Amara was trapped in a roil of emotion. She wanted to yell at Russel for just picking up her phone. But that’s terrible. He was sleeping; wouldn’t I answer a ringing phone on reflex? The guilt stopped her anger inside. Which left it to mix with the embarrassment of finding Russel talking to… And she just calls herself ‘Ma’ like she’s some friendly grandmother or something?! Amara wanted to yell at her more than Russel. She would probably be grateful. But I will never forget who She is. Amara flexed her left hand with a soft creaking. And what she’s done for me.

All of which is a distraction. I now have Russel right next to me, literal captive audience, but I’m sitting here fuming. Russel hadn’t said a word. Indeed, he’d hardly moved since she snatched her phone back from him. Get it together ‘Mar.

“Sorry about that.”

“I’m sorry I just answered your phone. I mean-“

“Psh,” Amara nudged him with what she hoped was a playful elbow. Hard to tell sometimes with the limited feedback. And an arm harder than flesh. “There are people who’d give up an arm to touch my phone, sure. Turns out, it’s a phone. Jane won’t even let me put any good games on it.”

“Seriously?”

Amara nodded gravely.

“Very serious. I get one of those number games cuz it’s intellectual,” she bracketed the word with finger-quotes. “It’s also deathly boring after 5 minutes.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Well what do you do for fun?”

“You don’t know? I’d have thought, Jane right? Would have given you the full report on a thorough background check by now, or something.”

“Hey,” she bumped him a little harder with her elbow, “that’s not nice.” Never mind that I did all of that myself. “To be honest,” she let out a little sigh, “Jane probably has. But she knows I don’t want to be told. I’d rather learn from you.” Mostly true. What made him bring it up anyway?

“Okay, okay. Then I apologize for assuming.”

Amara kept her wince internal. She managed a lop-sided smile.

“This isn’t all just trying to dodge the question is it?”

Russel shrugged, facing forward.

“Nothing exciting. Trying to keep Katana from killing me in a video game mostly.”

That jived with what Amara had found out. Though that might present something of a problem. Not gonna really have a lot of quiet time, or his computer for awhile. Russel made her jump in her seat as he suddenly stood.

“What am I gonna do about work?”

“Tell them the truth, probably.”

Russel rounded on her, giving her a look like she had grown an extra head from her shoulders. It lasted only a moment before he shook his head, gaze dropping as he seemed to recall who he was talking to.

“I can’t exactly tell them I was attacked by a were-tiger and a giant, can I?”

“No.” He really isn’t this dense is he? Amara watched him closely, “you tell them how you carried Ayame Sunrise to her plane.”

“And just stayed as it took off?”

“If your boss had reached you in the airport and told you not to get on the plane, would you have walked away?”

Amara didn’t bother keeping the hurt from her face as she looked up at Russel. She felt the tiniest bit of guilt as Russel visibly swallowed past a sudden lump in his throat.

“I,” the way he rubbed the back of his head self-consciously was cute. “I guess not. Still-“

He sat back down next to her, turning to look her in the eye though he couldn’t hold the position for long as she stared right back.

“What?”

“Do you usually kidnap a stranger to take on your tours? And yes, I know you haven’t done one in a few years.”

Amara wanted to say something cheesy. Remembered the way she felt as Russel, having no reason to trust her, jumped out of his apartment window into her arms.  Opted for honest.

“No. I am sorry if it causes you trouble. In all honesty, I couldn’t think of another way to keep you safe.”

“Jane did say something about that during the limo ride. She sounded skeptical.”

“She,” Amara risked wrapping her arm around his to hug it to her, “wanted to abandon you until I mentioned your cat.”

A pause. Once more, Russel didn’t pull away though she felt him tense up initially.

“That would explain the way she sat there stroking Katana like some plotting villian while she explained things to me. The limo interior didn’t help either.”

Amara chuckled. It wasn’t hard to visualize Jane, serious business face on as she spoke all while reassuring herself of the black cat on her arm petting it.

“You know, I’ll have to ask her why she’s never just gotten a cat of her own.”