Shark of Spades

Who I Am To Be

"No, seriously," Evan insisted, pulling away from me and narrowing his eyes. "What did you mean about people sneaking into your room?"

"Nothing. It was a joke," I tried before realizing that there was no way for either of us to lie to the other. "It's nothing. He doesn't matter."

"Misa."

"What?"

"Don't tell me that you have a boyfriend," Evan said, crossing his arms as I got up and walked away from him to get a distraction in the form of a  glass of water.

"No way, idiot. How stupid do you think I am? Like I'd go around waving an 'I Am Female!' banner. Grow up, Evan."

Evan was apparently not going to take no for an answer. He came up behind me and took the glass out of my hand. "Misa. Tell me who it is."

I snatched the glass of water back before meeting his eyes. "Seriously, Evan? You know I wouldn't risk my safety for some thrill-of-the-moment  kid. Get real. Or do you just not trust me at all?"

He sighed exasperatedly. "Misa, it's not that I don't trust and fully believe you, but I don't care what he is to you. I don't like him already."

"You're my brother. Why would you like anyone? We're the least social people I know." Before he could protest, I pointed at him. "Evan, you faked your own death. Now tell me that you have friends."

He glared at me. "Just tell me who it is."

"Not your problem."

"It is if someone's breaking into your room in the middle of the night."

"What, have you been waiting all these years just to pull the jealous brother card? Damn, I'm so touched," I muttered dryly, sitting and taking a sip of water. "Besides, you already know him."

Evan frowned. "Who are you talking about? Be a little more specific."

"He's a friend of yours."

He thought for a few moments. "The only friend I had that knew about you was Aaron." He glared at the ceiling corner. "That bastard, I told him  to protect you, not flirt with you."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, he's not doing either."

"What do you mean?"

"For one, I shot him twice, so there's clearly no relationship happening from that, and now he's dead. In no way are those two circumstances related," I added quickly, not wanting to be blamed for the wishy-washy  kid's death.

"Aaron's dead?" he asked, and I felt a little bad about it. But not much.

"That's what Jack told me."

"How do you know about Jack?" Evan asked me, dead serious.

"I don't know. We were rooming together for a while, gambling in the day and crashing in the night. Or vice versa. Then we went on the run for a bit. He told me all about you. And then I left him for the second time. He's probably  still out there somewhere, looking for me. Oh, and he's the guy I was talking about," I said indifferently, taking note of Evan's reactions.  "Evan, why do you look slightly terrified?"

"Why did you end up rooming with Jack? How'd he find you?" he asked, grabbing my upper arms like I might flee.

"Relax, Evan. Nothing ever happened, although he knows I'm a girl. Besides, didn't you tell him to take care of me when I showed up?"

Evan's eyes were wide, but they weren't focused on me. They were somewhere else,  processing information and trying to find the next ten steps in the pattern. That was what made Evan so good at cards, and life in general.  He was wicked smart (when he had the motivation to be). "No, Misa. I  never told him about you."

I moved back from him, equally alarmed. "Then what about the file? Did you really send that to him?"

Evan's eyes were still distant, but he was focused in enough to reply. "The file? Why would I give it to him?"

"Because you guys were working together? Because you were gathering information  about the camps and enlisted his help because his sister had been one of the girls taken from the country?"

Evan finally clicked back in  place, making eye contact with me and trying not to look a little scared by hiding it with his I'm-pissed face, which I didn't think was fake, either. "That might be true, but I have no way of knowing."

"Wait a second. If you know who he is and worked with him, then...why..."

"Misa, I played cards with him because I was investigating him. I don't know what he told you, but it's all lies. The reason I faked my death was because of him, Misa. So, no, he doesn't have the file."

"Then who does?" I asked, hating this conversation more and more, and not because I'd just found out Jack's betrayal. He hadn't mattered to me,  anyway.

Evan sighed, easing back on the bed and making that  Please-don't-hate-me-because-I-accidentally-poisoned-your-cat look. "You do."

I laughed uneasily. "Evan, I'm pretty sure I'd know if I was in the ownership of a file of that magnitude."

"Not  if I embedded it in your arm as a microchip," he said painfully, wincing and waiting for me to kill him (for real this time).

"The hell," I muttered, taking a larger sip of water. "I'm reporting you for privacy violation."