"My turn is it, Jo-Jo?" Gears' eyes danced with amusement that Rea didn't appreciate.
"You're on thin ice, Mr. The-rat's-didn't-do-this-kind-of-thing."
Gears chuckled as he sat on the corner of the bed. He reached out for Karma's arm and turned her wrist in his hand. She let him turn her palm up. He put two fingers on her pulse. Gears cleared his throat a few times. He took his time crossing his legs like he was preparing for a long chat.
After this had gone on much longer than it should, Rea decided he wanted to kick him.
"Karma, it's nice to meet you. I'm Adam, but you can call me Gears." He readjusted his legs and crossed them at the ankles. "I was wondering how you know so much about Mac. Would you like to share with us?" Gears' smile was a little too solicitous. Rea could see Karma wasn't enthusiastic about his condescending tone. She snatched her hand away.
"You don't need to treat me like a child. I know Mac, as you call him. Rea and I've been friends for… well, I don't know how long, but…." She hesitated. "He and I were… or we are…." She trailed off and looked befuddled again.
She picked up her blanket and looked down at her underwear.
"What's wrong?" Rea tilted forward in the chair. He didn't like the troubled look on her face. Some part of him wanted her safe and content. That was insane, but he couldn't shake the thought. Maybe if she didn't look so cute and disoriented. He wished she was trying to kill him again, so this wouldn't be so confusing.
"It's only… that… we were sleeping together, and I guess we must still be together because I've no other reason why I'd be in Rea's bed with no clothes on. I don't have sex with just anyone. I have morals."
The word "morals" coming out of an assassin's mouth almost made him smile. He stopped himself from commenting.
"Wait. How do you know this is Mac's bed? Maybe it's my bed, or this is your room." Gears squinted. He tipped his head to the side. Rea recognized that look. Gears got that look when he was trying to assess a problem that baffled him.
"I know where I am. Really, this is where Rea lives. It smells like his soap. Plus, the setup of the room is the same. When we were younger, Rea, I mean, Mac or whatever you call him, he used to put his dining table there so if his dad came in to beat him, the door would hit the wood. When the door hit, that gave Rea time to get up and sometimes run away. Sometimes he didn't get away, though. I remember a few times you fell face-first into that table."
"My heavens, is that right?" Gears sounded horrified. His eyes held pity. "You said that your dad only beat you in the training ring. I didn't think he'd do that to you alone. Do you want to talk about it?"
Rea didn't want pity. He speared Karma with a hot glare and rubbed his palms on his jeans. How could she possibly know that about him? He tried to remember telling anyone about his past, but nothing came to mind. Over the years, he'd known few females. He'd moved to so many different bases. He would remember a woman like this, wouldn't he?
"No."
"Okay." Gears tipped his head again. He seemed to be considering his next question. "Karma, how about if you tell me how you met Mac. I mean, Rea."
Frustrated at both the lunatics in his room, Rea ran his hands back and forth through his hair.
"How I met Rea? That's a great story, if you don't mind me telling it. As I recall, you didn't like it when I told people." Karma shot him a quick, sidewise glance. A dazzling smile crossed her face. Her one uncovered eye shone as she giggled at him. It was evident she was warming up to this new topic. She looked stunning when she smiled. Rea hated it.
"Go ahead." He frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest.
He didn't care what she had to say. He didn't care about her bright smile or her lovely eyes, or her hot body. He reclined in his chair, waiting to see what insane nonsense she would utter next. It was one thing to know his name and guess about his room, but she'd better tell a story he could remember. Otherwise, he was going to tell Gears the drug he'd made had the ability to make people delusional.
"My mom and step-dad had just died," she began. "My stepbrother took all our money and ran off. I was on my own. And I'd moved here with my uncle, who was a big, tough harvester. Uncle worked on the surface, collecting things from the snow. He brought things back and lived at the water base. He was the only family I was in contact with. He wasn't around much. I was sixteen when I came to live with him. I think he didn't know what to do with a teenage girl. So one day, he asked Meghan, that's Rea's mom, he asked her to watch me.
"Meghan and I worked in the greenhouses at first, and then one day I was lonely, so I asked Meghan if I could have dinner with her and—"
Rea held up his hand. The action stopped her from continuing. The memory started to come to him vaguely. Slowly, the more he thought about it, that one happy year he had in his youth came to him. Long ago, he'd pushed that time out of his head, but now he remembered parts. Little instances flashed in his brain.
"And you came in all muddy. Mom said you could use our shower. I heard the water turn on, and I snuck in."
"And you watched me shower." Karma's laugh was like tinkling bells. Chills ran down his spine. Her voice was so full of joy he could feel the happiness all the way down to his toes. He remembered that sound.
Now, staring at her, he could see a tiny bit of the girl he knew a long time ago. She was no longer a young girl, sure, but the color of her eyes became heartbreakingly familiar. The Karmen-Marie he'd known had a larger nose. She also had a sharper chin and chubby cheeks. Her form was soft, plump, and short. This woman didn't look anything like her, yet it was her. All the pieces started to fall into place.
"You caught me." He looked up at the ceiling for a second before scanning her again. This whole situation felt surreal.
"And I gave you hell. I told you I was going to tell your mom. I called you a pervert, I think," Karma giggled as her eyes danced.
"But you didn't tell Mom. I begged for you not to say anything. We became friends."
"I forgave you, but I nicknamed you Peeping Tom. But, yeah, you became the best friend I ever had." Karma gave another one of her joyful laughs. Rea scooted forward in his chair. The sound of her laughter melted his soul.
He placed his forearms on his thighs. Every memory of the one year they spent together filled his mind. Back then, he'd been completely captivated by her.
"You didn't forgive me. I never worked so hard for a girl in my entire life," Rea chuckled. He found her laughter contagious. A broad smile forced its way onto his face when he thought about all the things she'd had him do to earn her forgiveness. "You made me brush out that messy hair of yours." He scooted closer to the bed. Her hand squeezed his knee.
"It wasn't that bad." She tossed her still incredibly long hair over her shoulder.
"I did it for a month." Rea stopped his hand from reaching out to those soft strands.
They'd had so much fun back then. When he'd been with her, it didn't matter what they did together. Every second had been fantastic. Karma made brushing her hair as fun as one of those old amusement park rides he'd read about. It was an essence that was a part of her.
"I forgave you for looking at me in the shower, but after, you just wanted to lose your virginity. I'm pretty sure you did all that work to get into my pants."
"You gave in, but it took a lot of brushing," Rea snorted.
"Once I slept with you, I recall you used to whisper to me every night that you loved me. Remember you named me Kitten? You were so cute. You were so devoted you'd follow me around everywhere."
"I did not." A short laugh escaped his lips.
He remembered she was completely right about how hard he'd worked for her. Rea said whatever he could think of to keep her in his bed. Back then, she was the only thing that had made the water base bearable. Back then, Karmen-Marie had been the only thing that had kept him together after his mother died.
"As I recall, you promised to never be with anyone else as long as you lived. I think you even promised to go up to the surface for me. All I had to do was ask." Karma glanced at Gears and added, "it was all very romantical."
"Romantical? That's not a word," Gears scowled. The doctor looked so austere that someone might've thought that they were discussing Canada's current rule over the C.T.O.N.A.
"Romantical is Karma's word for romantic and magical," Rea answered automatically. He couldn't believe he remembered her made-up word for their relationship.
Rea and Karma burst out laughing when Gears gave them both a look of irritation. Rea remembered how much laughter the two of them had shared. That half a year when his mom was still alive and he was with Karmen-Marie, he'd been truly happy. She was right when she said he'd have done anything to sleep with her.
He remembered them losing their virginity to each other. It had been before his mom had died. She'd been, as she always was with everything, fearless. Karmen-Marie made everything look easy. After one taste of her, he'd become obsessed. She'd been incredible in bed and out of it, and she honestly cared for him. This woman had been the only person in his life other than his mom who'd ever actually known him and loved him. She was smart, sweet, and plucky.
Late at night, after his mom died and things got horrible, he'd snuck out continually to be with her. Sometimes he got beat for it, but it didn't matter. Karmen-Marie had been worth every hit. Then one day, she was gone. She didn't even say goodbye. Rea had been so heartbroken he'd pushed her out of his mind for good. He never let his mind think of her.
After all these years, it was strange to have the memories return.
Rea put his hands out and pushed himself away from the bed. The chair groaned. He sobered when he thought about how she'd left him. It had been cruel. One day she was wrapped around him like a purring kitten. Next, it was like she never existed.
Staring at her now, he couldn't believe how she still had beautiful eyes and that same abundant mane of dark hair. She still had a dazzling smile and a laugh that made him feel like he could conquer the world.
She was all that, and she'd tried to kill him.
"Where did you go?" The words fell from his lips as he realized they were not friends reminiscing. Karma was a killer. She wasn't his girlfriend anymore. They were no longer sixteen playing with love. Karma had come here to kill him, and he didn't even know why.
"I didn't go anywhere, silly. I'm right here."