Page 143 of Hell and High Water

A resounding whack echoes through the room right before I hear Alaya crumple to the floor.

“Dammit. This bitch again,” Hellena huffs, a smug grin on her face as she looks down at Alaya’s unconscious body. “And you! Did you not hear me calling for you to stop?”

“She was?—”

“Clearly just trying to get a rise out of you.”

I open my mouth several times to try and make any sort of comeback. Hellena just gives me that look that tells me I’m toast. Even so, she’s at my side, inspecting my knife wound and helping me to my feet.

“Go put some clothes on and bandage your arm.”

Must not be that bad.

Adrenaline’s fading. Thoughts are sluggish.

When I come back, Evan and Hell have Alaya tied to a chair, her head lolling a bit as she regains consciousness.

“Where were you that whole time?”

“Trying to find pants.” Evan shrugs, cool as ever.

“That… would have been a good idea,” I mumble, adjusting my sore junk in my jeans.

“Evan was at the top of the stairs, keeping his gun trained on her the whole time. If you would have listened to me and stopped chasing her, we could have just ordered her to stop and explain herself.”

“Which I was happy to do without the fighting or the gunpoint interrogation.” Alaya’s slurred words sound like she’s trying not to laugh. “Although, I do love a good sparring match, especially with Gatling-Gavin.”

Immediately, my head clears away some of the anger, the fugue of battle. No one has called me that in years. It almost makes me laugh right along with her.

“Do not tell Ora that one, please.” I glare at Evan and Hellena.

“If we don’t, she’s going to come up with something worse,” Evan argues.

“Hey! Are y’all gonna torture me for answers or what?”

“No one is going to torture you, Alaya,” Hellena barks, crossing her arms.

“Aw, man.”

“We just want to know why you’re here.” Evan backs Hellena up, his hand still on his holster.

“You’ve earned that much, for sure. You pack a wallop, girlie. Did I mention I like her, Gavvy?”

“You might have mentioned it. You wanna keep that tongue, you go right ahead and keep talking about her, huh?” I snap, still a little hot.

Hellena sighs, losing her patience. “Enough, both of you. You’ve been running your mouth and not said a damn thing since you got here. You’ve been jerking us around since the start. I found my dad’s stuff, by the way.”

“You’re welcome. I hope it’s been useful. From the looks of your little resistance movement, it must have been.”

“It’s been enlightening. Almost as enlightening as your telling me that my dad hired you to kill him.” Hellena looks skeptical.

“I wasn’t lying.”

“Oh, well, then I'll just take your word for it.”

“She’s not. I know her tells,” I grumble, regretting it the second I say it.

Hellena looks at me for a few seconds, a strange look on their face. Jealousy? Betrayal?

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