“I’m going. Take care, Maddie.”
“You won’t come back?”
“There’s nothing here for me.”
Facing each other off, she cried, and he had no tears. Hearing the car pull up so he left, not looking back, straight into the car.
Harold beamed a smile at him. “How did it go?”
He breathed. “Just drive. You could have told me about Kevin.”
“Maddie wanted to do that. How did it go?”
“Kevin told me. So it went fucking great.”
Harold patted his arm. “Fuck. But at least, you know.”
“I still love him.”
“Tough.”
He drove the car back to the city, and Damian had no words. Dialing that number again. Nothing. He looked at Harold. “If you messed the numbers up on purpose, you’re as good as dead.” That voice, soft, but with an unknown edge.
Harold glanced at him, catching those steel eyes. No lie there. Ice rushed down his back. “I don’t think so….”
“Make it right, Harold.” The threat was there, with that unsettling edge, and Harold swallowed and kept driving, his mind racing.
Chapter 19
“We’reback.Youknowthe way. I’ll come up a bit later, will get us some decent lunch. And tonight, we have dinner and some party time with the board.”
“What? I don’t want…”
Harold held up his hand. “Damian. Spare me your hermit bullshit. You need to meet the gang again and party. Get back into life!” He swayed his hips in his seat and Damian had no words, that vague horror lingering when he couldn’t care less before. Even looking forward to it, not to be home…
He got out and went up to his suite. His eyes on that sterile, artificial landscape, his eyes drifting to a lone plant on a table. He grazed those green leaves, but they were artificial. A bitter curve of his mouth. His body screaming at him, not used to being idle, always pushed to the brink. He roamed the suite and found a treadmill, facing that floor to ceiling glass window, a slice of sky somehow visible between two buildings. His hand grazed the dark flat screen, and it popped to life.
An artificial female voice filling that silent space. “Welcome to your training. How may I call you?” He almost rushed out of the room at that voice, but then stepped closer, watching the screen flash. Name. He typed his name in and hit the green rectangle. “Greetings, Damian. Happy to meet you. Shall we start?” He stepped on it, looking at the options. Miles. Light jogging. Run… he pushed a few of them, not really knowing what he wanted. “Fantastic! Let’s get ready. A warm-up walk, then a small run. I will increase the speed gradually, but you can also push the plus button any time…”
She said all the instructions, flashing the dials, the various buttons. A large green rectangle flashed then. Start. Damian took everything off but his boxers and pushed it. Almost losing his balance when that large rubber started rolling under his feet. Sighing a bit, because finally he was doing something. Finding his balance, his eyes on a vertical screen, that voice. “Choose your setting.” He pushed on the forest one, a path rolling on that screen. “Choose your music.”Music…He breathed harder and chose at random, some sort of pumping music, beating at his heart. “Increasing pace.” Walking faster. He brushed the screen. Skip walking. Going into a light jog, that artificial landscape rolling on the screen a bit faster, the music pervading the space. Breathing that cooled scentless air in, but his heart started rushing again, even if it was nothing, that light jog, so he pushed the button. More. Running now, a bit faster. He kept the pace, effortless, breathing harder. A small smile, feeling that familiar rush in his body. More. Faster. Running harder, but it was still nothing to him, used to running for hours in that damp heat, on roots and dead leaves, that smooth rubber seemed like velvet, that cool air drying that slight sweat.
He got lost a bit in that run, not even looking at that screen, lost in his memories as his body sang in jubilation. His blood. His breathing. His heart. Faster. His whole body flushed, and he floated a bit, finding those movements he knew by heart, feeling his sweat pour down his body. It was glorious. Insanely good. He smiled, pushing up the pace. Breathing hard, his feet slamming down to the rhythm of the music, his pounding heart. Pushed into a state of daze, he was back on that island, chasing prey, or just running to get somewhere, out of fun, too. Many times.This is what remains… I did not have to leave this behind.His body. The running. A wave of warmth in him, clinging to what he knew best. A mad rush, time gone somewhere. That time which did not matter, even if it rhythmed everybody’s days here. He could kill it with this run.
“Hey!”
Jolting at that voice as he got torn out of his rhythm, and he almost fell but slammed the slow button, going back to a gradual walk, his eyes wide on Harold’s puzzled face.
“What the fuck are you doing?!”
Damian gathered his breath. “Running…” Breathing hard, a bit pissed he had to stop, torn out of that reverie when he had been back on their island.
“Fucking look at you! You’re soaked! How long…?” Harold stepped to the machine, his eyes going wide. “Three hours?!”
Damian stopped the treadmill, shrugging. “Yeah… whatever that is. I ran. No big deal.”
“Is this your new hobby? I had no idea you picked up sports.”
Damian just watched him, unable to talk. Breathing hard.
