Rex Aftermath (Elei's Chronicles) (29 page)

“What? No.” His cheekbones burned.

“Then is something on your mind?” She tilted her head to the side. “Want to talk about it?”

He shook his head.

“Help me chop the roots for the stew?” She shoved a box of yellow roots toward him.

Thankful for the distraction — and where in the hells was Kalaes when one needed his endless chatter? Oh right, with Zoe — Elei took the box and fished out a knife from a drawer.

He was chopping, focusing on shoving the cut pieces into a pile by the sink, when she came to stand right next to him to cut the meat she’d brought. Her fingers were small and delicate. He remembered them clutching a gun, holding down Kalaes; it seemed impossible now.

Oh gods, he wanted to kiss her again, and there went his resolve not to, right out the window. He wanted to cup her slender shoulders, touch her fine collarbones, slide down her blouse and—

“Shit.” He blinked down at his hand, blinked again at the blood dribbling on the counter.
What in the hells?

She lifted wide eyes to his face, then grabbed a towel from a rack and gestured with it. “Give me your hand.”

He did, dazed. What had happened...?

Ah yes.
He’d been thinking of undressing her and he’d damn well near chopped his finger off.
Typical.

And idiotic.

She wrapped the towel around his finger and he pulled back his hand, twisting the cloth around his palm to keep it in place.

 “Come here.” She tugged his arm and he followed, still reeling. She led him to their beaten-up sofa and pushed him down. He landed with a “oof” and stared when she sat down next to him.

She smiled. “I was hoping to be alone with you for once.”

“You were?” The fading afternoon light from the window made her hair look like a cold blaze, leaving her face in shadow.

She nodded. “I’ve been meaning to...” She bit her lip. “To talk to you.”

“What about?”

“This...between us.”

This.
Kissing. Hugging. His heart pummeled his ribs as he waited for her to say more.

“Listen.” She wasn’t looking at him, and cold spilled into his chest. “It doesn’t have to mean anything. We could just forget it ever happened, if that’s what you want.”

Forget...? Whoa, wait.
“Why?”

Her smile slipped. “I have a feeling you don’t want it.”

His throat was dry. He tried to swallow but couldn’t. “But why—?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I’m not avoiding you.”

“You do everything you can not to be left alone with me.” Her shoulders were hunched. “Don’t you?”

Shit, she was right, and yet... He bowed his head, stared at the blood-stained towel on his hand. He could tell her she was right, that he hadn’t wanted it, that it was a mistake.
Easier.

“So it’s settled,” she whispered. “I’ll get the stew going.”

But when she made as if to stand, he followed her in a sort of dim panic and grabbed her arm. “Please, stay.”

She sank back down and he leaned toward her, meaning to explain, but his mouth caught on hers, pressed against her soft lips, and he forgot what he’d meant to say or why. 

Soft, and sweet, and his hands fitted over her shoulder blades, held on. She was pressing back, her lips moving over his, parting, and he was sinking, or maybe flying, he couldn’t tell.

Somehow he found himself laying her down on the sofa and bending over her. His heart hammered low in his belly. He lifted a hand to her face, propping himself on the other so he wouldn’t crush her, and kissed her again, his eyes closing.

Pleasure rippled down his spine, taking his breath, and he gasped, pulled back for air. Alendra’s eyes glittered in the fading light, bright against the flush of her cheeks. Elei buried his face in the juncture between her neck and shoulder, pressing his mouth to stop from whimpering out loud.

Oh gods, he’d never felt anything so good, and he couldn’t stop moving, touching... He moved his hand to Alendra’s throat, down to her breastbone, over the curve of one breast, and she sighed, her back arching. He raised his head, gazing on her face, caught by the way her eyes had slitted, her lips open to exhale.

“Ale...” He gulped, still moving against her, desperate to get closer.

“Don’t talk.” She wrapped her arms around him, sought his mouth with hers. “Kiss me more.”

With a soft groan, he obeyed, spread full length on top of her lithe body, feeling every rise and hollow, wrapping himself in her scent and the slightly salty taste of her skin, slipping a hand under her blouse, sliding down the strap of her bra, suffocating with the need to see her at last as he’d dreamed of her.

Her hands stroked his back, tugged and pulled, and cool air hit his spine. Her hands followed up, caressing his flanks, his ribs, higher up where he couldn’t feel them anymore, because...

“Damn.” He scrambled away and tugged down the hem of his t-shirt, all blood draining from his face, leaving him light-headed. “No.”

She sat up, her eyes hurt. “Elei?”

He pushed off the sofa, almost falling over as he found his feet. The blood-stained towel lay at the foot of the sofa. Gods, how did he let himself get so carried away? She’d touched the snakeskin, a few moments longer and she’d have seen it, the snakeskin, the scars, all of it.

“I’m sorry. I can’t,” was all he managed to say, before he turned and left the apartment.

***

Alendra wasn’t there when he returned later. He didn’t know whether to be glad or devastated. He rubbed his arms, frozen to the bone, because of course he’d left without taking his jacket.

 “Hey,” Kalaes said coming out of the bedroom, scaring him half to death. He held a glass and the whiff of strong alcohol hit Elei like a punch. “I got worried. Where were you?”

Elei shook his head. “Don’t worry, I was careful.” He’d learned it the hard way a couple of times already, and there was only so much the police could do.

“That right?”

“I had my gun, I checked every corner, and I went and sat at Min’s diner.”

Kalaes nodded, yet his lips twisted in a self-depreciating smile. “I wouldn’t be much of a brother if I didn’t worry, now, would I?”

It brought a spark of warmth to Elei’s cold chest. “Is there more of that?”

“This?” Kalaes fetched the bottle, held it out, winked. “Here you go, fe. Drown your sorrows. Follow my good example.”

Elei took the bottle, grabbed a glass from the rack and filled it up to the brim.

“Whoa. You’re serious today.” Kalaes perched on the counter and raised his glass. He saluted Elei and drank, squinting with watering eyes. “Here’s to peace.”

“To peace,” Elei said quietly and swallowed half of it in one go, then spoiled the effect by choking and coughing most of it up.

Kalaes was laughing. “Okay, fe, spill. What’s got your panties in a twist?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh come on. Too late for that. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Why don’t we focus on
your
sorrows.” Elei wiped his mouth and took his glass to the table, where he proceeded to sip at it more cautiously. He gestured with it. “You did say that, didn’t you?”

“Awh crap. Little brothers turning the tables on you. Not funny.” Kalaes took another swig. “You sure you wanna add my woes to yours?”

Elei nodded. His chest was warm now, and a fuzz was settling on his brain.

“Fine then.” Kalaes stared into the depths of his glass and frowned. “I, um...” He downed the rest of his drink, coughed a little. “Damn. Well, there was this girl who was supposed to help me clean up the place. I think she likes me. A lot. Stuck on me at work all day like a starfish. And then Zoe walked in.”

Elei tried to imagine the scene. “Shit.”

“So I made my move on Zoe, as I’d planned all along, and bang crash, ow in the jewels.”

Elei stared at him. “Zoe hit you?”

“Not physically.” Kalaes winced. “She used some choice words, though, and they were sharp.”

“Just for talking to the girl?”

Kalaes winced again, jumped off the counter and picked up the bottle. “Girl grabbed my ass and pasted herself all over me right before Zoe walked in. I know it looked bad, but I swear, fe, I was ambushed. I don’t even like that girl.”

“Sucks. Will you call Zoe?”

“In a while, I think.” Kalaes tapped the bottle neck and grimaced. “With the help of this baby. My heart’s broken but I’ll survive.”

There was something in his eyes, though, a hairline crack.

“This isn’t about Zoe.” The words escaped Elei’s lips and hung in the air, innocent and yet heavy. He ducked his head, cradled his glass closer. “Shit. Sorry, forget it.” He was wrong; it wasn’t innocent at all. It was a behemoth of a question, encompassing everything, and he held his breath, waiting to see how Kalaes would interpret it.

Kalaes threw him a quizzical look as he sat down at the table. His possessed eye flashed a pale blue. He said nothing for a while, twirling his glass between his fingers.

Then he leaned back and closed his eyes. “You’re right. I’m not drinking to find strength to talk to Zoe, although some good sex might have gotten my mind off things. Then again, imagine if I fell asleep with her and woke up screaming.” He snorted, not a happy sound. He looked at Elei through heavy-lidded eyes. “It’s Hera.”

“What about her?”

“I overheard her talking to Mantis on the telespeak before she left to Dakru City for the meeting. She’s...” Kalaes rubbed his eyes furiously. “She says she wants to lead the exploration teams underground.”

Cold washed through Elei. Go back down there? After they’d barely made it out alive? “And Sacmis?”

“Sacmis.” Kalaes waved a hand. “I bet she’ll go wherever Hera goes.”

Elei nodded. “That’s... not so good.” He swallowed hard, his emotions all jumbled up.

He’d thought... that it was all over, the fear and sorrow, but it seemed it wasn’t, not yet. He’d thought Hera would head the new government, but she’d passed it up. Had said she couldn’t. “It’s dangerous, you think?”

Kalaes shrugged and raised the bottle, lifting a questioning brow at Elei. Elei had barely nodded when he leaned across and refilled his glass. “Drink up,” he said.

And that stopped Elei cold. Because that could only mean one thing: more bad news was coming. “What aren’t you telling me?” he whispered, forcing his fingers to unclench before he broke the glass.

Kalaes shook his head and raised his glass. “To love,” he said, voice a little hoarse and none too steady, and took a swig.

How long had he been drinking? “Kalaes, what the hells is it?”

Kalaes gestured at Elei’s glass. “After you drink.”

Frowning hard, Elei took a sip. “How much have you had?”

“Not nearly enough. You didn’t tell me why you vanished and came back in the early morning hours.”

Elei blinked at the seemingly random change of topic. “It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure about that?” Kalaes banged his glass down on the table a little too hard. Liquor sloshed out. “Nothing for who? You?”

Elei flinched. “What—?”

“What about Ale?” Kalaes held him pinned with his gaze, his blue eye startling against the darkness of the other, and Elei had a brief moment of wonder; did he also look like that?

Then Kalaes’ words hit him. “What? Did something happen?” He pushed away from the table, knocking his glass over in the process, not that he cared. “Kal?”

“She’s all right.” Kalaes seemed to deflate as Elei stood over him. “Sit... sit down, fe, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Didn’t meant to...?
Elei’s hands curled into fists. “Just tell me what happened.”

Kalaes nodded, pushed his glass away. “What would you give for Ale to stay?”

“Stay?” Elei took a step back. “What... she’s leaving?”

Kalaes nodded again. “She decided to go with Hera and Sacmis. She said — Just... just talk to her, fe.”

“What did she say?”

Kalaes winced. “She said you’re a bastard.”

Elei blinked.
Ow.
“I guess... she’s upset with me.”

“You think?” Kalaes rolled his eyes. “What did you say to her?”

“That I can’t... I couldn’t...” Elei slumped.

“You couldn’t what?” Kalaes’ eyes narrowed. “Did you two make out?”

Elei wasn’t sure if what they’d done was “make out”, so he shrugged.

“Dammit. And then you left?”

“We just kissed,” Elei said miserably, “on the sofa. I touched her neck, her shoulder...” His throat closed up and he stared resolutely into his glass.

“Hot damn.” Kalaes stood up and began to pace. “So what, then you said you couldn’t do it and left? Without an explanation?”

“I can’t... explain to her why, I might as well show her the snakeskin on my back. She’ll...” The words jammed in his throat. “She’ll run away,” he whispered.