Armed and Dangerous (The IMA) (18 page)

Shame I didn't have the foresight to get sunglasses
.

I paused, then chuckled to myself.

No pun intended
.

“
What's so funny?”

“
Nothing,” I said. “You lead.”

She grabbed me by the hem of my shirt, dragging me
towards a shaded alcove where students sat beneath sun-faded umbrellas, nursing iced coffees and talking. Bared breasts, midriffs, and legs abounded. So did my cock.

Christina gave me a cold look I had no trouble interpreting. Jealousy? I smiled at her as I opened the door. “Inside.”

“You can't talk to me like I'm your hostage.”

She said it quietly, but the fact that she'd said it in public at all made me mad. “Do you have no sense?”

For a moment, she looked chastened. Then angry. “More than you do, apparently.”

“
You want me to walk?” People stared at us curiously. I was still holding the door and she had yet to walk through. We were making a scene — that was the last thing I wanted.

“
I don't care,” she said.

I glanced at the students around us, checking none of them were within earshot, then back at her. “You know as well as I do that you need me to help keep you alive. Isn't that right?”

She shrugged.

“
It's all on you,
bebe
. You tell me what I want.”

Christina put her hands on her hips. “I want this all to go away.”

“Tough shit. That isn't going to happen.”

She continued to look at me levelly with those huge blue eyes. I fought back the approaching wave of irritation. “You going in, or you want to chat out here in the sun in front of everybody?”

She stepped inside.

“
The way I see it,” I continued, “I'm doing you a favor by keeping our interactions brief.”

“
Hostile,” she said. “Abusive.”

“
You already hate me,” I pointed out. “What have I got to lose?”
What have I got to gain?

Her expression flickered. “I don't hate you. At least — ” she hesitated “ — not as much as I used to.”

“You do a good enough impression. What happened to leaving me out with the trash to fuck flies?”

“
Y-you heard that?” I let my silence speak for itself. She looked embarrassed, and that made her angry. “That was after you — after I found you passed out on my porch. After you tried to attack me. This is all such a shock. Excuse me if it takes some getting used to.”

“
Better get used to it soon,” I said. The instant the words were out of my mouth, I knew it was the wrong thing to say.

Her eyes flashed. “Maybe it's easy for someone like you, but I can't just rewrite the past. I mean, you're here. At my school. I'm buying you coffee, for God's sake.” For a moment I was afraid she was going to cry but she let out a shaky little laugh instead. “You, of all people. My — ” she glanced at me and colored a little more “ — well.”

I grunted.

“
Just last night you were out of your mind. Paranoid and psychotic. You treated me like I was your enemy. You made me relive my nightmares. Now you expect me to believe your claims that our lives our in danger. How is any of that my fault?”

“
I didn't say it was.”

“
You were the one who walked away, Michael. You were the one who promised me that this was all going to end. You were the one who tried to hurt me. It's you. It's always been about you.”

She drew in a deep breath.

“Do you understand now?”

“
I'm beginning to.”

“
I don't know anything about you,” she said. “Not really. I'm not so sure that I want to — I wouldn't even know where to start asking questions. I certainly didn't expect to have you in my life again. Right now all I want to do is scream at you, and I can't even do that. I certainly don't want to feel
sorry
for you.”

Music floated up from hidden speakers. I couldn't place the song. She felt sorry for me? We stepped up in line and I said, “You could start by asking.”

“To scream at you?” She looked surprised.

“
No. If you want to know more about me — ask. I won't be able to answer all your questions. You always have been too nosy for your own good. But I'll answer what I can.”

“
Really.”

“
Quid pro quo.”

“
What's the quo?”

“
Not feeling sorry for me, since I sure as shit don't want your pity.” I let her hear the sharpness in my words, and was gratified when she flinched. “Maybe you can start by pretending I'm not so bad.”

“
All right,” she said a little sarcastically. “I was going to assume you liked eating babies and sacrificing virgins, but I might as well ask, what do you do for fun?”

“
I languish in sin,” I replied in the same tone. “I take my babies rare, and my virgins over easy.”

She made a sound of disgust.

“All right. You want to know what I really do for fun? I drink. I play cards. I read. I fucking watch TV. I work. When I'm not doing that I drink some more because drinking quiets the demons.”

“
And that's your definition of fun,” she said slowly.

“
The long evenings just fly by.”

“
No music?”

“
Can't stand the shit. Gives me fucking migraines.”

“
Can you sing?”

“
Not a note.”

Christina folded her arms. “You must be a blast on long car rides.”

“Oh, I am. You haven't experienced fun until you try to fuck in the front seat of a Civic.”

She flinched again. This time, the pain in her face cut at me, too. Because I'd seen that face before more times than I cared to count. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?” I drawled.
Don't let her see you bleed.

“
Make it about sex. Is that all I represent to you? Is that what
all
women represent to you? Sex? Or are you doing this because you know it upsets me, because you're trying to push me away? It won't work.” Her voice shook. Fuck. “It won't. You're disrespecting both of us by acting like such a misogynistic asshole.”

“
Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to.”

“
You just
told
me to ask,” she snapped. “I'm trying the best I can, despite what you might think.”

She was getting noisy again. People were beginning to look over in our direction. Glaring at me, like I was the bad one in all of this. Maybe I was. “Fine. You win, darlin. Conversation over.”

“That isn't what I — ”

“
Over.”

“
You can't just — ”

“
Over
.”

Soon after that it was our turn at the counter. We ordered our drinks. She looked pale under the fluorescent lights, the light brown of her skin bleached as if she wasn't getting outside much. A pretty impressive feat considering the force of the glaring sun overhead.

Callaghan had said something about her seeing a shrink. I'd figured he'd been laying it on a little thick but for once it seemed like he'd been telling the truth.

Her face was still tight with anger and frustration. I felt bad for winding her up now. “You all right over there?”

“Fine,” she said shortly.

“
You're looking a little ashy.”

“
I guess I'm a little dehydrated.” Her full lips were cracked. She bit down on the lower as she thought. “I guess I haven't eaten much over the last couple days, either.”

“
Can we get some of that sushi?” I asked the barista.

“
What are you doing?” Christina hissed. “I can't afford that.”

She couldn't? When had that happened? Her parents were loaded — or had been. A lot could happen in a year. Guilt attempted another approach. I shoved it away. Slammed that mental door. “It's on me. Or will be as soon as I get some money wired over. You had a shock. You need to eat.”

She really must have been feeling low; for once, she didn't try to argue with me.

A group of Asians got up from one of the booths in the back corner. Perfect. We sat down and I watched her pick at her sushi with the chopsticks, working through the little rows one piece at a time. I waited, making sure she was eating it. Then I opened my own package.

“You realize we can't stay here much longer.”

She looked around worriedly. “The cafeteria?”

“No. The school. The city. Here.”

“
What?”

“
They know where you live, and they know that I'm with you.” I popped a piece of eel in my mouth. “You've worn out your welcome in Bumfuck, Arizona.”

All the color drained from her face. “But what about my classes?”

“Are they more important than your life?”

She didn't seem to hear me. “What about rent? What about my things? I already paid for tuition this semester. You can't do this to me. You told me this was over.”

“This will never be over. Not until we're dead—or the people who're fucking with us are.”

She whimpered.

“Now don't do that. Not here.” I grabbed her hand, gratified that she didn't immediately shake me off. “Hold it in. Don't let them see you fall to pieces.”

“
I can't do this again.”

I squeezed her fingers hard, as much in warning as in comfort. “You don't have a choice.”

“What a change that is,” she said bitterly. “What are we going to do? Am I going to have to spend the rest of my life running from the IMA? Is that what you're saying?”

And the BN
. I released her. She didn't need to know about that yet. “First things first. We're going to have to stick around for at least a couple more days. Those assholes left me with nothing, so I need to figure out how I'm going to get my hands on money, ID—” I ticked the items off with the chopsticks “—transport. All that good shit.”

“
I just want to live my life.”

“
Yeah? Then stop assuming that you're going to die. That's step one.”

She prodded at a limp piece of eel. “I can't fight them.”

“You won't have to.” I hoped to fuck that was true. “I'll do all the fighting for both of us. I can keep you safe. You won't come to any harm under my protection.”

She didn't look like she believed me. “You and safe don't belong in the same sentence.”

“Be that as it may, what have you got to lose?”

Christina folded her hands on the table. “My future. My life. My soul. My heart. Take your pick.”

I crumpled up the plastic tray like paper and shot it into the nearest trashcan. I said nothing. I leaned back in the booth and waited, with my arms folded behind my head.

She crossed herself. “I can't believe I'm doing this. But okay. Fine. What's your plan?”

That's my girl.

Chapter Fifteen

Escape

Christina:

Our talk ended after that.

I tried not to be aware of his denim-clad thigh, so close to my own in the cramped seats of the bus as we rode it back to my apartment. Or his muscular arms. Or how much fiercer he looked with a few days' worth of beard. He was the apple and the serpent all rolled into one. I knew that and yet I wanted anyway, despite knowing that acting on my desires would ultimately be my undoing.

His eyes slid my way. He slung his arm over the back of the seat and faced me. “Something wrong, darlin?”

“
No.” I looked away. “Nothing.”
Everything
.

My hand shook a little when I turned the key, making it rattle in the lock. The dishes in the sink reeked. I'd forgotten all about them, but they asserted themselves now; I could smell sour eggs and milk from that morning's breakfast the moment I opened the door.

Michael shut the door behind us and leaned back against it, looking around my living room thoughtfully. “Do you have any money on you?”

“
Why? Are you going to rob me?”

He stared at me. Then laughed. “Don't be ridiculous.”

“I have some cash,” I said hesitantly.

“
Good.” He tossed his empty coffee cup in my recycling bin. “If we're going to do this, we're going to have to a buy a few things. I'll wait here.”

Now?
I blinked. “We're going now?”

“
No time like the present,” he deadpanned.

I slipped into my bedroom and rolled out my last four twenties from a pair of mismatched socks. I shoved them into my purse and zipped up the pouch.