Page 13 of Dead Serious with Benefits
It was a fair question, but it made me laugh. “I believe I can be confident that I’m not about to watch someone die.”
He tilted his head. “You’ve seen someone die before.”
“Not exactly uncommon in this city, now is it?” I asked blithely, looking up at the guests gaping down at us, more interested now I was involved. “And there’s probably no point in shooing them away.”
“The phrase ‘morbid fascination’ exists for a good reason.”
“True...you’re not jumping, right? I like surprises, and when people don’t do what I expect, but I think in this case it’s fair to say that talking to me normally before throwing yourself off the ledge would be mildly upsetting.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want tomildlyupset you,” he said with a chuckle, surprising me as he swung himself around the pole and down to the rooftop. It wasn’t how quickly and unexpectedly, but how smoothly, and he enjoyed how easily it came to him. He hadn’t needed the pole to get to the roof in one piece; from what I could tell, he had done it for the fun of it. “There, two feet planted on the ground.”
I let out another surprised laugh. “So I see. Do you always move like you were given ninja training?”
He blinked, glancing briefly over his shoulder before giving me a puzzled look. “Pardon?”
I realized it was probably a weird thing to say and would be even weirder to explain. That wouldn’t stop me, though. “You moved...quickly and easily.”
“When I jumped down?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting. Anything else?”
“Sure, for no reason I can explain, I was struck by the idea that you used the pole to jump down, not because you needed to, or that it made you feel better, but because you wanted to, something about it was fun.”
“That’s...some intuition you have there,” he said with a frown. It wasn’t uncomfortable or confused, it was the frown of someone who had met something strange...but not unpleasant.
“That almost sounds like I was right.”
“Hmm,” he peered at the pole again and snorted softly. “When I was young, I was obsessed with firefighters. Of the many things I was fond of, it was the thought of going down that big pole they always showed in cartoons. Sometimes I pretended that metal railings or even large broom handles were poles.”
“Is that what you were thinking of when you hopped down?”
“Somewhat. A flash of memory in the back of my head made me briefly happy. I wouldn’t have even remembered it if you hadn’t noticed.”
“I’m still hoping that’s a good thing.”
“Only somewhat?”
I couldn’t help my grin. “Well, sometimes things going sideways has its appeal, if you’re willing to see it that way.”
“And clearly you have no problem seeing it...that way.”
“I’ve been told I have a unique way of seeing things.”
He smiled. “Interesting, me as well.”
“Delightful, meeting someone who thinks too much like you can be boring, but it helps to have a few things in common,” I said with a grin. “You can call me Ward.”
“Arlo.”
I’d say he was a man of few words, but that would make it seem like he was afraid to talk or was a simple talker, neither of which was true. He had no problem speaking, even with an audience, and he spoke well despite the potential awkwardness of how I found him. He didn’t waste words. I’d be tempted to say he didn’t mince words, but that wasn’t quite it. He was economical and expressive.
My thoughts were strange and meandering, all of a sudden. It had been a while since I’d waxed poetic, and I couldn’t remember the last time it had happened around someone I barely knew. Perhaps the night wouldn’t prove to be a washout after all.
“Okay, Arlo,” I said, cocking my head. “If you didn’t come up here to throw yourself to your death, why exactly are you up here?”
Arlo shrugged, gesturing over the ledge. “I have an affinity for high places, solitude, and peace.”
