Chapter 5: What Do You Want

"Three grand for a forfeit?" I said. "That's insane."

Dane didn't even look at me.

"Stay out of it, warden."

"There's no rule that says..."

Jesse's hand touched my back.

Not pushing.

Just there.

"Callie," he said quietly. "Leave it."

Every bone in my body wanted to keep going.

I was very good at keeping going.

I could have made a scene that ended up on four hundred phones.

I closed my mouth.

Jesse turned to Dane.

"It's not three for a forfeit, and we both know it."

Dane smiled with half his face.

"Call it the last payment, then. Monday. Or I come find you."

He put his helmet back on and rolled away.

The crowd closed behind him.

Darcy was already gone.

Jesse picked his helmet up off the asphalt and turned it in his hands.

"What last payment?" I asked.

"It's mine," he said. "Not yours."

"Jesse..."

"I said leave it."

The purple bar crept up.

Ninety-nine point six.

[Careful,] said the System. [You're pushing.]

I knew I was pushing.

I always pushed.

A year ago I'd have looked up Dane Purcell's whole family.

I'd have shown up at their door with a lawyer and a list.

I took a breath.

I made myself stand still in my wet cardigan, with ice melting down my back.

"Okay," I said. "Then can I ask you something else?"

He looked at me warily.

"What do you want to do right now?"

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