“I brought you clothes.” Sylvia lifted a hefty shopping bag. “I hope they fit. I went by the sizes of what you had on when they brought you to the hospital.”

Fuck. Did he have enough money in his wallet to cover it?

Roni pushed up on the pillows. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”

“Not a thing. It’s a present from me. A welcome to your new home present.” She hopped onto his bed and leaned to kiss him. “Do you want to see what I got?”

“Sure.”

Upending the huge plastic bag on the bed, she started grouping the items. “Five pairs of jeans—size twenty-nine, ten T-shirts—size medium, three hoodies—size medium as well.”

She put the aforementioned items back in the bag and continued with the inventory. “Two nice button-downs, a sweater, two packs of boxer-shorts, five in each pack, and ten pairs of socks.” She added those to the bag. “I didn’t know if you wear pajamas, but I can get them when I go back to get you training clothes. I forgot about those.”

Sylvia had forgotten some other necessities as well, but he was too embarrassed to remind her. As it was, she must’ve spent a lot of money. She’d bought him an entire new wardrobe.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I feel even more helpless here than I felt there. All I had to do to get something was to put in a request. I don’t know how things work here. Besides, I can’t access my money, which means that all I have are the few dollars in my wallet.”

Dr. Bridget had a stash of new toothbrushes and disposable razors. He could ask her to give him some until he settled in. Or maybe he could ask Andrew if he had any he could spare.

Sylvia reached for her purse. “I have your wallet here. Not that you have much use for it. You need a new name and a new driver’s license.”

“I know.” He took the wallet and put it on the table by his bed. It was all he had. Never mind that he hadn’t had much use for a driver’s license before, and he wouldn’t have in the foreseeable future. He was still a prisoner. The dream of touring the country with Sylvia in a convertible was just that. A dream.

“What about shoes? I don’t think I was wearing any.”

“Right.” Sylvia pulled out her phone. “You didn’t. Another thing I forgot. What’s your shoe size?”

“Ten and a half. And I’m going to pay you back for all of this once I get paid myself. I don’t know when that will be, though. Andrew thinks I should get better before talking to Kian.”

“He is right. Kian is a cool guy, and I don’t think he would mind that you look sickly, but you’ll feel more confident, and that’s what important. You just need to remember not to be rude to him. He is not known as a forgiving kind of guy. In fact, he is pretty intense.”

Roni had met his share of type A personality assholes. Almost every fucking agent thought he could push the scrawny hacker around. Wrong. The only way to deal with them was the opposite of polite. The ruder he’d been to them, the more respectful they had been. Showing weakness was the worst thing to do with these types.

Except, the agents had had no power over him. If they’d wanted Roni’s help, they’d had to grovel, not the other way around. Here, he was at the mercy of that Kian guy, and Roni didn’t like that at all.

True, Kian needed him, but Roni needed Kian just as much if not more. Damn it, for a smart guy he’d been incredibly stupid not to consider the precarious position he was putting himself in.

He’d been blinded by fantasies of living with Sylvia. Going to sleep with her each night and waking up with her each morning. The other promises Andrew had made had been just a bonus.

Even the immortality.

Roni had been lonely and friendless for most of his life. Even before the prank he’d pulled that had gotten him in trouble and had taken his freedom away, he’d been the geeky kid who’d spent all of his time alone in his room with only his computer for company. Other kids his age had been dumb and boring. The guys had behaved like adolescent chimps, and the girls had ignored him.

Sylvia was his salvation. Much more than a lover, she was his only friend.

“Knock, knock.” A woman sauntered into the room. “I’m Ingrid, the housing fairy.” She offered her hand to Roni.

He shook it, painfully aware of how pitifully weak his grip was, while the foxy lady in charge of housing arrangements could smash the bones in his hand if she so wished. “Nice to meet you in person.”

They’d spoken on the phone earlier. Ingrid had promised to check the available inventory and then come talk to him.

“I assume you know Sylvia.”

Ingrid put her hand on Sylvia’s shoulder. “Of course I do. Roni tells me that the two of you are going to share the apartment.”

Fuck. He hadn’t asked Sylvia about it. But Ingrid had made it clear that there weren’t enough vacant apartments and that he would have to share. Roni didn’t want to room with some strange guy. He wanted to be with Sylvia and only Sylvia.

“I can’t. I wish I could. I’m going to spend as much time with you as I can, but I can’t move in with you. I’m sorry.”

“Why not?”

Sylvia sighed. “My mother. She is clingy. She’d be devastated if I left. I have to get her used to the idea over a long period of time. Maybe in the new place, she’ll have more company and won’t feel as lonely.”

Ingrid shook her head. “I got you your own apartment under the assumption that Sylvia would be moving in with you. So until I run out of options and have to stick you with a roommate, you can enjoy your solitude.”

“Thank you.”

“Here are the keys.” She handed him two plastic cards like the ones used in hotels. “The apartment number is on the sticker attached to each key. First two numbers indicate the floor it’s on. Welcome to the keep, Roni.”

When Ingrid left, Sylvia leaned and kissed him again. “I’m sorry, baby. I told you about my mom. I thought you figured out that I’m stuck with her.”

“Being with you was the most compelling reason for me to leave my old life behind. I can’t help feeling disappointed.”

“It will happen. Just not right away.” She hopped off the bed. “Come on. Get dressed and let’s get out of here.”

“What about my equipment?” Roni pointed at the monitor stand.

“I’ll ask someone to bring it up.”

A few minutes later, dressed in his new clothes and with socks on his feet, Roni got out of the bathroom holding a new toothbrush and a disposable razor.

Sylvia noticed the items and pulled out her phone. “I forgot those too. I’ll get them when I go for the other things.” She typed on the small screen, adding to her shopping list.

Roni threw them in the plastic bag and lifted it off the bed, pretending it wasn’t a huge effort to hold the thing up.

“Give me that.” Sylvia snatched the bag away from him.

He was too weak to fight her for it. “Way to make me feel like a man, baby.”

Holding the bag in one hand as if it weighed nothing, Sylvia wrapped her arm around his waist and propped him up. “You’re a man who is weakened by pneumonia. Once you’re back on your feet, I’ll let you carry all the heavy things. Deal?”

“Deal. And also let me pay you back.”

“Nope. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

The arguing continued all the way up to the apartment.

“I’ll tell you what.” Sylvia inserted the keycard into the lock and pushed the door open. “When you get your first paycheck, I’ll order a bunch of stuff for myself, and you’ll pay for it. A present from you to me for being an awesome girlfriend.”

That sounded reasonable, and it gave him an idea. He didn’t need to wait for a paycheck to buy his girlfriend things, or for himself. As one of the best hackers in the States, he could get her anything without paying for it, and no one would ever find out. There were two problems with that. One was the delivery, he didn’t know if he was allowed to have things delivered to him in the keep. The other problem would be keeping it a secret from Sylvia. She wouldn’t accept stolen gifts.

“Okay?” She put her hands on her hips.

“It’s a deal.”

Sylvia’s face lit up. “Wonderful. Now let’s take a look around.”

She took his hand and tugged, urging him to follow her to the bank of windows. “Look at this view!”

Roni glanced at the high-rises across the street. It was a better view than the one he’d had before, but nothing spectacular. What interested him more was the big television screen hanging over the low fake fireplace and the comfortable couch facing it.

“The sofa looks comfortable.” He tugged on Sylvia’s hand.

“Let’s check it out.”

They plopped down at the same time, bouncing up from the springy cushions. Roni leaned back. “Now, that’s what I call a sofa. Every couch potato's dream come true.”

Sylvia cast him a smirk. “How about we check out the bed for bounciness?”

“Most important system check. Lead on, captain.” Roni imitated Star Trek Scotty’s accent.

Sylvia tugged her T-shirt down and straightened her back. “So I’m the captain?”

“Who do you want to be?”

“Commander Deanna Troi, of course.”

“Not the same Star Trek. Troi is from the Next Generation. Scotty is from the old one.”

“Then you can be Geordi.”

“I don’t want to be Geordi. How about Worf? I always wanted to be a Klingon.”

Sylvia chuckled. “Works for me. Deanna and Worf had a fling.”

“In a hallucination. It wasn’t real.”

Sadly, in his current state, all Roni could do was hallucinate.