I sat on his bed. “Yeah, but I'm still not that good. ” I handed him the sketchbook. He flipped through it, nodding.
“No, these are a lot better. And you're really good with color. ”
I beamed. He passed the sketchbook back to me and our hands brushed. I smiled and shook my head. “So weird. ”
“What?”
“I just--I don't know, I always expect you to feel like water or something. The first time I touched you to put on the ankle tracker, I was worried my hand would go right through you. ”
He laughed. “Nope. ”
“I thought it would be like putting my hand in cold water. But you're really warm. ”
He put his hand on top of mine. My heart did a happy jump inside my chest. “Your hands are freezing. ”
“See? Cold in here. Told you. ” I couldn't help but frown a little when he moved his hand away.
“How was your week?” he asked.
“Pretty boring. Probably not as boring as yours, though. ”
“Probably not. ”
“What are they even doing with you? Are they going to just keep you in here forever?”
“Hopefully not. I've got some things I need to be doing. They've run tests on me, but I'm afraid I wasn't very cooperative. And Raquel's been to talk to me, trying to figure out where I came from and why I was going through her stuff. ”
“I'm a little curious about that as well. ”
He smiled. “I'll bet. Of course, it's your fault I'm stuck in this room in the first place. ”
I had to admit he was right. Actually, I didn't have to. “No, it's your own fault your plan was so crappy a helpless teenage girl caught you. ”
“Helpless? Hardly. I seem to recall being electrocuted. ”
“Oh, yeah, there was that. ”
“You're not wearing your Taser today. You didn't last time, either. ” He looked at me thoughtfully.
“Planning something?” I wasn't nervous. Well, maybe a little, now that he said that.
“Nope, not at all. I'm glad you trust me. ”
“Once again, how much threat can a guy be whose grand plan for breaking into the Center included punching people and running?”
He put a hand on his chest. “Ouch. You're right, though, I didn't have any idea what I was doing. It was pretty desperate. ”
“That's all right. We all do stupid things. Last week I was following a vamp and burst into a room that I hadn't checked out first. Turns out there were a whole bunch more. I nearly got killed. ”
“How did you get out?”
“Reth. ” I frowned.
“Who's Reth?”
“It's a long story. ”
Lend leaned back. “I've got nothing but time. ”