Smells Like Trouble (Emma)

There's something different about Kiera lately. I've been watching her for the last two hours while she attempts to sketch out this tattoo of her supposed new suspect. I'm not sure how she got this information, she wouldn't share much which is weird enough, but she's been extra secretive lately. After I caught her and Connor doing the walk of shame I assumed that was it but if anything it's gotten worse since then.

I was worried that she'd be upset over what David said about me not learning my lesson about getting involved with cops on Saturday night. Knowing I hadn't told her about being involved with that stupid gang all those years ago has been eating away at me for years. I'd expected her to blow a gasket when she'd found out or even when David had just hinted at it. Instead, she'd walked away from it all as if nothing was different.

Truthfully, I'd been expecting to have to explain it all to her the moment she rushed to my side at that club. Dastan's reaction only made it more likely that Kiera was going to question what was actually going on but she didn't even react. I know Dastan finds it weird too, he was the only person I told when I started hacking for The Diamond Snakes. He'd told me not to but I'd needed the money.

My mom had been working two jobs back then, neither of them good, I'd just decided to go to NYU with Kiera and I didn't have the tuition money. I knew that if I'd just mentioned it to Peter or Haider it would've been taken care of but they'd done so much for me, I didn't want to take advantage. It wasn't very smart but I figured that if I came up with the cash on my own I'd be able to afford it. So, I'd taken a low level hacking job that I'd found online in some obscure chat room.

The whole thing started out innocently enough, just hacking local business data bases and private servers. Usually, it was just business that owed The Diamond Snakes money. It seemed reasonable enough. All that was expected of me was providing the information, then Hammer (which is David's gang name) would do the rest; he was their enforcer. As long as I didn't have to see what they did with the information I gave them I could pretend I wasn't doing anything wrong.

Obviously, that didn't last long. The jobs started getting bigger, more risky. I went from hacking the local pizzeria in Greenwich to Wall streets titans. I'd done it anyway, I didn't know what they were doing with the information but I didn't much care when I finally had enough for tuition and I could go to college with Kiera. That was all I wanted; for her, Dastan, Tommy and I to be together again. It was already hard enough with Dastan and Tommy away for most of the year in their Freshman years but if I'd had to get by without Kiera too… I wouldn't have made it.

I finally drew the line when they asked me to hack into the personal investment funds of a bunch of clients at some big financial firm. I could ignore a lot of things but I wasn't about to steal people's futures, I was in this position because my dad was a piece of shit who didn't care enough about me to stick around let alone help my mom plan for my future. I refused, needless to say they didn't like that. They'd sent David to make threats to scare me into doing it. That's when I went to Dastan.

He'd been livid, understandably. I made him promise not to tell anyone and he agreed. But then they'd roughed him up pretty bad when he'd tried to talk David down. At that point, we'd gone to Haider, he'd made it go away but it came at a cost. A steep cost, one that none of us had expected to pay. Arguably, we should have told Kiera then. It affected her more than any of us but I'd been too afraid that she'd hate me.

I was a coward and then she and Dastan broke up and he left for London a week later. Haider was so focused on finding the guy that'd hurt Kiera's family he didn't think to talk to her about The Diamond Snakes either. By that point, it was too late to bring it up. All of our lives had changed irrevocably. She'd been having memory issues and I didn't want to add on so I just let it be. After a while, I assumed it wouldn't ever come up again and I didn't, until two days ago.

Dastan's appearance in the doorway of my apartment startles me out of my trip down memory lane. He's shaking the rain water out of his dark hair and pulling his black coat off, making little dark spots on my floor. I shoot to my feet grabbing the roll of paper towels from the kitchen on my way.

"You've been here less than a minute and you've already made a mess," I chastise while stooping to the ground in front of him and moping up the water. He snorts, and ruffles my hair as he steps past me and further into my apartment.

"I can't help the weather, Em." He kicks his sneakers to the corner, padding further into the room with sock covered feet his eyes on Kiera the entire time. She doesn't look up but she's staring at her sketch so hard if I didn't know better I'd think she was trying to set it on fire with her eyes. Sheesh, these two… it's like no matter how much time passes, it's always the same.

"You hungry?" I ask, heading into the kitchen to get the take out containers. He follows me, pretending he wasn't just gawking at Kiera and plops himself into the stool he sat in last time. He takes up so much room at the counter, I can't see Kiera on the couch behind him. But that also means she can't see me. I take advantage of the opportunity, making a face at Dastan and shooting my eyes in Kiera's direction then making a question gesture behind the takeout container. He raises a brow in askance before shrugging his massive shoulders. Helpful, Dastan, thanks for that. I give him an unimpressed look.

"Hey, maybe Dastan can help you with your tattoo dilemma," oh yeah, that definitely got both of their attention. Kiera's head shoots up a look of terror painted across her face. Dastan's head swings around in shock and now they're just watching each other. I slide the container into Dastan's hands and slink around the counter into the seat next to him. My work here is done. I'm so through watching them dance around whatever the hell is happening here. It's not like we're all blind, we see it and I know they do too. It's about time we made a step and I don't really care if its in a positive or negative direction; at this point I'll be happy so long as we're moving.

He looks down at it then back at Kiera and then does something none of us, including him I think, expects. He goes over to the single couch I have in my living room. The one couch that Kiera currently occupies, her lanky frame sprawled across the cushions. My apartment is just big enough to fit the one piece of furniture and a TV, it's always driven Kiera nuts because 'What if you have guests?' and 'Having only one couch is weird, Em!' But unlike her apartment with it's mismatched set of couches and armchairs with two billion decorative pillows I just find the whole notion frivolous.

That probably says a lot about the differences between the two of us. Kiera's always been flighty and impulsive, chasing whatever new whim her mind fixates on, she's unnecessary and fatuous. I, on the other hand, have always valued order and rules, I'm the one who fixes the messes these two make, pragmatic and sagacious.

I watch wonderstruck as he scoops her feet off the cushion where they're resting, plants himself in their place and then promptly drops them back into his lap, laying his takeout container on her shins. What did I just see? Kiera just sits there, her cyan eyes huge in her pale face and her mouth gapping open just slightly. I would laugh if I didn't totally agree with the sentiment. "So, you're thinking about getting a tattoo?" Dastan asks while absently popping open the container, the smell of shrimp fried rice wafting to me, filling the small living space with the scent of spices.

"Y-yeah," she stutters then seems to gather herself and says more firmly, "Yeah, I am." I catch Dastan's look of disbelief. I don't blame him. Kiera's never shown interest in tattoos, he looks at me briefly and then goes back to his food.

"What are you thinking of getting?" he asks using his fork to gesture at the page in front of her. "Lemme see bub." The natural manner in which he just tosses in her childhood nickname, as if this is totally ordinary makes me think he's playing at something here. She seems to think so too judging from the look she gives me before turning her sketch around.

Dastan's fork stops just before his mouth, suspended in midair while he stares at her sketch. Kiera's always been good at art but I doubt that's what he's reacting too. He knows something. "That's huge!" he gives an uneasy chuckle. Uh-huh definitely hiding something, "Where would you even put that?" he raises a brow giving her petite frame a cursory glance.

"Haven't decide yet," she rushes out. "So, do you know anyone who could do this?" she's trying and failing to keep that desperate note out of her voice and I see how his ears perk up at the sound. This is why we can't have Dastan around, he reads Kiera way too easily. He clearly knows there's more to this than we're telling him. Let's just pray that he doesn't get it into his head to find out what we're keeping from him.

"With that much intricate detail, and I'm assuming there's probably more because that's just a sketch, There's only a handful of people in the city capable of doing what you're looking for." He says with a forced apathetic shrug. Nice try buddy, I can see the wheels turning in that pretty little head of yours.

"Well, where'd you get yours?"

He doesn't look up from his food, "In London," There's something apprehensive about the way he says it. "But I was looking around at tattoo parlors around here before I left. I think I know someone who might be able to help you. That looks right up his alley."

"Great," she enthuses. "Thanks." She's so obvious about how excited she is over this, I want to tell her to at least try not to sell us out entirely. Maybe he'll just write it off as excitement over her tattoo. One look at the hard line of his jaw, and the stiff set of his shoulders tells me there's no chance in hell of that happening.

There's another forced indifferent gesture, "No problem, I'll take you there when you're free." Ah, and there's his in. He's inserting himself into the situation, making himself necessary for her plans. That smells like trouble.

"No!" she all but shouts and then seems to catch herself. "This is something I'd like to do alone." Nice save Meryl Streep. God, he definitely knows she's hiding something. He just gives her a nod and turns back to his food, she leaves her legs resting across his thighs and goes back to her sketch. The both of them ignoring the fact that they're clearly lying to each other.

It's not that I don't trust Dastan, quite the opposite, he's actually one of the only people I do trust but when it comes to Kiera he works with blinders and we can't afford him snooping. Someone has to take care of the problem Dastan presents and unfortunately, it looks like that someone's going to have to be me.