"You didn't have to come, you know," I said.
We'd already left the secured perimeter behind us, the familiar sounds of the community fading at our backs as we moved west into quieter, emptier streets.
"Didn't have much of a choice in the matter," Maribel replied, eyes moving across the street ahead.
"Really?" I glanced at her. "You strike me as someone who could tell Marlon no if she really wanted to."
She wasn't the type to just fall in line. That much I'd figured out about her early on. She had her own opinions, her own edges, and she wasn't shy about either. If she'd wanted to plant her feet and refuse, I was reasonably confident she could have managed it without much difficulty.
But she hadn't. And this wasn't the first time I'd noticed her defer to Marlon specifically.
Maribel caught the implication in what I'd said without me needing to spell it out. She went quiet for a moment, something shifting in her expression into more serious.
