She finally smiled. "There is some blood and brains in your hair too."
"Fuck," he groaned. "And you let me go shopping like this? Check the news while I get this off, would ya?"
She made an affirmative noise, so he stepped into the bathroom, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and pulled it over his head. Using that, he wiped at his ponytail, hoping to get some of the blood off before yanking the elastic loose. Sin tossed the shirt in the laundry, grabbed a towel, and did his best to get the last of their assailants out of his hair. With the hot water streaming across his body, Sin scrubbed, thinking about the girl sitting in his living room.
He'd assumed she'd be completely helpless, but she wasn't. How many times had they been followed and she'd done everything he asked? When he'd shot those six men in the alley, she'd been the one to save him. Now, after everything that had just happened tonight, the most gentle woman he'd ever met in his life was more worried about what he'd think of her face than she was the body count piling up in the city?
It proved she was amazing. Theproblemwas that shewasbeautiful. He'd always thought her eyes were gorgeous, but now that he could see her face? Rissa had a mouth that begged for a man. He grabbed a little more soap and reached lower. Her body was petite and dainty, but somewhere in the last few weeks, she'd filled in a bit. Most likely from the hours they'd spent together where she could actually move. Hours he'd been locked away with a fucking angel and completely unaware of it. He thought over each one, how she'd watched him for so long, those amazing lips so close the entire time.
With a long sigh, he finished and rinsed the last of the soap from his body, knowing his night wasn't close to being done. Pulling on a clean pair of jeans, he walked back into the main room, the hot steam losing to the cool dry air. Rissa sat on the couch, flicking through the channels on the holoscreen.
"This is so slow. How do you..." She paused as she looked up. Her eyes moved across his bare chest and she smiled. "How do you stand it?"
"Never knew it was slow." He grabbed a shirt from a drawer beneath the bed and pulled it on. "You find anything about what happened tonight?"
The tip of her pink tongue darted out to moisten her lips, and his eyes followed it. Before he could curse himself for a fool, she lifted those stormy eyes of hers up to trap his.
"Six bombs went off in New Cincinnati tonight," she told him, and then began listing them off. "The Stabiltrol manufacturing plant. SiSec's cybernetic distribution center. VeriSys-Global. The downtown fire department, which also damaged the police station beside it. The central hub train station which we were at." Then she pulled in a deep breath and dropped her eyes back to the screen. "And OutLink. The entire Enclave is gone."
His ass dropped onto his couch. "Fuck."
Chapter Forty-Seven
In silence, their eyes were locked on the holoscreen, both of them watching the news reports about the bombing at OutLink. No one had started talking about a Stabiltrol shortage yet, but it would come soon enough. Right now, the focus was still on the loss of life, and a lot of people had died tonight. Most of the confirmed deaths were Ingénue.
Sin's thoughts flashed to the technician who'd offered to record her return early. The man had been inside the building. He had to have been. That meant he'd given his life for her, but Sin wasn't sure she realized it yet. He also didn't truly know if she'd care. Rissa's life inside the OutLink Enclave hadn't been a compassionate one. The man may have tried to help, but to her, he could've been just another person to torture her.
He turned to ask her if she knew the man, only to find his Princess's eyes closed and her breathing slow and rhythmical. For her, it was late. She was always back in her care bay by the time the sun went down. With all the extra excitement? He was almost surprised she'd lasted as long as she had. He certainly wasn't about to wake her up.
So he turned back to the news, listening to the soft droning of the anchors. Over and over, they said the exact same thing, making it clear no new information was available yet. Outside of his apartment, Sin could hear people moving, but not as many as normal for this time of night. He had a funny feeling all of New Cincinnati was in shock, trying to grapple with not just one bombing, but six in the same night.
And yet one thing was clear. As far as the rest of the world knew, Rissa was dead. There had been a brief mention of him having been at the OutLink receiving room nineteen minutes before the blast, though it was assumed he'd made it out ok, but the numbers of casualties were still pouring in.
OutLink wasn't the worst of them, either. The two factories ran night shifts, and everyone inside them was presumed dead. The damage to the train tracks had caused one to derail, killing at least a dozen more people. Looting had started as desperate people tried to get the supplies they thought they'd need—and still no one had mentioned Stabiltrol.
In other words, this was going to be very, very bad.
Eventually, he got up, threw his garbage away, and then pulled out a long t-shirt from a drawer. That, he carefully laid across Rissa's lap, then Sin gently rubbed her shoulder. She didn't suck in a breath or tense. The girl simply opened her eyes.
"Princess," he said, bending over to offer her the shirt. "I don't know how you slept before, but there's a bed you can use." When her hand closed on the fabric, he continued. "Put that on, take off your shoes and other clothes that aren't comfortable, then crawl into the bed. I'm gonna step outside for a smoke while you change."
"Ok." Her voice was groggy but she lifted the shirt, trying to orient it.
He grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the counter and stepped outside. Lighting one, he took a long pull, feeling the hot smoke slide into his lungs, and leaned over to thump the door beside his. Before he could lift the cigarette to his lips again, the door opened and Zan stepped out. The guy's hair was freshly dyed in his favorite metallic silver color and his clothes were rumpled, but Zan smiled to see him.
"Nice hair," Sin said.
"Yeah. And I saw the news," Zan told him. "Sorry to hear about your client. I've been listening for you."
Sin sucked in another drag. "Why are you awake?"
"For me, this is lunchtime," Zan said, rubbing at his hair. "I'm studying for a test next week. Why are you?"
Sin grinned. "Brought a dead girl home."
Zan thought about that for a moment. "Either you're one sick fuck—which we both know isn't true—or you need something?"
"The second," Sin agreed. "The plan was to take Riss to Davis's girlfriend's place to hide her for a bit. We're calling it a safehouse so no one asks about how a Legate has a girlfriend. Tonight, things blew up in our face rather literally, and I couldn't get her across town. Now, it seems she's dead. Zan, I need a new plan."
