“So, you and ‘the Supervisor’”—she’d noted the change from him calling her Kalico—“can talk about me. But you and I can’t talk about her? Clap-trapping hell, what is it about that bargain that just doesn’t seem fair, balanced, or equitable?”

“She can order me to never see you again,” Desch almost pleaded.

Allison dropped to the bed, took his hand, let her gaze bore into his. “Desch, I can walk over to the door, give a whistle, and have Kalen Tompzen manhandle you right out the back and into the alley. All I have to say is ‘Desch never sets foot in this place again,’ and you won’t.”

“Ah, shit.” He made a face.

“Fact is, I’ll miss you. I like you. I enjoy the intimacy, the small talk, and the sex. Especially the sex. You’re a good lover, considerate and talented. But mostly, I’ll miss you for being you. The fact that when we’re together, we just relax and enjoy spending time.”

“Sounds like pretty good reasons not to have me thrown out, wouldn’t you say?”

She snorted through her nose. “Not when I think that you’re only here, only in my bed, because you’re Kalico Aguila’s spy. And, truth be told, after Dan compromised Kalen Tompzen, I wouldn’t put it past Aguila to retaliate in kind.” She let her eyes frost. “God, Desch. Is that what this is all about? Why you came back? So that Kalico could get—”

“No!”

“That really makes me a fool, doesn’t it?” she adopted a whisper, letting her eyes go absent.

“Shit on a shoe, how’d this go so bad?” Desch wondered, dropping his face into his hands. Through his fingers, he added, “She knows I have a thing for you. I asked her. Pleaded with her, that I could come back. Made the promise that I’d never divulge anything to you that Dan could use against her. You know how they were? His threat to poison her, her retaliatory threat to blow up The Jewel. Made with my backpack!”

She let her voice warm the slightest bit. “I know. I know.”

A beat.

“But Dan’s gone.”

She pulled his hands away, tugging on them. “Here. Look at me. That’s it. Now, pay attention. I have no plans to do anything detrimental to Kalico. Nothing. Like you, I respect the hell out of her. Further, I want, I need Corporate Mine to prosper.”

She could see the confusion in his eyes as he asked, “Why are you telling me this?”

She bit her lip, let him see her thinking it over. Said, “She won’t believe me. Like you just mentioned, there’s history between her and The Jewel. But I’m not Dan. I mean it when I say if something might compromise Kalico, you tell me. I’ll do what I can to help.”

“Why?”