Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

splitting the rent three ways made
     it work. Their third roomie was a complete workaholic—hence the likeness to Beth’s
     oldest sister— so they didn’t see her much.
    After she moved in, Beth had realized she wasn’t in as good of shape as she’d thought.
     But stairs made for a cheap workout. She could run up all five flights now. Running
     down them was easy.
    When she hit the sidewalk, Sean’s Beemer was nowhere in sight. He’d be circling the
     block. He hated it when others double-parked, so he wouldn’t do it himself.
    San Francisco was a lot colder than San Diego. Beth set her backpack down and slipped
     on her jacket, but didn’t zip it. That would negate the effect of the sweater. She
     petted the buttery smooth leather and smiled. It was brand-new. A Christmas gift from
     Sean, and if he wanted to believe it was just a friendly way of looking out for her,
     he could go on thinking that…for a little longer, anyway.
    A bicyclist whipped by, legs pumping. Two high school girls hurried across the street.
     An older man and woman walked past, talking about where to eat that night, and a young,
     dark-skinned guy with hair frizzed out to his narrow shoulders stopped, scowled at
     nothing, and turned and went the other way. The supremely well-built if rather homelyman who lived two doors down came out of his building and glanced at his watch. Beth’s
     eyes were busy, keeping track of all of them, as she picked up her backpack.
    The particular flavor of martial art she’d picked was called Bojuka, an amalgamation
     of boxing, jujitsu, and karate. You wore street clothes to practice, not a
gi
, and it was strictly for self-defense, not sport. Bojuka was all about repelling
     an attack, and the first step was learning to stay aware, to spot danger before it
     was on top of you. She was getting better at that.
    One year, one month, and two weeks ago, Beth hadn’t been able to repel any kind of
     attack that went beyond verbal. Snark she could handle. People with guns, knives,
     and muscles that had received a testosterone boost, not so much. She’d been kidnapped
     through magic, but held by brute force to be used against her sister.
    She didn’t want to ever feel that helpless again.
    A shiny black and chrome Beemer turned onto her street at the light. It was a monster
     of a motorcycle, brawny and tough and sleek all at the same time. A lot like its rider.
    Beth’s heart gave a happy little jump as she slipped her backpack on. She couldn’t
     see Sean’s face—the helmet’s visor obscured everything but his jaw and that lovely
     mouth of his. But she didn’t have to. She might not know his body in the thoroughly
     tactile way she wanted to, but she knew the look of it.
    He pulled up to the curb, the Beemer’s motor rumbling like a ton or so of happy cat.
     “Hi, geek boy,” she said, swinging her leg over the seat. “You looking for a good
     time?”
    He flashed her a grin over his shoulder. “Helmet, party girl. We don’t play till the
     protection’s in place.”
    She rolled her eyes but twisted around to unfasten the spare helmet that was hooked
     to the tail. As soon as she’d strapped it on, he took off…slowly. He drove carefully
     when she was aboard, though she had talked him into taking her out of the city and
     opening it up twice.
    Beth slid her arms around Sean’s warm, solid middleand leaned with him as he took the corner. Their class was held in a strip mall a
     good twenty minutes away, so she settled in to enjoy the ride.
    She was glad she’d picked Bojuka in spite of the inconvenient location of the class.
     In spite of the fact that it had been Lily’s recommendation, too. First because she
     had to quit resenting her sister. Both her sisters, really, but she was used to resenting
     Susan. Susan was the oldest, the brain, the good girl, who’d become a doctor and married
     a man with the right kind of ancestors. It was traditional, really, for the younger
     kids in a Chinese family to resent their overachieving eldest sibling, and who was
     she to buck tradition? But Lily…for years, Lily had been the rebel. The one who’d
     disappointed their mother, the target of Julia Yu’s anxiety and nagging. Lily hadn’t
     rebelled by getting in trouble—she was way too straitlaced for that—but by becoming
     a cop. An awesomely good cop. One who went around catching bad guys and saving people,
     and the country, too. One who was supposed to get a medal from the