Page 32 of The Only Way Out Is Up

“Oh.” She eyes the bed suspiciously, then shrugs and flops down. “They didn’t ask for a name. Nobody will find us here. Not for a while, anyway.”

“Thank the skies,” I mutter, stripping off my kneepads and gloves before collapsing beside her.

For a long time we just lie in silence. I wait for my heartbeat to subside and my limbs to stop shaking. There are questions to be answered, but right now all I want to do is close my eyes for a minute and appreciate being alive and intact.

I don’t mean to sleep, but I must have dropped off briefly, because I wake up to the sound of sobbing. Ky is curled up, turned away from me, her hip against mine because the bed isn’t really big enough for two people who aren’t in intimate proximity. Her shoulders shake and she makes a sound halfway between a cough and a hiccup. I freeze, not even a little sure of what to do next. I settle for rolling on my side to face her.

“Oh,” Ky says, between shudders. “You’re awake.”

“Yeah.” I stare at the back of her head. Wisps of white hair at the nape of her neck have escaped from her cap. “Are you… okay?”

“Trauma response,” she says after another hiccupping sob. “Perfectly natural. Just ignore me for a while.”

“It’s a little hard, under the circumstances.”

“Hic—sorry.”

I haven’t comforted a sobbing person who wasn’t part of my own family before. My instinct is to hold her, but it seems too forward. Instead I just wait while Ky’s sobs gradually subside into steady breathing. I wonder if she’s fallen asleep.

“We’re not going to fuck,” she says abruptly.

“Excuse me?”

“I know it sort of feels like that scenario. And I’m grateful for, you know, saving my life. Or my virtue, or whatever. But I felt like I should get that out there.”

“I honestly hadn’t thought about it,” I lie.

“Really?” She shifts her hips over a fraction so her butt brushes my crotch. “Do you always get a hard-on from watching girls cry?”

“I—”

She rolls over to face me, eyes red from tears but grinning broadly. “Hey, I’m not judging you. I know when I go to see Karvega’s Vilnius Lamenting over the Body of Cazio, I always have to go and change my underwear.”

All I can do is stare.

“That was a joke,” she says, then contemplates. “Mostly. Karvega did give Vilnius a great ass.”

“I only understood about half the words in that sentence.”

“Never mind.” She sits up, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Ah, I feel better. Nothing like a good cry after, you know, narrowly escaping violent rape and possible murder.” Her other hand rubs briefly at her throat, where a bruise is beginning to purple. “Okay. Okay okay okay. Fuck.” She looks at me. “I think we both have questions.”

“You might say that,” I venture.

“Mind if I go first? I think mine will be quicker.”

I sit up myself and put my back against the headboard. “Go ahead.”

“What’s your name? You know mine.”

I hesitate. But no point in holding back now. “Taj.”

“Good to meet you, Taj.”

“Likewise.”

“What were you doing in my bedroom this time? We’ve established you’re not an assassin. You couldn’t find somewhere better to rob?”

“I wasn’t going to rob you again,” I say. Another pause while I gather my wits. “Last time, you mentioned a… a job. I thought about it and I want to hear more.”