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.Her hands stroked his back, tugged and pulled, and cool air hit his spine.Her hands followed up, caressing his flanks, his ribs, higher up where he couldn’t feel them anymore, because.“Damn.” He scrambled away and tugged down the hem of his t-shirt, all blood draining from his face, leaving him light-headed.“No.”She sat up, her eyes hurt.“Elei?”He pushed off the sofa, almost falling over as he found his feet.The blood-stained towel lay at the foot of the sofa.Gods, how did he let himself get so carried away? She’d touched the snakeskin, a few moments longer and she’d have seen it, the snakeskin, the scars, all of it.“I’m sorry.I can’t,” was all he managed to say, before he turned and left the apartment.***Alendra wasn’t there when he returned later.He didn’t know whether to be glad or devastated.He rubbed his arms, frozen to the bone, because of course he’d left without taking his jacket.“Hey,” Kalaes said coming out of the bedroom, scaring him half to death.He held a glass and the whiff of strong alcohol hit Elei like a punch.“I got worried.Where were you?”Elei shook his head.“Don’t worry, I was careful.” He’d learned it the hard way a couple of times already, and there was only so much the police could do.“That right?”“I had my gun, I checked every corner, and I went and sat at Min’s diner.”Kalaes nodded, yet his lips twisted in a self-depreciating smile.“I wouldn’t be much of a brother if I didn’t worry, now, would I?”It brought a spark of warmth to Elei’s cold chest.“Is there more of that?”“This?” Kalaes fetched the bottle, held it out, winked.“Here you go, fe.Drown your sorrows.Follow my good example.”Elei took the bottle, grabbed a glass from the rack and filled it up to the brim.“Whoa.You’re serious today.” Kalaes perched on the counter and raised his glass.He saluted Elei and drank, squinting with watering eyes.“Here’s to peace.”“To peace,” Elei said quietly and swallowed half of it in one go, then spoiled the effect by choking and coughing most of it up.Kalaes was laughing.“Okay, fe, spill.What’s got your panties in a twist?”“Nothing.”“Oh come on.Too late for that.Tell me what’s bothering you.”“Why don’t we focus on your sorrows.” Elei wiped his mouth and took his glass to the table, where he proceeded to sip at it more cautiously.He gestured with it.“You did say that, didn’t you?”“Awh crap.Little brothers turning the tables on you.Not funny.” Kalaes took another swig.“You sure you wanna add my woes to yours?”Elei nodded.His chest was warm now, and a fuzz was settling on his brain.“Fine then.” Kalaes stared into the depths of his glass and frowned.“I, um.” He downed the rest of his drink, coughed a little.“Damn.Well, there was this girl who was supposed to help me clean up the place.I think she likes me.A lot.Stuck on me at work all day like a starfish.And then Zoe walked in.”Elei tried to imagine the scene.“Shit.”“So I made my move on Zoe, as I’d planned all along, and bang crash, ow in the jewels.”Elei stared at him.“Zoe hit you?”“Not physically.” Kalaes winced.“She used some choice words, though, and they were sharp.”“Just for talking to the girl?”Kalaes winced again, jumped off the counter and picked up the bottle.“Girl grabbed my ass and pasted herself all over me right before Zoe walked in.I know it looked bad, but I swear, fe, I was ambushed.I don’t even like that girl.”“Sucks.Will you call Zoe?”“In a while, I think.” Kalaes tapped the bottle neck and grimaced.“With the help of this baby.My heart’s broken but I’ll survive.”There was something in his eyes, though, a hairline crack.“This isn’t about Zoe.” The words escaped Elei’s lips and hung in the air, innocent and yet heavy.He ducked his head, cradled his glass closer.“Shit.Sorry, forget it.” He was wrong; it wasn’t innocent at all.It was a behemoth of a question, encompassing everything, and he held his breath, waiting to see how Kalaes would interpret it.Kalaes threw him a quizzical look as he sat down at the table.His possessed eye flashed a pale blue.He said nothing for a while, twirling his glass between his fingers.Then he leaned back and closed his eyes.“You’re right.I’m not drinking to find strength to talk to Zoe, although some good sex might have gotten my mind off things.Then again, imagine if I fell asleep with her and woke up screaming.” He snorted, not a happy sound.He looked at Elei through heavy-lidded eyes.“It’s Hera.”“What about her?”“I overheard her talking to Mantis on the telespeak before she left to Dakru City for the meeting.She’s.” Kalaes rubbed his eyes furiously.“She says she wants to lead the exploration teams underground.”Cold washed through Elei.Go back down there? After they’d barely made it out alive? “And Sacmis?”“Sacmis.” Kalaes waved a hand.“I bet she’ll go wherever Hera goes.”Elei nodded.“That’s.not so good.” He swallowed hard, his emotions all jumbled up.He’d thought.that it was all over, the fear and sorrow, but it seemed it wasn’t, not yet.He’d thought Hera would head the new government, but she’d passed it up.Had said she couldn’t.“It’s dangerous, you think?”Kalaes shrugged and raised the bottle, lifting a questioning brow at Elei.Elei had barely nodded when he leaned across and refilled his glass.“Drink up,” he said.And that stopped Elei cold.Because that could only mean one thing: more bad news was coming
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IndexCidney Swanson [Saving Mars Saving Mars (epub)
Christine Wood [Life Plan 01] A Life Plan Without You (epub)
Cheryl McIntyre [Infinitely Infinitely (epub)
Clair Delaney [Coral 01] Coral (epub)
Christine Cody [Bloodlands 01 Bloodlands (epub)
Christina Ross [Unleash Me, A Unleash Me, Vol 3 (epub)
Christine Flynn [The Hunt for Once Upon a Christmas Eve (epub
Christian Fletcher [The Left Left on the Brink (epub)
Christopher G Nuttall [Royal The Royal Sorceress (epub)
Trzeciecka Ola Jamnik z kluskami