11. April 10, 2023
Cherry
“Knock, knock.”
Waters’ hazel eyes looked up from his computer and the slew of papers spread all over the desk.
Biting the corner of her bottom lip, Cherry tucked her rolling suitcase in between the couch against the wall and the doorframe. “You have a few minutes?”
“For you? Always.” He sat back in his chair. “Have a seat if the dog will let you have a corner of the couch.”
She glanced over to Ali, who was taking up three-quarters of the couch, obviously exhausted from supervising the meeting earlier. He was belly up, legs in the air, body in three directions, eyes half-open, and little doggy snores and drool hanging from his mouth.
She sat down next to the dog in the small space he’d left open and absently rubbed his belly. He didn’t even twitch at the contact. “He looks happy for a dog whose mama is going to be gone for twelve weeks.”
“Yeah, he just hasn’t realized she’s gone, gone. You’re lucky you won’t be here for that. Make sure you put the chocolate away at your desk, or he’ll tear into it in a fit of rage. Kubrick will do worse than murder me if I kill her dog. What’s up?”
When she dared to look up at him, a long swath of silence had passed.
“All this time, you’ve lived with the guilt—false guilt—that it was your fault Sarah died.
I wondered if now you blamed me? Because of all the secrets I kept.
Things between us have been very stilted since Gem and I nearly got blown up, and you have every right to be mad at me.
I left you in the dark, and you’re the leader of the team.
Even before, when God made you primarily office-bound, I should have told you, and I didn’t.
I jeopardized the team all these years?—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He held up his hand to forestall her babbling.
“Wow, you’ve been packing a lot of shit since September.
Cherry-bomb, I will always feel guilty about Sarah.
Can’t be helped. I’ve physically paid in spades for that shit show, and Kubrick has helped me let go of a lot of that.
I don’t think it ever goes away, but it certainly has become less of a focus.
“As far as the secrets shit… That’s… a bit more complicated.
You know my file better than anyone. I have authority issues with people I distrust. Doesn’t matter how high up they are.
If the shit they do is whack, then yeah, I have a problem.
You don’t end up with a missing kidney for disobeying an order because you’re a sheep. ”
“I’ve been playing solo for so long, I guess I forgot that sometimes people need to know things to make good decisions. It wasn’t fair for me to hold information back.”
He tilted his head, and his mouth made a sideways movement, pulling his lips in an expression that wasn’t confirmation, but not dismissal either.
“Your company. You don’t owe me any explanations.
You think God tells us the reasons behind the shit he does?
Fuck, the man up and disappeared for almost two months on us with not so much as a ‘Hey, see you later.’ I’m assuming you know where he was, but it’s not my place to question him.
” He frowned. “Technically, who is my boss? Him? You?”
“I just own the company. He hands out the directives.”
“That you push him toward.”
Now it was her turn to copy Waters’ earlier expression.
He threaded his fingers together over his stomach.
“You knew my sister well, Cherry. Do you honestly think she wasn’t aware of the dangers of this job?
That she didn’t understand what kinds of things could happen to her?
If she hadn’t ended up here, she would have joined an alphabet agency, and she knew that any job she took might put her in danger.
I don’t think she envisioned her precise demise, but when abducted, she undoubtedly understood the situation’s ultimate outcome. ”
“I loved her like she was my sister. I hadn’t let myself get close to anyone like that in years.”
“And she loved you too.” He looked at his computer monitor, but she knew he wasn’t really seeing the screen, and she could see his brain turning.
When he spoke again, his voice was quiet.
“They kept us separated. They gave me vivid descriptions of what they were doing to her, but because I couldn’t hear it or see it, I was never sure if they were lying or telling the truth.
“When I didn’t give them the reaction they wanted, they moved her to the room next door.
Then I could hear it. Still, it was disembodied, you know?
Like, I knew it was her, but as long as I couldn’t see her, it was someone else they were hurting.
Still rough, but it was the only way I could lock my shit down.
“I kept silent so that she didn’t know I was there.
I didn’t want her to have that on her soul.
There were so many times when I wanted to yell out to her, rage at them…
but I couldn’t give either of them that because of what I feared would happen when they knew I was reacting to it.
Unfortunately, by shutting down completely, it only pissed them off more. ”
He continued after a long sigh. “Then, the ultimate. They brought her into my cell. Chained her up so she was facing me. Made sure we could see each other. It only took us a single look to know we would not give in on either side. We refused to talk to one another. We refused to give them anything they could use. The entire time we were together, we never spoke a single word to one another. Not until the end. When she screamed at me not to listen. Not to look.”
She watched him through the long, painful pause as he lived through those moments again.
Finally, he spoke, his eyes earnest with her.
“Cherry, I knew the penalty for going after her. I knew what I was risking for both of us, and she knew when I got caught, no one was coming for us. I know my sister. She didn’t blame anyone except the men who took her.
Not me for intercepting that shipment. Not you for keeping secrets. ”
“But maybe if we’d known?—”
“But we didn’t. And there’s no guarantee we would have, even if you’d told us about your past. It’s not like you knew the Salieri existed and purposefully withheld that information.”
“You were so mad that day.”
“Yeah. I was. Not gonna lie. My gut reaction might have been to throw some choice words your way. You can thank Kubrick for kicking my ass for that within thirty seconds of spitting out the whole thing to her. Which, by the way, I will deny to my dying day and beyond that I told her anything because I know that breaks all the rules. But she helped point me in the right direction, and while I struggled initially, it wasn’t directly with you. It was more a sense of helplessness.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“Cherry. Have you heard a word I’ve said?
Stop, please. It’s done. I should have addressed this long ago instead of letting you fester over it, but I figured if it was really bothering you, you’d come to me.
Please promise me that if this, or anything else, crops up again, you’ll come talk to me right away.
If we have to go hash it out in the gym, I’ll happily let you kick my ass, and Kubrick can film it for Midas to put in a file for everyone. ”
“That’ll make another nice bonus feature on the infamous video file of you two meeting,” she teased.
He barked out a laugh of frustration. “That shit’s still around?”
“You know that things on the internet are never really gone, right?”
“Fuckin’ Midas. I’m going into his office to steal all his little rubber geegaws and cut their heads off.”
They paused.
“We good?” he asked.
She nodded. “We’re good.”
“Good. You gonna be okay on this trip?”
She knew he was talking about more than working with her uncle as a source without letting him know. He meant being near Demon more than anything else.
“Yeah. I’ll be good.”
“Okay.” He considered her for a few moments, and she could tell he was deciding whether to ask her a question. “You know he loves you, right? Always has. I’ve been watching him since day one, and his devotion is unwavering.”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’ve heard that one before. So has TB. So has Nemo. Don’t fall for it. Nothing’s really all that complicated.”
“That’s what Flame said.”
“And if there’s anyone who knows anything about love, it’s that woman.”
Cherry looked up at him through her eyelashes. “So… you said Kubrick pointed you in the right direction, huh?”
“Repeatedly.” He smirked.
“I take it that means you tried out chapter twelve in Flame’s last book.”
He mimed locking his lips with a key and throwing it away.
That brought out a genuine laugh. “That’s okay. I already know Nemo and Gem did. Which is how I heard you two did.”
“How is it my woman can keep her mouth shut about what Tribe does but not about her sex life? I hope I come out of it complimentary,” he grumbled.
“Oh, you do. Even if you didn’t, you shouldn’t feel bad. You two may have tried it out. Poor TB was the guinea pig to make sure it was physically possible.”
Waters chuckled. “I won’t tell him we know.”
His smile faded a bit, and he looked back at his watch.
“It’s only been half a day. You really miss her already, don’t you?” Cherry asked.
He rubbed his chest absent-mindedly. “It hurts to breathe when she’s gone,” he admitted.
She loved that he could be vulnerable over Kubrick. He didn’t even try to hide it from the team.
“I can always tell how much you miss her. You’ve picked up a lot of her habits since you met.
It started the first time you had to separate.
When God made you come home from the movie set and you left Demon with her.
You began to channel her work style. The level of sprawl on the table has always been the first indication of how difficult it is to be apart.
I don’t think you’ve ever been behind that desk again. Well. Not to work, anyway,” she teased.
Shrugging, he shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, well… Makes me feel closer to her somehow. Even stole her damn villain pens.” He pointed at them laid out on the table.
“I put a note in her bag, but she’s probably still gonna search that backpack of death for at least an hour before she sees it.
” There was another pause. “Does she—?” He blew air out through his lips with a forceful exhale.
Looking up at her, he asked, “Is she happy?”
“Kubrick? More than, I would say.”
“It’s just… She’s seemed, well… not distant.
More… quiet lately. Like something’s wrong, but she doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it because she thinks she’s being stupid.
I’ve been worrying she’s struggling with us.
Sorry. I shouldn’t put you in that position.
I should just ask her outright, but she’s had a lot on her mind with this new film, and I don’t want to get in her way. ”
She didn’t want to betray confidences, not that Kubrick had said anything directly, but now she had a feeling she knew what was wrong the other day at lunch.
Cherry carefully chose her words. “Maybe she wants you to get in her way. Just an observation, but I’ve noticed that the two of you are more separate than the other two couples.
You’re too respectful of each other’s spaces, careers, and things.
Maybe… maybe you need to ‘intermingle’ more.
” Cherry glanced down at the dog passed out on the couch.
“Like, maybe saying it’s ‘our dog’ instead of ‘her dog.’”
She stood up from the couch and headed to the door.
When she got there, she turned to him. “You know, once we’re on our way, Nova can take care of most of my front-end work.
We have other people on the traditional staff who can usher prospective clients into the conference room and set them up to conference with God.
You could do the rest of your work in China.
It’s not like we can’t video chat if we need to. ”
He rolled his lips in as he thought about her suggestion. “You don’t think that would be invasive?”
“No. In fact, I think you might get a few more rounds of chapter twelve out of it, and maybe some pages from one hundred thirty-seven to one hundred forty-four in that other book.”
“Ah, yes. The infamous Nature of the Beast pages.” He grinned. “Those are some very good pages.” He stopped to think for a moment. “Will I blow up Steel’s bet? I know they bet on me and how long it would take before I caved and went over there.”
“He won’t win, that’s for sure. The guys will be grateful, no matter who wins, as long as it’s not him.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“I’m super sure.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to God tomorrow. Thanks, Cherry.”
“You’re welcome.”