“At work,” she said. The “of course” was implied.
“Good.” I relaxed slightly. “But don’t let anyone in, even if they look…official. Okay? In fact, maybe just leave town for a while.” Theoretically, no one should be coming after them. The trials were already in process. But better safe than sorry.
“I realize you care about her,” she said. “And that’s…admirable.”
And there she went again, ascribing my feelings for Ariane to charity, as if Ariane was something lesser that didn’t deserve to be loved, just pitied. I had to grit my teeth to keep from shouting at her. How I felt about Ariane had nothing to do with pity or even sympathy. I admired the hell out of her, thought about her constantly, and hoped to see her naked at some point. That was definitely not compassion.
“But I’m not losing my son,” my mom said fiercely. “I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking you were dead. I’m your mother, and it’s my job to protect you, even if it’s from yourself. If you’re not home by tonight, I’ll be forced to take measures that you won’t like.”
I gave a tired laugh. “Mom. If you’re threatening me, you’re going to have to get in line.”
Justine cleared her throat loudly behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. She gave me the “cut it” signal, a finger across her throat.
“I’ve got to go.” I hesitated. “I’m sorry. About everything. I’ll be in touch again, when I can.”
“Zane, no! Wait, please. Just tell me where you are,” she begged. “I can help you, please! I have contacts who—”
I lowered the phone from my ear and disconnected the call, even as she continued to plead with me, which tore at my heart.
“They’re okay,” I said with effort to sound casual, collected. “Everyone is present and accounted for.” I stuffed the bloodied napkin in my pocket, not sure what else to do with it.
“You were a last-minute surprise, as designed,” Justine pointed out. “They were counting on Adam participating. Odds are that they didn’t have time to find someone and get them in place for you, but they were curious enough about St. John’s approach to let you in.” She hesitated, glancing at Ariane. “Or they were counting on motivating you in another way.”
Meaning Ariane’s death would serve equally well to provoke the need for vengeance, assuming I survived Round One.
“She didn’t know you were alive,” Ariane said, startling me.
“My mom? No,” I said grimly. “I couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t tell anyone.” I handed the phone to Justine.
Ariane closed the distance between us abruptly, startling me. She wrapped her fists in the front of my shirt and pulled herself up on her tiptoes, her lips brushing the bottom of my chin before I realized what she was trying to do.
I bent down, and her mouth was on mine, open, warm, and insistent. Aggressive, almost. Everything else faded into background buzz. She wasn’t waiting for me; she was taking charge, and it was hot.
Justine cleared her throat loudly to get our attention. It was gross and an obnoxious tick in her behavior, but it worked.
Ariane pulled away a few inches but still close enough that I could feel her breath against my skin. “Thank you,” she whispered, before releasing me.
Except I wasn’t quite ready to let her go. I caught her hand and linked my fingers with hers.
She smiled at me, and I couldn’t stop my goofy grin in response.
“Plenty of time for all of that later,” Justine said, her mouth pursed in disapproval. She pointed to Ariane. “We need to get you out of here.” She turned to me. “And you need to meet Adam for the switch back.”
Next to me, Ariane went still, her only motion to bite at her lip, a familiar gesture I recognized, and with a sinking heart I realized exactly what was coming next.
“I can’t go, not now,” she said. “They may not have Zane’s family, but they have someone. For me. For Ford.”
At that she looked at me, and the same thought pinged through both of us. “Carter,” she said.
I nodded. There just weren’t that many people that Ford would give a crap about. None, actually, except him. And how convenient that he was here, anyway. Ford had said that Laughlin had removed him from the premises. I wondered if that was true or if that was simply what Laughlin had told her to keep her from finding out what was really going on.
And Ariane…she didn’t have many people left in her life—not that there’d been that many to begin with. But knowing Ariane, it wouldn’t matter. If it was someone she’d met once, that would be enough. She couldn’t let even a stranger suffer on her behalf. That just wasn’t part of who she was.
“You can’t end the program,” Justine said. “All you can do is bring everything down around your ears. And then you’re putting the rest of us in jeopardy.” She shook her head.
“These people don’t deserve to die,” Ariane argued. “Carter and whomever they took because of me.”