Chapter Fourteen
“You know he’ll do it, right?” I said after almost an hour had gone by. Neither one of us had said a word. At this rate, it would be morning before Wentz let us out. “He’ll leave us in here until Tuesday if he has to. The guy is cracked…”
Nothing.
I sighed and kicked the wall. The air smelled of mothballs and it was getting stuffy. I didn’t know how much longer I—or Cain—could stand it. “I feel like I’m always apologizing to you. It’s exhausting.”
“Don’t be such a bastard and you wouldn’t have to keep apologizing!”
Finally! Not the best response, but at least it was something.
I shifted so I could see her. She still had her back to me, but at least she was talking. “What I said earlier was stupid. Words tend to just kind of explode from my mouth way before my brain can stop them…”
She didn’t respond, but shifted sideways and some of the tension in her shoulders evaporated.
“What I said was, well, true, but I shouldn’t have said it that way.”
She whirled around to stare at me. “Are you for real?”
“I understand where you’re coming from and I know you think I’m being heartless, but that’s just not the case.”
“That totally explains why you’re still going to try and beat me to—” She glanced at the camera, then finished with, “it, right? Because someone’s life isn’t a good enough reason to help me?”
“Look, I’m sorry about that. And it’s not that I won’t help you—it’s that I can’t.” The words slipped past my lips before I could stop them.
“Can’t—more like won’t. And you were an a*shole about it, too. You could have just told me up front you wouldn’t help instead of making me think we were on the same side. There was no reason to lie. And then to be so mean about it, to boot?”
“No. Can’t. There are things you don’t know. Things you don’t understand… And me being mean,” I swallowed the lump rising in my throat, “wasn’t your fault. It was all on me. We were starting to become friends and—”
“And, what?” She pinned me with a steely glare. “What excuse could you possibly come up with for all this? You’re right. We were starting to become friends. I thought I could trust you.”
What was I supposed to say to her here? I’m pissed that you kissed me—the other me? Somehow I had a feeling that would go over like Tony Hawk playing professional croquet.
Time to just do it. Balls to the wall and get the truth out there. At least, a small bit of the truth. I stood and said, “I think that’s what it is.”
She climbed to her feet, as well. “What’s it?”
“Being your friend. That’s what’s making this a thousand times harder. The truth is, I have no desire to be your friend.”
Her cheeks flushed and she leaned against the elevator wall, cringing like I’d just kicked her puppy or something. “That’s not an excuse.”
I let out a growl. Making sure my head was turned away from the camera, I said, “You’re not the only one with something to lose here.” I was treading on super thin ice, but I managed to reel it back before I spilled everything. “The way I feel about you is making this complicated. It can’t be complicated. There’s too much at stake. Too many other people at stake.”
“What are you talking about?”
I backed her into the corner. She didn’t understand. There was only one way to get this through her thick head…
“Fair warning,” I said, voice low. “I’m going to do something, and just so we’re clear up front, there won’t be any pushing involved.”
“What are—”
Heart spastic, I cut her off with a kiss. Like the first time, she was kind of surprised, but after the initial shock wore off, she responded.
Holy crap, did she respond.
Pushing up onto her toes, she deepened the kiss, and wrapped her right hand into my hair. Cain’s hair was much longer than mine, and the slight tugging sensation was an entirely different kind of thrill. A leftover kink of his—or something new of mine—it didn’t matter. I liked it.
I ran my hands up bare her arms, over her shoulders, then to her cheeks. Warm, soft perfection under my fingertips. My body gave an involuntary shudder as a soft noise escaped her lips. In the back of my mind a nagging voice reminded me that we were on camera. Being watched. But it didn’t matter. The sensation was too much of a high to ignore because of a silly little thing like an audience.
I had no idea how much time passed, but when she finally pulled away, her breathing kind of heavy, she rested her forehead against mine and said, “Brandt…”
We both froze.
The massive amount of heat that had been building, ready to explode, iced over like the arctic. Everything went numb. “What did you call me?”
“Oh my God,” she breathed, stumbling back against the wall. “I didn’t—I mean—”
Then she stopped. Her eyes caught mine and she stared at me. Stared through me. She reached out, hesitating twice, before taking my face into her hands. Soft, ruby tinted lips formed a tiny “O” as her fingers twitched slightly against my skin. “Brandt,” she said again, this time even lower. It was like a cross between a prayer and a curse.
A part of me was crushed. Like someone had dropped a skyscraper onto my head. But another part felt something amazing building. Something vital. “Devin…”
Her hand fell away from my face as she traced a finger over her bottom lip. Then, eyes wide, she ran that same finger, whisper light, across mine. “You—”
I shook my head, frantic, as her expression went from one of shock, to pure horror. “It’s not what you think. I can explain.”
I never noticed the elevator had jumped back into motion. There was a muffled ding, and the doors opened. She opened her mouth, then closed it, eyes narrowing as realization crashed down on her. She left the folders on the floor and ran like hell as fast as she could.
My name is Brandt Cross, and I’m an ass…
…
Devin wasn’t at dinner that night. I overheard Carina telling a few of the other girls that she didn’t feel well. It took every ounce of self-restraint—and then some—not to bang on her door and demand she talk to me. Other than needing to know how she’d made the connection between Cain and me, I needed to see if she was okay. The look in her eyes just before she turned and ran kept replaying in my head.
Betrayed. She’d felt betrayed and used. Manipulated. Knowing her past, I was sure that’s what hurt the most.
As I shoveled the tasteless food into my mouth, I resolved to at least try talking to her.
“Hello, Douglass.” Anderson slid into the seat across from me, wearing a smile so fake it’d make the moon landing look real.
I pushed aside my meatloaf, appetite gone.
“I was hoping for an update.”
“I’m working on it,” I said with barely contained venom. He was here to give me an ultimatum. He’d done it with Devin. I knew it was only a matter of time.
He frowned. “I’m afraid that’s not good enough. When I recruited you, you claimed to have the ability to push anyone.”
“And I can. I just need more time.”
“Unfortunately time is not a luxury we have at the moment.” He stood, his chair scraping the tile and sending goose bumps across my skin. There was something disturbing in his expression. Something final. “I hoped you had better news. We sent someone else in as well—as I heard you are already aware.”
“Devin,” I said.
“Yes. She failed also.”
“She could have never gotten it. The formula isn’t on any computer. It’s in Wentz’s head.”
He nodded as though the information wasn’t news to him. “There won’t be any need for you to return to Dromere tomorrow.”
A chill ran through me. “Why not? I can’t push Wentz if I’m not with him.”
“Since your efforts have failed, I’m sending in someone else.”
I jumped up. “Someone else? Who?”
“Not your concern,” he said, turning on his heel. With an offhanded wave, he strolled from the room.
I managed to choke a few more forkfuls of the overcooked meatloaf down before I gave up and headed back to my room. Cain was a pacer, and the habit was hard to push aside with my emotions running so high. I wracked my brain to figure out who Anderson could possibly send. If he knew the formula wasn’t on paper, or in any computer, how did he plan to get it out of Wentz’s head?
And then I knew.
Henley was the only Six I knew in Anderson’s stable with the ability to pull thoughts from someone’s head. The only problem? Wentz wouldn’t survive.
I raced from the room, passed Devin’s hallway, and continued toward the kitchen. I got halfway there when a shadow passed around the corner and I heard hushed voices.
“You know what to do?”
“You sure he’ll be there? It’s almost ten.”
“He’s there. We have someone in the building with him. They’ll let you inside.”
One of the voices was Anderson, and the other was Henley, which only solidified my theory.
“I told you Cain was worthless. You should have let me go in right from the start.”
“Yes, well, it appears you were right,” Anderson said. There was an unmistakable note of venom in his voice.
“You know how my ability works. I thought you wanted him alive. Not that I’m complaining…”
“I had hoped it would be possible. He’s brilliant and would have made an impressive addition to our genetics department, but it looks like that’s not in the cards. It appears I placed too much faith in our new recruits.”