Evolutionary Romance- The Complete Trilogy

by Sarah Biglow

  Spencer arched both eyebrows in surprise. “You went to Tina?”

  I shrugged. “She seemed like she was good with computers. And if you are friends with her, I can trust her, right?”

  “I’m sure she’ll do what she can.” He gestured to the computer set up behind him, “the computer, milady.”

  I set my bag at the foot of his bed and pulled up a browser. “The inscription is generic enough I probably won’t find anything searching it. But I can try to find information on the book itself.”

  Spencer picked up the book, studied the spine and opened the back cover. “Where did you find this again?”

  “In the return bin when I was doing re-shelving. I doubt anyone has ever checked it out.”

  “It’s definitely bizarre they would choose this book and leave it in such a public place. I mean how could you be sure no one would try to check it out or walk off with it?”

  Spencer had a point. “I mentioned the possibility of someone leaving a non-library book in the return to Henry and he acted more interested than I would have though.”

  “Did you show him what you found?”

  “No. I probably should, especially since this is only my second shift. It felt like something I should keep secret.”

  “The more I think about it, the return bin could be a good hiding spot as long as you know who is accessing it.”

  “You think someone at the library knew it was there?”

  “Maybe,” he replied.

  He flipped to the front of the book, holding it up close to his face. After a minute of study, he put the book aside and balanced his weight on the balls of his feet. “So, based on the book itself and the fact whoever this C.H.K person is thinks they’ve made some amazing discovery, I’d suggest checking the local paper. Something monumental is bound to make headlines.”

  “Good idea.”

  I pulled the records from the library’s online archive—oh, the irony—but searching for terms such as evolutionary biology and breakthrough yielded nothing.

  “That’s so strange,” Spencer murmured, coming to stand behind me.

  I caught a whiff of cologne. Was he wearing it before? The desire to continue what had begun in the clearing washed over me without warning. I told myself I wasn’t ready to move on with another guy, especially one whom I’d only just met in person. But I couldn’t deny there was something between us. Maybe moving on was exactly what I needed. In one motion, I spun the chair to face him and kissed him. He pulled me toward him and we fell backward onto the bed. Loose curls fell into my eyes and he brushed them aside. I smiled and kissed him again.

  He pulled away, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. “Not that I’m complaining but, are you sure you want to do this?”

  “I think maybe I was wrong before. This is what I need,” I said and pressed my lips to his again.

  Chapter Nine

  Spencer

  Despite the success of our second date, I couldn’t shake the idea things were going to go downhill. She’d changed her mind about wanting to move out of the friendzone so fast, I was surprised she didn’t get whiplash. Part of me wondered if I’d had something to do with her about face. I had never told anyone before, but I’d recently discovered sometimes I could push people to do what I wanted if they were easily influenced. Did I do that Marisol? I pushed those doubts away to focus on the puzzle she’d given me to solve.

  We hadn’t made any real progress after our impromptu kiss-a-thon. I was stumped by why someone would leave a random genetics book with a super-secret pile of discs hidden away in the public library. Marisol’s suggestion that someone on the inside knew more about the book than they were letting on stuck in my head. My first suspect was Henry. He tried to be everyone’s friend, but I still got weird vibes from him, and I didn’t need to be a telepath to know he was hiding something.

  For once I was excited to talk to Tina—especially since she’d managed to keep me out of any crime fighting for the entire night—and I got to school a good half hour before the first bell rang. It wasn’t hard to find her. She was snuggled up in our usual meeting spot in the same chair I’d found her in the day before. Declan was nowhere to be seen.

  “Hey,” I greeted, offering up the coffee I’d grabbed at the bakery off Wilmot Road. We had a Dunkin’ Donuts but I knew Tina detested their brew.

  “What’s this for?” she asked, eyeing the to-go cup dubiously.

  “Consider it a ‘thank you’ for keeping me on the bench yesterday.”

  She took the cup and removed the lid, letting the steam curl up and around her face. She inhaled deeply. “It was a slow night anyway.”

  I sat in the chair beside her and took a long pull from my own cup, draining the contents. “So, Marisol told me about the book and the discs she found inside it.”

  “Girl needs to learn to keep a secret.”

  “Don’t be such a bitch, Tina.”

  “Calm down Romeo. I was going to tell you about them anyway. And Declan if he ever gets his ass in here.”

  “She also mentioned you weren’t interested in the book.”

  “Like I told your girlfriend, she is free to look into it all she wants. Books are not my thing.”

  Girlfriend had a nice ring to it. “Well, we are. It might tell us who put the discs there. Have you figured out what’s on them, yet?”

  Tina set her coffee down and grabbed my face in both of her hands. “I’m going to say this real slow, so you can understand. I have fucking amazing computer skills, but I am not magic. It’s been less than twenty-four hours and I had to study for a government final.”

  “Okay, I get it. Can I have my face back now?”

  She relinquished her grip and returned to her coffee, a few tendrils of dark blue falling over her face. “I can’t get the stupid things open.”

  “Do we not have a man of steel on our roster?”

  “I meant they’re encrypted, genius. Give me time.”

  I tossed my empty cup in the trash and shoved my hands in my pockets. “Can I run something else by you?”

  “Sure.”

  “You thought Marisol’s ex could be like us, right?”

  “It’s a possibility. Did you see him again?”

  “No. But it got me thinking and I noticed something off about Marisol last night.”

  “Explain.”

  “We went for a walk, somewhere quiet and when we got back to Main Street, she kind of freaked out. She said it was like she was feeling too much.”

  “Well, Main can get kind of noisy at night.”

  “It wasn’t crowded or anything. And she said she feels things deeply sometimes. Tina, it sounds like what I experienced when my abilities first kicked in.”

  “I didn’t get anything off of her when we first met.”

  “You spent a little bit of time with her last night to be nosy about my date. Maybe it kicked in after we left. I know mine is triggered by emotions. If she were an empath or whatever it’s called, maybe she has the same kind of trigger.”

  A dark cloud of emotion passed over Tina’s face and a few angry jabs lashed out in my head. Why is this girl so special? If you wanted a powered girlfriend, you didn’t have to look far. “You want her to be like us, so you can rub it in my face because you found someone,” she snapped, voicing the thoughts she already knew I could hear.

  “Tina, that’s not true.” Is it? There was some deeper connection Marisol and I shared, which almost felt like she knew what I was feeling in the same way I could read her thoughts. And I couldn’t deny it was far easier to be with her than any other girl I’d dated. Even if we were still very new to this whole relationship thing. “I want you to be happy, Tina. And I know the right person is out there for you. Whether he is like us or not. But, it’s not me and I’m fairly sure it’s not Declan, either. You don’t have to have it all figured out by graduation. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”

  My words only served to irritate her more, if the smoke
curling from the nearby keyboard was any sign. She crumpled the cup in her hand and flung it at my head. “Stay out of my head, Spencer.”

  I opened my mouth to tell her I hadn’t been in her head but stopped. There was no reasoning with her at the moment. Instead, she stormed out to the hallway and toward the gym. “Where are you going?” I called.

  “To see if your precious girlfriend is one of us.”

  “She’s not even here,” I protested and moved to get in front of her. “You’re pissed off at me. I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

  “Get out of my way before I move you.”

  It was a comment I would have expected from Declan, not Tina. Speaking of, I hoped he would appear from some hiding spot and talk Tina out of this ridiculous mission. But he didn’t appear, and Tina shoved me aside. I wasn’t sure where she was going until she led me outside and off school grounds. She kept glancing at her phone until we were almost to the center of town. I realized too late Tina was checking a GPS signal. I grabbed the phone out of her hand.

  “Are you tracking her? And you call me a stalker.”

  She didn’t have time to respond before Marisol came into view, jogging with earbuds in her ears. She spotted us, and I waved, praying we didn’t look like we were expecting her. Marisol pulled the earbuds out of her ears and slowed to a walk.

  “Hey,” I greeted.

  “What are you doing here?” Marisol asked. Her tone reflected Tina’s current level of irritation.

  “Walking. What’s it to you?” Tina moved in closer, getting in Marisol’s face.

  “Whoa, let’s calm down,” I said, trying to get in the middle before things could escalate.

  I put a hand on each of their shoulders to keep the distance and their thoughts jumbled in my head. I let go of Tina first and her thoughts receded so all I could hear was Marisol. Without Tina’s to war with, they were loud and clear. Why am I so angry right now? Why are my ears ringing?

  “Do you have a buzzing in your ears?” I asked, looking directly at Marisol. I had a sinking suspicion I knew what it meant.

  “Yeah, how’d you know?”

  “I’ve got it, too. You hear it, Tina?”

  She bit her lower lip. “Yeah. Sorry I got in your face.”

  Marisol blinked. “You were upset about me and Spencer and the possibility we’ll actually work out.”

  Anger clouded Tina’s thoughts and she took off, I felt a ripple of magnetic energy wash over me and watched as the outpouring of Tina’s power made the phone in my pocket grow uncomfortably warm and Marisol dropped hers, the headphone jack sparking. She left it on the ground, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

  I wanted to comfort her but there was a part of me that was terrified I’d impose my will on her again. So, I kept my distance and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know why I said those things. It was like I could tell she wasn’t happy about you and me being friends or whatever we are. People keep telling me she likes you.”

  “Tina thinks she has a chance with me because of some stuff we’ve gone through, but she’ll only ever be a friend. I am not interested in her.”

  “But how could I know?”

  “Because despite what people say it is hard for guys and girls to be friends without there being sexual tension?” My attempt at a joke fell flat.

  “Not funny.”

  “Sorry. I probably can’t say anything right now to make it less weird.” I skimmed the surface of her thoughts, trying to find something anyway. I came up empty.

  “You must think I am crazy,” she said, finally bending to pick up her phone.

  “Not at all. I understand what you’re going through.” I had to stop myself from telling her the truth.

  “I should also thank you for not thinking I was overreacting with the book.”

  “Are you kidding, I love puzzles.”

  “I like them, too.”

  “File it away in the similarities column.”

  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Did Tina make any progress on the discs?’

  “No. As she told me this morning, she’s a crazy skilled hacker who has finals. Plus, since you found it in the library, I suspect she is trying to keep it hidden from her mother.”

  “Why? I mean, do you think her mom knows the book was there?”

  “I’ve met Mrs. Boudreau a few times in the last couple years. She’s not what I would describe as the librarian type. She’s more absent-minded scientific genius.”

  “What, you think the library is a cover for like a secret scientific lab?” she said with a small smile.

  It sounded ridiculous the minute the words came out of her mouth. I had to resist the urge to start laughing because I knew it would only push her away. “Well when you put it like that, no. Of course, I don’t think she’s a mad scientist or like a government agent hiding out in plain sight.”

  “Yeah, of course it isn’t true.” Marisol looped her earbuds around her neck and shoved her phone into her pocket. “Do you think it’s okay if I hang around the school for a while?”

  “Sure. If you want to get into the building just head around back to the lunch area. There’s a side door no one checks.”

  “Thanks.”

  She hesitated for a moment before taking off at a jog. If Tina’s little test was correct, and Marisol had powers, I needed to be there while she figured them out. I wanted to keep her safe. I’m not saying she couldn’t defend herself—I suspected she was secretly a badass—but when it came to the power department, Tina, Declan, and I had the experience. Now I had to figure out how to break it to her without coming across as insane.

  Chapter Ten

  Marisol

  I couldn’t shake the interaction with Tina and Spencer from the morning. He had been understanding about the whole thing, but deep down, I knew something was wrong. Maybe not wrong, but definitely different with me. I spent the morning trying to sort out how I had sensed what Tina was feeling. I didn’t want to admit it, but the experience reminded me of when I’d gone along with Jason in his scheme because I could feel he wanted to impress me.

  I wandered through town, stopping back home to change and grab my laptop. By early afternoon I decided aimless ambling was not the solution. I didn’t want to be around people, but Spencer’s offer to sneak onto school grounds was enticing and I ducked back the way we had gone the other day. I found seat at a table away from everyone and rested my head in my hands. I’d almost found a sense of calm when a shadow fell across the other side of the table. I looked up to find a guy I didn’t know sitting down across from me.

  “Do you mind not sitting there? I kind of want to be alone,” I muttered.

  He ignored me and settled in, staring at me intently. “You’re Sorano’s new girl.”

  “I am nobody’s girl. And why is it your business?”

  He held his big, beefy hands up in a placating gesture. “I didn’t mean it in a possessive way. I’m kind of a friend of his.”

  I grit my teeth. “He has a lot of those. Friends who are overly invested in his personal life.”

  “I guess I want to see him happy. Everybody deserves happiness, you know.”

  “I do.”

  He laced his fingers together, twisting until his knuckles popped. He glanced over his shoulder before leaning across the table. “I hate admitting it and if you tell him I said this I’ll deny it, but he and I aren’t so different. I mean sure he’s kind of a nerd but he’s good people and I know he’s always got my back. There aren’t many people I’d trust with my life. I’m not really good with expressing stuff.” He raked his fingers through his short hair. “I guess what I’m trying to say is he may be a little weird but give him a shot. If he can make it work, there’s hope for all of us.”

  Why are his friends so concerned with if he can make it in a relationship? “I’ll keep it in mind.” I worried my lower lip as I studied him. “What do you want?”

 
“I’m also friends with Tina. She can be overbearing and pushy. Ignore her. And, honestly, I hope you two work out.” He drummed his hands on the table and pushed his chair back. “I’ll leave you alone.”

  “Wait, uh …”

  “Declan.”

  “Right. I got this same vibe off Tina earlier, like she feels like if Spencer can make it, so can she. Well, actually it felt more like she’s jealous of him. Anyway, Spencer also told me something happened to him … he went through something when high school started. Does this have anything to do with what he went through?”

  Declan stopped in his tracks, rubbing his thick fingers over his mouth, contemplating his answer. “Yeah. It’s kind of something all three of us went through. I can’t say anything more about it. If he hasn’t told you, there’s a good reason for it. I should go.”

  I’d intended to let Spencer share his secret with me in his own time, but Declan’s admission piqued my curiosity. It had been a strange conversation but whatever had happened to them had bonded them at a level I’d never experienced before.

  The end of lunch bell buzzed overhead, and other students trickled into the building. I had no idea if school security checked to make sure people didn’t skip class, so I followed them, taking a guess until I found the library. I smiled to myself in amusement. In all my time in school I had never spent this much time in libraries.

  Still, this could afford me some time to do more research on the book. My earlier searches having turned up nothing, I tried a different approach. I navigated to the Information page on the public library’s website where it had the hours of operation and a brief blurb and photo of Tina’s mother. I studied the picture and I could see Tina’s round face and nose, but the resemblance stopped there. The blurb said her mother, Helena Boudreau, took over as the chair of the Board of Directors for the library seventeen years ago. Something else about the woman bothered me but I couldn’t quite place it.

  “Hey.” Spencer appeared from around the corner of the nearby bookshelf.