“Right.” Archer smiles, taking a lazy sip of his drink that he holds loosely between his fingers. Even his fingers are perfect. Especially when they are between my legs. “What’s the most depressing day of your life?”
Well, now…
“You do like depressing stories, huh?” I chuckle. “Fine. The day my mom died.”
Silence follows. I am not elaborating on the topic. And I know he lost his mother in a freak accident. He stirred the wrong shit, though I’m too tipsy to get too emotional about it with a guy.
“My turn,” I say. “Did your father know about the nuclear attacks before they happened?”
Not a single muscle in his face moves. That’s how I know he is tense.
“I don’t know,” he replies.
“Bullshit. Rumor has it you brought Kai Droga to this island. So there must’ve been a reason, right?”
“That’s the second question. It’s my turn. What did you get the first assault charge in Pennsylvania for?”
Curious, huh? It’s not in my file. Of course, not.
I look at the glass in my hand, then raise my eyes, meeting his challenging gaze.
He won’t like this. He is fishing for a fun story?Here we go, Mr. Chancellor.
“For attacking a sheriff’s son. Who…” I suck my teeth. That evening, the assault charge and probation that I got was the best outcome possible. “Who together with his three buddies cornered me behind a bar and tried to gang-rape me.”
Silence seems like a mediator between us. Right now, it’s heavy. His eyes are burrowing into me with a strange intensity that I can’t quite explain.
“Are you sure you want to continue this game?” I ask with a soft smile. “Looks like we are not good at it.”
Clearly, we are better off having sex than talking.
He takes another slow sip of his drink. “Tell me about Thailand. The fun stuff.”
I chuckle, petting his gold chain around my neck. “Have you been?”
“Yes. Bangkok. Fun place.”
“It is.” Until it wasn’t. “Food is great. People are even better.”
He asks me more questions. I answer. We are just chatting, trying to stay away from deep water.
“How many countries have you traveled to?” I ask when we joke about the difference between Thailand and Taiwan.
“Over twenty, I think.”
“Four.” I raise my glass in the air and laugh. “I would’ve loved to see more if it weren’t for the Change.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. Though you obviously still can go anywhere you want. Why don’t you?”
“Work. No time. You think money gives you opportunities. Sometimes, it sucks the time out of you. You put things off for later, and suddenly years go by.”
I like this easy talk. Archer is pretty tipsy. I guess that’s the reason we are so chilled tonight.
“You are too young to be so invested,” I argue.
“My father has too much power not to be.”