Avenged (Altered #2)(24)
Oh, sweet heavens. So, he had known what she was thinking. And he was right. That wasn’t fair. She had no idea where these thoughts were coming from. Three days ago, she thought she disliked him. Now, she knew she liked how he looked, but she didn’t know him and he didn’t really know her.
If Kitty had to be honest with herself, what she knew about him wasn’t that bad. He’d come for her. She’d listened to enough of his thoughts to know he wanted her safe, and he had her best intentions in mind. He was the kind of person who looked after others, and she didn’t know a lot of people like that. But she wasn’t sure she trusted that part of him, either. Her father had preached his need to watch over her, and he’d smothered her.
And Nick had the same…swagger that Jeremy had. The same arrogance about him, like it was only a matter of time before she came around. Maybe every attractive guy had that.
After Jeremy, she didn’t trust her judgment of men. Until she did, it would be best for both of them if they pretended none of this was even in the room with them.
“Truce.” She held out her hand. “I’ll not do that and you not do…well, that.” She used her hands to motion to his entire body. Her ears felt hot with embarrassment.
She really needed to stop talking.
“Um, okay.” His brow furrowed, as if she didn’t make any sense. Which was complete fact. “Sure. Yeah. Let’s try that.”
She tugged her hand out of his clasp. She sat on the cot he hadn’t used, determined to put some space between them. “Right.”
As she flopped down, he stared at her. Obviously he had no idea what was going on, and she couldn’t blame him. She didn’t know, either. Finally, he sighed. “You should shower.”
“Right.”
He turned, facing the wall.
Quickly, she stripped out of her jumpsuit. In a ritual perfected by months of similar showering, she hustled through the movements of cleaning herself with quick, brisk strokes, hurried forward by icy water and Nick’s presence across the room.
Flicking the water off, she wringed out her hair the best she could and swiped as much of the excess water off her skin as possible. She wiggled into her clean jumpsuit, a task complicated by her wet body.
When she finished snapping the buttons, Nick turned.
“Hey. I didn’t say I was done.”
“Sorry. I was counting every snap.” He folded his arms over his chest. “So, you said that they come for the laundry every other day?”
“Yes. At least, they did.”
“Any other interactions with them?” He studied the room again, his brow creased. “Any other times people came to see you?”
“Only if they needed blood or to take me off for some new study.”
He nodded, his mouth thinning. “The laundry delivery is our best chance.”
“Best chance?” Clean linens were nice, but…
“To escape. We’ll have to escape when they come for the laundry.”
“How?” Because even if they got past the laundry guys, they still had to get out of the compound.
“I don’t know.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “But we’ll think of something. This place is rundown. There have to be cracks in the armor.”
She hated to point out how hard it would be for them, with no powers, to get past a bunch of changed soldiers, condition of the facility aside. Which led her to…
“I need your help.” She paused. “Unless you’re busy. Because I can ask again later. When you’re free.”
He cracked a small, self-effacing smile. Even with his bruises, it made him look less exhausted. A little less, anyway. “I might have some spare time.”
“I want to learn to fight.”
She waited. Finally, he laughed. “You want to learn to fight? You don’t strike me as the ‘fighting’ sort.” He looked her over.
She knew what he saw. She was small, weak. But with his help, maybe she didn’t have to be weak. Maybe she could be strong.
If they were going to try to escape, she needed to be ready. “I can hear people’s thoughts.”
His brows dropped. He was mastering the art of looking at her like she was nuts. “I know.”
“So, I can hear what my opponents are about to do, a split second before they do it.” When he still didn’t seem to get it, she lifted her eyebrows. “They give their next moves away. If I can learn to stay a step ahead… If I’m stronger, well, maybe I can have a chance in a fight for once.”
“I see.” His face had closed up, though. He didn’t like the idea. She didn’t need her gift to know that.
“We need to get out of here.”
“I know that. You don’t think I know that?”
“Well, I don’t know how we’re going to get out, but when the time comes, I want to be ready.” She crossed her arms over her chest, the damp jumpsuit still sticking to her skin. “I don’t want to be a liability anymore.”
“You aren’t a liability.”
She glared at him. This would be easier if they didn’t pretend. She was sick of pretending. “Come on. You have other plans? Busy?”
He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “All right, fine. I’ll teach you to fight. At least if I do it, I can give you the dirty tricks.” She cocked her head, questioning, and he answered. “Because you’re small. When you’re small, you need to fight dirty to win.”