“I see the boyfriend isn’t the key to getting you mad. Your best friend is,” he whispered in my ear.
I drove my elbow as hard as I could into his stomach. As soon as I made contact, I heard his breath forced out of him. I realized I might have hit him too hard.
“I’m sorry!” I turned around to see if he was okay. He was bent over, holding his stomach. “Jack, are you hurt?”
“I’ll be fine,” he choked out.
I felt a little helpless watching him struggle to get his breath back. He finally straightened up and gently touched a couple of his ribs.
“Nothing broken.” He limped off to sit in a chair. “Maybe I should have told you the first rule of sparring before I started teaching you. You don’t actually hurt your partner.”
“Sorry. I guess I let my frustrations get the better of me.”
“I don’t suppose there’s a hot shower in here?” he asked, even though he must have known the answer.
“No.” I laughed at the thought. “But I can take you to the common bath.”
He got up from the chair. “Take me.”
I found a couple of towels and a bar of soap in a cupboard. “We only have about forty-five minutes left before lights out. We need to be back by then.”
We left the apartment and headed toward the bathroom. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack changed his mind when he saw where he had to bathe. It wasn’t anything like the private hot shower in his apartment. We reached the bathroom, and I was silently relieved to see that the water had been changed recently. It wasn’t bad at all.
“It’s freezing!” Jack exclaimed when he put his hand in the water. “I’m not getting in there.”
“You don’t actually get in. Soak your towel in the water and wash off that way. You can dry with mine. You go first.” I headed for the door.
“Wait. We’re supposed to be married. Isn’t it going to look weird if we’re taking turns in here?”
“I’m not watching you have a bath. I’m only prepared to take the pretend marriage thing so far.”
He gave me a wry look. “We’ll just turn our backs on each other. It will save time, and we can get back before lights out.”
“I don’t know. It seems a little… intimate.” But there was a guard on duty within view of the bathroom, and he might wonder why we were taking turns.
“I promise I won’t peek,” Jack said, but I wasn’t convinced. “Hey, I’m taking a big risk here, too. You know how many girls would love to see the Jack Kenner naked?”
That made me smile. A week ago, that was probably true. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this. Turn around.”
We both turned our backs on each other. I stripped as fast as I could so I wouldn’t have time to change my mind. I heard his clothes drop to the floor. An image of my hands on his naked chest came back to me, and a feeling of excitement began to grow in the pit of my stomach. If I turned around right now we would both be naked and only inches apart. A warm sensation spread through me at the thought, and my chest tightened, making it difficult to breathe. I wanted to banish the thoughts from my mind. I didn’t want to think of Jack in that way.
I dunked one of the towels into the water and scrubbed my arms. The water was freezing and made me shiver, but at least now I could blame my heavy breathing on that. And I was grateful that the cold water was helping to douse the heat that seemed to be consuming me. I finished washing, and then rinsed the towel. I stuck it out behind my back and passed it to him.
“That was quick,” he said. I heard the water splashing behind me then Jack sucked his breath in. “Oh my god, it’s cold!”
I dried off and put on my clothes. I waited for him to finish and get dressed before I knelt down to wash my hair.
“Not so bad,” Jack said, but I could tell he was lying.
He dipped his head in the water, ran the bar of soap through his hair, and then rinsed. I was still working on my long hair. A lot of coal was coming out, darkening the water. I felt a little guilty considering the water had just been changed. Finished, I wrapped the towel around my head to hide my red hair until I could reapply the coal.
“Ready?” he asked when I stood up. I nodded. We made our way back to the apartment.
“Even though it was freezing, it feels good to be clean,” Jack said when we were back in the apartment.
“I like the cold. It’s refreshing.” Maybe I would have to have a bath every night if my body was going to continue to respond to Jack like that.
I crossed the room, hung up the towels, and took the hairbrush out of the drawer. I pulled it through my long tresses, working out the tangles. I would have to wait until it was dry to reapply the coal. I put the brush away when I was finished and turned around to find Jack flopped in a chair observing me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He looked away. But there was something about the way he was looking at me…
“Did you peek?” I asked.
“Sunny,” Jack shook his head, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and his cheeks turned pink. “Of course I peeked. I’m a guy.”
I threw one of the towels at him. He caught it in mid-air, laughing.
“Jerk,” I said, trying to look serious, but the whole thing was ridiculous. I knew I never should have trusted him.
The lights went out, and my eyes quickly adjusted. Jack opened his eyes as wide as he could and looked around the room. I could tell he couldn’t see a thing.
“I’ll take the chair tonight,” I said. “You really need to get some sleep.”
“I’m comfortable right where I am.”
“It’s not fair that you have to have the chair every night.”
“How about tomorrow you take the chair. Okay?”
I knew that even if I did get him to go to the bed, he would only put me in it and take the chair once I was asleep. “Thank you, Jack. Good night.”
He yawned. “Good night.”
I found my way to the bed. I slipped off my pants and crawled under the blanket, grateful to have time alone to think. Now that my initial shock at Reyes had worn off, I could think a little more clearly. If I was going to be honest with myself, I was more embarrassed to be told off by him in front of everyone than I was hurt by anything he had to say.
I had known Reyes forever. We were in the same class in the sixth-floor common room and often played together during lunch breaks. At the age of twelve, we finished school and joined the workforce like everyone else in the Pit. Almost a year went by before I noticed him again. He had gotten a lot taller and more muscular from his work in the mines. And he noticed me too. Our attraction grew quickly and within a few months of reconnecting, we swore a betrothal to each other.
I tried to remember how I felt four years ago when we met again. I remembered thinking how handsome he was, how tall and strong. A lot of other girls wanted him too, but he picked me and that made me feel special. I liked being out in public with him—socializing with our friends. But I couldn’t remember even one time that I responded to Reyes physically the way I was responding to Jack. Whenever Reyes had tried to make love to me, the only feeling he stirred in me was fear. If I was to be honest with myself, I hated the way his hands groped at me, pressuring me to do something I didn’t want to do. Yet with Jack… just thinking about him made me ache.
Deep down, I knew the only reason I had stayed with Reyes was because we both needed a partner in order to qualify for an apartment. That was the main reason everyone in the Pit eventually married. If I had not accidentally married Jack, then I would have married Reyes after the next Cull. Maybe in time I would have come to enjoy his touch.
It took a long time to fall asleep, but just before I did, I heard Jack softly snoring in the other room. He was my last thought.