Malcolm let the silence hang for a moment. He licked his lips and started to turn back to the window.
“Wind Runner,” said Greenthumb. “I’m going to be leaving the hospital in the next few days and returning to work. I’ll need a new partner.”
He looked Malcolm pointedly and raised his eyebrows slightly.
“You think I could do the work of a Field Champion?” asked Malcolm.
“You already have,” said Greenthumb. “Melt’s dead, isn’t he?”
Malcolm wanted to scream.
Melt killed himself. Even as a demon, with a patchy memory and marginal self-restraint, he could do his duty.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
“Just give it some thought,” said Greenthumb. “I’d rather have someone I know than someone Savior picks for me. I wanted to ask Anna, but my girlfriend vetoed her as an option.”
Malcolm smiled.
“Gee, I wonder why,” he said.
CHAPTER 32
Malcolm knew that he needed to report in with Savior that night, but the temptation to take a quick rest was too enticing for him to ignore. He made a detour toward his apartment, deciding that it wouldn’t cost him more than twenty minutes to steal a shower and grab some food.
He wearily dragged himself up the stairs and unlocked his apartment, feeling a bit of his tension melt away just from being home. His apartment was dark, and it took him a second to realize that he wasn’t alone. He turned the living room light on and readied himself for a fight.
Rose was sitting on his couch. She wore a white halter top and black leggings with a pair of knee high brown boots. Her skin color was back to its normal pale purple hue, now that she was no longer undercover with Fantasy. Shadows swirled around her body, and her dark hair fell loose across her shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” asked Malcolm.
It was the only question that made sense to ask first, but also the one he felt like he needed the answer to the least. Emotions surged in his chest as he looked at the curves of her body. She wasn’t wearing a bra under her top, and it was apparently on the chilly side in his apartment.
“I came to see you.” Rose stood up and walked toward him.
“Okay,” said Malcolm, with a bit of venom in his tone. Rose frowned and raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re moody,” she observed. “Don’t tell me that this is about our little fight at the casino. That was work, for both of us.”
“Work…” said Malcolm. “Do you always do your job, Rose? If Rain Dancer told you to kill somebody… would you do that, too?”
“You think I’m here to kill you?” Rose smiled. “Really…?”
She stepped in closer to him, pushing her chest out slightly. Malcolm felt a little annoyed, though he couldn’t pinpoint why. She was right. He was feeling moody, angry, even. He grabbed Rose by the arms roughly, pulling her so her face was close to his.
“You’re a spryte,” said Malcolm. “And I’m a champion. How do you know that one of these days I won’t decide to start toeing the company line?”
“You could try it,” whispered Rose. “If you think you could take me. See what happens.”
Malcolm pushed her down on the couch, climbing onto her and pinning her arms. Rose’s expression flickered with playfulness, but also aggression, and a slight edge of fear. She wrapped his arms in her shadow tendrils, though they were limited in effectiveness by the light.
He tore off her halter top, ignoring the annoyed look Rose gave him as one of the straps ripped. Her large breasts bounced loose, well-formed and glorious. She leaned her face up to his, lacing her fingers through his hair and pulling him into a passionate kiss.
Melt kills himself, and I fool around with the enemy. How is that fair?
Malcolm’s anger surged, fueling his horniness in an odd mishmash of emotions. He pulled his shirt off and rushed to undo the zipper of his jeans. Rose bit her bottom lip and put a hand on his chest, playfully trying to hold him back as he pressed into her.
He dispensed with her boots and leggings with the same aggression he’d used on her top. Rose glared at him, but said nothing. He kissed her and felt her dig her fingernails into his bare back in revenge.
Malcolm was hard, and manhandled Rose into position to enter her. She was wet and he slid in easy, almost immediately building to a fast thrusting pace. It was angry sex, cathartic, a way of blowing off steam after a day that didn’t make sense.
Rose gave responded to his need in kind, wrestling Malcolm for control with her shadow tendrils. It was though she was goading him into pushing it further. Malcolm maintained control, grabbing her arms, pressing her into the couch. His angry thrusts seemed to reflect their deferring allegiances outside of the bedroom.
“Oh!” Rose cried. “Mmm!”
“This is what you wanted, Rose,” he whispered into her ear. “This is what you get.”
He groped one of her breasts roughly, slapping one of her shadow tendrils away as it tried to run up his arm. He kissed her again, their tongues intertwining. He grabbed her buttocks in his hands and pumped into her like a machine stuck in overdrive.
Rose’s moans grew louder, until she was screaming out in the ecstasy of the moment. She ran a hand through his hair gently, shivered, and melted against him, her forehead leaning against his chest in submission. Malcolm pumped her a few more times, pulling out as he reached his limit and releasing all over her stomach and chest.
Rose was breathing hard and reeling from her orgasm, but she still had the presence of mind to glare at him and the mess he’d made.
“Sorry,” said Malcolm. “I’ll get you a towel.”
“Thank you,” she said. “You could have… picked a better place than that for it, you know.”
Malcolm considered for a moment. He thought about the lie that Golden Joab had told about Jade Portal being pregnant. Savior had revealed to him that most sprytes were infertile.
Most sprytes. Better safe than sorry.
He frowned as he pulled on his boxers and walked to the bathroom. If he wanted to play it safe, what he should really do was push Rose as far away from him as possible. It seemed as though so many of the complications in his life all stemmed from that one decision to bring her back to his apartment on that fateful night.
“You’ve got a look on your face,” said Rose.
Malcolm shook his head.
“It’s nothing,” he said. “I’m just… thinking.”
He passed Rose the towel, and she cleaned herself up.
“You can think out loud, you know,” she said. “It’s this thing called talking.”
Malcolm smiled, but felt a little sad on the inside.
“How much can we really talk, anymore?” he asked. “When it comes to anything serious… it’s just going to lead us back to an argument.”
“Maybe it’s an argument we’re supposed to have.”
“Yeah, because we’re both just so open minded when it comes to the one another’s point of view,” said Malcolm, rolling his eyes.
Rose looked like she had more to say about that, but she wisely let it drop. She was still naked, and pulled her knees up to her chest.
“Come warm me up,” she said.
“I have to go soon.”
“Stay?”
Malcolm sighed.
“I wish I could,” he said. “I have to report in to Savior.”
“You don’t think you could put that off until the morning?” Rose shifted, letting one of her breasts slide back into view. Malcolm walked over and sat down next to her, feeling extremely tempted to do as she suggested.
His jeans vibrated on the floor. Malcolm reached over to them and took his phone out.
“Don’t answer that,” said Rose.
Malcolm frowned at her. It was Tapestry. He slid his thumb across the screen to answer.