Page 29 of Gambler's Fallacy

I look at Vortex in a silent plea not to leave me here with this woman.

All of her mannerisms are familiar, too familiar, and I don’t know what to do around her. She acts like she’s pleasant, but the way everyone defers to her tells me that she’s always in control.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Vortex asks, completely ignoring my plea.

Linda looks down at her clipboard. “Well, we’re setting up for the drag show tonight, but the girls wanted to tweak the performance so we’ll be testing some new lighting. That also means new props, a few changes to the sound…” She goes on, listing a whole slew of things that need to be done for the day that I have no possible chance of completing.

I hug my arms against my chest, wishing I’d crawled into bed and refused to move. That would’ve been bearable, even with the subsequent solitude. Unlike this, which seems impossible.

Vortex glances at me, and he finally seems to notice that I’m shaken. “Sure, we can have Seven play gofer for you,” he says. “But hang on a sec.”

“Sure!” Linda says, but I know her cheer is forced. She has to realize already that I’m useless.

I’m only good for one thing, and it isn’t this.

He wraps an arm around my shoulders and leads me to an unoccupied corner. “What’s going on?” he asks.

I shake my head, not wanting to talk about it, not wanting to tell him that Linda just…unsettlesme.

I’d have to tell him why, and I don’t even know how to explain that she reminds me ofher.

“Seven,” he says, his voice quiet. “She’s not going to work you tothe bone. She’ll let you pause and have breaks and spend time with the queens when they get here. Then one of us will take you to lunch, and we’ll spend the afternoon together. Okay?”

“You have to work,” I mumble, even though the idea of spending the afternoon curled up in Vortex’s strong arms is almost appealing enough to chase away some of the apprehension.

Vortex shrugs, squeezing me close to him. “It’ll be fine. You’re important to me, Seven, and to Caleb. He’ll understand.”

I don’t know what he’ll understand, given I don’t get it myself, but I’m not going to question it.

“Okay,” I say.

He nods, brushing his lips briefly against mine. “All right. Then let’s get you started. You can text us whenever you need to.” His lips twist into a scowl. “Probably best to text Havoc, though.”

“Okay,” I repeat.

I don’t think Linda will let me stop to text them, though, especially not as much as I want to.

Linda smiles at me, and something about that sets me on edge too.

“Come on, hon. I’ll show you all the important rooms.” She walks toward one of the open doors. I don’t move to follow until Vortex gently nudges me forward.

“Go on, Seven,” Vortex says.

My shoulders slump, but I nod and follow Linda.

She seems content enough to chatter to me, and I don’t think she expects any kind of response from me. Either she doesn’t care, or they’ve warned her about me.

I nearly laugh.

Yeah. They’ve probably told her how fucked up I am by now.

As I follow her from room to room, people go out of their way to talk to her, and she takes the time to talk to them, too. Sometimes, it’s about work things, but not always. I keep gnawing on my bottom lip, not contributing to the conversations despite how curious the glances in my direction get.

They can be curious all they want.

By the time we get to the third room, I’m so confused and upside down in my thoughts that I excuse myself. I half expect her to tell me I can’t, but I pull my phone out and send a quick text to Havoc with shaking hands that make auto correct have to work overtime to fix my errors.

Do you know anything about Linda?

---