Red-Head in a Cage

Tommaso

I stalked out of the hotel that night and pulled my coat around me to ward off a sudden breeze. Fucking deserts. The second the sun went down, it was like a whole different climate. But the yelling, crowded streets, and stink of exhaust hadn’t gone anywhere.

Napping proved futile. I didn’t know how I was gonna sleep in that damned bed when I finally had to, but I definitely couldn’t with Paige so close I could touch her. Instead, I spent the afternoon fighting with the hotel wi-fi to find and memorize walking directions to the market Ahmed had given me. If I never had to get in a car and traverse the streets of Cairo again, it would be too soon.

Heads turned as I walked, but fewer than in the daylight and in Ahmed’s part of town. I still towered over most of the people on the street, but I towered everywhere I went. At least in downtown, I blended in with the other pale-skinned tourists.

That wouldn’t last. Like everything I needed in Cairo, the market sat somewhere most touri