The Burn Zone (33 page)

I checked the phone.

“
The redemption centers will start opening in a few hours,
”
I said.
“
We can head out in two and be there before the rush.
”

“
Sam
—
”

“
I
’
m going,
”
I said.
“
Are you coming with me?
”

“
Yeah.
I
’
m in. I
’
ll go, Sam. Just don
’
t get too
—
”

I kissed him. I didn
’
t think about it; I was just so happy that I kissed him full on the mouth. When I broke away, he looked a little surprised. I hadn
’
t meant to do it exactly; I was just so excited. For the first time since the whole thing started, I felt like I had a lead, a plan, something I could do to set everything straight again.

“
I
’
m glad you
’
re here,
”
I whispered.

“
Yeah?
”

“
Yeah.
”

I took a deep breath and let it out, one hand still on his chest. He paused for a second, and then put his arm around me. I felt the warmth of his palm on my back as he pulled me in a little closer.

“
I
’
ll always be here, Sam. You know that, right?
”

I moved my hand up his chest and over his collarbone. He tensed as I ran my fingers along his neck, then nestled them into his hair.

“
I know.
”

The air under the sheet had turned to soup and I was going to kick the blanket off when Vamp moved his hand from my back and over my ribs to my chest. He ran one thumb over my left nipple deliberately and lingered on the point of it.

Blood rushed to my face as I put my hand on his and held it. He squeezed back and laced our sweaty fingers together as I felt a faint pulse down between my legs.

I don
’
t know if it was the moment, or my excitement over the lead I
’
d just gotten, but I pulled him closer until I felt his breath on my face. In the neon light that flashed through the window, I could make out the tattoo on his banded shoulder, and the glint on his sweat-slick skin. The air that huffed up between us from under the sheet was so thick and hot it was hard to breathe as his stubble brushed my forehead. His lips pressed there.

The heat had me dizzy, and I reached down to push the sheet away. I felt my fingertips run over the buckle of his belt, and then brush the significant bulge that pressed against the seam beneath it. When I did, I felt him tense and the pulse below my waist turned more insistent.

Don
’
t,
a voice in my head said.
Don
’
t do this.

No, no,
another voice said.
Definitely do this.

He kissed my forehead again, then my cheek. His nose brushed mine, and then our lips were almost touching. Thoughts zipped through my brain so fast I couldn
’
t focus on any one. The world could end tomorrow, but all I could think about was that if I kissed him again I
’
d cross a line I couldn
’
t step back over. He was waiting, wanting me to cross it, but he didn
’
t know everything.

“
Vamp,
”
I whispered.

“
It
’
s okay.
”

“
I
’
ve done things.
”

He touched his forehead to mine.
“
I don
’
t care.
”

I struggled to say more, but nothing would come out. He said he didn
’
t care, but that
’
s because he didn
’
t know. He didn
’
t know what he would be getting, not really, and if he found out after it was too late, and he hated me, I
’
d never be able to undo it.

“
Whatever it is,
”
he said,
“
I don
’
t care.
”

Vamp held me gently, but he was coiled like a spring
ready to snap, and I could feel the want coming off him like a flood of radiation. One kiss, one touch was all it would take to break the dam, I could tell. He
’
d take me, never mind Nix. He
’
d take me, and I
’
d let him expend all that pent-up energy, and all that love he thought he
’
d kept such a careful secret, until—

“
...
but first, you have to help me.
”

The voice nagged in the back of my brain, pricking through even as I tried to push it out. My heart, which beat under Vamp
’
s hand so hard I thought I
’
d lose control any second, stuttered as I remembered the old man
’
s whiskey breath in my ear.

“
Touch me....
”

I remembered the sound of my hard-soled shoes, heels scraping as I tried to pull away, but—

“
I have to pee,
”
I blurted. I could barely think. I was afraid Vamp might get mad, but instead he laughed once through his nose into my hair. He ran his thumb across my nipple one last time,
then
relaxed his embrace to let me pull away. I opened my mouth to say I was sorry, but then thought I
’
d better just leave it alone. I had to get out of there before I did anything even stupider than I already had done.

Instead I touched the side of his face, letting the five o
’
clock shadow scratch my palm as I stroked it once, and then got out of the bed with the soft squeak of springs. Vamp sighed, but he was drunk. We both were. With me gone, the combination of
chems
and booze won out. When I draped the damp sheet back down over him, he bunched the pillow against his face and began to drift off again.

I
snuck
between the two sleeping figures and slipped through the bathroom curtain, pulling it closed again before I switched on the light. When the overhead clinked on, I squinted in the sudden brightness and found a stray coin in one pocket to feed to the sink. Once it had clattered down into the slot, a green LED circle around the faucet flickered on and began to quickly disappear, like a fuse burning out. I turned it all the way to cold and held my hands under the weak, warm stream.

Cupping as much as I could, I drank it, and as I swallowed, it soothed my dry, sore throat somewhat. I cupped another double handful and dumped it down over my head, letting it trickle through my hair and down the back of my neck. I managed one more before the last of the green circle petered out and the valve thumped shut again.

I pulled down my pants and sat down on the toilet with my elbows on my knees and my chin resting in my hands as the stream began to dribble.

He wants me,
I thought.
Shit, he wants me bad.

I picked my phone back up off the sink and turned it over in my hands. A new message had come through while I was asleep, and it was marked urgent. I brought it up and saw it was from Kang.

Sam, we need to talk.

I looked up his status and saw he was online. I brought up the keypad and replied.

About what?

He didn
’
t answer for almost a full minute, and I was wondering if he was really around or not when his answer came back.

Can we meet?

I checked the time. It was after three in the morning. I was beat, but meeting him felt like doing something. I needed to feel like I was doing something.

Where?

Where are you now?

I
’
ll come to you.

He paused again.
The Rukou.
I
’
m sending the address.

I checked the map. It was across town. I
’
d need to use the gates if I was going to get there and back in time to
hit Render
’
s Strip early. I was hesitant to give him any kind of a lead, anything that might give him or anyone else who might be
listening
a search radius, but I was pretty much broke.

I
’
ll need some credit.

No problem.

I fished out my card and slipped it into the reader. The transfer application popped up and Kang dumped some cash in. It was more than enough to get me where I needed to go.

Thanks,
I said.
On my way.

He signed off.

I snuck back out into the room and stood there for a minute watching the two guys sleep. I thought about waking them up and letting them know where I was going, but Vamp would insist on going for sure and I didn
’
t want him getting involved with Kang. Kang might cut me some slack, but he wouldn
’
t cut Vamp any.

Neither of them stirred as I slipped out into the hall and heard the door latch behind me. Down the hall, Wei
’
s cubby behind the glass was empty. No one else was around.

I padded down to the front door and headed back out into the night.

~ * ~

Chapter Twelve

10:36:44 BC

My gas tank was getting close to empty, but the dream and the incident with Vamp had left me wired. My legs were restless and the walk felt good as the post-chem surge carried me deep back into the heart of
Tùzi-wō
. It felt good to get out in the open too, away from the sweat-heavy air of the hotel room. It had been getting hard to breathe in there, and getting back in that bed might have stirred things up again with Vamp.

Gonzo, I almost jumped him.
I still wasn
’
t sure how I felt about that.

Kang
’
s credit had bought me two jumps there and two back, but I decided to take one there and hoof it the rest of the way just in case he tried to do the math and track my distance from him. When I stepped through to the other side across town, the light flashed green with no yellow warning shade.

The main drag was hopping, and through the gaps in the crowd I saw floodlights shining up ahead. A crew was doing night work, and the shop fronts across the street from them danced with the shadows of men moving along scaffolding. When I got closer, past the end of the block, I saw a crowd of people clustered at a chain-link fence that had been set up around an empty lot where a giant festival air float was being put together.

The float
’
s base was a platform about the size of two tractor trailers side by side, and the metal framework mounted on it was a story tall. Wire mesh had been wrapped around the frame in the shape of a giant face, and shirtless workers moved along the scaffolding applying the plastic skin around two giant, googly eyes that stared down over a grinning, toothy mouth. Huge plastic streamers along the edge of the face were tied down, but a few had come loose to wave lazily over the street in the hot summer breeze. I watched them for a moment and sighed.

I just want to go to the festival with Dragan,
I thought.
That
’
s all I want.