“I’m sure,” I said anyway.
“Hold his arm steady,” the doctor ordered.
I did, the Killian’s purplish-green skin clammy and cold.
Drops of sweat clung to the doctor’s forehead as he closed in on a vein with a steady hand.He plunged the needle into the Killian.
Chapter two
Nera
Therearefourwaysyou can tell you’re talking to a Faid.
They blink slowly.Like cats do when they reach into their bag o’ fucks and pull out their very last one, just for you.
They speak slowly, so much so that I often can’t follow what they’re talking about, though that applies to pretty much everyone.
They’ll try to kill you.
You might find yourself loving one.
Only one of those ways applied to Maxx though.If he was a Faid, how had he hidden the first two ways?If he was a Faid, why hadn’t he tried to kill me?If he was a Faid, why hadn’t hetoldme?
And Rain… Once upon a time, I’d loved her too.A different kind of love, sure, but she became my only friend in the often lonely world of parenting, when the co-parent decides to make himself scarce.I’d shared things with her that I never admitted to anyone else, like my laziness when it comes to showering and how much I hated the texture and taste of oatmeal.Really important things like that, but other, deeper stuff too, like how afraid I was of being a mom.
She didn’t blink or speak slowly anymore either.
Must’ve been a Faid upgrade to help keep them in hiding.Like the other Faid upgrade Rain had mentioned about anti-hacking measures and not murdering anyone anymore.
But Maxx had murdered.He’d killed Emjay.What if it wasn’t self-defense?What if he’d killed her in cold blood?
There went my spiraling again, the same thing I’d been doing since I’d boarded my ship and locked myself in my quarters.My poor crew didn’t know what else to do with their blubbering, puffy captain other than let me cry.Darc had held me for a while.Philip and Mosely brought out a tub of chocolate ice cream and the good bourbon for me, which I’d regretfully declined.The bourbon, not the ice cream obviously.Doc had offered me drugs (also a regretful no), and Major was currently asleep and purring on my lap.
I didn’t think I could love them all any more than I already did, but here we were.
But there were things that needed to be done.Things that needed to be faced and dealt with right now so I could cry again later.
Well, notrightnow since someone was currently knocking on my door.
Gently, with a wince, I committed the number one cat sin and removed myself from underneath Major.He cracked open one eye and glared, but his purr never wavered.
“Such a good boy,” I cooed to him as I opened the door.
