Escape from Harrizel (60 page)

Shit
.

“Uh… Boss?” Jace tries again.

Tetlak leaps from the end of the right
flank, landing right in front of her. My hands turn to fists at my
side. It takes everything I have not to race over and take that
bastard out. He’s been asking for it for years. Sampson taught me
enough to put him down. I could. And I
would
if it didn’t
mean instant death for everyone here. Because if I go, the rest of
the system crumbles.

“I’m going to collect some of Hinson’s
things,” Fallon’s voice carries. Everyone has stopped working to
watch, so it’s eerily silent. “I want to give her a burial.”

“No.”

I’m heading over before I realized I’ve
moved. Tetlak is too close to her. I can’t take it. I force myself
to only walk and not run, my fists clenched at my sides. If he
fucking
touches her…

“We were close…” Fallon keeps her voice
strong. “I’d like to gather some of her things.”

Tetlak leans in and I go rigid as I come up
behind her. The Vermix’s yellow eyes flicker to me, questioning my
sudden appearance. But he knows me. We have a history. If it was
anyone else, we’d both be dead. But Tetlak understands the role I
play. It benefits him so he leaves me alone.

Fallon fumbles back at his proximity and
steps on my shoe. She spins toward me but I keep my eyes fixated on
the Vermix. “Not this one.”

“Explain it to her then,” Tetlak growls,
looking to Fallon again. “Get back to work.”

I slip my hand in hers, gently tugging her
toward me. “We have to go.”

She doesn’t resist and I pull her from the
scene quickly, finally calming down. Good. She’s out of there.
Doesn’t mean Tetlak won’t keep a special eye on her. And now, so is
everyone else. She may be brave as hell but she doesn’t understand
the danger she’s put herself in. And now, with me coming to her
rescue—again—people will speculate.

Her hands are soft. Softer than I would
expect. For just a second I let myself pretend we’re anywhere from
here, out together somewhere. On a date or something. I don’t know.
It stirs something and for a brief moment, I give in, holding her
like I want to rather than out of necessity. I soften my touch and
brush my fingers against hers. It’s almost intimate. But then I
remember everyone is watching us—
really
watching us—and I
stop.

I should probably head back for the Gollop,
but I need her to understand the situation. The danger. She has no
idea what just happened—what’s happening now. Glancing at the
Rogues, I swerve right and head for the ladder, ignoring their
wide-eyed stares and open mouthed smirks. Yeah, they’re going to
want to talk to me about this. Soon.

I climb down first and Fallon’s next,
following as I head right back to her spot. It’s probably lame that
I know where she was working earlier, but I keep tabs on
everything. Everyone. Besides, Pratt told me—her assignment is to
report on Fallon—so I already knew. Of course the Rogues were
around when she did, and now Jace and the boys won’t let up. They
kept persuading me to go back to my days of trench digging… I was
almost going to give in, if only to shut them up. They don’t
understand why I’m not perusing this.

Higgs and Baron are in Fallon’s place but
once they see me, they move immediately.

Good.

Reaching her station, I pick up her Senz and
start working. She looks confused, but eventually does the same.
Solidly focused on the wall, it only takes a minute before my words
come rushing out.

“You really must be suicidal.”

“I had to try.”

“Glad you got it out of your system?”

“It’s not out of my system.”

“Man…” I can’t help but laugh, “you have no
idea how close you just came to being dead. That’s twice now I’ve
saved your ass.”

“Twice? When was the first time?”

She’s
hot
when she’s feisty. I’ve got
to be careful with this. I lean in, trying not to breathe in her
scent. “Uh—does the other night ring a bell?”

She narrows her eyes, a faint blush rising
to her cheeks. “So why don’t you stop then?”

“It’d be easy,” I inch closer, tossing a
glob of gibb into the bucket, “if you didn’t act so rashly.”

“Hey!” she snaps. “I came back and I didn’t
have to! I’m not going to sit by and let—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” I lower my hands,
glancing around to see if everyone else is staring. They are. “Just
saying…think before you make these decisions. That’s all.”

“I
was
thinking. I was thinking I
don’t plan on staying here forever. And I’m not waiting for someone
else when I can do it just as easy. I’m not thinking rashly. I’m
thinking
strategically
. Long term, she holds my stare. “I’m
thinking revolt.”

God
, can I just kiss her? Right now?
If I ordered everyone to forgot what they see—and they would, in
fear of the repercussions—could I get away with it? But I don’t
even know if she wants me to kiss her. Probably not. She hasn’t
given off any signs that she would.

I turn to the wall and start digging again
and she does the same.

“So…” I clear my throat, not even sure why
I’m asking, “what do you think about the Rublies?”

“I—yes, they’re…” she gulps, another blush
rising to her cheeks. She’s nervous and for some reason, it’s
exciting me, “the Rublies are delicious. Thank you for all the food
by the way.”

I nod.

“But you really don’t have to…”

“Sure I do,” I sneak a peek at her, wanting
to do a lot more than just feed her. I want to get her back to her
bedroom and… no. That’s not smart.
Focus, Rox. Focus.
I
really do need to stay away from her. I can still feed her, but
that’s it. “What kind of bastard would I be if I didn’t keep you
fed?”

She opens her mouth to respond but her focus
shifts over my shoulder, to Irie at my side. Of course he’s
here—why wouldn’t he be? He blinks three times, pauses, then blinks
twice more. Tucker wants to talk to me?
Now?
It’s about
this. I know it is. And all I wanted to do was warn her. Explain
the situation. About the dangers she’s put herself in. And will be
in if she keeps pulling stunts like this.

I look back to Fallon, trying to decide how
to end this. Has she been warned thoroughly? Maybe I’ll have Pratt
get with her again. But I don’t want to keep sending Pratt.
I
want to talk to her.
Fuck!
What do I do?

“Look,” I start taking off the Senz, “try
not to get yourself killed, alright? Strategizing is one thing but
challenging Tetlak,” I shake my head, backing up, “instant death.”
I scan her one last time, promising myself I won’t do it again. I
have to leave her alone. “See you.”

I shouldn’t be here.

I
know
I shouldn’t be here but I’ve
wanted to get into her room since I first saw her. Damn, I’m being
dumb. Look at what’s already happened. Mantis tried cornering her
which means the entire Kings are speculating over us, over her.
They think she’s my girl—exactly what I
didn’t
want to
happen. Without even realizing it, Fallon’s become my new weakness.
And she doesn’t even know it. I should really go. Right now. I
could leave her safety to Chief and Jace. They’re the two best
fighters I have. They’ll keep her as protected as I could. It’s
their new assignment so she’ll be constantly surrounded and
secured. And the rumors would fade if I stayed away…

I lean forward, pressing my head against her
door.

Jesus
.

What do I do?

Even if I wanted to stay away, I couldn’t.
Not at this point. I’m here and there’s nothing I can do to
convince myself to leave. Besides, I’m
Rox
for fuck’s safe.
Why can’t I have this? Not that there’s anything to have… it’s not
like we’re dating. I’m just telling her about the food gatherings.
That’s all. She wants to know about them and probably help. And
there’s nothing wrong with me delivering this information to her…in
her bedroom…where we’ll finally be alone.

With this thought, I retrieve the Sirolla
Sampson gave me and hold it up to the door. A thousand tiny white
hairs emerge, gripping the crimson blocks as six click back in
place and the door slowly opens. Silently, I step in and lean
against the door frame, quickly scanning the room.

Fallon is on her bed, leaning back and
staring up at the dark ceiling.

For a long moment, I just watch her, feeling
like a total perv. I should probably say something—announce I’m
here at least—but at this point, all I want to do is crawl on top
of her and start kissing up her neck. I know she tastes good.
God
I’m dying to do it again. But I don’t even know if she
wants me. After I kissed her at Lecture, she didn’t bring it up.
Maybe I shouldn’t have done it. Maybe I should’ve tried
again...

“Hey.”

She sits up, her cheeks burning red.
“Hi.”

“Mind if I…?” I gesture myself in, but don’t
wait for her to answer. Normally I’m allowed instant entrance
wherever I go, so it’s strange doing this. I close the door, my
blood racing to find myself in a small quarter with her.

“Of course…” she glances over my shoulder.
“How’d you do that?”

“What?” I look behind me. It takes a minute
to understand what she’s asking. I mostly hang around the Rogues
and they all know about the easy door access. That’s how we move
all the tokens and basically run our side of the Market. “Oh—a
sirolla,” I walk over to her, presenting the tiny sphere. It really
is an ingenious device. I’m not sure we’d be half as successful
without it and it’s just another reason meeting Sampson was so
beneficial to the Rogues. “Like a door decoder—can open
anyone’s.”

Looking up, I find her eyes are already on
mine. My heart speeds, especially at the knowledge that only a few
inches separates us. She must recognize it too because she’s
blushing again.

“So…” she backs up, moving away from me,
“…that’s how you got into Griffin’s room.”

“Yeah. I’m surprised that slipped past
you.”

I’m not trying to be a dick, but sometimes I
can’t help it. Side effect of being around the Rogues constantly. I
have to give her credit though—she’s still here. At first I was
afraid I’d introduced her to too much too quickly—Camp, the
Snatchings, the underground Labyrinth. Usually it takes an Arival a
fair amount of time to get adjusted and here I am, throwing all
this at her. But she’s handling it well.
Better
than well.
And then revealing who I am—the role I play in all this—I’m
surprised she hasn’t run screaming.

“Fair enough…”

She’s still walking, keeping away from me
and I wonder if she’s nervous. The thought brings a smile to my
face. I could say something… call her on it, but decide to keep
quiet.

“You wanted to know about gathering food.
Pratt will pick you up after Leisure Time starts. We’re out for two
hours and that’s it,” I watch her bite her lip. “You uh, sure you
want to go?”

“It’s freedom. Besides,” she gestures to the
food I’ve had Pratt bringing her, “I need to start working off my
debt.”

“It’s a paid.”

“Already?”

I shrug, “I know the Boss.”

“
Yeah
…” she laughs, “thanks for
telling me by the way.”

“Didn’t think it was important,” I cross my
arms, “besides, my name is Reid. That’s what you asked for. My
name.”

“”Knowing you go by Rox is pretty helpful
too.”

“Well… I didn’t tell you because I’ve taken
some time off.”

“A sabbatical?”

I nod.

“Why?”

I rub the back of my neck. Shit. Am I really
going to tell her? Maybe I can lie… but I don’t want to lie to her.
Okay. Here it goes…“I was seeing someone and it didn’t work
out.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah… so Tucker’s taken over Rogue Leader.
Rogues report to him now.”

“But
he
reports to you. Is that
right?”

I shrug. Pretty much, except nothing’s
really changed. Tucker always reported to me and the Rogues have
always reported to him, even when I was the official Rogue Leader.
I guess if we’re going to talk about this, I’ll just let her in on
it all. It’s probably best that she knows. “I try to stay out of
it.”

“But?”

“But lately he’s been begging me to resume
my post.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know… they miss me? Probably has to
do with the pills and list.”

“So why don’t you go back?”

I can’t tell her about Ansley… about what
she did. That’s fucking mortifying. I don’t want her thinking I’m
not…that I can’t… No. I don’t even know if Fallon likes me. I’m not
going to tell her some other girl left because I wasn’t doing it
for her.
Hell
no. Gnawing on the tip of my thumb, I shake my
head.

“Okay…” she sits on her bed and folds her
legs. “What about that guy earlier? The King. What was his
deal?”

“He uh…” I look away, feeling the heat flow
to my face, “he thinks you’re my new girl.”

“
What? Why?
”

Is that a good response? She’s shocked. But
good shocked or bad? Shit—do I tell her this? She’s waiting for an
answer and besides, I owe her an explanation. I’m sure she’s seen
Ansley hanging around me recently. I don’t want her to get the
wrong idea.

“Since Ansley, I haven’t really—I mean, I
don’t ever talk to anyone outside Pratt and the Rogues. You’re the
first…” am I really saying this? “…
girl
I’ve actually been
seen talking to. Guess he sort of assumed.”

“Okay… but even if he thinks that, does it
really merit an escort? I mean, I’m not in any danger am I?
Reid?”

Hell no.

“No one’s coming near you,” I sit next to
her, “and look, sorry for this mess. It’s my fault. I should’ve
been smarter being around you.”