Psychic

53. Dealings

Reno and Rai returned to the street where they had met Dallas. They intended to see if Kiyo or Roxanne were nearby observing the damage.

The part of the street with the most damage was blocked off to civilians. The people were crowded at the stanchions with soldiers standing behind it to ensure no one crossed. Down the street, soldiers were collecting the debris into the backs of trucks.

Rai could see who she assumed was the owner of the bait store. He was an older man standing in front of it, gesturing to it dramatically. Rai could hear him yelling to a solider standing behind him, writing things down. She could not understand his words over the talk of the fight in the crowd around her.

Reno was studying the people around them. He kept seeing heads in the crowd turn to him as they spoke to the person beside them. He thought that it might have bothered him if he cared about them. His only concern was how Rai would feel about what they were saying. He was not sure she would continue to support him when faced with the objections of others.

Rai approached the stanchion and Reno laid his hand on her shoulder, gripping it slightly. "What?" She looked over it at him.

"I know what you're thinking. Don't do it."

"But if I just... explain things?"

"So he can blame you personally? Don't bother. Your guy's over there. Let him deal with it."

"My guy?" she repeated turning to the store again.

Reno lowered his face over her shoulder, whispering, "your soldier. They could be yours, you know."

"I don't want them and I don't want anything to do with them."

"I know." He slid his hand from her shoulder down to her hand. "Think about it though. If they were yours, you could have them fix that guy's place today. That soldier's going to take inventory of the most valuable things broken. The owner should receive that gold eventually but he could also never get a thing. You could make sure that he does."

Rai's eyes closed halfway and moved in the direction of Reno's voice. She turned herself around completely and he could see the suspicion on her face. "And you give a shit for some reason?"

He shrugged, "nah, I don't care what happens to him."

Her head tilted up slightly and her brow furrowed instantly. "Of course not because helping him wouldn't do you any good."

"That's why I'm telling you," he admitted looking down at the street to his side. "There's a lot of people like me and not enough people like you. If you were in charge, you could change shit."

"Most people aren't assholes."

"True but they don't have the ability to make any actual change either."

"Why are you telling me this if you don't care?"

"I don't care about them but I care about you. I think if you don't do the good you think you could have, you might regret it."

"Yeah, probably." Rai saw Lestat standing at the far back of the crowd. When he saw that she noticed him, he motioned for her to come.

They met him at the end of the street. He already seemed irritated. "Kiyo and Roxanne came to the hotel so I guess that shit show down the street is your mess." Rai did not bother giving him a response. "I don't know how you expect things to be okay when we take these kids home if you keep making us enemies wherever we go. Did you even find out where the slaves are sold?"