Tell Them This When I Die

The Schemes of a NASA Engineer

Back in the pit, Adam's head spins—with gin, with something else. He pulls away from her slightly, putting a few millimetres between them. He suddenly feels a little nauseous, a little sick. He pulls away a little more. Her face is blurry, but he can tell it's pretty. He wants to lean in again—he wants her to do that thing with his hair she was doing before—but he knows he's gone too far. He knows he's drank too much.

Her expression is watchful and smooth. "Oh, now you must be heavy on the gin, Adam," she whispers to him.

"I've—I think I've had too much," Adam mumbles. "I need to—" He pulls away more, touching his jacket for his keys. "I need to go home."

"You're drunk, Adam. Let me drive you."

Adam is shaking his head, making himself dizzy. "You drive like a maniac."

"I drive like a maniac when you're chasing me," she replies. "If you stay in the passenger seat, we won't have a problem."

Adam gets to his feet, stumbling a little. "I don't need you to know where I live," he mumbles.

"Where? Guises Apartment complex on forty-third street? Apartment twenty-two?"

Adam scrunches his face. He's pretty sure that's where he lives. The coffee table in front of him has four empty glasses of gin. Not gin and tonic, but gin.

"You can't drive, Adam."

"I'll—call a cab," he says, reaching for his phone. "What's—what's the number?"

She places a hand on his shoulder, leading him to the stairs. "I'll get you one. Watch the stairs, Adam."

He stumbles over the first step, and she steadies him. He swallows, holding the rail for balance. Once he makes it up the stairs, she guides him out into the foyer and hands him off to the hostess. "Get him into a cab," she says. "He's going to the south end. Forty-third street."

Adam turns to tell her something—that she can't tell anyone what just happened, that it would hurt his career—but she's gone before he turns. The hostess helps him into the back of a waiting cab, letting the driver know the address.

Eris takes the stairs back to the pit, passing by Peter on the way, who drops the keys into her hand. She takes the back exit, getting into the Maserati and starting it up. She watches the cab leave, waits ten minutes, then drives to the south end.

She beats the cab to the complex, unsurprisingly. She does drive like a maniac. But she wouldn't have with him.

She waits outside the complex, across the street, covered by darkness. The cab pulls up, stops outside the complex, and Adam gets out. He's walking better now, but he's still stumbling.

He gets to the front door of the complex as the cab drives away. He reaches into his jacket pocket for his keys, fumbles around a little, but can't find them.

Eris watches him carefully. He knocks on the apartment door, but no one answers. It's the south end, after all, and it's nearly one in the morning. After a moment, he puts his back to the door and takes a long, deep breath.

In defeat, he pulls out his phone. He could call Sarah, but he's too mad about her bailing. He could call Carlos or any of his friends from work, but then he'd have to explain why he needed a ride back to Nyx, why he was at Nyx, and on and on.

He searches up the number for Nyx. He calls, presses three for the pit—where she'll most likely be still—and asks for Eris.

The girl on the phone, Kayla, informs Adam that she'll notify the boss. Then, she calls Eris on her personal phone, who answers immediately from the car across the street, and puts the phones next to each other.