Aria let out a dry, nervous chuckle.
She stood up from the narrow mattress. She stretched her stiff limbs, her joints popping softly.
"I promised him a reward," Aria confessed, walking over to her bedside table.
Zoe's eyes instantly lit up. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
"Ooh," Zoe wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "What kind of reward? Something kinky? Did you buy out a La Perla catalogue?"
Aria plucked a thick, damp makeup-removing towelette from a plastic packet on the table. "I hope so."
Zoe furrowed her brows, the excited grin faltering slightly. "What do you mean you hope so?"
Aria scrubbed the towelette aggressively across her cheek, wiping away the thick layer of white setting powder and the grey, hollow contour Zoe had painted on her.
"I mean," Aria said, looking at her half-pale, half-flushed face in the small mirror on the wall, "that I am currently flying blind. I'm still working on it. A good idea hasn't exactly come to me yet."
