Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): In the Shadows of the City - [Fic] Cliff's Edge

[z-Skye]

Skye tipped the bottle back, the liquor disappearing as her throat worked. Unlike the first time she’d gone out partying, she didn’t choke or gag. When she lowered the bottle, Sho looked at her with surprise. “Damn,” he said, but knew she couldn’t hear him over the music. He’d mouthed it clearly enough that she understood, though.

They were waiting, in theory, for Kazuo. He’d said he’d meet them at the Ruby Room so that they could go to a cool new place he’d found last week. However, he was running late and Sho and Skye had taken the opportunity to get a jump ahead on the drinking. Sho saw Skye glance at the clock and leaned closer to the pretty girl. “He probably got distracted by some bijin,” Sho laughed. The laugh stopped when he saw the annoyed look on Skye’s face; annoyance that barely masked hurt or anger or something like both. Shaking his head over the confusing state of Kazuo-Skye affairs, he said, “I’m going to hit the can. Don’t leave without me.”

Skye nodded and leaned close to his ear to say, “Sure! I’ll just have another while I wait!”

Sho raised his eyebrows but said nothing. As he walked away, he wondered what drove the slip of a girl so hard. She came out to party more often than anyone he knew, sometimes looking like she’d gone a few rounds. One night, she’d had a black eye; another, she’d sported a scrape down one arm that looked like she’d been thrown into a brick wall. And those were just what he could see; he suspected, from her reactions or flinches, that she had received other injuries. Someone who didn’t know Kazuo might assume that he was giving them to her. Sho knew better that that; Kazuo would cut off his own hands before applying them in violence to a woman who didn’t deserve it. And Skye didn’t react to him like an abuser. Despite all of this, Sho never asked what was going on; he’d be told if he was supposed to know. Still, he sometimes pondered the oddities of Kazuo’s recently-secretive life.

Like Skye herself. There was a mystery. Definitely not Kazuo’s type; she was gorgeous, which was Kazuo’s type – or more accurately all guys’ type – but way too stuck up when she was sober. That may be why Kazuo put a bottle in her hands any chance he got. Sho knew it was the reason he handed her one even before he’d drunk up. Once she was loosened up, she was a lot of fun.

But Kazuo tolerated her drunk or sober, and Sho still hadn’t figured out why. And then there was that weird night, the first night Sho had met Skye. When they’d gotten into bed together – now there was an idea that had been 100% better when plastered – Sho had wanted to put Skye between them, but Kazuo wouldn’t hear of it. That was about all Sho remembered; he couldn’t recall the no-doubt stellar alcohol-laced logic that Kazuo had used to convince him of the necessity of their final sleeping arrangements, or how everyone had gotten naked or nearly-naked.

So Sho was still really confused by the complicated relationship he saw between Skye and Kazuo. All he really knew was that there was one, and neither one of them had any interest in uncomplicating it. That much Sho could understand. They were both scared what they’d find in the middle of their Gordian knot. And Sho, while curious, wasn’t going to push. First, it wasn’t his business. Second, it probably contributed to how much the two drank, and since getting drunk with them was fun, Sho wasn’t in a hurry to lose his drinking partners.

It was a mystery to puzzle over in his spare moments, some of which included time spent in the bathroom. He was still mulling over it as he left the men’s room, heading for the spot where he’d left Skye. To his annoyance, she wasn’t there. He decided that she’d gotten bored and hit the dance floor. Sure enough, he found her out there, but he didn’t find her alone. She was lip-locked with some guy, some white pretty-boy who looked to be the exact opposite of Kazuo in every way. It looked like the kind of guy a girl like Skye would date, but what they were doing wasn’t dating.

Well, this was a new wrinkle in the puzzle. Sho was about to slip back into the crowds and get out of something that really wasn’t his business when the couple broke off their kiss. The boy turned and pulled Skye away through the crowd, but not before Sho caught the look on Skye’s face. It was enough to stop Sho in his tracks and change the entire situation: she was scared. But she was also following the boy willingly; Sho saw no hesitation in her movements.

He made up his mind quickly. Sho darted forward, cutting through the crowd. But they were much closer to the door than he was, and by the time he’d reached the exterior of the club, he couldn’t see them. With nothing else to do, he turned and went back inside, wondering if he’d imagined the look on her face. It had been so haunted, so stricken. Should he say anything to Kazuo? Had he imagined it? Sho snarled to himself and tipped back a drink, waiting for Kazuo, thinking angry thoughts that spun in useless circles.

[z-Skye]

Skye pouted as she snapped back another drink, trying not to look at the clock. Where was that dummes Arschloch? If he didn’t show soon, Skye was gonna...

Do nothing. Growling to herself, she admitted that Sho wouldn’t leave without him, not for a few more hours. And Skye wasn’t going to go off by herself; she’d done that sometimes and partying was much more fun in a group. She decided to pass the time by coming up with the perfect scathing remark for him when he finally did drag his traurigen Arsch to her.

The composition of angry remarks helped some, but the more time passed, the angrier she became. How dare he run off chasing girls and keep her waiting – keep her and Sho waiting? Huffing angrily, Skye took another drink, her expression so furious that most men were actively avoiding her now.

“He’s totally blowing you off, you know,” her shadow remarked snidely, mostly camped under the edge of the bar.

Skye grimaced and began to tap the fingernails of her free hand on the bar. The bartender, a pretty Korean girl in a tight tank top eyed her and then slipped her another drink. “Best cure for man trouble,” the girl said, smiling.

“Thanks,” Skye shouted back, nodding her appreciation before tasting the new drink. It was a bit fruiter than she liked, but it had a nice burn, which meant it was exactly what she wanted. Something to get her drunker.

“I have a friend you could make your boyfriend jealous with,” the girl offered.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Skye all-but shrieked. “He’s just a… ficken Arschloch!”

“If he’s not your boyfriend then why are you waiting for him at all?” the bartender asked in return.

Skye scowled at her. “Don’t you have a job to do?” she hollered snippily.

The girl rolled her eyes and took off, leaving Skye to fume in her own irritation. Which was just how Skye like it. Really.

“You’re so pathetic,” her shadow told her, but Skye ignored it.

She went back to composing her invectives against Kazuo when someone touched her back, lightly. She turned, expecting to see Sho and hoping – secretly – to see Kazuo. Instead, Henry was smiling at her, wearing a shirt and tie with nice slacks. There was a second of shock, then Skye grabbed for her fans. They fit with surprising ease under her clothing, even when she wasn’t wearing much of it. Their magic allowed them to be obscured and largely invisible to observers.

“No, Skye, my dear, no fans,” Henry told her and her hands stopped their movement. As she struggled against the control he was somehow exerting over her, he added, “No fighting me, no pesky forcefield and no frowns or tears. Those are the rules for our little drama tonight.”

“Brother!” Sayoko called and Skye’s shadow crawled from under the ledge of the bar.

“So there’s where you went, sister,” Henry mused, looking bemused. “Caught in a priestess’ shadow. Is that irony or symbolic?”

“Kill her! Get me out of here!” Sayoko shrieked.

“Not yet,” Henry replied. “You were stupid enough to get caught in there, you can wait to get out.”

“Essen sheisse und sterben,” Skye spat at him, interrupting the family reunion.

“Smile, baby,” he told her, and she felt her lips quirk upward. “Tonight is your lucky night. Let’s dance.”

He took her hand and pulled her onto the floor. Skye followed, unresisting despite what she wanted to do. For a moment, they just danced; then Henry pulled her to him and gave her a deep, penetrating kiss. Skye screwed up her face and got a bitten lip for her minor objection. “Play. Nice,” he ordered then kissed her again. For a long moment, they remained locked together, his hands roaming over her body as his lips roamed over hers. When he broke the kiss, he said, “Come on, let’s go somewhere private.”

Henry’s hand held hers like an iron shackle, but Skye found herself moving along with him, as docile as a lamb. Though her body was imprisoned, her mind was not, and she struggled against the real restraint he’d put on her with just a few words. She’d felt his power on her mind before, but this was the first time Henry had unleashed the full extent of his abilities. Though her mind rebelled at what was happening, her body followed his lead.

He was going to make her disappear, just like Jo, Ken and Kage. As she tried to cry – he’d told her not to cry, so she couldn’t – she faced what was likely her last moments on earth. Regrets flooded through her; mostly that she hadn’t been more honest with the people in her life. Kenichi, for example – she could have thanked him for all he’d done for them and the times he’d saved her life. Isamu, she wanted to tell him that he was cute, even if that was all that came of it. She wanted to tell Kaori to smile a little more before she ended up as miserable as Skye. Keiko’s message would have been easy – that she was a great priestess and even a good friend, better than Skye had been to her. Kazuo… Skye’s mind shied away from him, but not before she found herself wishing that she had kissed him, just once, to see if it was like in her dream-

Henry’s blow was lightening fast, his open palm striking her across her face. Skye cried out and tumbled to the pavement, shocked by the blow. Pedestrians walked by without so much as a glance at them. As she glared up at him – a bizarre expression considering she still had that forced smile on her face – he snapped, “You will think of no other man while you’re with me. I don’t know what is your sick fascination with that bastard is, but I won’t have you sully our time with him on your mind.”

“He’s twice the man you are, though that’s not hard since you’re no man, demon!” Skye hissed, even as her mind started to comply with his command. Thoughts of Kazuo, Isamu, even men gone like her long-gone father were slipping away, leaving room only for Henry.

Henry kicked her, sending her tumbling into a dark alley. Her skin was battered and bruised as she rolled to a stop, groaning. Skye curled up around herself as her ribs burned with fire; without her forcefield, she was easily broken. Despite the pain, she tried to scramble away from him when he followed her into the alley. “Just get it over with,” she hissed, feeling that same smile on her face.

“Hit her again, Henry!” Sayoko shouted.

Henry looked bemused as he deliberately ignored his sister. “I was going to treat you to something nice,” he told her. “I was thinking perhaps a rabuho. But if this is what you want, who am I to deny you?” He looked around at the offering of the alley and ordered, “Over there, on that cardboard.”

Skye wasn’t the most worldly girl, but her eyes widened with sudden understanding. Some reserve of strength deep within her allowed her to say, “No! I won’t!”

Henry smiled mirthlessly. “Oh, yes, you will. What’s the matter Skye? You know you want me.” And it was true as he said it, her denial dying on her lips. “You’ve dreamed of this, wanted this, done everything but begged me for it. In fact, that’s a good idea. Get on your knees and beg me for it.”

Skye felt herself move even as she tried to stop. She dragged herself up onto her knees and clasped her hands together. “Please,” she whispered.

“Please what?” Henry prompted.

The words he wanted her to say came to her unbidden. “Please fuck me.”

“Come on, then. Since you asked so nicely, I’ll treat you to somewhere pleasant,” Henry said, drawing her to her feet. “I understand you like the Sexus.”

Skye shook her head, but it was no use – she was pulled to her feet and began to walk with him. The Sexus wasn’t that far, and Skye saw why Sho had picked it; ordering a room was done through a slot in the door. She didn’t see the attendant, save a brief glimpse of hands as yen was exchanged for keys. The door to the room was secluded behind the building, offering near-total privacy to those leaving and entering.

When they entered, Skye realized it was the room Sho had gotten them to crash in. Suddenly, she understood Henry’s game. He was trying to tear everything down, to make it all pain and bitterness. Going out with Kazuo had become a turning point for her; it was one of the few times she’d reached out for help, and the first she’d reached out to Kazuo. For a night, they’d been something else other than demon hunters. Somehow, they’d never gone back to what they were before and when she was being honest, Skye wasn’t sure she min-

Henry’s hand slammed into her other cheek, and Skye staggered but definitely kept her feet. She glared at him as she reached up to touch her split lip. “I can see,” he snarled, “that I’m going to have to continue to control even your thoughts. I had meant to leave you those, but if all you’ll think about is another man… we can’t have that.”

“His cock is bigger than yours,” Skye hissed. She figured it might even be true, given the brief glimpse she’d gotten of Kazuo the last time she’d been here. That earned her a punch which threw her head to the right. She landed on her knees, wondering if she provoked him enough if he’d knock her out or just kill her. She almost preferred either to the alternative.

“You’re going to have to be silent now,” he growled. “No more sounds from you unless you’re screaming my name or groaning in pleasure.” He caught her hair and pulled her head up. “And you’ll be doing both.” Skye tried to smart off again, but couldn’t. She stared at him balefully as he ordered, “Strip.”

She did, just as she did everything else that he demanded of her. The best she could do was balk for a moment; then he bent her will like putty and she compiled. The sensations flooding her were mixed with her anger and shame, until Skye herself was confused by what to feel about what she was feeling.

After it was done, Henry dressed himself while she huddled in the bed and hurt. “Not bad for your first time, Skye,” he mused as he redid his tie with long, graceful fingers, “I give you definite pointers for enthusiasm.” He turned and looked at her, his beautiful face the most horrible thing she’d ever seen in her life. “You’ve had a big night, Skye. You should take a nap.” She tried to snarl a reply, but she still couldn’t speak. Instead her lids began to slide closed. She fought to keep them open as Henry came back to her and bent over her. His lips pressed to her hair gently and she counted the seconds until he got the hell away from her.

Her reprieve from him came too slowly, but it came, and he straightened and walked away from her. As sleep sucked her down, she heard him say, “Get some more practice, Skye, so that you’ll be more like your mother next time.” Adrenalin jolted her back awake as she sluggishly comprehended his words. She stared at him, straining to move as he added, “But don’t worry about me killing you, dearest Skye. I killed Alias and all those people only to make a point to you. You’ll die at some point, though I doubt it’ll be by my hand. Someone is quite angry with you for the blow you gave him and ruining his fun.”

She drifted back into sleep as Henry turned at the door. “Good-bye, Sayoko. I’ll be sure to let the others know your fate, little sister.” He shut the door after him and Skye fell asleep listening to Sayoko’s angry curses.

Click to reveal..

dummes Arschloch – stupid asshole

traurigen Arsch – sad ass

ficken Arschloch – fucking asshole

Essen sheisse und sterben – Eat shit and die.

rabuho– love hotel

[Kazuo]

"Yo", said Kazuo as he came to a stop beside Sho at the Ruby Room's bar. As always, the lilliputian club was packed beyond capacity, the music was blaring at full blast, and the dance floor - which was too small to really be called a dance floor - was packed with people dancing on it anyway. Kazuo thought the place was too small, personally, but the music was good and all his friends liked it, so whatevs.

Sho simply nodded in return, the music being so loud that exchanging simple pleasantries seemed like a waste of time and vocal chords. Kazuo settled in at the bar and signaled the bartender for a biru. Japanese biru (which is just a mispronunciation of 'beer') is generally very pale, generally of high quality, and generally very boring as far as taste goes. Kazuo really didn't give a damn, he just wanted the alcohol in it. So the bartender brought him his boring biru, Kazuo drank from it, life was just a little bit better.

"What kept you?", Sho finally asked, after they'd stood leaning against the bar for a few moments in silence (that silence being extremely relative since, you know, the band playing that night at the Ruby Room was putting out a truly ridiculous number of decibels).

"Some idiots tried ta mug me", was Kazuo's less-than-informative reply.

What had actually happened was that he'd been attacked by a bunch of poor-smelling and even poorer-looking demons - one could only presume from hell - including a whole pack of his personal favorites, the hell hound. Woohoo! Needless to say, Kazuo had needed a change of clothes - and a shower - by the time he'd finally finished them all off.

Sho accepted this answer lackadaisically, in the way that only a long-time friend of Kazuo Kanai could accept such an answer. "You kicked their asses, right?", he asked with a sly smile.

"Hell yeah", answered Kazuo with a smirk and an arched eyebrow.

"Yosh", replied Sho approvingly and raised his drink.

"Yosh", echoed Kazuo and raised his own drink as well.

Once he'd swallowed his latest gulp of beer, Kazuo leaned in towards Sho again and hollered, "Hey! Where's Skye at? She not come tonight?"

Sho shook his head and then answered back, "Nah, she was here, but she left a little while ago with some guy." He looked a little put-out as he added, "She didn't even say goodbye."

"Nani?", Kazuo asked incredulously, "Who'd she leave with?"

"I dunno", Sho said, shaking his head and raising his hands helplessly, "Some pretty-boy gaijin. It was weird too; she seemed to want to go with the guy, but she seemed really scared too.

It was weird", he repeated.

Kazuo's good eye grew wide with alarm at this news. "Baka!", he growled at his long-time friend even as he turned away and began heading for the exit, leaving his mostly-full biru on the counter. Sho called after Kazuo briefly, but then abandoned his own drink and went chasing after him, now looking as concerned as he'd felt since seeing Skye leave earlier.

Kazuo burst past the line of people still trying to gain entrance to the Ruby Room, completely oblivious to their cries of annoyance and outrage as he shoved past them. He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk outside and hesitating, his head turning to look down the street in one direction and then turning again to search the street in the other.

For some reason, Sho's description of the 'pretty-boy gaijin' was setting off alarm bells in Kazuo's mind and he had a bad feeling about this. Where had Skye gone off to?

"Kuso!", he muttered under his breath.

Click to reveal..

Yosh: "Yes", "alright", or similar exclamations of affirmation.

Nani: "What?"

Gaijin: "Foreigner" (literally, 'foreign devil')

Baka: "Stupid", "idiot"

Kuso: Generally translated as "shit"

[z-Skye]

Skye woke up dazed and disoriented later. She wasn’t sure how long; she didn’t wear a watch and her cell phone, a staple of her life before her mother’s death, had stopped working long ago when the bills stopped being paid. It took a moment, but slowly the details returned: Henry and the pain he’d inflicted on her; Henry and the pleasure he’d inflicted on her. Worst of was his final statement; she’d had sex with the thing that had done the same to her mother. Shuddering, Skye burrowed under the covers, wishing he’d killed her, too.

She’d have to move soon. But she made no effort, not even when Sayoko began to berate her. She didn’t want to move, unless she was allowed to go backwards and erase the last couple of hours of her life. That wasn’t the way it worked, though. That was never the way it worked.

The sensations of her body – the strange, new feelings that were the remnants of what he’d done to her – were what got her going. When she couldn’t take the echoes of their time together anymore on her skin, she rose and hurried to the shower. It was an orgy-sized shower with a mirror on one wall and a glass wall that opened to the bedroom beyond, but she didn’t care. She looked over the range of tiny bottles of shampoos and soaps, but all their titles were suggestive and she couldn’t handle that. She grabbed one at random and began to scrub. The fake smell of cherry blossoms assaulted her nose, but she didn’t stop.

After she’d removed the demon-filth she could reach, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her face had slight bruising on both sides from where he’d slapped her. The split lip was stark and ugly, a red crack across the pale pink of her lip. The rest of her hadn’t fared well either; there was a yellow and purple pattern of bruises working its way across her right ribcage and scrapes ran up and down her arms and legs. She was a little surprised to find a bite mark on the junction of her shoulder and neck; she didn’t remember that. Leaning closer, she peered at it. She’d need concealer to cover it, something she didn’t have.

She stared at herself for a moment, noting the pallor to her skin and the dazed look on her face. “Ain’t so pretty now, princess, are ya?” Sayoko asked, but Skye didn’t reply. The demon seemed far away; everything seemed far away.

She did a minimal job of drying off before pulling her clothes back on. To her dismay, she couldn’t get the dress’ zipper up the last few inches; bending her right arm that high hurt her ribs, while the bite mark hampered her left. Skye finally left it, abandoning her efforts. Her fans were tucked away when she paused to look around and make sure she’d gotten everything. Turning, she left the room, hearing it lock behind her.

She stood outside, unsure where to go, holding her ribs with her arm. She probably should have gone home, but she didn’t feel up to the trek. She also wasn’t sure she’d be welcome there; she was tainted now. Wouldn’t the holy ground there expel her? By that logic, none of her friends would want her around. Now, even Keiko wouldn’t like her. Maybe Luna would reject her; maybe the others would kick her out; maybe she’d finally be free of it all.

People on the street could see her again, but they avoided her. They even, after that initial glance, avoided looking at her. She was grateful for that; they were pretending not to see the shaking, disheveled girl in public. Skye walked around the corner to the Ruby Room and then stepped back onto the cross-street as soon as she saw Sho and Kazuo, looking around for something. Looking for me. She watched Kazuo as he peered around, seeing him through different eyes. She saw him as a man, not just the hoodlum she’d sneered at, or the capable fighter she’d bleed with. She had a much better idea what her body had been trying to tell her about him.

That didn’t change what had happened, or that he was about to hate her for what she’d done. Her new knowledge didn’t make her feel better, because now she wished that they had taken advantage of her that night at the Sexus. As naïve as she was, even she knew that it was a sign of how terrible your life was when you’d prefer to have your first time a drunken fumble you couldn’t remember to a pleasure-filled experience you couldn’t forget.

Sighing, she stepped forward, bracing herself to lose her friend when he found out what she'd done.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo had seen the rumpled, disheveled girl almost as soon as she'd come around the corner, but it took him several more seconds before his mind registered that it was Skye Fell he was seeing.

"Skye!", he shouted and began to half-jog, half-run in her direction. Still not aware of what had actually happened, Kazuo's pride told him not to look too worried. Sho still had to struggle to keep up.

His first instinct was to think that she'd been attacked - ambushed - by the demons. That the reason she was holding herself like that, that her lip was split and that he could see bruising here and there on her pale skin, was a natural result of engaging in lethal combat with hell-beasts. That was a perfectly reasonable, even natural conclusion for Kazuo to come to, but then he was close enough to see her eyes, and he knew. He just knew.

"Skye!", Kazuo hollered again, and then he really was running, behind him Sho called out as well and also began running. Reaching her, Kazuo grabbed Skye's shoulders with his big hands, as though to steady someone about to collapse, the muscles of his demon-scarred forearms rippling as he did so. He stooped just enough so that his gaze could meet his friend's for a moment - it was his good left eye that tried to meet her gaze but it was the dead right one that succeeded - and then he quickly but efficiently looked the rest of her over, checking for physically serious injuries.

Not seeing any, Kazuo allowed himself to look away from Skye for a brief moment, straightening up again and carefully checking their surroundings. It wasn't entirely out of the question that this was still an ambush - only meant for the both of them and not just Skye. But he saw nothing and so his good eye turned back to the broken young woman before him (his blank, white, dead eye had never looked away). Behind them, Sho was keeping a respectful distance, obviously feeling conflicted and awkward. "Skye-kun, are you alright?", he asked in a hesitant and pained voice.

Kazuo continued to gaze silently at Skye, one of his hands falling away from her shoulder but the other remaining, his flaring nostrils the only outward indication of the emotional turmoil within. What Kazuo wanted to do was track down the motherfucker who'd done this, cut the bastard's arms and legs off, and then drag what was left over back to Skye so that she could have the pleasure of cutting fucker's balls off. But however poetically just such a thing would or wouldn't be (and Kazuo didn't pretend to know - or care about - the answer to that question), it wasn't what was best for Skye right then, at that moment.

So once he'd finally managed to get the boiling cauldron that was his rage under control, Kazuo asked Skye, in a measured and controlled tone, "Can you walk? We should get you to Keiko - unless you'd prefer a hospital?"

[z-Skye]

Skye looked at him a little blankly as he checked her out and then assessed their surroundings. She couldn't think of anything to say to him until he asked about her next step. "No hospital," she said, a reaction ingrained in her since her mother's death. “I’ll get deported.”

Kazuo turned her, one hand still on her shoulder, and began to direct her toward the temple. Skye walked along, her head down, still hugging herself. The three walked in a tense, worried silence, with their steps creating the only sound from the group. Skye was in a daze, aware only that Kazuo was taking her to the temple. She wondered if the Old Man would show up and tell everyone what she’d done again.

“I couldn’t fight him,” Skye said suddenly.

“It’s… not your fault,” Sho said, looking nervous as well as awkward.

Kazuo’s hand tightened on her shoulder, just a little. “My mother couldn’t either,” she said softly, her shoulders shaking a little. “He killed her, killed everyone to make a point to me. To make it my fault.”

Kazuo whipped her around. “This is not your fault!” he snapped at her. Some of his anger splashed over on her as he growled, “Don’t start that dumb shit!” Sho watched, concerned, but still wasn't sure what to say - to either of them.

Skye knew she should explain everything, but she didn’t have the strength to do that. She couldn’t tell him that she’d liked it, that some part of her wanted to do it again. She couldn’t put into words what it was like to know she had never chosen any of this, but to still want more. Instead of telling him all that, she said, “I want him dead.”

Kazuo looked relieved at her statement, and so did Sho. To both of them, this was a very good sign. It meant that she was still willing to fight; she wasn’t completely broken. But she was still hurt; as proof how badly, her hand crept up to where Kazuo’s rested on her shoulder and pulled it off. For a moment, Kazuo thought she was pushing his hand away, but instead she wrapped both of hers around his and clung. It wasn’t a good sign.