Page 80 of Until We Burn
You have sex and nothing more.
I force my hands into my pockets where they curl around some loose vending machine change.
“What are you doing in the orange tunnels?” I ask.
“I wanted to walk to class without anyone staring at me. Except that was a horrible idea because I’ve never been down here alone.” Diana huffs. Her cheeks puff out with an angry scowl. “I got lost a few times.”
I hold back the smile teasing my lips. Diana always looks so regal in her heels and designer clothes that it makes me weak whenever I see her slightly lose her cool like this. It’s cuter than it should be.
“Well, if you’ve bumped into me, you’re most likely going the right way.” My smile fades as Diana shuts her eyes, rubbing her forehead with a sigh. I swallow hard. “I’ve been texting you all morning to see if you were okay, Di. I heard about what happened.”
She smiles bitterly. “Actually, things have changed just now.”
“What do you mean?”
Diana tells me everything that went down this morning. From marching into Benedict Vanderkoff’s office, wrestling down a chance to appeal their decision, and then walking out with a deal that might bring her back half of what she’s lost. Pride burns hot in my chest. Diana could’ve given up and let the board step all over her, but she kept on fighting with that fire I love so much.
“What happens now? Did you hear back from Benedict?”
“I did.” Diana draws out her phone and shows me the email.
Diana, I’ll cut to the chase: The point you brought up about Felix Russo was fair. We don’t want our reporters thinking that we stand for discriminatory practices. For that reason, I’ve persuaded the board to agree to your proposal. You have fourteen days to overturn our decision. Good luck.
“I don’t get it. If they don’t want people thinking they’re discriminating against you, why can’t they just reinstate you as editor? Why make you jump through all these hoops and prove yourself if Felix never had to do the same?”
“So they can have their cake and eat it, too.” Diana shoves her phone back into her bag. “Doing this only makes themlooklike they’re not discriminating because they gave me a chance to appeal their decision. But if I can’t prove myself to them, the ones who never supportedme from the start can still keep me out. Just like they’ve always wanted.”
My grip hardens on the coins in my pocket, as the Howler board of directors mentally join the lineup of people I want to throw into the Vancouver Harbor.
“I…I didn’t think the newsroom would be like this for you,” I stammer. “I mean, you’re a Huang. One of the heiresses to the HMG. That’s gotta have some weight, right?”
Diana laughs. “They don’t see that, Kai. You know it better than anyone. They see the names they can’t pronounce, the shape of our eyes, the accent in our words. The Huang name doesn’t change the fact that journalism began with white men dominating the field. It wasn’t made to include people who look like me. That’s why the HMG exists and why my father wants one of us to take it over.”
For a split second, I start to understand Edward Huang a little better. It makes sense how he became as demanding as he is because he’s dedicated his entire livelihood to proving people wrong. It still doesn’t excuse how absolutely fucked up his ambitions have made him.
Before I can say anything more, Diana shakes her head. “I don’t want to keep talking about this. It’s giving me a headache.”
Heavy exhaustion kills her last spark of power, pushing every part of me to drop everything to make her feel better.
As a friend.
“Alright.” I nod and whip out my hands. “What do you need?”
Surprise flickers across her face. I cock my head, silently urging her on. Diana drops her head and crosses her arms. She shifts unsurely on her feet, her face tensed in thought.
Then, Diana stares up at me.
“I don’t want to go to class right now. I want to get railed.”
It doesn’t matterwhat lighting she’s sitting under. Diana will always look like a goddamn goddess when she comes all over me.
“I love it when you pound my brains out,” she gasps.
Shadows and light cut back and forth across her, as I fuck Diana through her orgasm in the driver’s seat. I grip her hips, her chiffon skirt crumpling in my hands. Under the watery yellow light of the parkade, her face crinkles in agony, yet her black waves cling to those red lips that drop loose with desire.
My mind goes blank, numb to everything except her.
