Page 27 of All The Way Under
I stand when I can touch, my feet visible against the stark white sand.
He’s trying to convince them to let us come here daily. He’s selling our skills for time outside of the cage. He must want this as much as I do.
Remaining quiet seems my best route after all the screaming I did, so I let him work. Brody seems to have taken courses on negotiations or manipulation, or has some other quantifiable skill I’m not versed in, because it works. We have to work on the motorbike when we walk back to the base camp, but they’ve gathered all the parts needed to repair it.
Slowly, I exit the water, dripping water from my clothes and hair like a drowned rat.
“Do we have our next project?” I ask, keeping my tone low.
“Yes,” Nery says. “No more running off like that without permission.”
I nod furiously. “I’m sorry,” I say, telling him I couldn’t resist a bath after so many days.
“You can come here daily to clean if you finish the tasks given to you for the day,” Ravelo adds. “There’s a lot to get done around here and not enough talent to do it. We need to use you while you’re here.”
Brody seems pleased, with a smarmy look on his face.
Letting my eyes wander down to his wet boxer briefs is a mistake now that he’s turned toward me. He’s hung. Closing myeyes, I put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from saying something I’ll regret. Turning, I face the other way and exit the water without turning around once.
Hung like a zoo animal, my subconscious whispers.
Unfathomable is the only word that comes to mind when I can’t get the image out of my head on the walk back. He’s fully clothed now, the bottom of his jeans filthy from the dirt path we’re on, and I just want him to take them off so I can confirm what I think I saw.
In the real world, I’d call a friend and gossip about it. In the real world, I’d probably never cross this guy, though. I walk quickly to fall in stride next to him.
“How does this base function without people with skills?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation about work.
Brody looks down at me, smiling, eyes glinting in the sunlight.
“You killed them, Saylor.” He chuckles.
That forces me to eat my words.
“I didn’t realize I was dooming an entire evil civilization by defending myself,” I whisper.
“It might end up being a good thing because it means they need our help, but it’s why they don’t trust you.”
I squint, turning behind me to look at our captors. They’re holding a decent distance between us.
“It’s not like I have weapons, or muscles, or anything that I could defend myself with,” I say.
He licks his lips. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he says.
I try and fail to keep the wonder out of my eyes, then ask, “What does that mean?”
Brody exhales a tired breath. “It means they fear you.”
“Why wouldn’t they fear you? I saw what you looked like without clothes.”
Damn it. It just slid out so effortlessly, like my subconscious was chomping to make me look like a horny, idiotic woman.
He laughs under his breath. “Because I haven’t given them a reason to fear me, which is lucky for you. It doesn’t matter what you look like sometimes. It matters who you are.”
“And who am I?”
He looks uncomfortable, swallowing hard before replying, “Someone with a ransom larger than mine. I’m guessing you have connections by what they’ve told me.”
The pit forms in my stomach. He knows who I am.
