Page 18 of Moonlight Hearts

I rubbed my face, groaning.“Uh, fuck.Was I just being a white dude?I’m sorry.I swear I’m learning.I’m not calling anyone at the diner a waitress anymore.”

“Right.”He waved a hand at the ceiling.“It’s the religiously inspired patriarchal structures right now, I’m sure it’ll be some other shit in a few hundred years.There’s always something though.It’s like humanity as a whole is into sado-masochism.”

“You’ve seen a lot of that, huh?”

He must’ve.I should’ve thought about that sooner, but of course he would have done.He was a person of color, and while I knew he wasn’t from here, he had to have crossed the Atlantic at some point, potentially when skin color made it so you couldn’t use the same bathroom as people who were just like you apart from their lack of melanin.

He glanced at me.“Worrier.”

“Well, yeah?Of course I worry about you.”

“You’re worried about something that’s in the past.That’s pointless.There’s nothing you can do about the past, and if it helps, for the most part, you’re pretty bearable, privilege and all.”

I didn’t know how that made me feel.I was pretty sure I couldn’t say anything that would be useful right then though, so I decided to shut up and put my arm around Soyer’s shoulders instead.

He was okay with that, and we walked the rest of the way in silence.

Eventually, the houses thinned out, and we arrived at a platform, or at least what had been a platform.This one was lit up brightly, and similar to the murals I knew from the great arrival hall underneath the bodega, this one’s walls had been decorated with colorful patterns.There was also a small shop that sold packed lunches, sandwiches, and coffee—stuff you might grab while commuting.

They still had food set out, and the familiar scent of coffee kept warm for hours wafted toward me.The person behind the counter was a woman with ocher-golden skin and horns.She eyed us with the same stiffness I’d seen in so many people the moment they recognized Soyer.

“Where are we now?”I asked as he walked me to the end of the platform.

“Not too far away from home.It’ll take us up to an office building.One of Valentin’s.”

There was just an elevator here.It opened right up when Soyer pushed the button.Inside, it was nothing like the classy retro of a good chunk of the underground.Instead it was sleek and modern, big enough to fit at least twenty people comfortably.

“Is no one worried about normal people coming down here by accident?Like in a fantasy movie when you find a hidden passageway and end up in another world.”

Soyer leaned against the very back of the elevator.“There’s security for that.If that fails, there are surveillance cameras, and then those people are going to be taken care of.”

My eyes widened.“Do you—”

Soyer smirked.“Woodchipper them?”

“Uh, well, I don’t know?Oh!Idid that too, right?Well, I didn’t do anything, you just showed up and…you know.On the train.When they hurt you.”

Soyer sighed.“Come here.Didn’t I just tell you not to worry so much?”He hugged me close.“But yes, you were an accident.”

“Wow.Thanks.”

“Best thing that ever happened to me.”

I smiled.“Okay, slightly better.”

Soyer raised a brow.“Hottest accident ever?The accident I’m still falling for?Adorable accident?”

“Okay, definitely better.”

He raked his fingers over my scalp.“Demanding accident.”

I tried elbowing him again, and this time he actually let me.It was the sweetest thing; not something I’d have ever thought of as a romantic gesture, but it was, odd though that seemed.

“But…does that mean you go after people?Like you did me?”

He snorted.“Amory, I didn’t go after you.I asked to repay your kindness.I took you out for food, even if you wouldn’t believe that any place was open.”

The elevator arrived, forcing me out of Soyer’s hug.We walked into…an absolutely boring, corporate-looking hallway.It was pretty wide, and there were chairs backed against the cream walls across from the elevator and to the left.I also spotted restroom signs there, but that was it.No windows and no decorations apart from another poster that said nothing but Hawthorne, followed by the contact information.