Sunset Rising

I let go of his shirt. “Sorry. That was a little intense.” The heat of my blush still radiated from my cheeks. Jack gazed at me thoughtfully, a smile playing around his mouth. He was making me feel even more self-conscious. Should I try to explain the kiss?

“I saw Reyes staring at us. I’m surprised you don’t have two holes burned into the back of your head,” Jack said.

I hadn’t been thinking about him when I kissed Jack. Now I wondered what it had cost Reyes. I felt ashamed.

“He looked upset when he left,” I said.

“I’m sorry he had to see that. Talk to him later. Try to explain you had to do it because of Desmond.”

My eyes flew to Jack’s face when he said that. Was he being sarcastic? I decided to ignore his remark and my reaction to his kiss. Talking about feelings would only make things awkward between us.

“He’s not going to listen, and I don’t blame him.” I really did feel like an awful person. After all Reyes and I had been to each other, I just hurt him. If I were him, I’d hate me too.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You did what you had to do to stay alive.” Then he picked up my hand and kissed it. “And on the upside, I enjoyed it. Thank you.” He gave me a wicked smile.

I could feel a blush creeping across my face again and snatched my hand away from his. I had never deliberately kissed anyone like that before, and it had felt exhilarating.

Chapter Twenty-One

As usual, Crystal was waiting at the laundry room doors. As I came up beside her, I noticed the bruise on her upper arm again, and it made me think of the bruise on Summer’s arm. I wondered if Crystal was being used by a bourge, too.

“Good morning,” I said cheerfully.

“How is your husband?”

Something in the way she said “husband” made me question again if she recognized Jack. “He had a headache last night, but he’s fine today. Thanks for asking.”

“I didn’t see the two of you at breakfast this morning. I thought maybe he was in trouble.”

“In trouble?” That was an odd word to use.

“With his head injury. When I didn’t see you at breakfast, I thought maybe it was serious.”

“Luckily it wasn’t serious at all.”

“Six guards. I wonder where he learned to fight like that.”

My i

“Well, what do we have here?” Madi asked. “Are you two conspiring on how to run the laundry room again?”

“No, ma’am,” Crystal and I said in unison.

I looked down at the floor and hoped Crystal did the same. Madi unlocked the door and went through. We mutely followed, heading toward the sca

“I don’t want any crap from either one of you today. You both hear me?” Madi yelled.

“Yes, ma’am,” Crystal said. I echoed her.

Crystal and I went to our respective stations. I took a cart full of laundry as I went and pulled it along to the table. I was halfway through sorting when Di came in.

“Good morning, all!” Di said to Crystal and me. Crystal ignored her.

“Good morning, Di,” I said.

“So you’re making a habit of coming in early like Crystal. You’re going to make me look bad!”

I was trying to think of a witty response when my hand wrapped around something cold, wet, and sticky. I smelled the vomit before I actually saw it. I felt my gag reflex working and tried not to get sick. Madi would be all over me for that. I pulled a man’s pair of pants out of the cart, and the vomit was the same color as the blackberry wine Leisel had fed me. The pants were probably ruined. I wondered if Madi was going to blame me.

“Oh dear,” Di said when she saw it. “What a mess. I told you there are some pretty disgusting things lurking in those carts. Give it to Crystal.”

I remembered that Di told me she took pleasure in giving Crystal the really soiled clothing because she thought Crystal was stuck up. But I think I knew Crystal better. She wasn’t stuck up. She kept to herself because she was humiliated by what the bourge were doing to her. She was misunderstood, and it wasn’t fair.

I picked up the pants and walked toward Crystal’s workstation. She looked a little apprehensive when she saw me coming her way. I held up the soiled pants so she could see my visit was legitimate.

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically when she saw the vomit. “You can wash your hands before you go.” She stepped away from the sink to give me access.

I turned on the tap and reached for the bar of soap.

“Are you kidding me?” Madi screamed at us. “Are you two going to act up again today?”

I saw Madi raise her hand to strike Crystal and with reflexes I didn’t even know I had, I stepped in front of Crystal and took the hit myself.

Madi’s eyes widened in surprise. “What the hell?” she exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, Supervisor Madi,” I said, holding up my hands to ward off any more blows. “We weren’t up to anything. I have laundry that needs to be cleaned by hand.” I reached over and picked up the vomit-soaked pants and held them up for her inspection. “I was just washing my hands so I didn’t get vomit on anything else in the laundry.”

Madi gagged and covered her mouth with her hand. “That’s disgusting!” She turned and walked away.

“Thanks,” Crystal whispered.

“It was my fault.” I quickly washed my hands and returned to my station.

I finished sorting the clothes, knowing Madi was watching every move I made. A few times she came over to inspect my work and then went to inspect Crystal’s. Di had told me that Madi wasn’t right in the head, and I understood exactly what she meant then. Madi was cruising for a fight. She was looking for any excuse, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I did something that provoked her. I just wasn’t that experienced at laundry.

I managed to get through the morning without further incident, but when the lunch bong bongs rang out, Madi informed Crystal and me that we had to work through the break. The food I could go without, but I was so thirsty. The heat of the laundry room with the vest on was unbearable. Di tried to slip me her water ration, but I refused to take it. Madi would want to know who had given me the water if I got caught. I wouldn’t do that to Di.

I was feeling dizzy toward the end of the day, but I forced myself to focus on my work. Madi gave Crystal a hard time when she accidently splashed water on the floor, but I didn’t think she hit her hard enough to leave a bruise. I was folding my second-to- last dryer full of clothes when I saw Kai coming toward me. The swelling in his lip had gone down, although he still had a scab where it had split.

“It’s almost the end of the day, Miss Autumn. It’s best not to start another cart,” he said kindly.

“Thanks, Kai. I’ll try to take my time with this one and see if I can draw it out.”

I cast a well-concealed glance at Madi. She wasn’t looking at me for a change so I slowed my pace. All I could think about was getting water and taking the vest off. It was getting hard to breathe and stars exploded across my vision from time to time. When the bong bongs finally sounded, I was folding my last load and stacking them in the bin for Kai to take. I was relieved to see Crystal was finished, too. I didn’t want to scan out and leave her alone with our supervisor.

“Well, look at that. The two conspirators arrive at the same time and leave at the same time,” Madi said.

Neither Crystal nor I said anything back to her. We just sca

“Are you all right, Autumn? You don’t look very good,” Crystal said.

“I just need water. I’m so hot right now.” The stairwell looked dimmer than usual and the stars across my vision were coming more frequently. I needed to get the vest off, but I couldn’t tell Crystal that. “I’m sorry about everything. I should never have asked you to show me how to do the hand washing. Madi is never going to let it go.”