He indicated for her to go ahead as he got busy making her drinks.
Kira leaned over the bar.“What’s a good boy like you doing in a shit hole like this?”
“Exactly what any good boy would be doing.”He winked and set her drinks on the bar.“Discovering the meaning of life.”
Kira studied the drinks.The first was exactly what she’d asked for.A solar flare.An unnatural yellow with a streak of orange softly swirling within.All in an odd shaped vessel that Kira thought was supposed to resemble an actual solar flare.
The second was the most perfectly crafted cup of masala chai that she’d ever seen.She hadn’t tasted it yet, but somehow, she just knew it would be divine.Steam wafted off its surface, tempting her to take a sip.
“Enjoy,” the bartender said.
“What do I owe you?”
“It’s on the house.”
Normally, Kira would have argued but in this instance, she let it go.
“See you around, dreamer,” she said, lifting the glasses off the bar top.
“Yes, you will, firebird.”
Kira stopped next to the woman and placed her lips against her ear.“The Red Rabbit.Station new day.I’ll see you there.”
That was approximately five hours from now.Plenty of time for Kira to conclude her business.
The woman took a slow sip from her beer stein.
Kira sashayed away, leaving the woman and bartender to share a look.
“Who is the kid?”Raider’s friend was asking as Kira walked up to the table.
She set the chai and solar flare down a little harder than necessary.Liquid sloshed over the rims.“The kid is none of your business.”
The man paused to look Kira up and down.“Chief, you’ve got rude friends.”
One of the nearby roughs, a man with flame colored hair, hit his friend in the chest with the back of his hand and gestured.His friend looked over and nodded.He rose from the chair he’d been straddling.A couple of other roughs joined him.
They pressed in on Kira and the table, surrounding it.
“He’s no one,” Raider said quickly in an attempt to defuse the situation.“Just a friend’s child I got roped into looking after for a few days.”
For a moment, tension remained.
Then his friend guffawed and slapped the table.“Someone trusted you with their offspring?They must not love their kid very much.”
Kira wondered how surprised this man would be if he knew that Raider had a daughter.And that he was actually a great father.
His friend wiped the tears from his eyes.“How are you doing, asshole?”
“Can’t complain, Gator.”
“You still playing soldier boy?Or have you moved on to greener pastures?”
Kira noted as a few patrons got up and slipped out of the bar.Of those who remained, at least half were now watching their group.
Kira hoped Raider’s contact was worth it.
Because his new friend was proving to be something of a pain in the ass.In the span of a few words, he’d managed to warn off those around them.By the time they finished this conversation, half the station would know who Raider was and what he used to do.
