Chapter 30 #2
K8 glances up to the main particle pane to see the ringmaster hold Boxer Yoorl’s hand in the air, declaring him the match’s winner. If she thought the crowd was loud before, they were hectic now. Angry. Like people who thought they bet on a sure thing, then lost.
Sable nudges past her. “I should probably go collect him.”
K8 is eager to escape the frenzied energy. “I’ll go too. I need a drink.” She also wishes to avoid the guilty niggle the upset crowd is causing her. Remember, it is illegal funds. For James’s life, it’s worth upsetting a few of her peers.
They all end up following K8 and Sable out of the arena to the concessions area. While Sable excuses herself to manage Stone Man, James and Oro1 take drink orders. Fifteen minutes later, they’re standing around a bar-height table, comparing winnings.
“Why have I never agreed to come with you two before? This is fun!” Jett exclaims.
K8 chuffs. “You only think it’s fun because of the Blackmarks.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” Sable raises her glass.
James leans in K8’s direction. “You hate this, don’t you?”
She tries to hide a sheepish grin, but it’s impossible. “A little.”
“I appreciate you coming. I promise, once we launch IdenTECH, no more boxing nights,” he says.
“I’ll let you make it up to me later,” she says, running a hand across the hard plane of his stomach. Zephyr, she wants to feel those muscles flexing as he—
“K8,” James whispers, removing her hand, which has accidentally slipped between two buttons and may have been petting the fine trail of hairs her fingers found there. He places his device in her lonely palm. “Look.”
She blinks as she takes in the total displayed in his Blackmarks account, running the conversion in her mind. “This is your account balance?”
“Yes,” he says proudly. “I complete the transfer from my Off-the-Books account after every fight.” In case something were to happen is implied.
“But—” She is momentarily speechless but recovers quickly. “You have enough to cover the next month’s rent. Maybe a second if they offer a promotion.”
Relief washes over her, and she almost feels guilty at how glad she is that James has solved his own problems. She won’t have to sell her things! Oh Zephyr, does this make her a horrible person? No, James wanted to do it himself and she’s letting him. It’s respectful and considerate.
“I wanted to surprise you. A few days ago, Oro1 got access to the historical betting data. We determined that Holiday is a prime opportunity for betting,” he says.
That explains the large sum he wagered. He knew it would be worth the risk. James shrugs as if the achievement isn’t nearly as significant as K8 feels it is. She pushes her drink toward the center of the table. If she becomes any giddier, she might float away.
“I am surprised.” She grins, not caring at all about her friend essentially hacking into the illegal boxing club’s database for data.
She has other things on her mind. Because if James has the next month or two covered, maybe more after the next fight, he won’t have to focus as intently.
That will free him up to do other things.
Namely, her. She can’t resist the urge to press herself suggestively against his side.
“I’m very impressed.” His warmth seeps between their clothing and she can almost imagine the glorious sensations their skin touching would elicit if the fabric weren’t there. “Does this mean that tonight you’ll—”
Oro1 clears his throat.
She peels herself off James, turning to address her friends. Oro1 is giving her a pointed look. Jett grins knowingly and Sable’s face pinches in disgust.
She’s about to voice a protest when a voice she never believed she would hear again booms, “It’s that mad woman!”
Her blood attempts to flee her body all at once. She’s lightheaded as she reaches for James. They turn to the commotion behind her.
Viper is stomping toward her. His long blond hair is bound at the nape of his neck and his copper eyes are flashing with something that frightens her. Is this about her rejection?
The irate man stops two feet from her, and she feels James take a step toward him.
“You. Cursed. Me,” Viper hisses.
K8 blinks, momentarily struck speechless. Is he serious? “But curses aren’t real.”
“My coworkers reported me for your outburst at my workplace. Then my manupartner malfunctioned the day I saw you in the food court with the cat woman,” he barks.
Cat woman? “Oh, you mean Sister Xelna?” K8 asks, still confused and a little nervous about where this conversation is going. James puts a steadying hand on the small of her back. Controlled tension radiates off him.
Viper ignores her question in favor of throwing another accusation her way. “And you just happen to show up the night I lose all the Blackmarks in my account.”
She shuffles back a step, seeking James’s warmth.
Oro1 moves to stand on her other side. “I’m sure whatever this is about can all be smoothed over with a drink.”
Viper holds out his device. “A drink I can no longer pay for.”
“I’m not sure what your bad luck has to do with K8,” James says. His arm slips protectively around her waist. “But I suggest you find someone else to air your grievances to.”
“What did I do to you that I deserve this?” Viper demands, ignoring James. He waves the device wildly in the air as if it supports his inquiry. “Tell me.”
“I . . .” K8 hesitates. What can she possibly say?
It’s not like she’s going to explain to Viper, in front of James and the newly gathered onlookers, that his participation in a misguided fantasy of hers when she was in her twenties emotionally scarred her.
Then she dwelled on it for the next sixty years. Oh Zorg, is that what she did?
Before she can open her mouth to say something, anything, Viper’s eyes flick to something behind them. “Sable?” His eyes narrow as they jump between her friends.
The air hangs taut between them, and it’s clear that Viper is doing his best to process what he’s seeing. This can’t be good. In fact, this is probably very bad. She glances back at James. “We should go.”
“I see what’s going on here.” Viper rubs his chin as a startling grin spreads across his pale face.
Sable walks around the table to stand beside James. She squares her shoulders. “There’s no rule against me participating on my off nights.”
“Except that’s not what’s you’re doing, is it?” When Sable only glares, Viper chuckles. “Interesting. Very, very interesting. The rumor of your ruthlessness isn’t wrong.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets, then readdresses her. “K8 is your name? Don’t worry, K8. I won’t forget you this time.”
K8’s throat tightens.
“Perhaps we could discuss whatever it is you think you know, and how it might benefit all of us, elsewhere?” James asks, so softly the onlookers around them lean in.
We need to leave. We need to leave. We need to leave. The chant goes off like an alarm bell in her mind. But maybe he won’t actually remember her or James. He forgot her once before. He’ll remember Sable, though. They both work for GROW.
“You can’t prove anything,” Sable says.
Murmurs erupt around them. Several people track Oro1, who leans over to whisper something in Sable’s ear before slipping through the crowd.
Viper doesn’t need to answer, but he does. It would have been better if he issued a threat or a warning, but he only says, “See you around, Firelight.”
By the time they make it back to her apartment with the two manupartners in tow and one less Jett, who claimed to have had enough excitement for the evening, K8’s tears have dried. Her fingers idly trace the seams of the couch as a numb sensation spreads through her.
In her living room, James paces while he and Sable, also seated on the couch, argue about damage control. Oro1 leans against the wall, observing. Likely thinking.
“We don’t technically know what he thinks we’re doing,” Sable says.
“He knows exactly what we’re doing,” James says.
“How can you be so sure?” Sable jumps to her feet, like she can’t keep still either.
It’s odd how similar she and James are. Both driven, calculating, focused, passionate, but James isn’t nearly as cold.
K8 can see how one might describe the physician as ruthless.
Not that K8 thinks Sable lacks emotion. Her emotions are so tightly lidded that she comes across as icy and unfeeling.
Would James have turned out like that if he’d been born during her time?
“Can you please just trust me on this? If he didn’t guess exactly what we’re doing, he has a pretty good idea.
” James plops down into the seat beside her, placing his head in his hands.
“We should have never agreed to use new specimens. Borrowing the ones people turned in for a day or two was far less risky.”
K8’s attention snaps to Sable. “You grew new manupartners for the fights?”
“I was struggling to find good fighters in the pool of recyclables. I have access to the genetic material required to make the kits, so I presented the idea to the team, and we agreed to try it,” Sable says, shrugging like she hadn’t just described being engaged in theft.
“I was careful. Once I recycle them, there will be no evidence.”
This is so much worse than K8 imagined. What is the penalty for stealing from a company like GROW?
This is exactly what she wanted to avoid.
The authorities will find out her involvement and take away her job, her unit, her Worldbank account, the contents of her closet .
. . and James. K8 feels the tension in her face go slack.
They’re going to get thrown into the social confinement center, and James will become a lab clone before getting recycled.
It’s all her fault. She really despises Viper now.
Maybe she should get in touch with Sister Xelna and see if there really are curses.
“This was stupid. A bad idea,” she mumbles.
Oro1 clears his throat. “We hadn’t run into any problems until tonight.”
The comment feels like a rebuke. Worse than any chastisement she might have expected about her purchases.
Tears prick her eyes, and she can’t stop them from falling down her cheeks.
If only the soft cushions would open up and swallow her whole.
“Don’t you think I know that?! If I never went with you, he would have never seen me. Then he wouldn’t have noticed Sable.”
“It’s not remotely your fault. It’s ours,” James says, rubbing a hand down her back. “We knew the risks.”
She appreciates the sentiment, but it isn’t true. If it were, wouldn’t her other friends be agreeing with him? Oh, that’s right. FRIENDS. She almost forgot. This is what her life has been reduced to. It only makes her cry harder.
Oro1 walks over and sits down next to her, his body language stiff and awkward. “Please don’t cry.”
She chuckles through her tears. “Why not? James is the only one who thinks it’s not my fault, and that’s because he’s from the past and he likes to take on every burden himself.”
A look K8 can’t interpret passes between the two men bracketing her. Then she feels James’s hand slip away. Why is he abandoning her? Did her words upset him?
“K8, darling. It isn’t your fault,” Oro1 says, drawing her attention. “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way with my comment. If you would prefer that I exit our FRIENDS group—”
James clears his throat. Oro1’s eyes flick past her. She turns in time to see James mouth, I’m sorry.
She almost laughs as she realizes what is happening. Like how James is teaching her customs from his time, he’s teaching her FRIENDS too. A little stunned, she turns back to Oro1 to wait.
“I’m sorry,” he finally says. “May I hug you now?”
K8 leans over into her friend’s open arms. “I appreciate you saying that, Oro1. You definitely may not leave our FRIENDS group, you ridiculous man.”
Then she turns to Sable, their newest member. Her eyes widen. “Don’t look at me like that. I never blamed you.” She marches toward the door, muttering, “This many friends is clearly not optimal.”
K8 can’t help but smile despite the crises they’ve been plunged into.
“I’m going to keep these two until morning, then add them to my first batch of decommissionings. I’ll message when it’s done,” Sable says, then hesitates, before turning to Oro1. “Thank you for collecting the manupartners. You drew less scrutiny than if I were to have been the one to get them.”
“No problem, darling.” Oro1 stands, offering to make sure Sable makes it back to her apartment safely.
She rebuffs his offer, adding a biting “Don’t call me that.”
K8 giggles at Sable’s response, feeling a short-lived lightness.
But when the door closes, James turns to K8.
The way he’s looking at her now, like he’s dissecting her .
. . his stare feels heavy, prickly, but not in a way that makes her want him to remove it.
Is he about to bring up her purchases? If so, that’s fine.
Honestly, it would be a welcome distraction from tonight’s events, and now that the next two months are assured, she can explain to him that she trusted that he had it covered.
She only wanted to make sure he knew he could count on her.
In fact, she hadn’t even selected every item she wanted.
Something she could do now that she knew they had some cushion.
The sunny scene in the particle panes seems to match her resolve. She’ll wait for James to let her know that Sable messaged, and the threat has cleared, and then she’ll go out for a bit. Her eyes make a reluctant dance from the cheery screens to James’s decidedly darker face.
She’s almost a little afraid to ask, but she can’t help herself. “What?”
He smiles, but instead of making her feel better, it makes the anxious bees in her stomach swarm more furiously. He seems to sense her reaction. Is he enjoying it? He reaches forward to brush an errant strand from her temple. “K8, sweetheart. Tell me about Viper.”