Free Skin by Kate Krake Page B

it. Concentrating on any change in the sound of the running
shower that meant he’d be coming out, I opened the door, half
expecting a wail of alarm sounds to start ringing as soon as I
stepped inside.
    It was a tiny
room just like the rest of them, with a mirror, a few wall hooks
and a wooden bench. Darius wouldn’t have been able to turn around
in here. A gym bag lay unzipped on the bench. A towel, a t-shirt,
an empty water bottle, all very normal. What was I looking for? Any
sign that said he was still or even once married to Sveta? That was
stupid. Something, anything that would prove he was nothing near a
Natural. I moved the towel with the tip of my finger and saw a
white pill container. The shower sound continued. Presto.
    There was no
branding on the container, just a while label with a hand written
scribble. OEMBNB93. I was just about to open it when I heard voices
coming into the change rooms. I slid the pill bottle back into the
bag and replaced the towel. Whatever this was, it was certain proof
Darius was no Natural man, and judging by the off label packaging,
it was likely black market and illegal and definitely not a
headache tablet. I slipped out of the cubicle and stepped straight
into Darius.
    “ Can I
help you?” he growled.
    “ You can
help us all by not leaving the shower running when you’re not in
there. Water isn’t free you know.”
    Darius
sneered.
    “ What
are you doing in my cubicle?”
    “ My job.
I’m the cleaner, remember. Just making it nice for you, big guy.” I
patted his chest as patronisingly as I could manage, It felt like I
was patting steel. He didn’t move as I stepped past him.
    “ I’ve
seen you all come and go before,” he said. “And I’ll see the next
one come after you. Just be ready.”
    “ Every
champion falls eventually,” I said, matching him straight in the
eye. “I might not be the one who needs a warning to be
ready.”
     
    The usual
arena crowd was starting to gather around the floor and I slipped
through the crowd looking for Sveta. I found her sitting on a swing
like contraption, reading something on her phone. It was unusual to
see her alone in this place, usually she was swamped by people,
hangers on, people wanting to be close to her. People wanting what
she was offering me. I sat down next to her without asking for an
invitation.
    “ So, I
hear you were married once?”
    Sveta did not
look away from her phone and kept her long finger swiping across
the screen.
    “ To
Darius,” I added.
    “ I know
who I was married to,” she said. “Does that bother you?”
    “ I’m not
sure,” I said.
    “ Does it
bother you more that I was married to someone or that I was married
to Darius?”
    I
wasn ’t sure about that either. I didn’t
reply.
    “ Have
you seen this?” she asked, holding her phone out. It was a picture
of Victoria smiling with a bunch of women I didn’t know. It looked
like they were out in a club or bar somewhere, obviously drinking
and having a great time. I passed the phone back.
    “ What is
that?”
    “ Your
girlfriend’s Funchat account. It looks like she’s having quite a
bit of fun.”
    “ OK, but
why are you looking at it?”
    Sveta
shrugged. “Isn’t that what it’s for? Isn’t that why
she’s putting this stuff online? So people—and I’m guessing
specifically you, judging by her recent updates about being stood
up—can see what a great life she's living. I’m simply giving the
girl what she wants—a witness.”
    “ These
are all happening now?” Our plans together tonight, didn’t involve
clubs or women and it wasn’t like Victoria to make sudden
unexpected changes in plans. Sveta passed me the phone and I met
Victoria’s smiling face again, her eyes were tired, turned down a
little at the corners in the way they always did when she’d been
drinking too much, but she did look blissfully happy alright. The
guy I recognised as Brandt Delaney was beside her, pressing his
lips to her cheek with his eyes