“You’re alright, yes? Salvi? Look at me! Yes?”
Salvi smiled, nodding languidly, eyes half-closed, and grabbed for his arm, kneading it again.
Next thing she knew, the Raider was in motion and she was lost once again to the sea of writhing black.
10: ABOUT LAST NIGHT
Salvi stirred as dreams fluttered beneath her eyelids. A faint feeling of ecstasy lingered in her tired muscles as she moved her naked body against the mattress. She tried to roll over onto her stomach, but her hands caught on something.
Something above her head.
She opened her eyes, tried to pull her hands down, but they wouldn’t move. She glanced up to the bedhead and saw she was cuffed to it.
What the…?
It took a moment for her brain to wake up. When it did, panic shot through her.
She moved to sit up, but her head swam. She tried to call out for help, but her dry throat croaked as she thrashed about in the tangle of sheets. She heard footsteps and Mitch came running into the room.
“It’s alright,” he said. “It’s alright, Salvi. You’re safe!”
She glared at him, panting, confused, as she pulled on her cuffed wrists. “What the fuck?”, she finally managed to choke out.
Mitch held his hands out calmly. “Just calm down, alright. It was necessary.”
“Necessary?”
“You were… you… wouldn’t leave me alone, Salv. I needed a break.”
“A break? What. The. Fuck. Mitch?” she growled through her clenched jaw.
“You were high as a kite on Flyte, Salv. You would’ve gone all night if I’d let you.”
“Uncuff me! Now!”
“Alright.” He held his hand up for calm, then pressed his thumb against the digital cuffs to authorize their release. As soon as her hands were free, she rubbed her wrists, then pulled the sheets tight around her. She looked about the room and realized she was in her own apartment. Her real apartment. She saw their scattered clothes, then looked back to Mitch, standing shirtless before her. “So, we...?”
He held his hands up in defense. “Just the once before I cuffed you.”
“You… slept with me like that?” she said accusingly.
“Salvi, you weren’t taking no for an answer.” He pointed to bruises on his arms, then to others on his neck. “You jumped me while I was trying to drive you home. I had to pull over in a dark street and let you do what you needed to so I could get us here in one piece.”
“We had sex in the Raider?”
He nodded. Salvi felt her face pale.
“Tell me Riverton doesn’t know this.”
“It doesn’t. I’m not stupid Salv. I cut the systems before anything happened.”
“In the Raider? In a dark street?” she asked again.
He nodded. “Turns out there’s plenty of room for two in the driver’s seat.”
Salvi lowered her head into her hands.
“Hey,” Mitch said softly. She looked up at him again. “I was just trying to keep you happy… but after a while I realized that you were going to go all night, and you weren’t you, so I thought it best to…” he motioned to the handcuffs.
She looked down at her body, could feel the effects of what he was saying, but her mind was drawing blanks. “I don’t… remember.”
“Anything?” he said, sitting down beside her. “What the last thing you recall?”
She turned her mind over. “You and Hernandez hauling me out of the car.”
“That’s the last thing? Jesus, that was at the start of the night.”
She lowered her head into her hand. “Fuck… Hernandez… Please tell me I didn’t say or do anything stupid.” She quickly raised her head. “Ford was there too!”
“She just wanted to make a call on whether we should get you to a hospital. Hernandez and I talked her out of it. I said I’d take care of you. Watch you while you slept it off.”
“What if someone saw us? In the park? Me getting into your Raider?”
“They didn’t. The whole team was watching, checking the perimeter was clear.”
“Fuck! So the whole team saw me like that?”
“Salvi, they knew you were loaded on Flyte.”
Salvi felt her stomach suddenly turn. She threw her sheets back, ran to the bathroom and vomited. She took a moment, caught her breath, then moved to the basin and rinsed her mouth. She paused when she looked into the mirror and saw the indents either side of her face from the neural devices. Her stomach felt sick again and she moved back to the bed to lay down. She didn’t like the way she felt. Hollow. Like both her body and her brain had been scooped out.
Mitch reached out and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Ford said for you to get checked over this morning, just to be sure. If nothing else, they’ll give you a shot of V to get you back on your feet.”
Salvi savored the feeling of his hand on her cheek. Maybe there was a little drug left flowing inside her. She placed her hand over his. Then a thought hit her, and she gasped. She sat up, felt at her temples. “The neural devices? Where are they?”
“Relax…” He grabbed hold of her upper arms. “Hernandez took them last night. After you fell asleep. We didn’t want to take them off you before the…experience ended in case anything happened. Besides, they wanted you to take the ride so you could provide them with information. Once you were asleep I took them down to the street. Noble’s team are analyzing them as we speak.”
She exhaled with relief. “So we have the neural devices. Well, there’s that at least.” She looked back at him. “I’m pretty sure I’ve blown it with Chaney now.”
“You had no choice. Who knows what would’ve happened if you’d stayed there, Salvi. Fuck…” He ran his hand
