Down to the Bone: Quantum Gravity Book Five Read Free Page B

that was left, giving him a sunglasses-view of a mess of wooden planks and singed
     tarps. In the midst of it Lila stood naked, holding the extinguisher in front of her. The nozzle was pointed at him.
    He read the look on her face as he pulled a splinter out of his hand and raised an eyebrow, daring her.
    Cold, wet froth covered his face and chest, then his naked crotch. He heard her laughing – the carefree, mischievous laugh
     of the pixies – and leapt forward at the same moment. She was hard to catch off guard but he did wrest the canister away from
     her and dance off with it far enough to give a good blast on her butt as she darted away, shrieking and dancing over bits
     of engine without treading on a single one.
    When the foam ran out they were in the midst of a wobbling white hillock, splattering each other with huge handfuls of soapy
     film, using great, cartoonish knockdown throws that gave the softest kiss to wherever it landed. Zal’s trousers had become
     sodden legwarmers around his boots.
    As he looked down at himself, Lila got a double handful and dumped it on his head, mashing it well into his hair and ears.
     Cold trickles of run-off showered out across his face as he looked up at her.
    He raised his fist and shook it at her threateningly.
    She scooped up some ammunition but he made a dive for her legs instead, caught her around the hips and they both slipped and
     went down hard into the mound of foam. He heard the breath shoot out ofher but both of them were too tough to care about a thump onto some dirty concrete. They wrestled, limbs slip-sliding against
     each other. It was a struggle but eventually she got the best of him and he found himself on his back with his arms pinned
     by a single hand of hers above his head. A triumphant look made her face radiant. In her free hand she held a mountain of
     white.
    ‘Give me one reason not to.’
    ‘Uhh . . .’ He stared at her breasts, dripping with suds. ‘You like me too much?’
    ‘Right,’ she said, sitting down on his pelvis and letting up on his hands a little before smushing the lot right into his
     face.
    He spat the horrible taste out, blowing, after she let up. ‘Okay, okay! You win.’
    ‘Say it again?’
    ‘You win.’
    In a flash she was gone, standing over him. He ignored the hand she held down to him and got up, spitting and shaking his
     head.
    ‘For now,’ he added. ‘Come here.’
    ‘The winner doesn’t come here.’
    ‘She does,’ he said more firmly and grabbed her.
    The foam cut out conduction between them. They were just bodies this time and they took longer about it. The garage had an
     old, pitiful shower stall and toilet in one corner of its office and they used that to clean up in, though there was only
     a trickle of icy water until Lila siphoned it through her arm to make a warm jet. Zal threw his trouser legs in her rag bucket
     and tipped water out of his boots. His shirt was the only thing left and it was soaking. He wrung it out hard and put it back
     on. Then he felt cold. The scrapes on his knees and elbows stung. He went out and found Lila wriggling into a lilac spaghetti-strapped
     evening gown that clung to her figure as if it was designer cut. For the first time he forgave the faery for her position,
     though it was a temporary arrangement. She was still on parole as far as he was concerned. He held up his arms.
    ‘Great, you can go eat at the finest restaurants now and I can sell myself for fifteen bucks on the strip.’
    She shook her head. ‘Twenty at least, have you no pride?’ But she paused and retrieved the trousers, stitching them up roughly
     and quickly. Needles flashed in and out of her fingers, thread spooled spiderlike from their trailing ends. They were still
     wet but they were wearable. ‘That’ll work until you get home.’
    He dragged his boots back on and pushed his dripping hair out of his face. He didn’t conceal his disappointment. ‘You’re not
     coming with me?’
    She