Silver Stilettos

4 | the ugly truth

"But this isn't class." Reed's eyes glittered like crashing waves. He reached out, almost as if to touch me, but stopped his fingers an inch away from my arm. "Have you heard the phrase 'Wearing your heart on your sleeve'?"

I couldn't think when he was so close. "Y―Y―Yes."

"The human body is the ultimate lie detector, did you know that? Little things can give you away...speech patterns, blinking, facial twitches, body language, the volume of your voice. One plus one means you're lying to me, Mayuri," he whispered, running the tip of his pointer finger up the inside of my arm.

It tickled my sensitive flesh and I trembled upon contact, unable to look away from the magnetic pull of his eyes. We were polar opposites, he and I, and yet, when he was this close to my gravitational field, I felt myself getting unwillingly attracted to that dangerous, penetrating look on his face.

"One plus one," I said, scarcely recognizing the husky tone of my own voice, "Good for you, Reed. Math at a level you can comprehend."

His eyes flashed and his finger halted in its upward trajectory. "You're blinking a lot, Mayuri. You stammered a few minutes ago. You're going on the defensive. Your pulse is leaping and you keep swallowing - is your throat dry? Are you nervous?" he almost purred, bending his head so our faces were just a couple of inches apart.

"And your lips," he continued. "You keep sucking in the lower one. Facial gestures are often involuntary." He raised his hand and ran it over the top of my lip, tracing the Cupid's bow in an intimate gesture that forced a gasp from me.

My entire body felt rigid and coiled with tension. I kept waiting for the spring-release, for the spilling of inevitable anxiety that was rising in my gut.

Fear made me brave. "Or maybe I'm just attracted to you," I said, keeping my voice deliberately low, hoping the about-turn in my attitude would throw him.

It worked.

Reed reeled back, shock splayed all over his face. His nostrils flared and his hand resumed its aggressive raking through his blond hair. "Yeah, right," he said. His voice sounded strained. "Good one. You almost had me."

I shrugged in what I hoped was an offhand manner. "I had to try." He thought I was joking. I didn't know whether to be relieved or offended.

"So really," he said, his voice getting stern again, "how did you find out?"

So I told him. His eyes widened at some parts and he scoffed with disbelief at others, but he let me talk and only when I'd taken my last breath did he speak.

"You pieced it all together based on scraps of overheard conversations?" He raised a thin eyebrow. "That's pretty thin."

"It's the truth."

Reed shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "All right."

"So you believe me?" I pressed.

Meow.

We both looked down and I scowled to see my kitten winding its frail body around Reed's legs. You traitor.

"Did you give him a name yet?" he asked, crouching down to scoop the kitten into his hands.

"No." I watched with jealousy as Reed cradled the kitten against his chest.

"Maybe," he said, scratching the top of the tiny head, "you could call him Lifesaver. Since if it wasn't for his opportune presence, you'd be splattered all over the parking lot right now."

I winced. "Thanks, Reed. That's really the mental image I wanted ingrained on my mind right now."

He blinked. "Sorry."

"I was thinking Artemis, actually."

"The goddess of the hunt?" Reed seemed surprised.

Huh. So he knew Greek mythology. Probably not the best time to tell him that I meant Artemis the cat from my favorite anime...

"You do know Lifesaver is a male, right?" One corner of Reed's mouth lifted in a crooked smile.

"That's not his name!"

"He seems to like it," he countered, giving the cat a fond smile and another between-the-ears scratch.

"Cats are sluts for attention," I determined. "Artemis doesn't realize you're criminal scum."

Reed's head shot up.

I realized then that the facial clues he'd told me about worked both ways. I could read him, too. His lips were parted and his eyes scrunched like my mom's eyes did when she was dicing onions. A muscle in his cheek twitched and when he made no effort to respond with a biting repartee the way he'd been doing since I'd found him sitting Buddha-style on my bed, I realized why. His expression was one of wounded hurt. I'd actually hurt him.

Feeling tired and more than a little sorry, I turned my head to the side, breaking eye contact. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"Is there a way to mean criminal scum in a good way?" His voice sounded strained again.

I bit my lip and looked at him, chagrined when I saw the forced cheerfulness on his face. "Sorry," I repeated. Then, for some stupid reason, I blurted out, "I'm not used to boys in my bedroom."

"So that's your idea of foreplay, Krishnan? We've got to work on your game," he said, punctuating the diss with an eye roll.

"I insult you, your family wants me dead. Sounds like we're even," I said dryly.

"You shouldn't joke about it." A deeper etch appeared in Reed's forehead. "You don't even realize how far up this goes. The Krye―" He broke off, swallowing roughly. "I'm the only one standing between you and a bullet between the eyes. Maybe not just you, either." He glanced meaningfully at the wall behind us where the occasional groans and cheers of my brother could be heard.

"You don't mean―" I gaped. "My family?"

"When you cut off one head of a hydra you have to strike them all down or they'll rise up against you to avenge their fallen."

"Do you even realize that you're talking about a massacre?" The kitten meowed as I moved closer. I didn't think twice about it as I jabbed my finger into his chest. "That's my family you're talking about murdering, you prick."

"It's not me," said Reed, as though that made it any better. "There's only one way around this fucking colossal mess―the mess you created by the way―and it involves you doing everything I say, when I say it, and then maybe you get to live."

"And what? I'm supposed to believe that you're helping me out of the goodness of your heart?"

"Yes." Reed stared me down. "Because I can't have another girl get hurt on my watch."

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

What do we think about Reed so far?