“The fuck you were,” she scoffed and sucked in more smoke. The bright burning end of her cigarette lit up as she drew it in, and I could hear the slightest sizzle as it burned.
“I was. I swear I looked like you when I got out,” I said. “Uppers have some fucked up medical access, and I’m sorry for it.”
“There’s no way you looked like me, not with you looking healthier than before you went in.”
“I thought I was going to die,” I said quietly. “They give me those treatments every week. Remember I told you about them?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Beauty treatments. But this shit is more than just making you look pretty. This makes you look healthy, and you wouldn’t look like that if you’d spent that much time in the Pit.”
She held her hand up and gestured across my body, indicating her disbelief.
“I did spend that much time, but Doctor Norris did something to me,” I said. “They pumped me full of something and did some crazy things when I was unconscious. I don’t even know what, but I wanted to tell you that I want to help you.”
“Help me what?” she asked with a dry, brittle laugh. “Help me die faster?”
“I think we can get into the medical building and do the same thing to you,” I said in a tumble of excited words. “If we can break in, we can help you out. Make you better again.”
“Why would you do this? I’m the reason you were there in the first place,” she said, and it hit me. Part of her anger was about the flask. She thought all of this was over a stupid little flask.
“You mean the vodka?” I asked. She nodded. “Oh god, no. This is about Alexander’s father being a fucking pervert. This is about him trying to break me down and show me who’s boss.”
“I thought you got taken away because of me,” she replied, still not fully convinced that I was telling the truth. “I thought you were sent to the Pit because you were carrying my flask.”
“That was the reason they gave me, but after talking to him that night, I know why it happened,” I insisted. “I had nothing to do with the vodka, seriously. They only found that after he tried to force himself on me.”
“What does Alexander think about it all?” she asked.
“I haven’t told him the full extent, but he hates his father already. I don’t know if it’s entirely because of me or if his father has been a terrible dad for a long time now.”
“Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. And maybe some C thrown in.”
She turned and smiled quickly, then looked away.
“What’s column C?” I asked.
“He’s the most powerful man in the world right now,” she said. “That doesn’t happen because you’re a good person. It happens because you’re a complete shitbag. It might not just be how his father treats him, but Alexander has seen his father treating everybody horribly his entire life.”
“I guess it bodes well for Alexander’s true self, then,” I replied. “If he hates Mr. Remington for treating everybody like shit, maybe Alexander truly doesn’t want to be locked into this Upper and Lower world after all. It’s easy enough to believe pretty words from a beautiful man who’s living in the lap of luxury, but it’s another to know he feels what he says.”
“He’s not like his father if that’s what worries you,” she said. “He’s kind of an arrogant dick head, but not cruel like his father.”
“I thought you didn’t like him,” I said, watching her take another long draw off her cigarette. She exhaled, and her smoke rose to meet the low fog hanging over us in the hidden maze.
“I mean, I don’t love him or anything, but I saw how scared he was when you didn’t come back right away. He was anxious like you wouldn’t believe. They all were.”
“All of them? Who?”
“Not Victoria, don’t worry about her. She barely noticed you were gone.”
Harlow finally let out a small laugh.
“I’m talking about Alexander, Roman, and Luke. Your stable of guys, the stallions you keep on short chains tied directly to your heart.”
“I don’t keep them at all,” I protested. “I can’t help it if they’re horny for me. They all just like weird girls or something.”
“It’s kinda weird, though, isn’t it?” she asked.
“What is?”