It was the
first words he had spoken to her since they had left the safe house through the
underground tunnel that would take them to the city’s edge. They had been walking in strained silence for
over twenty minutes before his voice broke the silence and echoed in the
tunnel.
Des responded
without turning around. “About five
miles.” Then, almost an
afterthought. “Your feet okay? The ground is likely cold if the air is any
indication.”
She could
hear him trudging along behind her but he had made no indication that walking
on the rocky, dirt pathway was bothering him.
Then why did you ask? That
little voice was back again.
She started
to think he was ignoring her until he finally responded.
“They’re
fine. I don’t seem to feel the cold as
much as you do.”
Des shot a
glance at him over her shoulder, taking in the overly tight t-shirt and too
short pants, then down to his bare feet.
She
snorted, “I don’t think you feel the cold at all.”
“I don’t
think I feel much of anything.”
That cold
assessment gave Des mental pause, but she didn’t stop walking long enough to
challenge him. He’d obviously felt
something, at least on some level, when she had grabbed his crotch in the
transporter. But she wasn’t about to
bring that up.
“I’ll treat
your feet again when we hit the club.”
They were
silent again for another five minutes when he spoke again.
“What
club?”
Des sighed
as she took another curve in the tunnel and half slid, half jumped down a small
hill where the dirt was looser.
“My sister
and I own a nightclub called Club Moan.
That’s where we’re heading. This
tunnel comes out right into the basement of the building.”
“That’s
an…interesting name for a club.”
Des had to
smile, though she had no intention of letting him see it. “Yeah, it’s rather fitting, too.” Let him read into that what he wanted to.
She waited
to see if he would ask her any additional questions and wasn’t surprised when
he did.
“So, what
type of club is Club Moan?”
Des
shrugged, “Oh, you know. The usual type
– music, dancing, drinking, lots of bodies gyrating.”
“A strip club?”
Des
snickered. “Do I look like the type of
person who would run a strip club?”
That seemed
to quiet him down and they continued through the tunnels, edging closer and
closer to their destination. Part of her
wanted him to stay quiet so she could think.
But another part of her was enjoying their banter and hoped he would
continue to ask her questions.
He didn’t
disappoint her.
“Actually,
you look more like someone who would run a fight club.”
That
brought Des up short and she turned to face him.
“Thank
you.”
“For what?”
“For giving
me the benefit of the doubt that I could hold my own in a fight.” She gave him a once over. “Well, against most people I can hold my
own.”
She turned on her heel and
continued through the tunnel, not giving him time to say anything in response.
He’d seemed surprised at her words,
but she was sincere in her thanks.
Despite her prowess in the ring and the way she handled herself in a
fight, most men still underestimated her.
When she told them that she ran a club, the majority of them did assume
that it was a strip club, and in Four Crossings there were plenty of those to
choose from.
And though
Club Moan wasn’t a boxing or fighting club, Des did teach self-defense and
fighting technique classes there during the day.
Michael had
never seen her fight, and thank goodness he didn’t seem to remember their
battle in the container. But he had
apparently assessed her and found her to at least look capable.
Her last
response had apparently satisfied him for the time being, so they completed the
next thirty minutes of the walk in silence.
Des could tell they were nearing the club as some of the music being
piped throughout the building was filtering down into the tunnel.
“We’re
about three minutes out at this point.
The club’s in full swing so you may want to cover your ears once we are
directly underneath.” She had to raise
her voice to be heard over the rising din.
He sped up
so that it would be easier to hear her, but the music was almost painful in its
intensity. He raised his voice so that
he could be heard.
“You call
this music?”
Des turned
and smirked at him. She wouldn’t tell
him that she actually agreed, but they played what their customers wanted.
“I’m sure
they had techno/dance music back in 2012.”
Michael nodded, “Yes, but I had hoped it would have gone away twenty years later!”
Michael nodded, “Yes, but I had hoped it would have gone away twenty years later!”
Des smiled
but shook her head. She started to say
something else, but they turned the final corner into what looked like a dead
end.
“Another
hidden door?” Michael leaned over and
spoke loudly into her ear, his hot breath sending a slight tingle down her
spine.
Des leaned
away from him slightly, surprised at her body’s reaction to such a simple
sensation. She glanced at him uneasily out of the side of her eyes, nodding in
response to his question.
She placed
both hands flat against what looked like a ten foot by ten foot brick wall and
pushed, putting most of her weight behind it.
Michael
watched in fascination as the entire wall moved slowly but steadily inward,
stopping with a thud that was felt but not heard over the pulsing of the music.
There was
now a two foot space available on either side of the wall. Michael started to move towards the opening
on the right, but Des stayed him with a hand on his chest.
She pointed
to herself and then gestured that she would go through first. He nodded to show that he understood and then
watched as Des carefully moved towards the opening, sliding just her head out
and looking around.
She didn’t
spend a lot of time checking, and apparently seeing what she expected to see,
she slid through the space, gesturing with her left hand for him to follow her.
It was a
tighter squeeze for him, but he was also able slide through without too much
difficulty. He stepped out into a
hallway, his eyes going to the wall. The
mechanics of it were definitely old school, but whoever had designed it had
done a masterful job of building it directly into the structure.
He found
himself looking down at his bare feet against a hardwood. It appeared that the floor itself moved along
with the wall, the way it had been laid down camouflaging the motion.
Des
signaled for him to back up and watched him until he had stepped off of the
area of the floor that was connected to the wall. He watched her in return, curious to see how
she would get the wall to return to its spot.
Because the floor and wall seemed to be connected, he didn’t think she
could just reverse the process by pushing on the door.
His
assumption proved to be both wrong and right, as he watched her turn and push
against the opposite wall. The walls on
this side of the tunnel were made out of simple grey cement blocks. A section of the wall, equivalent in length
to the hidden door/wall easily moved inward and Michael noticed that this
section of wall did not actually touch the floor.
He wondered
if he would have noticed the slight space if he had not seen it with his own
eyes. At the thought, he heard a click
in his mind, and the hazy film that had come down over his eyes when he had
been out in the dark seemed to slide into place again. He was immediately able to see the outline of
the wall and the slight space at the base.
He watched as Des pushed the section of wall inward almost three feet,
exposing the section of the floor that had moved, plus additional space that
she could step into.
She
sustained the pressure on the wall with her hands as she stepped down into the
exposed space. She then used her booted
foot to push against what looked like a latch.
The latch released and Des then applied the full force of her foot
against the floor to nudge the wall. It
had to have been on some sort of track as it easily rolled back into place,
again with a thud he could feel but not hear.
Once the
other wall was in place, Des stepped out of the open space, releasing the other
wall, which allowed it to immediately slide back into place.
With both walls in, Michael could
see that they were in what appeared to be an underground space, with no windows
along the parts of the hallway that he could see. He glanced down the space and both felt and
saw the film lift from his eyes. He
wondered if his eyes would have appeared silver, like Des had mentioned to him
earlier.
He definitely knew that something
odd was going on with them because he was now remembering something else – he
usually wore glasses or contacts for his eyesight. He could tell without touching his eyes that
he did not have contacts in, yet he could see perfectly.
The music
was twice as loud now that they were actually in the club and Michael fought
the urge to put his hands over his ears.
He looked at Des and wondered at her ability to seemingly ignore the
noise.
“You must
be used to this!”
Des again
nodded rather than trying to respond verbally.
She gestured with her hands for him to follow her, and set out down the
hallway.
Michael
wouldn’t admit it to Des, but he was starting to feel an ache in his feet. Whether from the original cuts and bruises
she had treated, or new ones from the tunnel, there was definitely pain
there. The hardwood floor was smooth and
cool and soothing against his feet.
He wondered
if Des would remember that she had promised to treat them when they got to the
club. It was funny, but he was looking
forward to having her take care of him again.
The hallway
was at least two hundred feet long in the direction they were heading. Michael got the idea that the club took up a
lot of real estate. They finally reached
a staircase and he followed her up what appeared to be four winding flights.
They moved
across a catwalk-like structure high above the floor and then through a door
that led into a room lined with shelves and shelves of books.
The
immediate muffling of the loud music once the door was closed was the first
thing that he noticed. The room itself
was the second.
“Whoa.” Michael stopped and stared at the large
numbers of books, often double-stacked onto the shelves. He looked at Des who was running her hands
over a set of books across from him.
“You’ve
read all of these?”
Des looked
up at him and simply smiled. Michael
walked closer to the shelf nearest to him and started perusing the titles. He saw a number of books that were considered
to be classics in his time. It was
comforting to know that people were still reading some of the same stories.
There were
also titles and authors that he had never heard of, though that wasn’t surprising. He hadn’t had a lot of time to read in the
past few years. He froze at what was
obviously a memory that had come to him so easily.
Did he like
to read? He frowned slightly as he
pulled a book off of the shelf. He
glanced at the back cover, slightly torn on the edges but still clear, and
started reading the synopsis. He smiled
as he read. Yes, he liked to read.
He looked
up from the book to find Des watching him.
“You can
come back in here later if you want.”
He put the
book in his hand back on the shelf and nodded at her. “Thanks.
I’d like that.”
Des nodded
in return. “Come on, we need to get your
feet cleaned up and I need to get to my computer.”
Though he
had wondered if she would remember, he wasn’t really surprised that she
had. He thought about telling her that
his feet were starting to hurt, but held back.
He decided to focus on the other thing she had said.
“You have a
computer?”
Des lifted
her brows at him. “Of course I have a
computer. You can’t survive in this day
and age without one.”
Michael
frowned. “But you said that our
communication systems were destroyed during the war.”
Des nodded,
“They were, but that was twenty-two years ago.
Food and medicine were our first priority for rebuilding. But those were
closely followed by transportation and communication.”
She patted
her front pocket where he had seen her place her phone. "We still have mobile phones, though we
can’t use them to call overseas, and trying to call outside of Four Crossings
is pretty damn expensive.”
He mulled
over her words before he asked his next question.
“So,
there’s nothing new since 2012?”
Des
shrugged, “I’m sure there was and is, but I was twelve in 2012. I don’t remember what we had and what we
didn’t have.”
He looked
at her in surprise. “You’re thirty-two?”
Des was
surprised at how quickly he had calculated her age. “Yeah. Why?”
He shook
his head slightly, “You don’t even look like you’re twenty-two, let alone
thirty-two!”
Des again
shrugged, a slight ache in her shoulder reminder her that she had been doing
that a lot lately. “Yeah, I get that a
lot. I would say the same about you, but
I think you had a little help in retaining your youth.”
He scowled
at her. “Not that again.”
Des turned
and headed for the door on the opposite side of the room. “I’ll clean your feet, get my computer, and
prove to you what year it is.” She shot
him a look over her shoulder. “Come on,
old man.”
Michael’s
scowl deepened but he followed her anyway.
They left what he would call the library and headed down another long
hallway, this one lined by doors every six or seven feet. He guessed these were the living quarters and
he noticed that in the hallway he could again hear and almost feel the pulsing
of the music from below.
The library
would definitely be seen as a sanctuary, even if it weren’t full of books,
simply for the absence of the noise floating up from downstairs.
Des passed
by the first three doors before she stopped at one on the right. She surprised him when she raised her hand
and actually knocked on the door.
Michael had
assumed that these were Des’ living quarters, but you usually didn’t have to
knock in your own home.
He started
to ask her about it when the door swung open revealing a woman wearing a short
black pleated skirt that barely reached her upper thighs, a mid-riff baring red
shirt with the words Club Moan emblazoned across the front in black sequins,
and calf-high black boots that were covered in silver buckles.
“It’s about
damn time you got here! Claire called in
sick so I need to cover the corner bar until Terry can make it in.” She pushed through the door, moving Des out
of the way and gave him the once over.
“Those definitely
don’t fit. I’m sure he’ll like what I’ve found a lot better.”
Michael got
a good look at her heavily made-up green eyes and realized that he was looking
at Des’ sister, though she was definitely showing more skin than she had
earlier in the van. She also had her
long auburn hair pulled up into two pigtails that stuck out from the side of
her head. The look was child-like, but
it worked for her and the outfit she was wearing.
Des
gestured at him. “Esme, this is
Michael.”
Her sister
crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“So he has
a name?”
Des nodded,
“Yes, and a rank as well, but you don’t need to worry about that right
now. Where did you put his stuff?”
Esme didn’t
take her eyes off of him despite her sister’s loud clearing of her throat. Des finally had to give her sister’s pigtail
a tug to get her attention.
“Ow! What was that for?”
Des scowled
at her sister. “Quit staring, it’s
rude.”
Esme
pressed her hand to her head near the rubber band that held the pigtail Des had
pulled.
“Well, damn
Sis. What do you expect me to do? Even in clothes that don’t fit he’s a fine
looking man.”
Des flushed
at her sister’s words and darted a glance at him. He was sure his face was as red as Esme’s
hair but he managed to keep his expression impassive.
“Just tell
me where you put the stuff. You can go
down and ogle all the men you want in the club.”
Esme rolled
her eyes at her sister. “I put the stuff
in the room beside yours. Figured you’d
want to keep him close.”
Michael
wondered at Esme’s words and the resulting scowl on Des’ face.
Esme turned
to him and gave him an exaggerated wink and a smile. Des saw and physically pushed her sister down
the hall away from them.
“Go to
work, E.”
“Yeah,
yeah, yeah.” Esme turned and sauntered
down the hall, the swing of her hips seemingly more exaggerated in the short
skirt.
Michael
looked away from the sight of a retreating Esme and back to Des, intend on
asking her a few more questions. But he
was stopped by the look of anger on her face.
“My sister
is off limits.”
Michael was
caught off guard by her words. Did she
think he was interested in her sister?
Michael wasn’t interested in anyone in that way, at least now right
then. And even if he were, it would be
Des that would catch his eye, not her sister.
He decided
to settle for a half-truth. “I have no
interest in your sister.” He did not add
what he thought in his head. I would be
interested in you, though.
His answer
seemed to satisfy her and the scowl left her face. But Michael was left to wonder at the
anger. If she was only concerned about
her sister, a simple “she’s not available” would have worked. He was surprised that she seemed to be angry
at him when he hadn’t done anything other than look at Esme. It was Esme who had winked at him, not the
other way around.
He wanted to
say something else, but Des had already turned and was walking away from him
down the hall. He followed her, taking
the opportunity to watch her walk.
Unlike her sister, Des had a more natural stroll with less him sway and
a longer stride.
He had
thought Esme to be taller than Des, but he now realized it had been the heels
that had given him that illusion. Des
was likely right at six feet tall, though she carried herself like someone much
taller.
And she wasn’t a thin six
feet. Though she was fully clothed, he
had sensed her strength when he had caught her in the back of the van. And as he had watched her move, he noticed
that she moved like an athlete.
When they reached the end of the
hallway Des gestured to a door on her left.
“This will be your room. There should be some clothing that actually
fits you in there and there’s a private bathroom. Why don’t you take a bath and clean up your
feet? I’ll come in and see what I can do
to repair the worst of the damage.”
Michael nodded at her and then
looked at the door opposite of his. “Is
this your room?”
Des glanced back over her
shoulder. “Yeah, that’s my room. If you need something while you’re here, you
can knock and I’ll hear you.”
She pushed open his door and led
him into the room. She walked across to
another door and pushed that one open as well.
“The bathtubs are pretty large, so you should be able to soak
comfortably if you’d like to.”
Michael smiled, “Do I look like a
bath type of person.”
Des shrugged at him. “You never know about people these days. Besides, it would be good for your feet if
you soaked rather than trying to stand and shower.”
He could see her point there and
though he still wasn’t ready to admit it, his feet really were starting to
hurt. “Thank you, Des.”
She nodded simply and then walked
past him and out of the room. “I’ll
check in on you in thirty minutes so that I can doctor your feet.” She turned to look at him from the doorway. “Will that give you enough time to get
cleaned up?”
“Yes, that should be plenty of
time.”
“Good. I’ll be back in a half hour, then.” She pulled the door closed behind her. Michael stood in the center of the room,
simply listening until he heard her door across the hall open and close. Only then did he go into the bathroom,
actually looking forward to taking a bath.
Des closed
her door and then leaned back against it, her shoulders slumping wearily as the
events of the day began to creep up on her.
Coming back to the club always gave her a sense of peace, but it also
reminded her tonight of just how tired she was.
With Esme
down working one of the bars, that meant that Des had one less person on the
lookout for the dealers, traders, thieves, and predators that found their way
into the club. She normally went on
lookout duty herself, but she needed to take care of her guest first. And then she really needed to get some sleep.
Despite the
fact that it was only noon, the club was still going strong. Most people in Four Crossings didn’t think
about time in the same terms that they had before the war and the uprising. There were no such things as five day work
weeks, or 9 to 5 shifts. People who
actually had legitimate jobs kept whatever schedules worked best for their
businesses. Those without legitimate
jobs did the same, preying on the successful as part of their survival tactics.
Though Des
had been honest with Michael about the joined cities and how people had worked
together to create a new government structure, what she hadn’t said was that
most of the joined cities had gone corrupt within the first decade.
A rise of
criminal activity had forced the government to make a decision: find a way to
clean things up or let the cities go to ruin.
Four Corners had actually chosen an unexpected route – legislating once
illegal activities so that the government could better control and profit off
of them.
She had
told Michael that killing in self-defense was allowed. What she hadn’t mentioned was that the government
often hired out to have certain elements of the Four Corners’ society
eliminated.
You had to
be careful who you associated with and who you crossed. Working with Arguletti was never going to be
her preference, but she knew that she needed him as her connection to the
government. And in some ways, her
protection from them.
Des wondered how long it would take Michael to
take a quick soak so that she could treat his feet again. Though he never seemed to show any
discomfort, she knew his feet had to be bothering him, and he had likely
reopened some of the gashes she had treated earlier.
She pushed
herself off of the door and headed to her own private bathroom. She kept a full store of first aid supplies
in there, and she could also take the opportunity to take a shower too.
Thirty
minutes later, her hair now pulled back up in a loose coil, she went back
across the hall with her first aid supplies in her hand.
She knocked
on the door. “Michael? Are you ready for
me to work on your feet?”
She paused
and waited for a response. When she
didn’t hear anything she knocked again, louder in deference to the music from
the club. “Michael? It’s Des.
I’m here with my first aid supplies to treat your feet.”
Again, no
response. Des began to wonder if something
was wrong. Maybe he wasn’t even in
there. She decided to check the room
first, hoping that Michael hadn’t decided to venture down into the Club.
She turned
the knob and cautiously stuck her head into the room.
“Michael?”
Nothing
seemed disturbed and she could see piles of clothing lying folded on the
bed. She stepped into the room and edged
towards the bathroom door, which was open a crack.
“Michael?” She made sure to raise her voice, though the
music wasn’t as loud inside the room as it was out in the hallway.
She reached
the bathroom door and noted the discarded t-shirt and torn camouflage pants
near the door. At least he had come in
and gone into the bathroom, but that didn’t mean he was in there now.
And if he
was in there, why wasn’t he answering her?
She nudged the door open slowly, her eyes quickly sweeping the room and
zeroing in on the oversized tub in the corner.
She could
see the top of Michael’s head where it rested against the side of the tub. His large arms lay over the sides of the tub,
his fingertips touching the floor. His
knees were raised, likely to accommodate his size so that he could fit into the
tub.
Des sighed
slightly. Looks like he had fallen asleep, something she wanted to do as
well. Her shower had actually given her
another burst of energy, but the warmth and comfort of the bath had likely
nudged him into sleep.
Des raised
her voice. “Michael! Wake up, it’s time to treat your feet!”
When her
loud voice in the room didn’t get a reaction, Des frowned with worry. There was no way that he had not heard her,
and unless he was a seriously sound sleeper, she would expect at least some
indication that her voice had reached him.
Des stepped
closer to the tub, conscious of his nakedness, but now more concerned than she
had been before.
“Michael?” She walked around the side of the tub, her
eyes trained on his face and she froze when she saw that his eyes were wide
open, but they were completely silver.
“This can’t
be good.”
The last
time she had seen his eyes full silver had been on the transporter, and he had
been trying to kill her at the time.
Though he was seemingly inert right then, she knew how quickly he could
move.
Should she
risk trying harder to wake him, or hope he would come out of it soon? Part of her wanted to err on the side of
caution and leave him in the tub. But
another part of her knew she needed to get him out of the water.
She put the
first aid items down on the sink counter, and crouched down by the tub near his
head so that she could speak directly into his ear.
“Michael, I
know you’re in there, even if you don’t seem to remember anything when you’re
like this. You have to snap out of
this…whatever this is and wake up.”
She spoke
loudly, though she kept her level just short of a yell. When her first efforts didn’t work, she
decided to try a different avenue.
“Lieutenant
Scantorri, I order you to open your eyes, immediately! That is a direct order, soldier!”
She kept
her eyes on his the entire time, looking for any indication that he was aware
of her and could hear her. She saw
nothing, not even a flicker of his eyelids.
She glanced
down at his chest, half in and half out of the water, and could clearly see it
rising and falling as he took deep, even breaths.
“At least I
know you’re alive.”
She rested her arms against the
side of the tub, simply watching him as she tried to figure out what to do
next.
Back in the
transporter, he had come alive when she had slipped and fell into those buttons
on the bottom of his box. Des frowned as
she thought back to that.
What were
the odds that she had actually slipped and hit the right button to wake him
up? What if what woke him up was the
contact she had made with him?
It was
simple enough to check, and she could make sure she stayed at a safe distance
in case he reacted the same way and tried to grab her. She started to reach for his shoulder but
realized that she would easily be in arms reach.
Glancing
down his length in the tub, she decided that touching one of his upraised knees
would be the safest option. She then
pulled the pin out of her coiled hair and finger combed her wet waves so that
her hair was clearly visible.
Even if
Michael couldn’t grab her, she didn’t want him coming out of the tub after her
either.
Taking a
deep breath, she reached out and lightly brushed her hand over his left knee,
her eyes never leaving his as she watched for a reaction.
When the
light touch didn’t work, she decided to go for a stronger touch. This time she clasped his knee and shook it
slightly, saying his name at the same time.
She saw the
change immediately, but she had underestimated his quickness and his
reach. Before she could even take a
breath to scream she felt Michael’s hand grab her arm and found herself pulled
over the edge of the tub and into the warm water.
“Michael! It’s me, Des.”
No sooner than
he had grabbed her, then Des found herself released, but the damage had been
done. She was now in the tub, submerged
to the waist and lying fully across Michael’s impressive chest. Since he wasn’t trying to hurt her, Des
assumed he was now aware, but that didn’t mean she was ready to look at him
just yet.
Coward, she thought to herself.
It was Michael’s questioning “Des?”
that made her look up.
He was
looking at her with complete surprise and something else that she couldn’t
quite decipher. He was also blinking
water out of his clearly hazel eyes.
“Yeah?”
“Why are
you in the tub with me?”
Des wasn’t
surprised that he again had no memory of his actions..
“Yeah,
figured you would notice that.”
The real
question, Des wondered, was why wasn’t she making any moves to get out of the
tub? He wasn’t holding her at all. She could blame it on fatigue and the fact
that the tub water was still warm and soothing, though she doubted that would
fly with anyone.
She shifted
slightly, placing her hands safely against his shoulders so that they didn’t
slip down onto other areas of his body.
He said her
name again, and she realized that she hadn’t answered his question.
“You pulled
me into the tub, just now.”
He frowned,
his hand moving to rub against his temple.
“I did?”
Des nodded,
almost wearily.
He shook
his head. “I don’t remember that at
all. Last thing I remember was getting
into the tub.”
He looked
around the room. “Has it been thirty
minutes?”
Des again
nodded. “Yep.”
“Funny, the
water is still really warm. I must have
fallen asleep.”
He was
right, the water was still really warm and very soothing, even through her
clothes. Rather than getting up, Des
allowed herself to relax further, using Michael as her warm body pillow.
She raised her eyebrows at him, “You
always sleep with your eyes wide open?”
Michael
frowned at her words. “Excuse me?”
“Your eyes
were wide open and completely silver. I
called your name a few times and tried to get you to respond but nothing. It wasn’t until I grabbed your knee that you
came to. That’s when you grabbed me and
pulled me in.
She shook
her head. “I thought I was safely out of
your reach, but obviously not.”
“And my
eyes were silver, like you said they were earlier in the transporter?”
Des nodded,
“Yep, full silver this time.”
Michael
dropped his head back against the lip of the claw foot tub, his mind working as
he tried to figure out what was going on.
What had made him go into this trance that Des described?
He remembered running the water
into the tub and climbing in. The hot
water had felt good against his sore feet and he had happily settled into the
over-sized tub for a good soak.
But that was the last thing he remembered. If he had been asleep, wouldn’t he have been
dreaming? And why would his eyes have
been open if he had been sleeping.
He felt Des’ head drop down onto
his chest and was brought back to the awareness of their current
situation. He was naked in a tub with a
beautiful woman. The woman was fully
dressed, but that didn’t make the situation any simpler.
“Des?”
“Hmmm?”
Michael smiled slightly at what was
clearly a sleepy response.
“Don’t you think we should get out
of the tub?”
She sighed heavily and lifted her
head from where it had been resting on his chest and propped it up so that she
could look at him closely. After a
moment’s hesitation she finally answered him.
“Yeah, I guess so.” She shifted so that she was now straddling
his waist and then gripped the edge of the tub so that she could push herself
to her feet.
Water poured off of her from the
completely soaked clothes she wore, cascading down onto his chest.
He watched her as she carefully
avoided looking at him and stepped out of the tub and onto the hardwood floor
of the bathroom.
He followed her up and out quickly and
was greeted by her hand holding out a towel for him, though her back was turned.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
He wrapped the towel around his
waist and watched as Des moved to take her wet socks off, dropping them onto
the floor. Her long-sleeved black shirt
followed suit, leaving her in a black camisole and her dark cargo pants. When she moved to unbutton the pants, Michael
cleared his throat loudly.
Des glanced back at him over her
shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m just getting
rid of the top layer.”
She dropped the pants and stepped
out of them and then stood before him with her black boy shorts and her cami
clinging wetly to her clearly fit, and curvy body.
Michael didn’t mean to stare, but
the picture she presented was worth the anger he would likely get from her.
Her long legs were muscular but
still lean, almost like a dancer. Her
arms were fully-defined, leaving no doubt of her strength. And the wet clothing clearly outlined her
flat abs and lean hips.
They also clearly outlined her
nipples as they pressed against the wet fabric in a room that was much cooler
than the bathtub water had been. Michael
had to finally pull his eyes away as his body began to react in an obvious way.
He cleared his throat again, this
time to dislodge the lump that had formed there and tried to think about
something other than the too appealing woman in the room with him.
“You can look now.”
Michael’s eyes immediately went
back to her and found that she had wrapped a towel around herself, over her
still wet underclothes. But at least she
was more covered and less distracting.
She was watching him warily and he
wanted to say something to reassure her, but what could he honestly say? Twice now it looked like he had attacked her,
though he had no memory of either time.
He had no reason not to believe her when she told him about his eyes,
and he had his own suspicions about that.
But he also still had questions
about her, and this place, and why he was even here. And why she was continuing to help him,
though he appeared to be a danger to her.
He started to ask her that
question, but decided to hold off until he knew more. Instead he asked her something more basic.
“What next?”
Des grabbed the first aid items she
had put on the counter and then gestured for him to follow her out into the
bedroom.
“Next is me fixing your feet, and
then we’re going to do a little research on you.”
Michael followed her and moved to
sit on the bed. “Maybe we should wait on
the research until you’ve had a chance to rest.”
Des looked at him oddly and then
heaved a sigh. “You’re probably right,
but I’m starting to worry that we’re going to run out of time.”
“What do you mean?”
Des looked at him for a long
count. “Michael, there are going to be a
lot of powerful people looking for you, and I don’t know how much time we have
before that happens. I’d like to know
exactly what we’re dealing with before they arrive.”
It wasn’t the whole truth, but it
would work for now.
“Alright, but you still need
sleep. Surely we can wait a few hours?”
Des knew he was right, and though
those few hours were important, she needed a clear head if she was going to
figure things out.
Because what she hadn’t told
Michael was that she also needed to know how she could get him to work with her
and her sister to clean up Four Crossing.
He was the ultimate of free agents.
When she had told him about the
rules for stolen goods in Four Crossings, she hadn’t mentioned that essentially
he was now a stolen good.
And until she officially registered
him with the Government, anyone could come and take him away. Of course, he was a stolen good that could
move and think on its own, but that didn’t change the rules of Four Crossings.
As long as he remained unregistered, then he wasn’t safe from the
Government or from anyone else. And Des
was determined to keep him away from anyone else who would try to use him
against her, if it was the last thing she did.
