A Jewel Among Thieves

Chapter 16: Locked

Safia watched Rezo do his pants back up with a satisfied smile hovering around her lips. When he was finished, she turned around to find his shirt, supposing she should maybe put something on as well. Though after a rest for a while, she certainly wouldn't mind going another round with him. That had been...delightful.

It took her a few moments to find where exactly she'd thrown Rezo's shirt. Safia shook the shirt out a bit before pulling it over her head slowly, making a little show of it. Only then did she turn back to face him.

Rezo was watching her, a frown on his face. She propped a hand on her hip and studied him, trying to match his serious expression but her twitching lips gave away. He was still a fine specimen. Definitely worth looking at. His strong body with those big hands and big... She licked her lips as her gaze trailed downwards on him.

Safia was almost glad the job had failed. She very much doubted her being able to convince him to give her the diamond. But Rezo was worth her losing this one client, especially if she could convince him to keep seeing her. She certainly wanted to keep seeing him. She thought if they laid down some ground rules, made sure they never had conflicting jobs, that kind of thing, they could make it work. Or she could look into getting out of the thieving game, do something a little less illegal. She was sure he'd respect that.

Still, that was something they could discuss once they were out of the place. She imagined they'd need to leave quickly or he was going to have to call his brother to tell him not to come. Worst case, they could make it look like she'd escaped and then meet up later. It wasn't as if anyone else had seen her, so even if she showed up later it should be fine. A quick glance at the window showed the tiniest lightening of the sky that told her their time was almost up.

"Hey, mind letting me out now? It'll be nice to talk to you not through the bars."

Rezo met her eyes steadily. "I'm sorry, I can't let you out."

Safia raised her eyebrows. "I'll be the first to admit that sex through the bars was kind of fun, even though I'm pretty sure I have bruises on my backside, but the sun will be up in an hour or so, which means I need to be out of here before then. If you want, we can make it look like I escaped, but if I'm still in here by the time your brother gets here, things are going to get far more interesting than I think either of us wants."

He winced and rubbed his neck. "I'm really sorry, but I need you to stay in there until Kasen gets here."

She blinked, her mind taking a few moments to fully absorb his words. One hand clenched into a fist and she gritted her teeth. Maybe he just needed things explained to him again. "You can't be serious. You know he'll arrest me. He's a guard, that's their job!"

"And this is my job. But I-"

Safia didn't let him finish, her blood hots in her veins, burning through the sudden flare of pain. She'd been prepared to trust him completely. "You bastard!" she shouted. She wanted to punch him, to kick him, to shake him until his sense returned. She'd thought that they'd come to an understanding, thought he liked her like she liked him, that he might even-

She cut off that thinking, ignoring the prickling of her eyes that told her what would happen if she dwelled on that. Instead she fed her anger. Let it take control and shield her from the other emotions closing in around her. "You son of a whore! After that, you're still leaving me here locked up? What kind of honourless scum are you? I could have taken your keys during that or even after and I didn't, because I thought you- I thought we- You fornicating piece of shit!"

Safia spun around to face the wall, whole body trembling now. Her eyes were prickling even harder and she could feel wetness welling up. She blinked rapidly, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing he'd gotten to her. She shut down those feeling, cutting them off and shoving them to the deepest corners of herself to be dealt with later. For right not, she'd keep up her professional mask. She'd been right before. Rezo was the enemy. She'd forgotten herself, gotten too caught up in conversation and wine and let herself slip. She wouldn't make that mistake again. It was obvious she couldn't trust him. He was just like the guards, ready to sell other people out for money or prestige. She imagined his reputation would rise quite a bit because of this.

And she hoped he choked on it. She hoped food tasted like ash in his mouth and he could never get his lance up again. Safia hoped he felt guilt and it would eat away at him until he went crazy, until he could feel nothing else.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "This isn't as bad as it looks. I-"

She twisted around to glare at him, letting all her anger well up in her eyes, doing her best to show exactly what she thought of him now on her face. "Congratulations. You got me. I should have known better to trust a guard reject, but I got stupid. You want to stay enemies and that's fine by me. You made it clear earlier, you hate thieves. And I should have remembered how much I hate guard and those who want to be them and can't."

Rezo winced. "Safia."

"Oh no, don't strain yourself. Go back to calling me thief. I'm sure it'll help your non-existent conscience."

She turned her back to him again, no longer able to trust her voice. She could feel a throb working its way into her throat. It paired itself well with the sharp twisting feeling centred around her chest. She hadn't thought she could hate anyone more than she did the guard who'd arrested her father, but Rezo seemed to be trying to prove her wrong.

So for now she had to work on getting her emotions under control. She couldn't work on Rezo anymore, there was no way she'd get him to let her out now. Which meant she needed to prepare herself to work on his brother. She refused to let him win, to just quietly let herself be carted off to gaol. She still had time and her mind. She'd put both to work, just as soon as she could get past the jagged lump that her stomach had turned into.