Chase Me

Chapter Seventeen: Coin

Bellona

30 days. And that started today. I fled my hotel room as fast as I could, dialling Amo's number. He'd given me my SIM card back and we had decided on trading contact information. He picked up. "Hello."

"Let's go over the rules again." I exited the hotel.

I heard a creak of a chair come from his side. "Where are you running to, Kallistê?"

"Nevermind that. The rules," I waved down a taxi and got inside, pulling my bag with me. I brought a hand and covered my phone with it. "To Rose's, please."

The driver nodded. I brought the phone back to my ear. "Rules."

"You'd make a fantastic Boss," was all he said. He cleared his throat. "Rules are simple. You run, I hunt. Three strikes, then you have to come with me and the reins are handed to me."

I shifted in my seat, putting my seatbelt on. "For how long?"

He didn't say anything but I imagined him shrugging. "As long as I want."

"That isn't fair. I'm willing to go for thirty minutes."

"Two hours," he replied.

I grit my teeth. "Forty-five minutes."

"Three hours."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "God, you are so annoying."

I could hear the delight in his voice. "Just keeping things interesting. One hour, then?"

I inhaled and then let out my breath harshly. "Fine. One hour. Nothing more. Also, the whole three-strike thing and you having full power isn't something I like."

There was silence. "You don't like the fact that I would have full power over you for a whole hour?" Mockery and amusement could not have been more clear in those words.

I crossed my legs. "No. I don't."

A chair creaked again and he sighed. "Alright. Let's spin those words a bit. You have to listen to me for a whole hour."

"As in, do what you say?"

An image of him grinning into the phone came into my head. "Precisely."

I thought for a moment, my options spinning in my head. I brought a hand up and adjusted my necklace. "Fine," was all I said. I needed to end this conversation and get to work quickly. I could deal with the issue when I was presented with it. "I'm going to hang up now."

"Oh and, Bellona?" His voice became serious. "Don't wear those contacts."

The line went dead.

"Ma'am, we're here."

I stared at the phone, confused. Don't wear those contacts? Those bloody things stung. Apart from me wanting to go with the pain and put on the contacts, just to spite him. But I knew if I wore them, I wouldn't see myself.

I'd see Maria.

I paid the driver and exited the car, going up to the floral shop where a senior woman was tending to her flowers. The bell rang above me and she turned. She froze, then I saw her shoulders relax, her hand coming to her chest. "Whenever I see you, it just takes a second for my eyes to adjust."

I didn't say anything, only nod. I set my bag down on the floor. "Did you get what I asked?"

She hurried over and rounded her desk. She pulled a box from underneath it and set it on the counter. It was small, probably only half an inch in width, and was the size just big enough to fit papers in, lying flat. She opened it. "This is all that I have been able to gather in the months after Maria's... departure."