Page 97 of Demons and Debts
My eyes widen. ‘What’s in Metro City?’
‘Iron I business. Pack for at least four days.’
He's gone before I can tell him that I have no clothes since my backpack hasn’t reappeared and Paris’ bribes are long gone.
I get up and take a shower, wrapping myself in a towel. I take a look through the closet, but I was thorough. All that’s left from my blitz yesterday is one, errant, four-inch Jimmy Choo.
I sit on the bed, cooling my heels for the time being, and my eyes land on a white paper bag that’s on the bedside table; the kind with little twisted paper handles that you get at boutiques.
I sigh. Something else to throw out into the hall.
I turn it upside down on the bed and a white box falls out along with a folded note.
About the clothes … I get it and I got these for you to apologize (afterSie) ~P
I open the magnetic box, expecting some flashy, heavy jewelry made out of something horribly uncomfortable like live scarab beetles or something. (Yeah, that was a thing like a hundred years ago. Totally read about it. At the end of the night, rich ladies would put their moving scarab beetle necklaces in dishes with wet sponges to keep the damn thing alive for as long as possible. I know! Fucked up, right?)
But instead, I gasp at the sight of a pair ofveryhigh-end noise-cancelling headphones nestled in fucking satin. I know what these are and they’re worth like five grand! If I had wet dreams, they would be about these headphones.
I shouldn’t accept them. I should throw them outside just like the other stuff, I say in my head even as my fingertips are reverently stroking the finely crafted steel with filigree flowers etched into the metal. They’re beautiful and they’ll block out everything, literally someone could shoot a gun right in front of me and I wouldn’t hear it go off with these.
I lift them out of the box and try them on. I can’t even try to stop myself. They connect to my phone automatically and, for the first time in months, I hear a song from my favorite playlist coming through quality sound speakers instead of the tinny phone ones. I close my eyes and listen for a minute before I take them off and put them in their special satin bag.
Nope. I’m not giving these up. Integrity? What integrity. Guess everyone really does have their price.
There's a knock at my door and I stare at it for a second because no one ever does that, they just come right in.
‘Enter,’ I say in my best hoity toity voice and the door opens.
‘Forty minutes,’ Theo says as he steps inside. ‘You're not dressed yet?’
‘I don't have any clothes.’
‘Sure you do.’ He opens the closet, steps inside, and freezes. ‘I thought Paris—’
‘I couldn't wear them,’ I interrupt in a mumble. ‘They were scratchy and itchy fabrics and smelled funny and they were only so I’d choose him.’
‘But you chose Sie.’
I glance up, wondering if he’s mad that I didn’t choose him. ‘Yeah.’
‘Do you mind if I ask why?’
‘I wanted it over and done with and I know that you guys were only being nice to me so I’d pick you. You don’t even like me. I know that, but he didn’t pretend. I guess I know where I stand with him.’
‘So he didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do?’
‘No,’ I say, surprised. ‘Not at all. I picked him fair and square, and he didn’t do anything I didn’t want.’
‘Ok,’ he says, seeming placated. ‘Come on.’
He pulls me up to standing.
‘Is this an on-call girl thing?’ I ask, not meeting his eyes.
‘No, Miss Mercy. Not unless you want it to be,’ he says, his tone turning allofficial.
I swallow hard at the doctor voice, and he winks at me.
