Page 127 of Tethered

“Hey, clear the hall,” he calls to someone. “Yes, you. What else am I fucking paying you for? Now!”

Of course, he can’t have anyone seeing him like this. When he next speaks, his voice comes from considerably lower down, as if he’s sitting on the floor.

“Did you fuck that captain?’

It startles me so much my head whips around, giving me awful whiplash. Grimacing, my first instinct is to tell him to piss off. Instead, I take a moment: both to rub my neck and to think about how I could get this to work in my favour. I’msick of my impulsivity getting me into trouble, and I have an opportunity to try something different.

Still, if not for the whiplash, I probably would have told him to piss off.

There was, however, no aggression in Dominik’s question. He sounded... like he actually wanted to know. I decide to play along. My back thumps against the door as I slide down it, settling into the lotus position. A responding thud tells me he might have just tipped his head back.

“Lowe. Did you?”

I hate him calling me that; it’s too close to a relationship we no longer have. He was the only one who ever shortened my name to Lowe. Everyone else calls me Mar, and Tanisira mostly calls mevaleja. Her nickname makes me feel giddier than his ever did.

It’s weird and inappropriate that Dominik’s asking about my sex life, but we passed socially acceptable behaviour a while ago. Maybe he bumped into Tanisira before she left? I pick at my nails, considering how much I need to share to make this work—while he’s drunk and a little chatty, I might get something useful from him.

I just don’t really want to let him into my relationship with Tanisira like a dog into the truffles.

“We grew close.” A moment passes, and I continue, working hard to keep my tone neutral. “Why now? I don’t understand this.”

“Do I need a reason to want my family whole again?”

“We were never a family. And this isn’t how you go about fixinganyrelationship.”

“I want us to be one; what do I have to do?”

“We’re never going to be a family, and nothing you do can make that happen. I shouldn’t have to tell you not to threaten people.”

Dominik didn’t have good role models, but he has had the time and resources to address that. As far as I know, he’s never even tried. There’s just no excuse for his actions.

He grunts. “It’s the only way to get you to stay.”

“If anything, it’s the opposite.”

Three thumps against the door make me wince: he’s going to have a hell of a headache tomorrow. I hesitate, then decide to get a little personal.

“Be honest with me, Dom.”

There’s a long enough pause that I start to think it didn’t work. Then, “My dad died.”

It’s said so quietly I barely hear him. And I hate that the crack in his voice gets into my defences and makes me want to care. Biting back my immediate reply, I wait—even when he sniffles.

“You know we were never close. Even at the end, we didn’t like each other. Tell me why it hurts this much, Lowe.”

My exhalation is long and heavy. His mother left them when he was a child, and his father was a dick before but became worse after that. We never met, but Dominik always spoke about him, especially because he reached out to Dominik when Gryphon Tech took off. “Funeral?”

“Last week.”

“I’m sorry.”

There’s a scuffling noise. “Without you, I have no one.”

“You have Craig.”

His younger brother, though aloof and reclusive, is perfectly healthy. Sometimes Vee spends the day with his son, James, when they visit Neo-London.

“He couldn’t give a shit whether I’m dead or alive. If it wasn’t for Harvey, he’d never acknowledge me at all. At the funeral, he walked right past me, and I don’t even know why. You and Harvey are all I have, and you belong here with me.”