Displaced

Wicken - Twenty-Nine

Chevelle had another guy. Was the pain in my chest my heart snapping in two? Or was it that panic attack, meltdown thing happening? Whatever it was, I hurt both physically, and emotionally. I knew Chevelle better than to assume she was shacking up and having a ball on a freaking spaceship. She didn't do too well with high pressure situations. Any time we worked a busy shift at the mall together, she tended to hide in the back room as much as possible so she could avoid all of the pissed off, cranky customers who liked to come in.

Still, another guy? What if she did actually like him more than me? Sometimes strangers had that instant connection thing, and the whole going through a traumatic experience together bit didn't help too much. More importantly, however, what if he didn't want to let her go? What if he liked her just as much as I did? Because any guy with a brain could see how beautiful and smart she was. Those two qualities in one woman were rare. Most were either one or the other. If I was him, I would not let her go.

In the end, it was her choice, right? I had to have faith she would pick me over some stranger she just met. We were friends, and she knew how I felt about her. There's no way she would just leave me hanging down in the Pit to rot. The fact that she mentioned me by name and asked for Casey to find me meant she at least still cared. Those were the facts I had to hold on to.

A few days to a couple of weeks. That's how long Casey said it would take for me and Chevelle to be reunited. It gave me an excuse to start counting the days again and paying attention to how the time passed. When I was down and out, I stopped. I had no clue how long I had been on the ship. In the grand scheme of things, it probably didn't matter. Everything still felt a lot like a dream. Days could have already turned into weeks for all I knew.

I needed patience, something I generally had more of, but it was fast escaping me. Forget everything else about having a ticket to the Surface and out of the Pit. I just wanted to see her again and make sure everything was okay. What if this guy she was with didn't respect her and tried to take advantage of her?

"If the Achlivans worship women, then I don't think I have too much to worry about," I muttered to myself.

Anyone who was dumb enough to try and hurt such an object of affection and respect would be placed down in the Pit. Logically speaking, I mean. Was that the kind of scum I was surrounded by now? Rapists, abusers, and all-around monsters? If the guy she was with now wasn't a bad guy, she could end up liking him more than me. She said she felt the same way I did, but so much could have changed already. What if she was being brainwashed into thinking I was horrible? I'd lose her for good.

I ran my hands over my face. "Stop thinking, Wick, just stop thinking."

"Everything okay?" Justice asked from the doorway.

Closing my eyes, I nodded. "Over-active imagination. Trying to understand what this place is."

"The Pit?"

"Yes, the Pit. Patriarch told me who he really is. What I want to know is who everyone else is."

Justice laughed. "You know me."

"I know your name. I don't know what you're doing down here."

"A lot of people have a 'none of your darn business' policy," Justice said flatly. "I'm not one of those people, not entirely, at least. You want to know if I'm one of the crazies, if I'm safe. Here's the gist of it. I was on the Surface, I had a girl who I loved, a lot. She screwed me over big time when she got tired of me, and accused me of doing a lot of not so great things. The leader and our overall ambassador to the Achlivans, Paul, took her side instead of mine. So I got put down here. Pat took me in, and he's working on trying to get me back up on the Surface again, but that won't happen until someone in charge realizes my ex is the crazy one instead of me."

My head started to hurt, I was frowning so much. "Because she was a woman, they took her word over yours. How many other guys down here have stories like yours?"

"Just the ones who work for Pat."

I nodded, chewing all of that over. "And everyone else?"

"Deserves to be down here and should probably be in jail. Trust me when I say, you don't want to go asking just anyone how they got here. Even the women. I get it, curiosity is a pain, but you've got to keep it at bay." His eyes were wide and pleading.

"Okay, I won't ask anymore. And I get why Patriarch is making such a big fuss over getting me out of here as soon as possible." The politics of the spaceship Salvation were starting to come together in a form I could understand.

Justice sat down next to my bed. "Even if you can't get out, this place isn't too awful so long as you make nice with everyone. The Achlivans don't let the guys get away with a lot of the stuff that is rumored to happen in prison. There's an occasional fight, but for the most part the guys don't like to cause problems. It's the women you have to look out for, because they'll play anything with a dick just so they can get their happily ever after."

I cracked a smile. "And that's not just you being bitter over one woman hurting you?"

"No, it's the truth. My ex burned me bad, but she changed from who she was when we first met. The power she was given got to her head, and now she's all kinds of messed up. I haven't sworn myself from love altogether." The way he smiled after he said that, I'm pretty sure he was glowing.

"So you've got a new girl." I smirked.

"We're not a couple, but she definitely has my interest. Can't tell if she's into me back, but that's because she's shy. She might think I'm just trying to use her too."

"Too bad, because I'm pretty sure you wouldn't use anyone. You don't strike me as that kind of a guy."

Justice nudged my arm, hard enough to make me wince. I kept it hidden. Didn't want to make the guy feel bad. He was a lot stronger than he looked. All of the hard work in the Pit would do that to anyone, I would imagine.

He leaned in toward me. "You've got a good read on people. So maybe you can help me out with this. Lilly, she's the one I, you know, got a thing for. Since she's going to be your assistant until you're feeling better, maybe you could, you know..."

"Play cupid?" I raised an eyebrow.

Me playing matchmaker was not the best of ideas. Hello, I failed badly when it came to trying to impress Chevelle to the point where I shot myself in the foot with my stories. The whole thing had started as sarcasm, and then because I'm an idiot, I just kept spouting off a bunch of BS to see just how much she would believe. How was I going to help Justice?

For whatever reason, I felt obligated to try all the same. He'd done a lot to help me. I kind of owed him one. I caught sight of his wide, bright, hopeful gaze, and gave him a weak smile.

"I'll talk to her."