap over her head.
"WERE YOU?" Jason shot back.
"NO!"
The silence that followed her outburst was deafening.
"Ohhhh..." Nico whispered, leaning over and resting his arms on the armrest between Jason and Reyna. "You guys haven't fucked yet."
Reyna's silence was all the answer he needed, and Nico seemed to enjoy it way too much. She hated it.
Jason finally parked the car at their destination and they all filed out of the car and walked toward the apartment complex.
"Just— when did you start liking Thalia?" Jason asked as he pushed open the door to the apartment where the first victim had been murdered.
"Uh, I don't know," Reyna answered honestly. "I never realized I did until we started working that last case together."
"Okay... and when did this whole thing start?"
Reyna resisted the urge to glare at him and focused on pulling on the pair of latex gloves instead.
"Technically, two months ago, right after I woke up at the hospital. You went out for a few minutes and Thalia kind of... kissed me?" She answered.
"What, seriously?" Jason exclaimed, his voice becoming a little bit more high pitched.
"Dude, how did you not know?" Nico chuckled, moving around the small apartment like he already knew the crime scene well even though he wasn't even working on this case.
"What, you knew?"
"Reyna wouldn't admit it, but yeah, it was kind of obvious that something happened between them," Nico replied, picking up a random object from the coffee table.
"Alright, can you stop messing around the crime scene? Thank you," Reyna scolded him like one would a five-year-old child who was misbehaving. Nico only held up his hands in defence and stepped away.
"Whatever, but just answer me this. Is it serious?"
Reyna turned to face Jason with her eyebrows furrowed and a frown settled on her face. "Jase, we've only been actually dating for less than two weeks. I honestly can't answer that question yet."
Jason let out a heavy sigh and trudged toward the bedroom where the crime had happened. Reyna turned toward Nico, frowning even harder in confusion. Nico only shrugged and followed Jason. Reyna walked behind him.
"Why do you care so much?" She asked Jason.
"Because," Jason huffed, his eyes focused on the bloodstains on the carpet. "She's my sister, and you're my best friend. And if things end badly between you two, I'm going to have to pick sides and you know how bad I am at that!"
"Jason," Reyna said softly, putting her hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I promise, if this relationship goes south, you'll still be my best friend."
"Right, you say that now, but what happens when you can't even bear to look at my beautiful face because it looks a lot like my sister's face who you want to bash so hard you disfigure it so you start bashing my face—"
"Jason, look—"
"No, Reyna, I'm serious, it's going to be—"
"No, Jason, look!"
Reyna grabbed him by both shoulders and turned him around, toward the bulletin board hanging above the desk.
"What?" He asked cluelessly.
"We've been looking for something that connected all these victims, but couldn't find anything, right?" Reyna started.
"Yeah, the perp's all over the place. The three victims come from different socio-economic backgrounds, different religions, different races, different sexual orientations, different majors... the only thing connecting them is that all these girls were college students," Jason summarised their conundrum.
"Yeah, look at that." She walked over to the bulletin board and pointed at the calendar hanging there, specifically at a post-it note with a date and time scribbled on it. It looked like a deadline to just about anyone but those looked incredibly familiar to Reyna.
"What is it?" Nico asked, walking over toward the calendar and removing the sticky note to inspect it closer.
"The first time we looked around here, I didn't think about it much because it just looked like a submission deadline. I mean, this is a college student, right? But I've seen it somewhere else. Look."
She opened her file in a rush, flipping through the pages until she found the first photograph from the second victim's apartment which she handed over to Jason. On her fridge, there was a post-it note with the same exact date and time of the day she was murdered. She found the second picture she was looking for from the third victim's apartment. Same post-it note attached to bedroom mirror.
"I think they were being threatened or blackmailed before they were murdered. This can't be a coincidence," Reyna said as she handed them the second photo.
"It's not a coincidence. You're right. These murders are personal. There's something connecting these girls and we have to find it before he kills again tomorrow," Jason said solemnly. "Come on, we can't waste any more time."
He was right, they were probably already too late. Which meant that Reyna had to postpone her date with Thalia that night.
The three detectives made their way back to the precinct as fast as possible so they could look over their evidence and try and figure out what those deadlines meant.
Everyone involved in the case sat around the whiteboard in the briefing room, looking over all the evidence they had collected so far. There was Reyna, Annabeth, Jason, Grover, Frank, Leo with his laptop, and Nico who wasn't supposed to be on the case but had inserted himself, and Reyna couldn't get rid of him even if she tried. But he was a good detective and frankly, they needed all the help they could get.
They were just getting somewhere when the door opened and Thalia came in, holding a file in her hand and a grim look on her face.
"Hey, uh, I was following this missing person's case and her body just turned up by the East River. Same M.O. as your victims," Thalia said, setting down the file in front of Reyna.
"That doesn't make any sense," Reyna replied, furrowing her eyebrows as she took a closer look at the report. "This girl was abducted from a parking lot two nights ago, not her apartment."
"Yeah, at the diner where she worked," Thalia agreed. "But it's the same M.O. Cause of death was strangulation with a chain. Same exact chain as the other three victims according to the M.E. And post-mortem mutilation to the genitals."
"He's no longer following his own schedule," Annabeth said, shooting up to her feet. "Guys, he's getting sloppy. He's gonna kill again, and it's gonna happen pretty soon."
"He's not gonna stop until we stop him," Reyna murmured, glancing up to meet Thalia's eyes. She was quietly apologising for having to spend more time at work, even after promising to make it up to her. Reyna felt absolutely horrible.
"Yay, overnight!" Grover exclaimed with absolutely no enthusiasm in his voice.
"Alright, Valdez, I'm gonna need all the surveillance footage from that parking lot. Go back an entire week. Our perp is stalking his victims. He's in that footage somewhere," Reyna turned to Leo to give him the order. He didn't have to be asked twice before he was dashing toward his office to start his research.
"Jason, you and Nico go over to the victim's apartment. It says here she has a roommate. That might have something to do with this change. Talk to the roommate."
"Yes, ma'am!" They both replied at the same time, which sounded a little more mocking than respect but Reyna didn't have time to dwell on that for now.
"Chase, I need you to stay here with Grover and try and figure out why the hell this guy wants these girls dead and what connects them."
"Sure thing. I've already got a working theory. I just need to find a pattern..." Annabeth was already too far gone into her own train of thoughts. It was exactly what they needed right now anyway.
"Zhang, dumpsite. Every detail counts, yeah?"
"Aye aye," Frank saluted her before ducking out the door to drive to where their newest victim was just dumped.
"What are you gonna do?" Annabeth asked without even getting her nose out from her notes.
"I wanna check out the abduction site. There's gotta be something there that'll point us in the perp's direction," Reyna replied, already packing up her stuff to get going.
"You should take Thalia," Annabeth suggested.
Reyna froze for a second, glancing at Thalia for a second and then at Annabeth who looked up from the pile of papers before her just to roll her eyes at them.
"She's already been working the location, you'll save time," Annabeth explained, which made a lot of sense. But it still wasn't sitting right with Reyna that she would suggest that in the first place. Especially since Annabeth had a little evil smirk playing on her face.
"Annie's right," Thalia replied, leaning her weight against the doorframe. "I've already taken statements and checked out the place."
Reyna hesitated for a moment before sighing and returning to grabbing her papers. "You're right. We'll take my car."
"Don't get too distracted, you two," Annabeth called out after them, sending them a not-so-subtle wink.
Thalia flipped her off before grabbing Reyna's arm and pulling her toward the elevators.
"She knows," Thalia announced once they were alone.
Reyna nodded, pulling her lips in between her teeth. She wasn't all that surprised. "Jason and Nico too," she admitted.
"You were right about those two minutes," Thalia chuckled. When the elevator doors opened, she reached out her hand. Reyna glanced at it for a moment, trying to weigh out the pros and cons of holding Thalia's hand while they were at work.
"Everyone already knows, anyway," Thalia reminded her, wiggling her fingers in her face. Reyna couldn't argue with that. And she really wanted to hold her hand.
She smacked Thalia's hand away from her face with a small chuckle and then grabbed it, lacing their fingers together.
"How are we feeling about everyone finding out?" Reyna asked as she unlocked her car and released Thalia's hand to get in.
As soon as they were both comfortably seated, Thalia took Reyna's hand and held it in her lap. Reyna didn't complain or pull away. She could drive with just her left hand.
"I'm okay with it," Thalia responded, her thumb moving over the back of Reyna's hand comfortingly. "You?"
Reyna nodded, focusing on pulling out of the parking spot. "I think I'm okay with it too," she admitted, giving Thalia's hand a small squeeze.
"Good."
They made it to their destination in no time (Reyna may or may not have used the sirens to pass any and all cars that were in her way) and were standing in the exact spot where their fourth victim had been abducted just two nights prior.
"I don't get it," Reyna said. "This is a relatively crowded space. Lauren Sinclair worked at that diner over there." She turned around to point at the restaurant just a couple of feet away from them.
"Yep," Thalia nodded. "She got off her shift at 10. The manager said he saw her get in her car. Except, her car was still parked there in the morning, and her roommate said she never got home."
"Right, so he must have taken her from her car. It has to be on tape," Reyna said, looking around the street. She squinted up at the camera angled right at them.
"I watched every last second of that footage, Rey. We can't see his face. The cameras only caught his back. He was careful," Thalia told her, leaning back against the lamppost and crossing her arms. "All we could tell was that he was a 5 foot 5, lanky dude who buys his clothes from the salvation army."
"He was here before the abduction. He stalks his victims before taking them. He was here before," Reyna stated.
She turned around slowly, trying to look at every shop that surrounded them on this street. Anything that might have popped out. There was a small flower shop across the street, a juice bar, a nail salon, and a pharmacy.
Her phone started ringing and she looked down to read Annabeth's name.
"You're on speakerphone," Reyna greeted her.
"I think I know who our perp is," she said as soon as Reyna had answered.
"Go on..."
"Okay, so I noticed one of the victims was wearing a bead necklace around her neck, kind of like the ones you would get from a summer camp or something. I have a similar one. I don't know why, but it just seemed like an important lead, so I looked into it and retrieved the necklace from the evidence box. One of the beads had the camp's name and—"
"All four victims went to the same camp?" Thalia guessed.
"No, here's where it gets interesting. The first three girls did. The fourth one? Absolutely no relation whatsoever to that camp. And she's a grad student, by the way. She wasn't supposed to die," Annabeth concluded.
Reyna took in all the new information, using her fingers to rub her forehead.
"So, our perp was out for revenge, but it wasn't enough. He started enjoying the kills," Reyna worded out that horrific thought. It made her physically cringe. "This is worse than we thought."
"Yeah... so, get this," Annabeth continued. "They all went to the same camp in 2014, right? I had Leo dig up everything he could about it. He found a sealed file but with a bit of digging he managed to open it and, Rey, these girls were actually horrible people."
"What do you mean?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Well... they almost killed this other girl. She was younger, and they bullied her a lot until it got a little too rough and she almost suffocated to death when they somehow convinced her to tie a noose around her neck. The girl, her name was Lucy Allen. She was in a coma until last year. She had to go through serious rehabilitation and was released, you guessed it, exactly three weeks ago."
"Just before the killings began," Reyna breathed out.
"Our guy's a girl?" Thalia asked, her eyes widening in shock.
"I think so. And there's more—"
Reyna's phone buzzed again. This time it was Frank calling.
"Hey, Zhang's on the other line. I'm gonna put him through," Reyna said before answering Frank's call.
"This guy is the most twisted guy in the world. The poor girl suffered from extreme overkill. Our perp is losing it. I think he's having some sort of psychotic break," Frank explained.
"That explains what I was just about to say," Annabeth told them. "Grover and I were going through the footage of the new abduction site with Valdez. We went back to the time she was released from the rehab center and we saw Lucy Allen in that parking lot three weeks ago, and then once again, two days ago going into—"
"A pharmacy?" Reyna guessed, her eyes glaring at the flashing green neon sign.
"Yeah, exactly! How did you know?" Annabeth asked.
Thalia turned around to look at the drug store's entrance, catching on to Reyna's deduction.
"We're staring right at it. We need to get security footage from that pharmacy," Thalia said.
"Great work, Chase. Ask Leo to find Lucy's most recent address, please."
"You got it!" Annabeth responded before hanging up.
"Frank. Regroup at the precinct in thirty, alright?" Reyna told him and hung up before she could get an answer. "C'mon, let's go in there."
Thalia and Reyna rushed toward the drug store and pushed the door open, badges already out. There wasn't a big crowd thankfully and the lady waiting in line let them get past her so they could speak to the pharmacist.
"Thank you," Reyna murmured to the lady with a polite smile, putting her badge away.
"Hi, how may I help you guys?" The pharmacist asked them, putting away the medicine boxes he had in his hands.
"We have reason to believe this girl we're looking for is a client of yours," Thalia explained. "She was involved in the abduction that happened two nights ago in that parking lot across the street. We're going to need access to all of your security footage."
"Oh, how awful. Of course, right this way."
He led them inside, behind the counter, where the computers that were connected to the cameras were. Leo had just sent them a recent photo of their perp for reference. Thalia went ahead and started going through the footage once they were given access, but the pharmacist had been looking over Reyna's shoulder and noticed the picture on her phone screen.
"Oh, I remember her! She came in a couple of nights ago asking for a refill of her prescription meds, but I couldn't give them to her. She wasn't due for another two weeks or so," he explained.
"Well, that explains the rage and overkill," Thalia muttered. "Ah, here she is."
"Overkill?" he whispered, absolutely horrified.
"We also have reason to believe she might be involved in four recent murders," Reyna told him before turning to Thalia. "Can you zoom in on her? Perfect."
They watched Lucy Allens walk into the pharmacy, go up to the counter, and ask for her meds. She looked frustrated, just like the pharmacist had told them because he couldn't give her the drugs. And then she stormed out.
"Do you have a camera outside?" Thalia asked and the guy nodded, leaning over her to show her. They could see her walking out in a rage, but the cameras didn't have an angle on the abduction site.
"Damn it," Reyna muttered under her breath, running her hand back over her hair in frustration. "One last question, what kind of meds is she on?"
"A lot, poor thing," the pharmacist replied. "Most of them are to keep her organs functioning. It's common among people who were in a coma. And some of them are for severe mental problems. There's an antipsychotic on that list."
"If she's off the meds...?" Thalia started and the pharmacist looked pretty worried at that.
"She could be really dangerous to herself and others."
"That's what I was afraid of," Reyna sighed, turning around, car keys already in hand. "Thank you, sir," she called out as she rushed out to her car, Thalia right behind her.
They made it back to the precinct in just under ten minutes and met up with Annabeth, Grover, and Frank.
"I just talked to Jason," Annabeth started. "They just finished talking to the vic's roommate. It's just as we thought. She wasn't supposed to die."
"Yeah, Lucy Allens needed a quick emotional release, and Lauren Sinclair was the first person she could get her hands on," Reyna replied, letting out a heavy sigh.
On cue, Leo came rushing in, holding a tablet in his hands. "Alright, squad, I got her current address. It's the same address she's had all her life. She's living with her parents."
"That doesn't make sense though, does it?" Frank replied. "She needed a secondary location to kill the fourth victim. She didn't do it at the abduction site, or the dumpsite. So she must have taken her somewhere else."
"She wouldn't have been able to keep a victim hostage for 24 hours in her parents' home and then kill her there," Annabeth agreed, holding her chin between her thumb and index finger in thought.
"It doesn't matter," Reyna decided. "We'll search the house, interview the parents. They might know of some place she might have taken Lauren to."
"Alright, let's gear up then," Frank said, clapping his hands together.
"Valdez, contact Jason and Nico. Send them the address and tell them to meet us there," Reyna told Leo who gave her a curt nod and went to work.
"You need me to come along?"
Reyna turned around when Thalia spoke up, looking at her a little dazed as she was too focused on the case.
"Oh, no, it's alright," she told her, then took a look at the clock hanging on the wall. It was almost five o'clock in the afternoon. "You can go home if you don't have any more work. You're off duty."
"Alrighty," Thalia responded, sending Reyna a tight smile. "Be careful out there," she added.
"I will," Reyna reassured her, returning her smile.
Reyna rushed past Thalia and to the locker room where she dressed up appropriately to keep herself protected. She wasn't going to make the mistake of forgetting the bulletproof vest twice. When she was all geared up with two guns on her person, she stopped by her office to make sure she had everything she needed only to slow down when she saw Thalia standing there, waiting for her.
"Hey," Reyna breathed out, walking over toward her desk. "I think this is going to take a lot longer than an hour so—"
"I know, don't worry about it," Thalia interrupted her. "We'll have dinner tomorrow."
"No," Reyna said with a frown, standing up straight to meet Thalia's gaze. "We can still have it, just... not at seven."
"Rey, there's no guarantee that you're going to find your perp, and if you do, there's going to be the arrest, and then the questioning and all the paperwork, and a shit ton of more work after that... let's be real here, you're not gonna be done for hours."
Reyna let out a breath through her nose and bit down on her bottom lip as she looked at Thalia apologetically. "I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Thalia chuckled, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "I'll tell you what. I'm actually in the mood for cooking so, I'm going to be making spaghetti, double the usual portion. And you're going to come over when you're done and you're going to eat because I know you're going to forget to have dinner."
"You won't already be asleep?" Reyna asked eyebrow raised. Though she had to admit, she really wanted to listen to that offer.
"Nah, I don't sleep much anyway," Thalia replied almost like she was proud of that fact.
"That's really unhealthy," Reyna chuckled, making her way over to Thalia once she had grabbed everything she needed from the desk.
"I visit my therapist every two weeks, it's cool," Thalia shrugged it off. "What do you say?"
"Okay, I'll call you when we're done. Just in case it got pretty late and you did end up falling asleep," Reyna told her.
Thalia reached out with her hand and ran her fingers down the fabric of Reyna's vest. "Safety looks good on you," she quipped with a teasing smirk.
"Thank you, I thought so too," Reyna replied with a small laugh, leaning into Thalia's touch. "I think I've had enough near-death experiences this year."
"Mhm," Thalia hummed, her smile widening as she stepped closer toward Reyna.
"Come back safe," Thalia whispered.
"I will," Reyna promised, her voice just as quiet.
"You know, for the spaghetti."
Reyna breathed out a laugh, reaching up with her hand to cup Thalia's cheek. She was faintly aware of the fact that her door was still wide open and they weren't completely out of view, but she couldn't really get herself to care at that moment.
"It really would be a shame if no one got to eat it," Reyna replied, almost forgetting her entire mission with a single look into Thalia's deep blue eyes.
"Jason would probably end up eating it, actually," Thalia mumbled.
"A real shame."
Thalia laughed at that and finally pulled Reyna in for a soft and slow kiss.
"Now go catch a serial killer!" Thalia exclaimed once she had finally pulled away and practically pushed Reyna out into the bullpen. Reyna glanced back at Thalia for a second, her mouth split into a grin before finally catching up with the rest of the team downstairs.
She got in the squad car with Frank who was waiting for her and they sped up behind the rest in the direction of the perp's house.
"So... You and Thalia, then—"
"Drive in silence, detective Zhang," Reyna muttered, staring straight ahead at the road.
Frank cleared his throat awkwardly, nodding his head curtly. "Aye aye, sarge."
Reyna felt bad for being so harsh with him but honestly, she wasn't in the mood to discuss her relationship with anyone. She didn't think she would ever be, anyway.
As it turned out, they didn't need the entire squad to be armed just yet. Lucy Allens was not home, and the parents had nothing to offer when Reyna had told them the reason why they were there. They couldn't even believe that their daughter would be capable of murder.
Nico was sat down on the coffee table in front of Mr. and Mrs. Allens which made Mrs. Allens look like she had a lot to say about that but was too afraid to do so. Thankfully, they weren't all mannerless and Annabeth who was closest to him flicked his shoulder to get him to stand up. He did, but not without shooting her a glare.
"Listen, ma'am, is there any place you know that Lucy's been visiting more often? A treehouse from her childhood, maybe a place she loved that's recently been abandoned... anything?" Jason asked the mother, begging her with his giant blue eyes.
"I don't know," the mother sniffled, wiping her face with a tissue.
"I guess..." The father started, and then shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. "There's the old library three streets down. She used to love going there when she was younger."
"But it's been closed for years, Micheal!" The mother exclaimed a little too harshly.
Reyna shared a look with Jason and gave him a quick nod in silent understanding.
"Grover and Nico, stay here in case Lucy comes back," Reyna ordered them and the rest of the squad rushed over to the old Library.
They were there in exactly three minutes. It was practically a ghost town except for the single car that was parked right outside. It matched the description of their perp's car they had in their files. She was here.
"Grace, Zhang. go round the back. Chase and I'll take the front," Reyna commanded. They all nodded, pulled out their guns, and started running inside.
They found her pretty fast. They could hear a little bit of commotion coming from the very back of the library behind one of the large shelves. Lucy was pulling an unconscious girl up over a chair and she had a noose tied around her neck.
"Lucy, let her go!" Annabeth cried out, pointing her gun at the criminal.
"We don't want to hurt you, Lucy," Reyna added. "Just let her go. She's innocent."
"I can't!" Lucy cried out, tightening her grip around the unconscious girl. She must have just abducted her.
"Lucy... she didn't hurt you. She doesn't deserve this," Annabeth said, keeping her voice calm and steady. She took a tentative step forward and released her grip around her gun, placing it back in its holster. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, Lucy. I'm here to help you."
Lucy's eyes darted from Annabeth to Reyna and back to Annabeth, her eyes wild and red-brimmed.
"Let her go, Lucy," Annabeth told her softly.
It took a couple more tries but Lucy finally let go of the unconscious victim and Annabeth ran to her, cuffs out. Reyna rushed forward and crouched down beside the girl, making sure she still had a pulse.
"We need a medic," Reyna said, trying to make the victim ad comfortable as possible.
"On it," she heard Frank say as he and Jason had finally caught up to them.
Reyna wasn't officially done for the day until it was well past ten in the evening. She had signed all the papers she needed to sign, written all the reports she needed, finished up with the interrogation and confession, and just when she could feel her soul quite literally leaving her body with how tired she was, they were finally done.
She grabbed her jacket and her bag with all her essentials and walked toward the elevators while fighting back a yawn.
Annabeth and Jason joined her with matching bags under her eyes. "We finally caught the East River Strangler," she started.
"Yeah... it was interesting," Reyna replied with a chuckle. The elevator doors opened and they both stepped inside.
"Wanna grab something to eat?" Jason asked, hitting the button for the parking level and leaning back against the wall.
"Nah, I'm gonna go home, force Percy to give me a massage, and pass out till tomorrow morning," Annabeth replied with a small grin, tossing her keys from one hand to the other.
"Ah, of course. He does give the best back massages," Jason agreed. Reyna and Annabeth both gave him odd looks which he ignored. "Rey?"
It was only then that she remembered she supposedly had dinner waiting for her already. Suddenly, she felt a new surge of energy course through her. She wasn't sure yet if she enjoyed the excitement she got every single time she thought about Thalia.
"I'm good, Jase," she told him, giving his shoulder a quick pat, and pushed past him to get to her car.
"What's more important than grabbing a meal with your bestie?" He called after her.
"Grabbing a meal with his sister," Reyna shot back, grinning widely at him before ducking her head in her car and starting the engine.
She could hear Annabeth's laugh echoing loud and merry through the garage and it made her laugh along as she pulled out of her spot and waved goodbye to her friends on her way out.
Reyna had never been to Thalia's place yet. Sure, they had known each other for three years and have been dating for almost two weeks, but hanging out outside of work was never something that applied to them until recently. Reyna had no idea what to expect, but she also wasn't sure why she was surprised when Thalia opened the door wearing an oversized worn-out hoodie and leggings and stepped aside to show off a pretty average single bedroom apartment.
"Wow," was the first thing Reyna said.
Thalia furrowed her eyebrows, her grin slightly fading. "What?"
"Nothing, I've never seen you in leggings," Reyna responded with a small laugh.
Thalia rolled her eyes and grabbed Reyna by the arm to pull her inside the apartment and close the door behind her. Reyna grinned and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"Shoes off," Thalia ordered before turning around and sliding over to her couch. It was only then that Reyna noticed the fuzzy white socks Thalia was wearing. Seriously, who was this woman?
Still, Reyna wasn't going to complain about kicking off her boots. She hung her jacket behind the door next and walked over to join Thalia on the couch.
"Nice place," she told her, only to be betrayed by a yawn.
Thalia smiled softly at Reyna and got back up to her feet. "You're not too tired to eat, are you?"
Reyna shook her head but was once again betrayed by a second yawn.
"Okay, then," Thalia chuckled, holding her hands out for Reyna. "I'm gonna heat up the leftovers, and you're going to take a nice shower, and freshen up."
"That's okay," Reyna shook her head. She didn't have a change of clothes, anyway. But then again, on second thought, she kind of did have a long day that involved a lot of running around, and yeah, "actually... yeah, a shower would be great."
"Thought so, come on," Thalia grinned and pecked her lips quickly. She held Reyna's hand in hers and led her toward the bathroom "I'll be right back with comfy clothes."
But just before Thalia could turn around to leave, Reyna grabbed her hand and pulled her flush against her. "Hello," she whispered softly.
"Hi, there," Thalia responded with a slightly confused chuckle, holding Reyna by the waist.
Reyna held Thalia's chin between her thumb and pointer finger, tilting her head up just enough so she could lean in and kiss her. Thalia's arms wrapped around her frame as her body melted into Reyna's and she kissed her back slow and soft at first, but pretty soon, she was pushing Reyna into the wall behind them.
Thalia's fingers moved fast, untucking Reyna's blouse from her pants and running up her bare abdomen.
"God, it's always a wonderful surprise every time I'm reminded you've got rock-hard abs," Thalia breathed out, her words coming out muffled with her lips pressed against the corner of Reyna's mouth.
Reyna breathed out a laugh and playfully poked Thalia's abs. "The real surprise here was finding out you have abs."
Thalia seemed genuinely offended by that. "What? Why is that surprising?"
Reyna gave her an are you serious! look before answering. "First of all, your eating habits. Your sleeping habits. Your lack of exercising habits—"
"Okay! I get it! Just let me make out with you for once without getting called out?"
Reyna cracked a grin and grabbed Thalia by the collar of her hoodie. She kissed her again, much deeper than before. Their tongues brushed against one another and Reyna was already starting to feel like her chest might explode.
Reyna's hands were in Thalia's hair and Thalia's lips were on her neck, and god, she really needed to let out all this steam and it felt so damn good when Thalia's teeth grazed against her skin that she didn't even care about the bruise that it might have left. She could always wear a turtleneck.
"Where's your room?"
Thalia pulled away for a second, her chest heaving heavily and she swallowed back hard, trying to regain her breath. "Are you sure?"
Reyna didn't have to think twice before nodding.
Somewhere between making their way from the bathroom to Thalia's bed, they had both lost several items of clothing. Well, almost all of them. And it wasn't until Thalia, who was only wearing her leggings and sports bra, had playfully pushed Reyna back against the mattress that they slowed down their pace. Reyna was similarly dressed, her blouse discarded, bra unclasped, trousers unbuttoned.
Thalia took a step back, biting down on her lip as her eyes traveled along Reyna's body. Reyna could feel her heart rate accelerating and she was beginning to feel a little flustered with Thalia perceiving her so intimately.
And then, Thalia climbed over Reyna, straddling her hips. Her fingers traveled up along Reyna's abs and then stopped just under the fresh pink scar from the bullet's entry wound. It had already healed nicely and Reyna had almost forgotten it even existed, but Thalia's touch was still incredibly hesitant and gentle.
"Does it still hurt?" She asked and Reyna just shook her head, no. "That was crazy stupid of you," Thalia teased her.
Reyna rolled her eyes, using her fist to playfully punch her forearm. "I saved your life, you ungrateful ass."
Thalia gasp, holding her hand up to her chest. "You actually only endangered your own life."
"Shut up, I totally saved your dumb ass."
"Dumb hot ass," Thalia corrected with a lopsided grin. Reyna snorted and then let out an exaggerated sigh. She reached around Thalia and then smacked her ass, sharing her grin.
"Yeah, I guess you do have a pretty nice ass," Reyna admitted, making Thalia burst out laughing and slump over her, her face buried in Reyna's shoulder.
"I'm going to fuck you," Thalia said, right into her ear, her breath tickling Reyna's skin.
Reyna reached up with her hand to grab Thalia's face and pull it toward hers. "Then what are you waiting for?" She whispered back.
Thalia smiled, that same annoying shit-eating, cocky grin that was starting to grow on Reyna. And the next thing she knew, Reyna was literally seeing stars.