She dropped her hands, and the pawns in them, back to the bed in front of her.
Alex sat very still. “This whole thing is a game to you?”
“No.” Teren shook her head. “No. A chess match. Never a game.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The difference is life and death. This,” Teren swept her hand over the small board between them, “is a game. It has nothing to do with life. But, it deals with strategy, like I told you the night we played at Sarah’s. It’s a combination of defense and attack. The strategy within this game makes you think. Thinking is the only way to win at chess, whether it’s at the game,” she looked into Alex’s eyes, “or a real life chess match. In either one, you have to be willing to sacrifice your pawns, to protect your King.”
Alex dropped her eyes. She had no idea how to respond.
“So, we’re all just pawns in a great match?”
Teren gave a wry chuckle. “Hardly. There are other pieces besides pawns on a chess board, right?”
“Right. How do you know which piece you’re playing?”
Teren shrugged. “The way I figure it, each person that can recognize the match being played around them, is their own King. Their main goal is to stay alive. After that, the people around them are ranked in importance. If they’re expendable, they’re pawns.”
Alex nodded. “And Keppelmann was expendable?”
“To me, he was.”
Another nod. “And David?”
“David was a pawn according to the other side. To us, he wasn’t expendable. He was more important, especially to you. But he’s out of the match for the moment. As are Ken, and Cliff, and all the people we both left behind in the states.” Teren swept an arm across most of her side of the chess board, knocking her pieces off. She picked up her King and Queen and set them in their places. “In this match, it’s you and me, against all the others.” She waited until Alex’s green eyes locked on her blue ones. “And I’ll sacrifice any other pawns I find to get us safely home.”
Teren leaned back, and didn’t say anything more. Alex sat numbly for a moment, fingering a chess piece.
“Teren?”
“Yes.”
Alex’s voice was very soft. “If you’re the King, then I’m the Queen.” She waited, but the dark figure opposite her didn’t say anything. “I’ve seen people sacrifice their Queens to win a match.” She heard Teren draw in a breath, and hold it. “Is that what you’ll do, if you have to?”
For a minute, she didn’t think Teren would answer. Then her friend leaned forward, and picked up the two pieces.
“No. I can’t. Not anymore.” She hesitated. “Wanna know why?”
Alex just waited.
“Because, in this match, I’m not the King anymore. You are.” She met Alex’s eyes once more. “And the Queen will sacrifice herself for the King.”
Alex’s head rose slowly, looking for Teren’s eyes. The dark head was bowed, and she couldn’t see the blue she wanted. Reaching forward, she pulled Teren’s chin forward, raising her head until their gazes locked once more.
She saw the honesty in Teren’s eyes, and took a deep breath when she realized what the other woman was saying to her. She held the gaze a moment longer, then leaned forward to meet Teren’s dark lips.
The kiss was soft, and slow, with neither of them confident enough to go deeper. Alex noticed, however, that neither of them pulled away.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Teren pulled back. Alex opened her eyes to see a grimace on her friend’s face.
“Teren? Are you alright?”
Teren nodded. “Yeah. ‘Member I told you I ducked at first?”
“Yeah.”
“I forgot to duck the second time. Guy kicked me in the ribs.” She leaned back against the wall, her eyes still closed, a hand to her side.
Alex cleared the chess set from in front of them, and scooted forward on the small bed.
“Let me see.” Teren shook her head, but Alex gently pulled the hand away from the injured ribs. “Come on, Teren.”
Slowly, she raised the shirt, until she could see the underside of Teren’s sports bra.
“Oh, Teren. Damn. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“What was I going to say? Hey, Alex, I know you can’t do anything about it, but I thought you oughta know I bruised the hell out of my ribs. Yeah, that would have been a great thing to say while the two of us were trying to get out of Zurich. Right.”
Alex shook her head. “You brat. Did you get hit anywhere else?”
“Umm,” Teren bit her lip.
“Where?” No answer. “Teren, where? Show me.”
After another deep breath, Teren sat up and pulled her shirt over her head. Once it was off, Alex could see the full outline of the massive bruise across the her ribcage, as well as another that covered the front part of Teren’s right shoulder.
“Shit. Goddamnit, Teren.”
“Sorry.”
“You should be. You should have told me.”
“You couldn’t do anything abou—”
“I don’t fucking care. You should have fucking told me.” Teren’s eyes widened slightly.
Alex got up and pulled the first aid pack from one of her bags. She found the ibuprofen, then popped the top on a soda bottle.
“Here, take this.” She waited until Teren had downed the medicine. “Would a wrap help those ribs?”
Teren shook her head. “They’re just bruised. They’ll be fine, really.”
The green eyes looked anything but reassured.
She handed the soda back to Alex, and stretched out fully on the bed. Alex just watched for a moment, then sat next to Teren, shaking her head.
“You yelled at me for not getting looked at by a doctor, and then you don’t tell me when you’re hurt?”
“There’s a difference, Alex. I’m not leaving a trail of blood everywhere.”
Indignation flared in Alex’s eyes. “You think that matters to me? Injured is injured, Teren. I don’t care if it’s a goddamned stubbed toe, you tell me next time, understand?”
Teren nodded.
Alex sat beside her, stroking lightly up and down her arm. They were quiet for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
Teren looked at her watch. “Well, we’ve still got three hours. Shall we play another game of chess?”
Alex shook her head.
“Email?”
Another shake no. Alex’s hand never stopped its movement, and Teren finally shivered from the sensation.
“What do you want to do, Alex?”
The hand left Teren’s arm, landing gently on her cheek. After several moments it started a journey, crossing over the hill of her chin, into the valley of her neck, stroking lightly, leaving a brush fire behind it. It continued on, through the hollow at the base of her throat, then following the fabric border where it clung to her skin. When the hand had gone as far to one side as it could, it went back to the small vale between her breasts, and journeyed to the other side. Teren was breathing hard before it reached the end of its trip.
Alex’s eyes had deepened in color, and to Teren they looked like two gemstones shining in the shadows of the small bunk. The smaller woman was totally focused on her task, stroking the soft skin above Teren’s bra, occasionally dipping under it slightly. Teren, as much as she wanted the hand to find its way to a lower region, did nothing to break the spell that Alex seemed to have sunk into. Instead, Teren embraced it, letting the glow in Alex’s eyes hypnotize her, even as the woman’s touch aroused her.
With a sudden glance toward her hand, Alex began to pull away.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize —”
“Don’t.“Teren trapped Alex’s hand where it was, and reached for her at the same time. With a gentle tug to the back of Alex’s neck, Teren brought her down, until their lips were just inches apart. They stayed still, frozen momentarily.
Electric blue. Alex closed her eyes and felt the distance between them melt away.
This was no gentle kiss. Alex opened for Teren’s exploration. Slowly she shifted position, never pulling away from Teren’s mouth, finally coming to rest half on the bed, with one leg thrown across Teren’s.