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All in front of an audience.
Another several days sweep by, lost in rehearsals, with her and now with the other dancers.
The end of the month is rushing toward us, and the Sinner’s Ball with it.
Hellena towels off after a near-perfect pass through the main theme.
A single bead of sweat trickles down her back, out from underneath her sports bra. I hold my breath as it tracks the curve of her spine.
“Hey, Evan, do you ever do any favors for, um, I don't know…”
“Hellena, don't beat around the bush. Ask.”
“Well, there are criminals in Sanctum, right? And it seems like they’re just allowed to exist.”
“It works like everything else. There are rules. A balance. So, yes. I do favors for them sometimes. It’s rare, though. They avoid asking for more than their share. It leaves debts. Imbalance. They’re better off just taking the risk and breaking the rules, hoping they get away with it.”
“Right… but who decides what the balance is?”
“That is so far above your paygrade, and frankly, it's above mine too. I'm just an agent. An operator, if you will. One branch of the system. I am not always aware of what the other limbs are doing,” I deflect, rolling my shoulders as I rise from cooldown stretches.
“But where do you get your orders from?”
This again. “You need to drop it.”
“Fine. Have you ever worked with the Block?”
“Do I want to know how you even know about them?”
“Absolutely not.”
“I think it’s my obligation to warn you, if I haven’t already. We do not get involved in the affairs of other ‘players’ for a reason.”
“And if I happen to have a friend who is involved with one of those players?”
“Hmm. You’re friends with Ora Clive,” I guess, and she shrugs. “For fuck’s sake, Hellena, is it a pastime to go searching for trouble when you’re not at work?”
“Trouble likes me, apparently. And I like Ora. What’s wrong with our being friends?”
“Aside from the fact that she’s got multiple felonies?” I huff. “The problem with getting close with someone who is so heavily inundated in one of the gangs is that it makes you party to their ‘side’. It makes you a target for their opposition.”
“Some people make it work.”
“Right. Like your roommate? It's bad enough that you're living with that man, but now he’s indoctrinating you, too?”
“You didn't seem to have a problem with that man when he accompanied me on the money drop.”
“Where you almost got killed.”
“They would have kidnapped me or forced me into sex slavery. Gavin protected me. He always does.”
“Yes, and look where it got him.”
“That has nothing to do with this.” Her tone grows defensive.
“Doesn't it, though? The man plays both ends against the middle. This is exactly what we have to be careful of. He works for the Ghosts. He works for the Block. It might not be tomorrow, or next week, but one or the other will get tired of him, or suspicious, and take him out.”
“Which is why I want to know why they are allowed to exist in the first place.”
