Ciphers, Matt Rogers [a court of thorns and roses ebook free TXT] 📗

of us.’

He nodded. ‘Have you been here before?’

She glanced at the bar. ‘No — can’t say I have. Have you?’

‘Once.’

‘How’d you find it?’

‘It’s great,’ he said. ‘Full of interesting people.’

‘Like yourself?’ she said, and winked, and sauntered past into the warmth of the entrance.

He followed, heart in his throat, praying he didn’t screw this up.

He almost froze in his tracks when he realised it was the first time he’d been solely focused on the woman in front of him since Ruby had vanished from his life.

She’d always been there, in the back of his head.

Now, finally, he thought he might manage to let her go.

Which is what she would have wanted all along.

The bar was lively at eight in the evening. They found themselves a small booth in one corner, a comfortable distance away from the nearest patrons, affording them privacy for the discussion he knew they needed to have. It was as inevitable as the sun rising the next day.

He said, ‘I have to ask.’

She raised an eyebrow.

‘What happened to the guys in your bathroom?’

‘The NYPD came through,’ she said. ‘They took them away. It’s going to be a lengthy process, but they’re not around to intimidate me. I can’t imagine they’ll have enough to pay bail with how much of their salaries they put up their noses.’

He said, ‘Are you okay?’

‘As okay as I can be.’

She looked around, at the couples deep in conversation, at the loud groups laughing and joking with each other, half-finished pints in their hands.

She looked back at him and said, ‘Isn’t it absolutely crazy?’

‘Many things are,’ he said. ‘What specifically?’

‘How… normal everyone is. Because things are going the way they’re supposed to. All it took was the lights going off for a few hours for my neighbours to become animals.’

‘They were animals before everything went dark,’ Slater said. ‘The blackout showed who they were under the façade.’

‘It showed me who you were, too.’

‘That’s why you came tonight?’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘That’s why I came.’

The bartender floated around from behind the countertop and came over to their booth, sensing an opportunity to take an order for drinks during a lull in requests.

‘Just the house red, please,’ Alexis said.

Slater opened his mouth to order his usual whiskey on the rocks, but cut himself off when he realised he hadn’t touched a drink since the previous weekend. He almost hadn’t noticed. He’d been busy recuperating, settling into a different routine, in and out of endless rendezvous meetings with King and Violetta and a host of faceless government bureaucrats to discuss after-action reports. There’d been no time for socialising, no time to dip back into his old vices.

And now, he realised, he had an opportunity to change course.

To refuse to give in to the temptations, the dulling of his mind, the separation of his thoughts and memories.

He remembered what he’d said to Letty.

I dulled all my memories with booze. Which isn’t the right response to hard times. Just like this isn’t.

He took a deep breath and said, ‘Water for me.’

He might as well have been speaking Chinese, given his history.

The bartender gave a curt nod and returned to the bar.

Alexis admired him across the table. ‘You don’t drink?’

He smirked at that. ‘If only you knew…’

She smiled. ‘New habits, then?’

‘Something like that. I made a promise to someone.’

‘Oh?’

‘Told them that if they changed, I’d change.’

‘I figured you were going through changes.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, thinking of Ruby, or, rather, not thinking of her. ‘I am.’

‘Good or bad?’

‘Good, I think.’

‘Then I’m glad.’

He said, ‘What about you? Are you back at work?’

She nodded. ‘I’m about to take some time off, though.’

He waited for her to elaborate.

She said, ‘That night made me realise… how quickly it can all end.’

He understood that sentiment.

More than she could have ever known.

She said, ‘I want to live a little.’

‘Sorry to disappoint with the water, then.’

She laughed. ‘It’s fine. I admire it. Shows you don’t cave to pressure.’

‘I used to,’ he said. ‘Frequently.’

‘You don’t seem like the type.’

‘In all other aspects, I’m not. I guess drinking was my escape.’

‘And now what’s your escape going to be?’

‘Depends how this date goes. Depends if we keep seeing each other.’

Her eyes flashed with curiosity. She said, ‘That’s forward of you.’

‘Sorry. I don’t like to waste time.’

‘You know… you don’t seem like the long-term relationship type.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘Just… something about you.’

‘I hope you don’t think that’s all I’m here for.’

‘Depends how this date goes,’ she repeated back to him. ‘Depends if we keep seeing each other.’

She winked.

He smiled.

A genuine smile.

One of the first he’d had in months.

No drink or drugs to heighten his emotions.

No cheat codes.

Just life.

They talked for hours, and Alexis sipped on shiraz, and Slater sipped on water. All around them old patrons bled out of the bar and new patrons entered, but he and Alexis hardly noticed the ebb and flow of the nightlife. They barely blinked, in their own world, enthralled in each other’s stories, and not long into their conversation Slater opened up the floodgates, something he’d never done on a date with a civilian. But there was quite simply nothing else to say about his life if he didn’t admit what he really did, and she took it in her stride. She listened to him speak about the people he’d killed, the sacrifices he’d made for his work, the sacrifices he would have to continue to make because of his genetic predisposition and a lifetime of training to be the best in his chosen field. When he finally trailed off, convinced he’d ruined his one shot at finding someone he truly felt a connection to, she said she’d known who he was at his core the moment he’d stepped foot inside her apartment.

A killer, sure, but a righteous one.

One of the rarest things in the universe.

He said, ‘If you want to, you can leave.’

She bit her lower lip, and glanced down at her watch face. ‘I think I will.’

His heart sank.

‘But I’d like you to come with me,’ she added.

He stared at her.

Reached over and took her