Something brushed Lila’s arm, ticking her skin.
She shot up in bed, panting.
Tristan crouched over her, grasping the ends of a gray woolen blanket, illuminated by the light from the adjoining room. Behind his head, a string of bottle caps dangled from the dark window, and a heater hummed near the bed. It hadn’t been there when she had fallen asleep.
“I didn’t mean to wake you. You were curled up in a knot like you were cold.” He gently pushed her back to the mattress and settled the blanket around her shoulders.
“What time is it?”
“Eight o’clock. Go back to sleep. I’ll—”
“Eight?” Lila flipped over and thrust her hand into the pillowcase. She withdrew her palm, thumbing on the display.
Tristan frowned. “You hid it in the pillowcase?”
“Yes. Where else would I have put it? It’s not like this has a pocket.” She tugged at the chest of her cotton shirt, washed to softness.
Not hers.
Tristan’s.
It smelled like him. Not soap and whiskey but the scent that pooled in the crook of his neck, the scent that begged her to lean over, to breathe him in deep.
The bed smelled like him too.
She pressed her thighs together, her blood rushing throughout her body, recalling a sea of light blue paint and a creaking plastic mattress.
His hands upon her body.
His hands attaching a piece of cardstock under her officer’s stars while she’d been tranqed.
“It’s late,” she said, knowing she’d not be able to go back to sleep after such thoughts. “Why didn’t you wake me before?”
“Because I’ve been hit with a tranq dart. I know what it’s like. Exhaustion, nausea, sore muscles.” He ticked off each symptom on his fingers. “You needed a nap.”
“Five hours isn’t a nap.” She scrolled through the messages on her palm, focusing on one from Alex, written two hours earlier. You snuck out, I see. I’ll cover for you as long as I can. Are you okay?
Lila sighed. She had not escaped the problem she’d faced that afternoon, only deferred it. At some point, she’d have to return home and tell Alex what had happened to her mother and brother.
She’d have to tell her friend what she had done to them.
It needed to happen soon. She couldn’t let Alex hear it from someone else.
Lila lay back into the pillow and tapped on her display. Yes. I’ll be back in a few hours. Thanks, Alex.
“You look better. You even have a bit of color in your cheeks.”
Lila rolled onto her back and stretched like a cat, flexing each muscle as far as she could reach, relieved they responded at almost their full strength, sharpness, and quickness.
Tristan was right. The extra sleep really had done her some good.
It didn’t mean she had to admit it, though.
“Did you set up the meet?”
“Yes. I had to blackmail her for it. Zephyr will meet us tonight in one of the abandoned factories on the Wilson-Kruger estate.”
“Where?” she blurted.