“I told you the plan wasn’t going to work-”

“Yes, I get it. You were right,” Grey groans in frustration.

The room we’re being held in is pitch black so I can’t locate exactly where his voice is coming from.

“Did you just admit I was right? Say it again, slowly. I wanna cherish it,” I smile.

“Yeah right. Not after that statement,” I can practically feel him roll his eyes at me when he lets out a harsh laugh. Immediately I hear him wince.

“You alright?” My tone turns serious.

He had taken a knife to his lower abdomen — a spot that wouldn’t lead to immediate death but definitely hurts like hell. When the enemy had captured us, they did a sloppy job of cleaning it up.

“Could be better. I think I’ve lost too much blood.”

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you don’t pass out,” I add.

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Relax, you just need a distraction from the pain. Believe it or not, I would really prefer you didn’t die,” I sigh.

“Funny, just four hours ago you were aiming a gun at my head for being annoying and now you seem to actually care?”

“Okay, you need a distraction because you are getting cranky from all that blood loss. So how about some good old Truth Or Dare? Huh? Bring back some good memories?” I suggest.

“We’ve never played Truth Or Dare together.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about good memories with you.”

“I’m going to ignore that. But how exactly would we do the ‘dare’ part of the game, Nicolette?”

“Fair point. How about we just ask each other questions and the other has to answer truthfully?”

“Okay, you start,” I hear him relax his head against the wall.

I may not be able to see him but I can practically picture him now. I think of Grey’s hair, as black as the room we are in, and his gorgeous, light blue eyes — what I wouldn’t give to see those eyes right now.

“Why did you take this job?” I decide to ask.

He’s silent for a handful of seconds before saying: “Emerson found me on the streets like most of the other recruits. She promised I would receive combat training, three meals a day, and a sturdy roof over my head,” I hear him sigh as if considering whether or not he should continue. “But she said she would never promise my happiness. I guess that convinced me because I knew she was telling the truth. That’s better than most people these days.”

“Well. Now you’re a trained assassin at age seventeen with a stab wound in your abdomen.”

He lets out a pained laugh. “Yeah, but it’s better than starving in the streets.”

“I suppose…”

“What about you? What convinced you to get this job?”

“Bad people were taking over our country. Getting paid to kill them didn’t seem like a terrible idea.”

He hummed in agreement.

“Ask me a different question. You just repeated mine so it doesn’t count.”

“What’s your biggest fear?”

“Hard pass,” I say immediately, “Don’t need you sharing that around the compound.”

“I won’t tell a soul, I promise,” when I don’t say anything he continues, “You’ll trust me to lead you into a battlefield with a plan you knew would fail yet you won’t tell me what you’re scared of?”

I press my now sweaty palms to my thigh, “I should’ve known this game would suck.”

There’s that laugh again.

I think for a moment, deciding if I should say anything, “Vulnerability.“

“So, like those nightmares of being naked at school? That kind of thing?”

“No, it’s… it’s stupid. I just don’t like knowing people have an advantage over me. Like at any moment someone will do the unexpected and I’ll be defenseless. It’s terrifying.”

He’s silent for a while before saying, “Wow. Sounds like you got some issues.”

“You know what? I knew I shouldn’t have said anything,” I shut my eyes.

“So,” he hesitates for a millisecond, “what about falling in love? That makes you pretty vulnerable.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“You get even more depressing by the second.”

“Gee, thanks, Grey. You ever been in love?”

“I have,” he says it so casually I almost miss it.

“You gonna elaborate?”

“I’ll tell you all about it once we get out of this mess,” he chuckles lightly.

I laugh without humour. I lied. I have been in love, and it terrifies me.

His name was Grey.