Chapter 17 - Trust

"Cyra wanted me to request your presence this evening to find the man from the photo." Natalia said, finally breaking what felt like hours of silence but were actually mere minutes. Up until then the only noise was from the ever-so faint hum of the car when it switched gears. "Doesn't this girl listen to music?" Clara had thought but didn't ask. Instead she sat awkwardly trying to think of something to talk about. Clara was actually quite surprised that it was Natalia who spoke first. She did not foresee Natalia even bothering to try to make an attempt at a conversation with her at all.

"Oh um, yeah sure. I'll be at his place at sun down, you can count on me." Clara tried her best to show forced politeness but failed miserably. She was in her head too much about Natalia and it was starting to mess with her. She hated that she cared what Natalia thought of her and she was annoyed at herself for trying so hard to impress the girl. She wasn't exactly used to people not liking her, at least not for any good reason.

"Will you be at Cyra's too?" Clara asked, this time more relaxed.

"At MY house?" Natalia answered with a slight chuckle. "Yes Clara, I will be at my house." Natalia looked at Clara like she had two heads.

Clara sat quietly trying to understand what Natalia was telling her. She frowned in silence for a moment before she spoke again.

"Your house? You... you live with Cyra?" She swallowed hard.

"Yes, there is a guest house on his property that I live in whenever he is hired for a specially dangerous job that he would need me near by for, or if needs my talents." Natalia winked. "I have 6 other flats in varying countries as well."

"Are you ..." Clara began.

"Am I in the business of espionage? Is that what you were going to ask? I get that often." Natalia smiled. "Maybe I am, but if I told you then I'd have to kill you!" She teased.

Clara laughed nervously. She thought perhaps Natalia was joking but since Cyra had said the same thing earlier, she was starting to think that neither were joking after all. She did however appreciate that Natalia was being so open and chatty with her.

"Actually, I was going to ask if you and Cyra... well have you ever... I mean, do you...are you..." Clara stumbled on her words.

"Do we hump?" Natalia helped finish Clara's sentence.

Clara's face turned as red as a tomato. "Im sorry! That isn't any of my business, just forget it. Ok?" she answered smiling nervously.

"Don't worry, we don't hump. I am strictly professional. Understand that my job is to get close to men and make them vulnerable. I charm them into telling me secrets, trusting me, and... after I get what I need... sometimes kill them. If I have sex with my boss, he might think I am charming him or trying to manipulate him like I do my targets. That's also why I am callous with him, it's for the best."

Clara pondered Natalia's words for awhile. "That actually makes perfect sense. You're very clever you know. And I was just curious any ways, pfft I don't care who Cyra sleeps with" Clara waved off Natalia and laughed. She looked down at a loose string on her shirt and picked at it, avoiding Natalia's eyes.

"Oh?" Natalia inquired. "Do the two of you have a...", she smiled slyly and put her hand on Clara's knee seductively, "open relationship?"

Clara sucked in a breath. "We aren't in any sort of relationship actually." Clara knew that Natalia was trying to get information and she was not going to crack.

"Not in a relationship? Then why we're you two kissing when I pulled up?"

Clara hadn't realized that they were no longer driving and were parked under a tree. She turned to look around to figure out where they were but Natalia guided Clara's face to hers.

"We weren't... ki ki kissing" Clara stuttered. "We were... just talking."

"Talking?" Natalia raised an eyebrow.
Suddenly Natalia was out of her seat and straddling Clara. "Is this how friends talk?" She quickly lowered the seat and put her face close to Clara's. "Because this is what you were doing when I seen you. Is this how you usually talk to your friends?" Natalia was mere centimeters away from her face. "I don't enjoy being lied to."

"OK! OK!" Clara shrieked. She threw Natalia off of her and adjusted her clothes. "Gesh, now I know why Cyra hired you. You are very efficient in getting information." Clara mumbled, flustered and irritated. Natalia furrowed her eyebrows impatiently but waited for Clara to proceed.

"You're right. We weren't just talking. But it was a mistake, a lapse in judgment. You aren't the only charming one, Cyra has a way of getting me to let my guard down every time. I know he's trouble. And I know he'd use me for his own gain if the chance ever came up. But when I'm alone with him it makes my brain fuzzy and confused, like there's static in there. Maybe it's the moon gem's power, pulling me towards him. Or maybe he's just a master manipulator. But I don't want to be victim to his charm."

"Yes, Cyra can be very charming." Natalia agreed. "But he is also very dedicated to his friends. He doesn't trust most people but the ones he does have his loyalty forever. You need to be sure you are deserving of that kind of loyalty. Figure out what you want and don't dare play games that you cannot win. My job is to protect Cyra over anything else, I will end you if need be." The threat in her voice was menacing and Natalia began driving again. Well, there goes any chance of becoming friends.

They sat in silence for the remainder of drive. Clara kept thinking about Natalia's words... and her accent. "Stupid sexy accent." She muttered.

When they arrived at Clara's apartment it felt like months since she was there. She looked over her shoulder and watched Natalia get into the car that Cyra was trailing them in and drive off. She only had a few hours of normalcy before they would be back out there, fighting crime like cheesy superhero comic book characters.

She closed the door and went to her room in search of her phone.

She quickly dialed Emily. "Finally! I thought you died." The familiar voice was like a glass of cool water to Clara. Clara remembered the broken glass in the kitchen and headed that way, a smile plastered on her face.

"I'm very much alive and well, thanks." Glass scraped against the floor as she swept away all evidence of what happened the other night.

"You must be more than just well if you are barely getting home! We're you with your boy toy this whole time girl?!"

Clara rolled her eyes. "CYRA, his name is Cyra and he's not my boy toy."

"Whatever, so did you kiss him? Did you do... other things!?" Emily squealed so loud that Clara had to remove the phone from her ear.

"No! Ok look, I spent the night but I had a logical explanation! I accidentally ripped my dress while we were... hanging out... and since his place was the closest we went there and he lent me some clothes. It got late so I just stayed there. That's all." Clara explained, tossing the glass shards into the trash.

"Mm hm... sure Claire. Look, if you don't want to tell me about your new crush, it's fine..."

Clara sighed and plopped on the couch. "It's not that Em. There's just not really anything to report other than he's charming and well, I don't really know him that well yet. Sometimes he seems sweet but most times I have a hard time trusting him."

"You never trust anyone Claire. You deserve to be happy with someone. Love is a beautiful thing, don't blow it!" Emily whined, dreamily.

"You need to stop reading romance novels." Clara said dryly. "Well, I'm seeing him again tonight. We are going to meet some... uh, friends. So I better get in the shower now."

"Wear that perfume I got you for your birthday! Oh! And don't forget to shave your legs! And breath mints, you definitely need to pack some breath mints in your purse!"

"Oh my gosh I'm hanging up now. I'll see you tomorrow."

She leaned further into the couch. "Ugh that's right, tomorrow is a school day." Technically today was a school day too but tomorrow she'd have to return to school and act like none of these crazy events have happened. It seemed so unimportant right now.

She went into her bathroom cabinet and eyed a bottle of headache relieving medication. She reached for the pill bottle but paused on a red glass bottle of perfume. She sighed and grabbed both.