“Some do, and I’m now officially considered bad luck.”
“You’re not—” A waitress comes to take our orders. I choose the chicken and rice, and Finn takes pasta.
“You’re not bad luck,” he says once we’re alone again, “just annoying and stubborn. Anyway, I have a proposition for you.”
“Calling me annoying and stubborn might not be the smartest way to go about it.”
He leans forward with his elbows on the table. “I need to travel to High Hope.”
I don’t like the sound of that. “That’s far. Why?”
“I need to meet with their king and discuss our alliance. We can’t have him staying on the sidelines with everything that’s going on.”
I digest his words and realize the responsibility on his shoulders. Barely more than a year ago, this eighteen-year-old kid lied his way into Unity, and it’s hard to imagine he’s now being tasked with such an important assignment. Or maybe it’s not that hard to imagine, since I saw the fire in him the first time we met. He demanded we take him with us to Unity, and it felt easier to let him try his luck than to argue.
“The general wants to send a small force with us so we won’t draw too much attention. Timothy will join and help with sensing nearby danger, but we still need a leader.” He shifts in his seat. “Would you come?”
I scratch the back of my head, thinking it over. “I see the logic in taking a small force, but if things heat up, you’re screwed.”
“Even a bigger force can be taken down.”
True.
“Can’t the king send someone here instead?” I ask.
Finn shakes his head, his dark curls slightly longer than usual. One curl dangles over his forehead, almost reaching his eye. “When you deal with High Hope, you do it there. The king has a bad case of the ego, as Dino calls it.”
“I understand, but I’m going to get a new squad soon. Can you wait a couple of weeks for me to find the right people for this mission?”
“I can’t. Dino wants me to leave in the next few days.”
What happened to my squad likely made things more urgent. “If I leave the Hive now, I can forget about getting a new squad. If I’m not here to push…”
“Then get a squad when we’re back.”
I haven’t been without a squad in years. It feels wrong. “Let me think about it, okay?”
“Sure.”
But I can tell he hoped I’d agree on the spot. It will give us a chance to be away from the Hive together, which hasn’t happened since we got back from Kansas. Still, I can’t agree to such a long mission without thinking it through and speaking with the general, but a part of me knows he’s not likely to approve. My relationship with Dino has always been an issue between us, making the general suspicious of me. I used to be bothered by that, but after the general kept Josh in custody for weeks and demanded he be put on trial, I stopped giving a damn.
We get our food and eat while keeping the conversation light, but I find myself growing uneasy. I don’t like being casual and polite with him, knowing I can’t touch or flirt. It feels like I’m forced to play the role of someone who isn’t into him, and I’m not that good an actor.
“Are you seeing anyone?” The question slips out of my mouth before I can stop it.
He seems taken aback. “No.”
I wait for him to ask me as well, but he doesn’t, maybe because he knows it’s highly unlikely with my lifestyle, or maybe he doesn’t care either way.
“Cool,” I say. “Was just curious.”
He gives me a hard look. “You don’t have the right to ask me that.”
“I don’t?”
“You broke up with me, so—”
“The fuck I did.” I can’t believe he sees things this way.
