Chapter 10 #2
“My company made three. They were never intended to be the end solution, they were simply the fastest option… a holdover until we could make what we have now.” He looks away from the camera and then back to me. “I have committed many sins in my life. This was not meant to be one of them.”
“I can’t absolve you of those. That’s between you and the saints.”
“I know.” Noa takes a deep breath and then says, “You can find the purchase records in the CSS files if you go back far enough…”
“They were purchased by individuals?”
He nods. “They didn’t want anyone to know rules were being broken, so I sold them to men who could afford them, pretending they were cargo haulers, and then those men worked with the CSS.”
“I don’t think you should be telling me this.”
“That’s ancient history. If you look in the right places you can find all of that on your own.
“Check the records and you’ll find your answers… I do want you to know that I didn’t know the men who purchased them. I’ve never dealt with them since… and I did not know what they would go on to do.”
A woman’s voice calls out from somewhere inside Noa’s home and he hangs up without saying goodbye.
I open up the CSS information archives and start to hunt.
Ten minutes later, Risk comes in to stand beside me while I sift. He watches the information for a brief moment before he asks, “Did the dead man send you on an errand?”
“He spoke in riddles and now I’m trying to solve them.” I’ve found the purchase records section of the archive, but it is very clearly organized with the intention of giving anyone looking for answers an aneurysm.
“I wonder if he’d have been more forthcoming if I could have told him how to keep himself from dying.”
I didn’t intend for the guilt to be quite so evident in those words, but it is.
Risk grips the back of my neck, forcing me to look at him. “You’re not meant to change others’ futures. You’re only meant to live your own.”
He kisses me, and for a moment, I can forget about any and all futures but ours. But when he releases me, he sits down as close to me as physically possible and says, “Okay, let’s see if we can filter this thing into something that won’t make us want to bore our eyes out.”
ARC
One hand in mine, the other wrapped around my forearm, Chrys lets me lead her toward Margot’s.
“Why are you taking me to a sex club when we can’t have sex?” The disappointment in that question makes me ache in an all too familiar way.
“I’m not.”
“The building is shaped like a popular style of vibrator on Earth. I know what Margot’s looks like. Even if that sign wasn’t also in English, I would know where we are.”
“Margot’s isn’t just a sex club.”
“Okay… then why are we here?”
“I have an appointment.”
She stops dead in her tracks, and the gut-wrenching thought that reaches me makes my bones feel rotten.
“No, not that kind of appointment.”
Releasing her hand, I take her face in both of mine. “Neither of us are here to have sex.”
She watches my eyes for a moment and then nods, slowly.
“You are going to hang out with Margot and Hannah and whoever else is here today and wants to meet you, and I am going to see my therapist.”
“Oh.” She blinks at me and the deluge of thoughts are colored with surprise, not suspicion.
“Margot employs a lot of people, and less than half of them ever take their clothes off.”
“Okay. I would have preferred a little more warning, but I get it.”
“Core suggested I start talking to someone and I think it helps. I’m not sure. I hope it does.”
She hopes it does too. “So they’re Core’s therapist too?”
I nod, and she questions whether or not all of us should be getting therapy… considering.
“Probably. But she has told me it’s the sort of thing that only works if you’re ready to let it work, so…”
“And are you ready?”
“I want to be.” Saints, do I want to be.
Taking my hand again, she walks beside me to the entrance and I press my free hand to the pad beside it.
We step into the same elevator anyone else would, but instead of going up, into the club, my palm print coded in the connection to my appointment so the wall flashes with a symbol for the lower levels.
“Ooo,” Chrys says with a little laugh as the lift drops us down.
There isn’t a fun light show for this trip. No windows into private rooms, just a quick descent and we’re done.
When the door opens, instead of the usual woman sitting behind the front desk, it’s one with neon hair and neon eyelashes, wearing black lipstick and blacker clothing.
“Hello Margot,” I say, so Chrys knows exactly who she is.
She’s far enough back that we can get out of the lift, but it’s clear we are not getting any further.
“She’s not allowed in here,” Margot says with that zurgle-like smile I’ve grown too accustomed to.
She’s teasing, but it’s a game she’s going to force me to play.
“She’s allowed down here, or you wouldn’t have already told me I could bring her along.” No one breaks Margot’s rules unless they never want to come back. “Margot, this is Chrys.”
I squeeze her hand so she knows I’m not going to let go. “Chrys, Margot.”
“We’ve met,” Margot says, smiling at her and thoughts of a marketing piece for the Agency flit through my head. “But it’s very nice to do so in person.”
“Likewise.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” She looks Chrys up and down, mentally cataloging measurements, her thoughts lingering on the makeup she knows hides her bruise.
If it wasn’t what she did to everyone, it might irritate me.
“Only good things, I hope,” Chrys says, shifting a little closer to me.
“Mostly.” Margot smiles again.
“Her sense of humor makes most of us uncomfortable,” I tell Chrys.
“What a horrible thing to say.” Laughing, Margot hops up on the desk. “But it’s true.”
Squeezing Chrys’ hand, I smile when she decides I would take her home without question if she asked.
I would.
But she doesn’t want me to miss my appointment, either.
“Is Hannah here?”
“Yeah.” Margot narrows her eyes at me and I hear the question before she asks it. “I think she just finished up with someone. Why?”
“Hazard doesn’t know about Chrys yet… I think it’ll be best if he hears it from Hannah.” They like to share secrets, and if she tells him, there’s no chance anyone else will hear about it from him.
“I don’t have any idea what that means… but she was already coming down, so that will happen whether any of us want it to or not.”
“Good.” I look down at Chrys and wait, watching her eyes. She smiles at me.
I know what you’re doing. Silly boy. I’ll be okay. As long as you promise she isn’t going to eat me or something.
Laughing, I pull her hand up so I can kiss her palm. “You’re safe with her, or I wouldn’t let her anywhere near you.”
Margot raises her brows, but I ignore her.
Have fun isn’t the right sentiment. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes you will.” I whisper before I release her hand reluctantly and leave her with Margot.
I wasn’t lying. There’s probably no one in this city I would trust her with more than Margot.
My therapist’s office is through a pair of double doors, down the hall, and three doors past the statue of a very phallic-looking rocket ship.
I knock before I step inside, and Tania greets me from behind her desk while rubbing at her temples.
“You have a headache.”
“I know.” She pauses as she stands and looks at me. “Is that going to hurt you?”
“No, I can’t feel the pain, I can just hear you thinking about it.”
“Well, I will try not to bitch about it too much then.” She sits in her oversized chair and says, “Hopefully the medication will start to work soon.”
I sit where she wants me to, and ignore the errant thought wondering if she could get me to do something silly.
When she immediately reproaches herself, I pretend like I never heard it.
She knows because there was no way this was going to work if she didn’t.
“Alright. Tell me how the last month has been. Did you take any nights off?”
When I exhale, thinking about everything that has happened, she sits up a little straighter. “Uh oh. What’s happened?”
I’m not sure where to start, so I start with the part I think is most important. “A woman fell out of the sky and I’m in love.”