The Gender Game Bella Forrest (best young adult book series TXT) 📖

"You have my number, right? Just let me know if you decide to drop Violet back at lunchtime, or if she'll stay with you until the end of the day. See how it goes."

Viggo nodded.

"See you, then," Lee said before returning to his motorbike and riding away.

Viggo and I stared at each other.

"So, uh…" He nodded up the road, to our right. "My transport's that way."

My mouth dry, I followed him up the busy road to where he'd left his motorcycle. He had me sit on the seat first, and I was relieved to feel my fingers curve around a metal bar at the base of the seat, meaning I didn't have to clutch Viggo for dear life as we roared into the road.

We wound our way deeper into the center of town—not far away from the alleyway where I'd bumped into him the other night—and he parked on a street lined with shops.

"This way," he muttered, jerking his head further up the road.

He stalked forward, and I hurried to match his pace. After allowing the two of us a couple of minutes of silence, I asked, "So what does your day actually consist of as a warden?" I was genuinely curious. I wondered what the similarities were between the jobs of wardens here and in Matrus.

Viggo's eyes remained straight ahead of us. "Various things," he said vaguely. "During the daytime, there aren't usually a lot of incidents. It's on night shifts when things tend to get more… disordered."

"Disordered in what way?" I asked him.

"This city is at a junction with the mountains. There's a whole mix of guys who pass through, many of them of the opinion that they are above rules. We watch mostly for thieves, illegal substance dealers, traffickers, and of course… potential strays." Here, he glanced my way.

"What do you do with 'strays' if you find them?" I asked.

"It's our job to keep them off the streets," he said, turning a corner. "Those we find are taken to Gerter House—a shelter on the other side of town—before reintegration is attempted. Having them roaming the city merely makes it a target for the exact kind of men we work to keep out."

"Which are…?"

"The dregs from Porteque, basically." He seemed to sense my questioning stare as he added, "A spread of towns in the mountains, further west."

"Oh." Gerter House. I hadn't known they had an official shelter for women. I guessed they had to put them somewhere though, especially if Matrus didn’t accept them—the Patrus-born females. "What causes women to become strays in the first place?"

"They're mostly runaways."

"And how are they reintegrated?" I ventured. I was aware that we were skirting a sensitive topic.

He paused as we approached a road. He looked left and right before herding me across it to the other side. "The first step is to find out where they came from, who their guardian is. Once that's discovered, a team identifies the reason for their wandering. If they ran away like most, they're returned with a cautionary warning. If the issue is more complex, like abandonment, then… well, some women grow old in Gerter House," he finished with a grim clench of his jaw.

That was depressing.

We lapsed into silence as we continued Viggo's route through the city. His eyes were sharp as a hawk's as he glanced around. I noticed the way others responded to his gaze, quickly averting their attention and continuing about their business. Though many of them lingered on me a little longer. Maybe they thought I was a stray who'd been caught.

With Viggo's popularity in fights at night, and his constant appearance around the city during the day, I imagined he was kind of a celebrity here in Patrus. As childish as it was, it made me feel kind of special to be walking with him.

"What made you want to be a warden?" I asked.

"It matched my skillset," he replied shortly.

He was probably wishing I didn't talk this much.

"Like I told you, I fancied myself as a warden back in Matrus," I went on regardless. "Even sneaked to a few defense lessons when I was younger, and when I had the time. Just never got the opportunity to follow through on the dream."

"I've never set foot in Matrus," he replied, "but in Patrus, the novelty soon wears off."

"Why's that?" I asked, recalling Lee's story that Viggo had retired from the force even before his wife had been sentenced.

"It's called life," he replied dryly. "Things lose their shine when you get too close to them."

I sensed there was a deeper resentment over his work as a warden than he was letting on. But I let it go.

"So… you've never visited Matrus, not even once?" I asked.

"The furthest I've ever gotten is its dock."

"And you've never been curious to visit?"

"No."

I blew out. "So… you're working a job you don't like. You apparently live by yourself in the mountains… What's your game plan?" I asked.

"Game plan?"

"What are you working for? What gets you out of bed in the morning?"

"I have obligations," he replied curtly.

"Do you have any family?"

He shook his head. "None to speak of."

"I guess I wonder what motivates you to take on extra work," I dared say. "My husband told me you're also a fighter."

He grimaced. "If you must know, I'm not getting paid for my time as a warden, nor will I for the next two and a half years. I earn my money through fights. As for my 'game plan', once the years are up I plan to buy a larger patch of land, further away from the city."

He was obviously expecting me to ask next why he was acting as a warden without pay. I avoided the subject, since that was too close to his wife for comfort, and I already knew the answer.

"Why do you want to live so far away from everyone?" I asked.

"I just do."

His answers were becoming increasingly short, so I figured I'd give him a break from questions. I didn't want to annoy