Page 26 of Property of Prime
“No,” I said.“It’s loud inside your head.That’s different.”
She wrapped her arms around her stomach like she was holding herself together.“Oh.”
I headed down the hallway and motioned for her to follow.The clubhouse was at half-volume.It was half past nine, and Skull and Wannabe were wrestling over a controller in the living room.Vin was in the corner polishing a rifle with the precision of a surgeon while Anchor and Pearl were sitting at the bar close together.
I took Shay down a side hall that led to the maintenance room, the laundry, and one weird supply closet no one entered voluntarily because it smelled like bleach and death at the same time.
She came quietly, barefoot, and her hands tucked into her sleeves.When she reached me, she tilted her head.“What are we doing?”
“Breathing,” I said.“That’s your job for the next ten minutes.”
She gave me a side-eye.“I’m pretty sure I’ve mastered breathing.You’re going to supervise me breathing?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… weird.”
“That’s what you signed up for,” I said.“Well.That’s what you signed up for the second your picture showed up in that file.”
Her lips parted like she wanted to argue, but she didn’t.
Instead, she stepped into the laundry room when I opened the door.
It was quiet.Warm from the dryer running someone’s load.Dim because only one bulb worked.It smelled like detergent and cotton.Not a bad smell, just… peaceful.Forgotten.
She looked around.“This is cozy.”
“It’s a laundry room,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, well, it’s cozier than my brain.”
I didn’t smile, but I felt something in my chest loosen.
Shay climbed onto one of the folding tables and tucked her knees under her.
I stood nearby but not too close.She seemed like she needed a pocket of space right now.
A few seconds passed.
Then she sighed.“I keep thinking that if I close my eyes, I’ll see something bad.Or I’ll remember something I’m not ready for.”
“You don’t need to close them,” I said.
“But I should.”
“No,” I said.“You should rest.That’s different.”
She picked at a loose thread on her sleeve.“What if I remember something and it’s horrible?Or what if it explains everything and it’s even worse?”
I crossed my arms.“Then we deal with it.”
“We.”
“Yeah,” I said.
She stared down at her hands.“You keep saying that like it’s a promise.”
“It is.”
