When we got back to Kauri's law firm he pressed my new bank card and account information into my hand, 'Crusher assured me that it would be all loaded up,' Kauri said, 'You remember the email address I set you up with?

I nodded, '[email protected]'

Kauri grinned, 'That's the one, that will have a complete copy of all your stories plus any drafts you created.'

I held up the card, 'Alright, tonight we celebrate – on me, tomorrow we go house hunting.'

Kauri turned and looked at the doors of the law firm, 'I've got a fair bit to clean up here.’ I made a boo sound and he held up his hands, ‘But tell you what. How about you start? Give me a few hours and I'll join you later.'

We slapped our hands together, 'Alright my man, don't work too hard.' He smiled and then walked into the law firm. I watched him through the glass thinking about how what a good guy he was. But there was an older guy in a suit waiting for him. The suit put a hand on Kauri’s shoulder and said something. Kauri turned his head to look at me.

I raised my thumb, 'All good?' I mouthed.

He nodded although his eyes seem unsure. 'All good,' he mouthed back. Then the two of them disappeared into someone's office.

I turned and started to wander the streets. I was still in my sloppy, stained clothes, still had nowhere to stay, but just having that card in my back pocket with 600 grand loaded on it – I felt invincible.

****

I found a clothing store that hadn't shut up shop yet, purchased myself a new set of clothes, left my old ones in a bin, and then went over to a hamburger joint.

The young woman serving gave me a big smile, 'What can I do for you sir?'

I scanned the menu, 'Can I have 20 beef burgers, 20 vegetarian burgers, 40 boxes of fries, forty cups of soda, and one of those vegan soy-milk strawberry milkshakes?'

She gave me a weird look, 'And you're paying for this, how?'

'By card,' I said lifting it up. To glint in the dim streetlights, 'I can pay now if that's easiest?'

She nodded quickly, I paid up, and then she and the fry cook loaded me up with a colossal amount of food, so much so that I had to grab a supermarket trolley that have been abandoned next to the burger joint and toss most of it in there.

Then I walked downtown until I found a certain bridge with a certain steel drum fire and a certain group of guys and gals clustered around it. They eyed my clothes and then my trolley, their eyes seemed harder, less welcoming then when I'd showing up in filthy clothes. but I gave the biggest smile I could and said, 'Dinner's on me.'

We all ate together. A communion of food and laughs and someone even had a five-string guitar they started playing. We sang and we gazed into the flames and the night sky and I slid my new bank card into the bottom of my sock when a couple of the guys stared at me too closely.

After that, I left, headed to town, along the way I stopped at a late-night bargain store and picked up a cheap phone. I pulled Kauri's business card from my pocket and gave it a ring. I hit his answer phone straight away, ‘Hey Kauri, Eli here, just wondering what time you finished? It's time to celebrate my man!’

I kept walking closer and closer towards his office. I figured that way we'd spend less time finding each other. Eventually, I got all the way to his office and called his phone again, 'Hey, Kauri, I'm here. Are you still around? Can't find you anywhere man.'

But as I pressed my face against the glass of the law firm I could only see the glow of security lights. All the doors were shut. I scratch the back of my neck, called Kauri again and then again, still no answer.

The good mood I'd carried over from the meal I'd shared slowly began to dissipate as I waited and waited and waited until eventually, I got sick of waiting and calling so I got up and decided to celebrate by getting myself a nice hotel room. I made a promise that I'd catch Kauri in the morning.

It's hard to describe the feeling of sleeping in satin sheets when all you have to compare it to is an extra layer of newspaper stuffed into your shirt. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I guess that's what it does to you – that feeling of victory.

****

The next morning I woke up, had a shower, dried myself off, decided to take another shower, jumped out, realized there was a bath, took a bath, and then showered once more. By the time I was standing outside of Kauri's law firm I felt like my face was so clean people were being blinded by it. My skin had this lightness to it – like if I slipped off my shoes, I'd be able to fly like Superman.

One by one, two by two people started to wander into the law firm, there were a lot of lawyers. Most of them sipped at cups of coffee, some of them stubbed out cigarettes as they entered, but none of them were Kauri. Eventually, when 10 o'clock came around and people started to head out for a morning tea break or a call with the client, I decided I was going to find Kauri myself. I walked through the front door of the law firm, pushing my shoulders back the way I'd never been able to when I wandered into the firm in my soiled clothes. 'Hi,' I said to the receptionist, 'I'm looking for Kauri Kruger.'

'Kauri?' she shook her head, 'Kauri doesn't work for us anymore.'

I blinked once, twice, three times, 'Can you say that again?'

She gave that pained smile receptionists are so good at giving, 'Kauri doesn't work here.'

'But - But...' I said, 'We just won a case, a big case. He's a superstar.'

The receptionist just glanced at the clock on her desk, 'Yeah. But he's a superstar without a job.'

'Do you have like a number for him... or an address, or...'

'No. And even if I did have those personal details, I can't give them out to just anyone.'

My mind was spinning, but at the same time, my heart was sinking. I knew. I knew it had to be to do with me and Crusher Media. The way Balls had stared at Kauri. The way he'd asked for the firm Kauri worked with. He knew, that bastard knew.

I ran two hands through my hair and then just shook my head. 'Okay. Thanks for your help.'

Then I wandered out of there. For the next two weeks, I wandered the city, staying in hotels and backpackers and even once under a bridge. It didn't feel right to buy a house without having found Kauri, to reap the rewards while he was suffering. I looked everywhere – all the cafes we'd visited, even took the same cabs we'd taken and eventually I found myself spying on the bus stop where we'd first met.

It took three days of staking out that place, learning every bus schedule and chomping my way through a hundred different packets of chips to finally lay eyes on Kauri.

I almost didn't recognize him at first, the Kauri I knew wore a smile like the sun and his shoulders were as relaxed as a surfer's. The Kauri I saw walking to the bus stop couldn't have been further from that. There was no smile gracing his face. His eyebrows are pushed together in a sorrowful frown and his shoulders were hunched and tight. He sat down at the bus stop, a little bag by his side, and an e-reader in his hand. He scrolled and scrolled and scrolled. I took a deep breath. I didn't know how it would go, talking to him again; Would he blame me? Would he want to know me still? Why hadn't he answered my calls?

'Your order's ready sir,' said the guy at the coffee cart I'd been sitting beside. I thanked him, grabbed a cup of coffee in each hand and walked over to Kauri.

His head stayed down as I took a seat beside him. His breath fogged slightly in the morning air.

'Getting pretty cold out, isn't it?' I said. He grunted and kept looking at the e-reader, so I slid over a cup of coffee,

'Cappuccino, one sugar. milk, no sugar. Just the way you like it.' I said and that was when he turned, a small smile appeared on his face, 'Eli,' he said, 'Goddamn it. How'd you find me?'

I scratched my nose, ‘it wasn't easy, in fact, it was damn near impossible, 'Where'd you go?'

Kauri just shrugged, 'I was kicked from the law firm – it was that old dude, Richard Balls. He had a word with my boss and...' Kauri shrugged, '...and now I'm never working in law again.'

I took a sip of my coffee, it was hot, 'Won't someone else take you on?'

Kauri shook his head, on top of his e-reader sat a ticket for the A34 bus, the wind tried to catch the ticket so he clamped a finger down on it, 'Nah, everyone who owns a law firm plays golf.' he laughed, 'You know, my boss always told me I should take up golf, I never really understood why, guess I do now.'

We sat in silence for a while, 'So what are you going to do?' I asked.

Kauri shrugged, 'At the moment I'm just reading – my addiction's come back and it's come back strong.' He laughed, 'I think that's why I liked your book so much. I identified with you.' he held up the e-reader, 'I know what it feels like to be addicted to books and to have your favourite author drop off the face of the earth.' He shrugged, 'and I guess I've kinda felt what it's like to be a writer too.'

I cocked my head, 'Wait, what? You're not telling me you've written a story?'

In front of us the A34 bus pulled up, Kauri didn't move, he just kept talking, 'I guess I kind of did try my hand at it. It's not very good and it's a Lit RPG, but...'

'Whoa whoa whoa.' I said holding up my hands, 'Lit RPGs, they're big at the moment.'

'Yeah, I guess.'

I took a sip of my coffee. Even though it was barista made it still didn't taste as good as that first homemade coffee he had offered me on that winter day where I was writing in the bus shelter. 'Hey, Kauri. I've got an idea.'

He looked up at me, 'Eli I don't need charity. I'll get it another job eventually, it might not be as well paid as law but I...' he got to his feet, ‘That’s my bus.’

I stood up too, and grabbed his arm, 'Kauri I want you to come write with me. I'm gonna buy a house and I'm going to free a couple of others... and we...' I pointed at him, 'You, me, and my friends Astra and Hera, we're gonna take on Crusher Media.'

Kauri stared at the bus, the doors were closing, ‘Take them on? Eli. Look at what happened the last time we tried that.’

‘And we’re still here,’ I said, ‘We’re still alive. As long as we can still write, we can still fight.’

Kauri took a long inhale through his nose, ‘Okay.’

‘Okay?’

His bus pulled out onto the street with a hiss. Kauri dropped his e-reader onto the bus bench and pulled me into a hug.

‘You’re missing your bus Kauri,’ I laughed. But there was a vulnerability to my laughter. I don’t want to sound like a bitch. But yeah. Tears were filling up my eyes.

‘Eli – I don’t need to catch a bus. If the last week has taught me anything - I know we’re in for a wild ride.’