“I got it, Dad.” I pushed his hand away and made a face. “I haven’t done that since I was seven. I’ve grown up since then.”
“What a difference a year makes.”
We both laughed, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Russ, have you seen my gloves?” My mother’s voice carried from downstairs. She was probably getting her coat on, waiting for him by the door.
Dad snorted under his breath as he stood, and we both made our way down the staircase. “Have you checked your coat pockets?”
“Yes.”
“The hall closet?”
“Twice.”
“Did you check my coat pockets?”
There was a pause before she finally came into view, clutching a pair of slender black gloves that’d been crammed together in a wad. Her lips pinched in suppressed amusement. “Well, would you look at that.”
He leaned over the railing before we reached the bottom step, sneaking a kiss. “I know, Gloria. You don’t have to say it. I’m your hero.”
Her dark hair was pulled up in a twist for parent-teacher night. Regardless of the occasion, my mother always managed to look so graceful and exotic.
Managed…
The word caught in my brain. Managed, in the past—not now. She was gone. He was gone. This…wasn’t possible.
My heart leapt into my throat, and I staggered down the steps. They couldn’t be here. It didn’t make sense.
“All right, sweetheart. Be a good boy for Grandma.” My mother bent to hug me, her perfume lingering between us. “We should be back by nine.”
“No!” Panic shot through my veins, and suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. I reached for her, but she was already in the doorway. They were calling their goodbyes, and the door was shutting behind them.
I yelled, and the room narrowed to a tunnel. Using my speed, I caught the door just before it closed—but it didn’t budge. My pulse raged in my ears.
“Wallace, help me!”
Nothing.
“Wallace!”
I turned to find him sitting on the floor in the corner, his arms wrapped around his knees. The same position he’d stayed in for weeks after our parents…our parents…
“Fuck!” I spun as realization dawned on me. The door had slammed shut. My parents had just left for their execution.
I spent what felt like hours wailing on that door—jerking on the handle, slamming my shoulder against it—but no amount of effort paid off. In the end, I fell back exhausted. Powerless. Trapped.
Tears stung my eyes, and a string of curses found my lips. They were gone. Again. How the hell had I let that happen?
“Grandma,” I called out, barely mustering the energy to push myself to my feet. “Grandma, where are you?”
The room blurred and contorted as I ventured deeper into it, searching for her. One second it was our house, the next it was hers. Floral. Old. She sat up on the couch. “What is it, sweetie?”
“I…”
Her aging face lined with concern. “Oh.”
“What?”
“You know I can’t stay here forever, Nicholas. You’re grown.”
My chest tightened. “What the hell does that mean?”
When she didn’t reprimand me for the language, I took a step forward. “Grandma, what does that mean?”
Glass shattered at the end of the room, and Rena came barreling through the now-open window. “Wallace!”
My brother looked up from his daze on the floor, expressionless.
“Get up,” she ordered, grabbing his hand. “Come on. You can’t sit there anymore. We’ve got to go now.”
He let her pull him up and turned lucid the second he looked at me. “You get what’s happening, right?”
“What?”
“We’re leaving.”
I shook my head. “Good luck with that. We’re trapped here.”
“Maybe you are.” He sidestepped me, leading her toward the door.
“Uh, not to constantly repeat myself,” I started, “but what’s that supposed to mean?”
Everything was changing, spiraling, but there was nowhere to run. I didn’t know whether to scream or torch the place. It was too much. The night had turned into a damn circus.
As if magnetized by my distress, a shadowed figured latched onto my leg. Dark and wispy, reeking of alcohol and sulfur. I staggered and tried to pry it off, but it was no use. “What the hell is this?”
Wallace furrowed his brows. “I thought you got rid of that.”
“Rid of what?” I frantically shook my leg. “I’ve never seen it before. It’s creepin’ me out.”
A knock came at the door.
“It’s for you,” Rena told me.
“Great.”
I managed to get there, despite my dark parasite, and looked out the peephole. Distorted by the angled glass stood a beautiful woman with red hair and angel eyes. “Rachel?”
“Cole!” She lit up, twisting the handle to no avail.
I groaned and pressed my forehead against the chilled metal panel. “You can’t be here. Something weird’s going on.”
“I can help,” she offered.
“It’s not safe.”
“Is it safer for me out here, without you?”
After considering it, I whispered, “I don’t know anymore.”
“So, let me in.”
“I can’t.”
“Cole,” she repeated, unknowingly meeting my gaze with steadfast determination. “Let me in.”
“I said I—”
“Let. Me. In!”
I jerked awake and nearly fell off the toilet. My heart surged. “Wha?”
“Let me in,” Tits bellowed from the other side of the door. “I’m freaking out, man. You’ve been in there for like an hour. I thought you died on the shitter.”
“Oh.” I rubbed my forehead. Speaking of which, I had yet to utilize its full potential. Too bad the feeling had passed.
“You okay?” he asked, still muffled.
“Yeah.” I finished up and tugged on my jeans. “Just…passed out or something.”
“That’s embarrassing.”
“Mhmm.”
He didn’t know the half of my humiliation. That nightmare had scared me so deeply I couldn’t think—let alone talk—about it. My heartbeat had yet to slow.
I washed my hands to buy myself another minute, and then waltzed back into his room with a calm façade. “Ready to get your ass kicked again?”
CHAPTER 11
The Festival of Bromance ended when Tits started snoring.
I made it to Wilcox by mid-morning, determined to forget the nightmare my screwed-up brain had conjured earlier—not that anyone came to greet me. Neither Rena nor Wallace had picked up their phones, so I let myself into their dorm. A collage of colorful flyers greeted the back entrance, but one with huge block letters stood out from the rest.
R-S-T-L.
I snatched the sheet off the wall and scanned its contents. “Shit.”
“R.S. Tobler Laboratories is looking for students, aged eighteen to twenty-six, to take part in a research study this Saturday,” I murmured, reading aloud. “Participants will visit the clinic three times over the course of six months to receive a trial vaccination, give blood samples, and answer questions related to the…ah, hell.”
Four flights of stairs, a blurred corner, and a suite door later, I made my first stop.
Bang, bang, bang!
My fist hammered against the wood. Sure, I wasn’t as strong as my brother, but I could knock this thing down without much effort. If someone didn’t acknowledge me in five seconds, I’d do a demonstration.
Sadly, the door jerked open before I had an excuse. Rena’s feisty roommate, the Latina chick, glared up at me. “What?”
“Sis here?” I asked, letting my nervous energy shift my weight from side to side.
A spaghetti strap had slipped off her bare shoulder, leaving access to silky, tanned skin. It wasn’t bad by any means, but
she’d look better in my t-shirt. Cotton hovering mid-thigh, barely touching her. Swollen lips. Love marks on her—
“Ah, sorry.” She patted her crazy bed hair down and leaned against the door. “Didn’t recognize you through the peephole. Ree’s not here.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Gym?”
“Yeah, she’s been visiting the Rec a lot lately. All that sexual frustration to work out, you know?” Her dark eyes took me in, creasing in amusement. “You could wait here, though.”
“Hmm…” I strained at the thought of what the girl might improvise for entertainment. Literally. My pants were too tight. But before I could consider a plan of action, another vision of Rachel assaulted my mind—a girl I’d talked to for a grand total of five fucking minutes now.
False alarm, brain. We don’t have anything to cheat on.
“We could watch a movie or something.” Hot Roommate crossed her arms, and a line formed between her plump, perfectly shaped breasts. “You know, get to know each other a little better.”
“Ugh, rain check,” I gritted out, forcing an uneasy breath. “I need to go find Wallace.”
She borderlined nonchalance with a shrug. “Another time, then. How’s Ace holdin’ up, anyway?”
“Like someone sucked out his soul.”
“Ah.” Her lips pursed, and she clung to the door for support. “Poor…guy.”
“Something wrong?”
She lifted her chin. “Huh? No, just a little dizzy. That’s all.”
“I do have that effect on people,” I admitted, raising my brows. “You need to sit down?”
“No, no…well, yeah, maybe. You need anything else?”
Note to self—check up on Rena’s roommate.
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks for your help, though, uh…?”
“Gabby,” she answered, her lips twitching as she gripped the handle. “Don’t forget it.”
I tipped my invisible cowboy hat as I backed away. “Yes, ma’am.”
Hold eye contact, hold it, wait until she shuts the…door.
I jogged up the next three floors in a daze. The missed opportunity didn’t bother me as much as it should have. Maybe I had too much on my mind, too many errands to run today. Press that ERA chick for information, visit headquarters, grab the next piece of the puzzle…
First things first, though, I had to check Wallace’s room—you know, to make sure he hadn’t buried himself in boohoo rags. Plus, I needed to tell him about the flyer. I jerked his suite door open and almost ran headlong into Scrawny McFreckles from the diner.
“Aiden Ross,” I acknowledged, pulling his name out of my ass. “Didn’t see you there.”
“That’s okay. Most people don’t.” He attempted a smile, but failed to sell it.
If I weren’t strapped for time, my curiosity might’ve gotten the better of me. Oh well. I edged around him to bang on Wallace’s door.
“He’s not in there.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “What? Where is he?”
Aiden shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard the door a little while ago and checked the peephole. It was just him leaving. I think he was wearing gym shorts, though, so you might check the Rec.”
His expression darkened. “I’m sure he’s there pumping iron or whatever it is those people do.”
Those people? Okay, now my interest was piqued. “You still upset about him makin’ Rena cry two weeks ago?”
“That?” He scrunched his nose up, reddening a cluster of freckles. “No, no. I mean, I didn’t actually hear the whole story of what happened. From what she says, it was her doing.”
“And you believe that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I shrugged and followed him out, pushing the door open around his arm. “Just seems like you’re not his biggest fan right now.”
Aiden threw a furtive glance over his shoulder as he turned the corner. “I don’t have a problem with your brother. I just…don’t know where he is. I’m sorry.”
“You know you could tell me if you did, right?” I planted my shoulder against the wall’s edge while he waited for the elevator. “Have a problem, that is. It’s not like he and I are close, these days.”
Scrawny McFreckles bounced on his toes.
All right. It’s gotta be one of three things…
“His clusters have to be pretty distracting, right?”
Aiden shook his head. “No, we know when to expect ‘em now. There’s always something on to drown out the noise.” A half second later, he blurted out, “Not that we’re not concerned!”
“Relax. I get it.” I waved him off, watching the numbers light up in slow procession over the door. “What about his personality? He’s a little self-righteous. Don’t ya think?”
Aiden crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know. We’ve never really talked much, even when…they were together.”
Wound alert.
“Glad that’s over, huh?” I pushed off the wall and rounded on him with a conspiratorial grin. “She could do way better.”
He snorted. An honest-to-goodness snort. I wasn’t even sure I’d heard one in real life before. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
The doors finally chimed open, and he scurried inside to escape.
I didn’t move.
“You coming?” he asked, worry pinching his brows as he swatted at the door. “T-They’re closing.”
“Nah, I’ll take the stairs.” I shoved my hands into my pockets and made my way toward the door. “Catch you later, Aiden Ross.”
And stay the hell away from my sister.
CHAPTER 12
I made it to the Rec in time to see Sis storm off, red-faced and upset about something. Wallace trailed after her a minute later, looking worse for the wear. Serious shit had just gone down, and I’d missed it.
Great. Which one do I grab first?
The universe answered my question with a third party cue. Corynn bustled out the front doors in a pair of tight little jogging shorts, supplying ample motive for a Renace fight—Renace, of course, being their couple name. Expired, but still valid.
Might as well get this chat over with, while I’m here.
My distracted little Englandian made her way down the path, not even noticing me until I grabbed her arm. In her haste to flee the scene, she’d tripped over a pebble and almost face-planted on the sidewalk. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I just…” She looked up, and her eyes widened. “It’s you.”
“It’s me,” I agreed, letting her go. “Out for a stroll?”
“What are you doing here?”
My brows shot up. “Is that nice? I didn’t ask what you were doing here, Miss I’m-attending-school-forty-minutes-from-my-internship. Maybe we’re here for the same reason.”
“Right,” she quipped. “And what reason would that be?”
I narrowed my eyes and seared every threat-laced word into her consciousness. “To interfere with situations we have no business in.”
She took a step back.
“Of course, that’s a matter of perspective,” I continued, palms up as I reclosed the gap between us. “Maybe you think yourself well-intended.”
She rubbed her temples. “What do you want, Cole?”
“I want to abduct you and blur on out of here, but your killjoy powers ruin that plan. So, why don’t we do this the old fashioned way?” I gestured toward a bench a few feet away. “Let’s have a chat.”
No more bullshitting. I was going to unravel at least one aspect of Faye’s plans today, come hell or high water.
She gnawed at her bottom lip. “Only if you take back the abduction comment.”
I laughed. “Please. Have you seen this face?” I grabbed my jaw and tilted my head from side to side in demonstration. “I wouldn’t have to resort to those tactics…again.”
“Comforting.”
“Yeah.” I walked over and plopped down. “So, here’s the thing.”
She sighed and followed me over. �
��What?”
“You’re in deep shit.”
Her shoulders fell. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Okay, I found this flyer.” I leaned forward and pulled the crumpled piece of paper from my back pocket. “It says R.S. Tobler Laboratories is hosting a vaccination study.”
“So?”
“So, you think I’m stupid?” My brow furrowed. “ERA’s been bragging about their experiments for months. Now they suddenly want to host an open house for humans? Right. What’s in those shots?”
“I wouldn’t know.” She started to walk away, but I jumped up to block her path.
“Whoa. You sure about that?”
She lifted her chin. “I work for the lab, Cole, not Project ERA.”
“So, you do know what ERA is,” I shot back, lips twitching in victory. “If you weren’t involved, you wouldn’t.”
I knew a scrambling look when I saw one. “They mentioned it during orientation.”
“Right, because that makes sense.” I put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. “C’mon, Corynn. Tell me what you know. I want to help.”
Her gaze lifted past my shoulder, darting back and forth as she weighed the situation. The severity of the situation had probably just sunk in. Unless she wanted to get swallowed up by Faye’s plans, we would have to work toge—
“How do I know I can trust you?”
You don’t. I looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. “Because I’ll tell you what I know in return.”
She blanched. “Then we should keep moving.”
I nodded and slid an arm around her shoulders, guiding her down the sidewalk. “Shall we take the scenic route?”
She scanned past the parking lot, up the hill, to the massive pond behind the student union. “Sure.”
We strode around the parked cars in silence, neither of us willing to be the first to break.
“I know about the virus,” I admitted. “And I know Gail’s mother has the ability to restructure microorganisms, but what I don’t know is why or how they plan to use it.” I flashed the flyer in front of her face again. “Convenient timing, though. Don’t you think?”
“Where did you hear all that?”
Honesty (Mark of Nexus) Page 7
