Lucid Design

by Kate Tailor

  Right-handed, Raleigh was fortunate that her left arm had been shot. Regardless, using one hand made everything slow-going. The bobby pins and hair tie wound tightly into her hair proving difficult to remove.

  For a split second she considered finding scissors and cutting it all off. If there’d been any chance of her doing a decent job, she would have.

  There was a rapping on the bathroom door.

  With her hand entwined in her knotted hair, she reluctantly said, “Come in.”

  Rho entered closing the door slowly behind him. “You look better, and Dale seems less terrified of us. I wasn’t able to get him to leave your bedside.”

  “He’s a good friend.”

  “I’ve been worried about you, too.”

  “I’m fine. But if you could find me some scissors....”

  Rho flipped down the lid of the toilet with a loud clunk.

  Raleigh sat.

  “Brent would be better at this.” He hunched over her inspecting the knot on her head.

  If he was Brent, she wouldn’t have been this nervous. His fingers grazed her scalp as he delicately pulled out one bobby pin and then another. She wondered if Rho’d thought about her as much as she’d thought about him over the last month.

  “I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again,” she said.

  “There’s a reason I didn’t want you to go. I’m glad you’re back.” He crouched down, leveling his face to hers. “Don’t ever volunteer for something like that again.”

  Raleigh couldn’t make that promise. Who knew what the future held? The mission to rescue Mu and Tau hadn’t gone exactly to plan—not that there had been a real solid one—but it had been successful.

  “Raleigh, promise me you won’t do that again.”

  Raleigh gazed into his ocean-colored eyes. She didn’t want to lie. As a spy, it became a necessity. As a friend, it wasn’t. Instead, she reached out her hand, touched his cheek, and reveled in his presence. Then she leaned in and kissed him.

  It wasn’t like any kiss she’d ever had, partly because his lips were softer, but mainly because his Lucid laced it. Rho didn’t stop her, even though the passion was one-sided. She sat back, her lips leaving his. Her eyes searched his as the rejection sobered her groggy mind.

  “Raleigh.” His voice worried her as much as his lack of participation. “I don’t think we should go there.”

  The rejection cut her, making the gunshot wound trivial. Regret coaxed her away, her hands matting down her hair. She wanted him to leave. “Of course, you don’t want me.” Before Grant and Able, she never would’ve been so forward. The training had bolstered her confidence a little too much.

  “No, no, no.” Rho delicately lifted her chin with his fingertips. “The timing isn’t right. I’m not sure that it’s a good idea. It has nothing to do with you.”

  Only it did. They both were aware of it. He was right. The timing was off. The odds would’ve been better if she’d stayed with him in California instead of leaving.

  “Let’s forget it.” Raleigh moved him out of the way with her good arm so she could stand. What she meant was for him to forget it, because something like this she never could. “I’ll finish my hair. Thanks for getting out the tough ones.” She yanked the other pins from the knot.

  “You should really let me help you.” He reached out, but she ducked away.

  “I’m good. I’ll see you downstairs. Make sure the others are being nice to Dale, would you?”

  Rho knitted his eyebrows together. His charisma had failed.

  “I’m not the first girl you’ve turned down. I can’t be. It’ll be fine.” Now she was comforting him.... Unbelievable.

  “The other girls didn’t mean as much to me as you do, and you do, very much. You have to know that.”

  “I do. Check on Dale.”

  Reluctantly, he left the bathroom. The moment the door shut Raleigh grasped the counter and sucked back a sob. This was no time to wallow in embarrassment. She had a lot to discuss with the Designed. Her romantic dalliances, or lack thereof, weren’t on the list.

  Twenty minutes and a sponge bath later, she exited the bathroom. In Kappa’s clothes she looked like a teenage boy who’d seen better days. Not that any of it mattered. Her appearance wasn’t as important as getting the Designed to accept Dale—and for Dale to accept them.

  She bumped into Tau as she walked to the stairwell. Raleigh never realized just how much she relied on sensing people until they barricaded.

  “Watch out,” he said.

  Yes, Raleigh had rescued Tau. But from the look on his face, he didn’t consider her his champion. The torture sat thick between them, the ends not compensating for the means.

  “Tau.” The tone of her voice poured an apology into his name. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened.”

  “Your boyfriend was very proud of you.”

  “Gabe? You know it’s condescending to think that just because I was working with him, we were dating.” This wasn’t usually how she handed out apologies. Normally she wasn’t so defensive, the wound and rejection made her disagreeable. Now wasn’t the time to be talking to Tau.

  “No, it plays a part. You look like the helpless little girl.”

  “I’m not helpless.”

  “Don’t worry, I know that. I’ve got your number. I’m not going to dote on you like my brothers. Don’t think that I’m going to let my guard down around you.”

  “We’re on the same side.”

  “We have common allies. That’s it. But trust me, we aren’t on the same side. Not even close.”

  “You know, I got you out.”

  “My brothers got me out. You simply told them where to go.”

  Raleigh had done more than that. She infiltrated Grant and Able, made friends, and forged bonds only to break them. It cost her.

  “I didn’t enjoy torturing you,” she said.

  “Could’ve fooled me.”

  “I had to make it realistic, or Gabe wouldn’t have bought it. He knew that I was strong enough to break you.”

  “About that.” Tau said stepped close to her, his lips as near to her as Rho’s had been moments before. But she didn’t mistake this for intimacy. “I’m stronger now. You won’t break my barricade again.”

  “I’m not out to break your barricade. I only did it before to get you out. It’s not like I wanted to, but it had to be done. If I didn’t, you’d still be stuck there. Now, if you’d get out of my way, we can go downstairs and discuss what to do next.”

  “We?”

  “That’s right. You chose Rho. If you don’t like it, go find Sigma.”

  “You’re something. You know that?”

  She’d been called something before—usually after saving someone’s life with sensing. Raleigh reminded herself that he was right. He just didn’t know it. She was something, and that something was strong and resilient.

  By the time Raleigh opened her mouth to respond, Tau was on his way down the steps. She guessed they’d be splitting up, and she assumed she’d see little of him. Nearing the living room, she found the Designed grouped around a coffee table. They simultaneously looked up. The weight of their gazes and the expectations that came with them bore down on her. Throwing her shoulders back, she took a seat. It was time to formulate a plan—and prove to herself and Dale that they’d made the right decision.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  I’M KATE TAILOR. My first job was building planes, my second working with worms, my third, snug behind the pharmacy counter. Now I spend my time at a messy writing desk with two sleeping cats and dozens of stories scrawled across scrap paper. I’ve been writing stories in my head—and sometimes murmuring them under my breath—since I was five. Over the last few years I’ve committed them to paper. I write stories that I wanted to read but never found. If you’re looking for something interesting, I hope you’ve found it here. Besides writing, I love my husband, kids, and cats—less so on writing days. I also love the mount
ains, rain, cappuccino, worms, board games—not Monopoly, not EVER—and friends. To learn more about me—and my writing, because let’s face it, you probably don’t care about the worms—visit my website at www.katetailor.com.