I actually obey my alarm in the morning and am up and dressed, waiting on the street when Martac rounds the corner, two cups of coffee in his hands.
"You never bring me coffee" I say, taking the cup from him and holding it between my hands to steal the warmth from it.
"I always bring ya coffee, but I drink it by the time ya get up and ya decide to grace me with yer presence." He quips back, a smile on his face as he sips his own beverage.
"Oh" we start to walk in the direction of the job. I didn't look at what it was, but I trust Martac to have vetted it properly. "How was your vacation? Did you go anywhere?"
"We headed north to the mountains and just spent the whole time in a cabin" he sounds almost whistful as if he misses it already. "I'm surprised ya didn't call me, honestly."
"You needed a break from not just work, but me too." He doesn't respond, so I know Chris was right. "You can tell me when you need time off, you know."
"No... I can't" he says it softly and I don't have time to retort before we reach our destination, noticing Martac's car parked across the street.
We're working with a small group we've done a few jobs with. It's a simple home invasion that only needs me to get them in and grant access to the safe. The security system is already taken care of.
We beat the employers here and have to look casual as we take the alley between houses to hide in the back of the house.
"Are ya doing okay?" Martac asks, concerned.
"Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Ya seem..... sad today"
"I'm not sad." It's only a partial lie. I think I'm too emotionally exhausted to fully be sad.
"So what is goin on? Yer different today" I take a deep breath and tell him everything that happened while he was on vacation, leaving out the part that I didn't call him because of what Chris said. "Fuck."
"Yeah you can say that again."
"Are we talkin' about this or ignorin' it?"
"Definitely ignoring it for now." I feel relieved that he's not going to press topic right now. He will later.
"Kagi! I'm surprised you're on time" the boss says as he rounds the corner to join us. He only has one person with him who lets out a short laugh.
"I like to keep people on their toes" I reply, brushing past them to touch the door.
The others go in first, make sure the building is clear and then locate the safe for me to unlock. It's just full of documents, a couple handguns and a few stacks of cash. They ignore the money and take the documents, scanning through for whatever information they need.
As they get the last of what they need, a door creaks on its hinges and echos through the house. It's the main door opening.
I start to panic, looking between the men I'm with. The employer and his goon reaches for the gun in the safe. I smack his hand out of the way. I'm here to open locks, not cover up a murder.
There's a large closet off this room and we all corral in it, hopeful that this is just a quick trip home for whoever walked in.
The small gap in the doorframe allows me to see into the room as a middle aged man comes into the office with a very familiar young woman being pulled in behind him by her hand. The second the door is closed, their lips clash together and they paw at each other's clothes.
"My wife won't be home for awhile, so we can take our time, Ella" the man breathes between kisses.
"My boyfriend is waiting for me for lunch. I don't have time to go all the way and besides, the desk really hurt my back last time." Ella replies, breathless as she turns them around and presses the man's back up against the door and sinks to her knees. Ella undoes his belt and I'm thankful I can't see the actions that go along with the sloppy sucking noises that are accompanying them.
I don't know what possess me, but I take out my phone, make sure it's on silence and snap a picture. It shows the man and the back of Ella's head. I wait until she's done and he's obviously finished to snap a picture of Ella's face as she turns to grab her bag that was discarded.
I'm not sure why I'm so angry at her for cheating on Tenya. He deserves more than to have his girlfriend blow someone else while he waits for her at some restaurant.
I can picture him texting her and getting worried that she's late, thinking the best of her rather than immediately jumping to the conclusion of something terrible that she's doing.
We all wait in the cramped closet until we hear the door click closed and even a few more minutes after that to make sure the owner of the house is actually gone.
Silently, we exit the closet and the room, making our way out the back door. One of them lock it behind us to erase all evidence that we were there.
We hop the fence in the back, snaking through another yard to get on a different street to avoid being caught.
"Get your rocks off on watching others, Kagi?" The boss jokes as we round another corner and all feel safely out of the way.
"Everyone's got their thing" I reply, dismissively as Martac and I break away from them, calling over my shoulder "you know where to send my money"
"That was too close" Martac says softly once we're in eyeshot of my apartment. He invites himself up and glances around "ya cleaned"
"It was gross and someone bled on my sheets" I slump onto my bed, suddenly tired and debating what to do with the photos. I don't have a very good way to explain it to anyone that I show them to. If I even decide to show them at all. Maybe Tenya would take my word for it that his girlfriend is cheating on him, but I somehow doubt he would. He doesn't even know my name, why would he believe me?
"That is true" Martac sits down next to me with a side. "Do I want to know why ya took pictures of Ella?"
"She's dating Tenya."
"Ingenium? Why does that matter?"
"I'm a villian, but I still have morals. Just because he's on the other side of the law from us doesn't mean he deserves to be cheated on. That's just wasting time and I know how frustrating that can be." I've been cheated on in almost every relationship I've had. It's not fun. I flop onto my back as Martac thinks about what I said.
"Chris told me what he said to ya."
"Which part"
"That I put ya before him. Sorry. He shouldn't have said that." Martac lays on his side to face me. I lull my head to look him in the eyes.
"I notice you're apologizing for him saying it, not denying it's true" He's quiet and I take that as my answer that Chris was right. "You don't have to work with me if you don't want to."
"Yes I do" he replies with a sigh, rolling onto his back. We both stare at the ceiling for awhile "Besides...I don't know what else I would do at this point."
"You could always become a professional ice skater. Squeeze those mommy milers you have into a leotard" I tease and he pushes me off the bed. My ass hits the floor with a thud that sends a small shock through my body at the impact.
"I don't know what I would do either." I admit, rubbing my lower back while still on the floor.
"Do ya want to change?"
"I don't even know." I sigh "I don't know if I can."
"Me either."
We're silent for a long time.
"Do you want to get lunch?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"Chris has the day off and I told him I'd come home. Yer welcome to join us."
"I get the feeling that he's not my biggest fan right now. I should give you two as much alone time as I can. I won't call and interrupt either." Martac stands and starts to walk through the door, he looks a little relieved that I didn't take him up on his offer "you can say 'no' to me, you know? If you have other things going on, you don't have to come everytime I call."
"Yeah... yeah I do" without giving me time to reply, he slips out the door. It locks a moment later, letting me know he used the app on his phone to make sure I stayed safe in my apartment.
—————————————-
The next few months pass without incident.
Winter is in full swing which means we're less busy. With the snow on the ground, it's easier to trace our footsteps and if there's a hero nearby, it would most certainly be a dead giveaway to which direction we went.
This morning, I have a coffee date with Ella and I'm dreading it. We have coffee every couple of weeks. I haven't brought up what I know, but I always manage to change the subject swiftly when she brings up Tenya.
I get to the bakery first, order a sweat treat and both our coffees before sitting down and scrolling through my phone. I have the day off so I'm in no rush and not annoyed that Ella is running late. I shouldn't complain anyway since I'm habitually late to almost everything.
There's nothing terribly interesting in the news and the man I've been virtually stalking isn't in the headlines.
Ella's coffee is cold by the time she walks through the door and I have eaten enough pastries to be considered my main meal for the day.
"Sorry I'm late, I had something come up" she sits down, smoothing her shirt out like she had to hastily adjust it earlier.
"You meet up with Tenya before this or something?" I prod.
"Um. Yeah" she doesn't meet my eye as she sips her cold coffee and makes a face. "Cold."
"Yeah, sorry, I got it when I got here"
"Ah. It's fine. I'll drink it."
Our conversation feels forced and very stiff for a little while until I fake getting a text from 'work' and make an excuse to make a phone call outside.
I have my phone to my ear when a hero in white jogs up to me, exhaust pipes in his calves steaming in the cold winter air. A few more weeks of this and then spring should break, but we're not quite there yet.
"Kagi!" Tenya calls with a wave "I am so glad I ran into you!"
"Um. Yeah?" I feel confused as I pull my coat closer around me and slip my phone in my pocket, stealing a peak at Ella inside. Her eyes get wide and she scrambles to get outside.
"Hey babe, what are you doing here?" She forces a smile on her face. She definitely wasn't with him this morning.
"I was looking for your friend to tell her about that job. Unless you already told her?" He replies, leaning down to kiss her quickly. I'm jealous of their easy intimacy and I almost whip out my phone out to show the damning picture I have of Ella.
"I have not. I was getting to it" she lies.
"What job?" I ask, looking between the two of them, eyeing the arm Tenya still has stiffly wrapped around Ella.
"A company approached my agency about testing their security system. We do not usually do things like that, but I told them I had a friend that might be able to help them. I do not have your name or number but asked Ella if she would pass it along to you today." Tenya explains.
"I already have a job."
"But you can stop that one and become an upstanding citizen!" Tenya swings his free arm around, animatedly.
My blood starts to boil "you tracked me down to tell me that?" I say through clenched teeth.
"Tennie here is trying to help you" Ella adds and I whip my head to glare at her.
"Tennie can speak for himself" I snap.
"We're just trying to help you." Ella looks shocked that I would speak to her that way "it was just a conversation. It's not a betrayal."
"Right. You didn't betray me." I eye her meaningfully to try to convey that I know what she's done. Based on her widening eyes and sharp intake of breath, she figures out what I mean.
"I feel like I am missing something here." Tenya shifts his gaze between the two of us.
"Yeah. You are" I say and turn on my heel, heading away from the couple. It took everything for me not to blurt out that she's cheating on him and maybe I should tell him, but I keep my mouth shut for some reason.
In the months following, the cherry blossoms bloom and spring has finally arrived.