Dark Demise

by Rebecca Royce

  “Waverly.” He raised his eyebrows. “Should you be walking around?”

  I cleared my throat. “I’m feeling remarkably well considering everything.” I didn’t tell him I’d just seen Madi.

  “Remarkable how you recovered. How did Cash and Lewis figure out how to save you?”

  Sometimes lying came easily. “I really don’t know. It’s a miracle, really.”

  Ari came through the door. “Waverly, there you are.” He put out his hand, and I walked toward it, linking our fingers. I didn’t know why I’d started to be creeped out by Wade. It was like a lot of small things combined together to finally reach this point.

  “I’ll do her checkup, Wade. You can go.”

  The other doctor nodded. “Remarkable, really.”

  17

  The More Things Change

  Cash and Lewis roamed around, looking at something under a microscope then making notes in their tablets. They looked up when we walked in.

  “Don’t you want to examine her in the exam room?” Cash laughed. He pointed at the door like Ari didn’t know where it was. “That way.”

  “Wade’s in there,” Ari grumbled and patted the table for me to get on it. I did as he indicated. “I don’t like him.”

  Cash rolled his eyes. “It’s not like we have hordes of doctors wanting to work here. He came. He’s talented. He wants to be here. He passed security checks. We don’t need to be best friends.”

  “Fine.” Ari winked at me. “I’m not examining her with him in the room. You want to check out Diana with him hanging out, have at it.”

  Lewis whistled through his teeth. “You didn’t call her Diana baby or something like your hot wife. Are you okay, Bennett?”

  He shook his head and then met my gaze. I beamed at him. He finally spoke. “I, ah, I’m not doing that anymore.”

  I kissed his lips.

  Lewis laughed, throwing his head back. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever met Wade. All of this time, and we’ve never been together. I’m going to go get a look at him.” Lewis opened the door, poked his head through, and then back at us. “He’s not in there.”

  “That’s another thing about him. He jumps around.” Ari sighed. “Enough about Wade. Anyone got any ideas how the Med computers are being used to send messages? And if anyone suggests Jackson did something wrong, I’ll lose my shit.”

  Lewis met Cash’s gaze. “No one would do that. We all like Jackson and trust him completely. You guys certainly have each other’s backs. When he came to question us, the first thing he did was let us know you weren’t a suspect, Ari.”

  I rubbed Ari’s arms. “Like you’d do anything different for each other Cash, Lewis?”

  Cash’s smile was quick. “She’s fine, Ari. You know it. The blood work showed it for three days. Time to stop keeping her in seclusion. Not that I don’t understand the feeling. I’d like to put Diana and Helene in seclusion forever. I don’t win that argument, Bennett, and neither will you.”

  Ari mock sighed. “Fine. Back to work tomorrow. Cleared.”

  “You cleared her?” Rohan came through the door. “It’s Jackson’s night, right?”

  “If we can stop him from working. Otherwise, we’re skipping him and it’s you.”

  Ro’s grin was fast. “I don’t know what to hope for.”

  I jumped down. “Whatever it is, it’ll have to be an early night. I’m getting back on the schedule. I’m sure it’ll be four in the morning when I’m expected to be on.”

  Ari groaned. “Great.”

  Cash interrupted whatever Ari was going to say next. “Hate to tell you, but I’m pretty sure Makenna is going to want the four of you to work.”

  My heart fell. Maybe that was ridiculous. I’d shared them with time travel since they all got together with me. I’d been spoiled since I was sick. I’d had their total attention when they could be there, and I’d been too sick to enjoy it.

  Oh well. This was how our life went. Ro answered him. “The increase in attacks. Seems like it’s a last ditch effort.”

  “Makenna thinks there are plots that she knows about where a party could pretend to be losing only to win because people let their guard down,” Lewis answered. “She’s obsessing.”

  Ari nodded. “Tell Makenna we’ll do what we can.”

  They would. My guys always came through.

  I returned back to the Time area to find everyone there. Canyon and Jackson were seated around the table. They looked up when we all walked in. Jackson held up his tablet. “Come on. If we’re going tonight, then we’re having fun now. All of us together. I’ll skip my date night for a… group gathering. Things have been crazed. Disjointed. I’m getting nowhere.”

  “Oh, are we doing something with the tablets?” I took the seat next to Jackson. Ro and Ari took the other seats.

  “It’s a card game since we don’t have cards. I swear I had cards.” Jackson shrugged. “Pretty sure that Judge stole them from me. It’ll deal for us.”

  Rohan sat back in his seats. “Hate to state the obvious”—he pointed at Canyon—“but the machine-talker over here is going to cheat.”

  I laughed. “Would you do that, Canyon? Would you cheat?”

  “Yes, probably.”

  His total honesty about it made the other four of us lose it in laughter. Canyon looked genuinely confused. I had tears in my eyes from the whole thing. Jackson finally set down his tablet. “Well, so much for that.”

  “What about a movie?” I looked at my hands. “I’ve never seen one. Maybe we could all watch one together. Do we have that much time?”

  Ari jumped up. “If we keep it a short one.”

  Canyon held up his tablet. “Get one for us, Ari. You’re the one here who knows them, and I’ll get it projected digitally onto the screen over there. It’ll be big. I can’t see the faces but I’ll listen.”

  “Oh no.” I shook my head. “We aren’t going to ask you to do that.”

  “No, I want to. It’ll be fine. I like stories, whether I read them or listen to them. This will be like that.” He rose.

  Keith walked into the room right then, and we all turned to him. The scientists working on this project almost never came in unexpectedly. What was going on? He looked at his feet and then up at us. “I… I have to deliver bad news.”

  I rose. My brother looked pale. Anxiety made my hands tingle. I would help however I could. “Is it Paloma? Ben?”

  “No.” He shook his head fast. “No. I’m sorry. Nothing like that. Jackson, a vote was taken, and until we figure out how your code was used to get on that ship, we can’t allow you to travel through time.”

  He might as well have dropped a bomb in the room. I wanted to cause Keith physical pain. My gaze flew to Jackson, and although he covered it, I saw the horror cross over his gaze before he hid it away. Others might not notice, but I knew what to look for. Jackson needed to be trusted like he had to take breath. His parents were traitors. He would never be.

  A muscle clenched in his jaw. “I didn’t do it.”

  Keith sighed. “I know. Listen, I know. I’m just delivering the message. Someone got your code. That’s how it went. You have a new code. The leak is covered. But… a vote.”

  I stormed forward, poking Keith in the shoulder. “Who voted against him?”

  “I’m not going to start picking it apart.”

  I could kill my brother. “Because it seems to me that whatever vote you took is bullshit. None of us were there. Jackson had no ability to defend himself. The other four of us had no vote. This is nonsense and, frankly, beneath you.”

  Jackson walked toward me pulling me into his embrace. “It’s okay.”

  “It isn’t.”

  Ro’s tone had no emotion when he joined the conversation. “It’s not fine. If they don’t trust Jackson, then they don’t trust any of us. We won’t travel through time without him. Find other people to do it.”

  Canyon sat back down in his seat and put his feet on the table. “Yep.
Not happening without Jackson. We trust him with our lives.”

  Ari nodded. “Fuck all of this. We’ll leave altogether. These are our friends and family. They should know better, and if they don’t, then I’m done. I’m not staying in a place that doesn’t trust Jackson. Tell Tommy I’m taking a shuttle. I’ll pay him back for it. I think somewhere along the line he probably owes me something anyway.”

  Keith held up his hands. “Guys…”

  I squeezed Jackson. “Let’s get out of here.”

  When we made the decision to leave, it proved not to be complicated to get it done. I had almost nothing to pack. Ari and Jackson both had possessions, but the Super Soldiers didn’t. Ari took Tommy’s shuttle without answering any of Tommy’s pings, and a few minutes later, we were above The Farm, all thoughts of time travel left behind.

  They’d either figure out how to reprogram the scanners for others, or they wouldn’t do it altogether.

  Jackson was silent. He checked readings and helped but didn’t otherwise speak. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

  “Are you okay?” I kept my voice low. It wouldn’t keep two of the others from hearing us, but maybe they’d get the point.

  He sighed. “I… I just can’t believe this is happening again. I have devoted my life to loyalty. It’s all I ever am. And… now I’m suspect in an incident that could have killed you. I promised you a home and now we’re leaving it.”

  Oh, he didn’t understand. That was okay, I made these kinds of mistakes all the time. “Jackson, I am home. Anywhere the four of you are. It went very fast, but you became my family.”

  He kissed the top of my head. “Really?”

  “Yes. Screw them.”

  I would miss Paloma and Diana. I would miss my brothers. But right then, I wanted to stick all of them into a vat of lava and lock it. My temper was so… Sandler.

  He snorted. “Okay, screw them.”

  “Come on,” I took his hand and led him from the comm room. Rohan piloted, he seemed happy as a clam to do so, and the others were busy. We weren’t needed for a few minutes. The room I’d taken was two degrees cooler than the one in the hall. I bet Canyon had done that for me. I liked it slightly cooler when I slept because then I could get warm. I knew it didn’t make sense. It just was what it was.

  I walked into the bathroom and put on the shower. My tablet was exploding with pings. At some point, we’d move out of contact with The Farm, but we weren’t there yet. I didn’t care. I had nothing to say right now.

  “Join me?”

  His eyebrows shot skyward. “Really?”

  “Unless you don’t want to.”

  Jackson quickly stripped off his clothes, and I laughed, taking mine off, too. I couldn’t believe this. Prior to almost dying, I might have insisted we do this in the dark. Almost dying had done some things for me, and not caring what I looked like naked was one of those things. Jackson, who was hard by the time he had his clothes off, seemed to like what I looked like just fine.

  He kissed me before he walked us both backward into the shower. The water wasn’t warm. I hadn’t tested it and neither had he. We both yelped, and Jackson swore while he fiddled with the dial.

  I kissed him until I was dizzy from the contact. The water warmed quickly, or maybe it only felt that way because we were so lost in the heat generated between each other. I pulled back to look at him, getting my hair wet in the spray.

  Jackson’s hair darkened from the moisture, and some of the concern in his eyes was gone. He was so handsome.

  I put my hand over the blank space on his skin above his heart. “Why nothing here?”

  “I kept it undone so that someday when I met the right woman—not something I ever really thought would happen—I could put something that represented her there. So, sometime in the not too distant future, I will be putting something that reminds me of you there.”

  My heart stuttered. “Jackson. That is so beautiful.”

  He tapped my chin. “I have you naked under the water. I’m not wasting this time.”

  Jackson bit down lightly on my neck. I trembled. Wow. By the universe, I hadn’t known that I wanted to be… bit. He kissed me gently where his teeth had lightly grazed me. I sighed. “I think my lady likes a little pain.”

  “Only because you’d never cause me any, really.”

  This time it was Jackson who shook in my arms. “Waverly, when you say things like that, you make me believe sustainable happiness is fucking possible.”

  We didn’t talk anymore after that. He kissed me, and I kissed him back. It was slippery in the shower, particularly when the soap got involved. He washed me everywhere, and I did the same for him. Then we let the water drip off of us. He hoisted me up, my legs coming around his middle. Jackson was strong. Lean in a way that could lend the idea that he wasn’t, but he was. I didn’t think there was an ounce of fat on him, just muscle everywhere.

  He held me like I was nothing. That couldn’t be easy. Even with my newly found attitude of not caring about my outside appearance, I wouldn’t deny the fact that I weighed a significant amount.

  “Out of your own head. In here with me.”

  By the universe, Jackson read me well. I nodded, holding his dark gaze with my own. “I’m here with you.”

  “Good girl.”

  Jackson fit himself inside of me, brushing my clit with the top of his knuckle. It was a different kind of pressure, and I moaned. He smiled against my mouth and kissed me hard. His movements were slow. With my back pressed against the wall, I gasped with every small jerk. In this position I doubted he could get much more of a withdrawal and thrust motion without dropping me. It didn’t matter. The shallow movements made it easier for him to rub against my clit.

  With my little experience in this way, I quickly discovered I really, really liked that. Jackson’s hot noises made me even more turned on. I gave up trying to hold my head up and leaned it against the shower wall. All I could do was feel.

  “Fuck. I love you. This is… yeah.” His words were beautiful and nonsensical. I loved them. We didn’t last long. There was too much, maybe. The water. The day we’d had. The way he made me feel. I came, on a long sigh with a rub of his cock inside my pussy. I lost myself. He wasn’t done, Jackson jerked in and out of me several times more, each pass bringing the pleasure back for a long moment before he emptied himself inside of me.

  His eyes were closed but he gave me a slow grin. “I thought we might be a long time from this moment.”

  “Why delay what we both want? Life is short.”

  His lids lifted slowly, his brown eyes warm with emotion. “It feels like we’ve known each other forever.”

  I sighed. He was right.

  I lay with Jackson, both of us wrapped in towels, on a bed with scratchy sheets. I’d heard Paloma tell Tommy once that he didn’t put luxuries on his ships. All of the tech was flawless, but the living conditions were not as upgraded. He’d shrugged, not his problem right now.

  Now, I had the scratchy sheets.

  I thought Jackson might be asleep. He breathed evenly, eyes closed. I didn’t know for sure. The only time we’d shared a bed, he’d snored, which he’d told me he didn’t usually do. I rubbed circles on his back.

  “Don’t stop doing that.” His voice was barely a whisper. “Maybe ever.”

  I kissed his skin. “Can I ask about the ink?”

  “Sure.” He turned his head slightly on its side and opened his eyes. “Ask away.”

  I traced my finger over a design that looked like a bird. “Brown bird. Black eyes.”

  “I drew that one and had it copied on my back. I sat through the whole experience with a mirror watching the artist to make sure it was right. Poor guy. That bird is called a wahster. It was on the planet where I spent my first five years.”

  The detail was amazing. I could see the feathers outlined from each other. “With Diana.”

  “Yep.” I hadn’t asked it as a question but he answered i
t like it was. “The wahster will never leave its family. Ever. They live and die in a small range of trees. If a predator comes, they fight to the death, they don’t run away.” He groaned. “It reminds me my past is always on my back and… shit… we ran away.”

  He sat, rubbing his eyes at the same time. “A predator came, my friends accused me of shit, got my back up because the accusation was just what would get me upset, and we ran away.”

  “Well.” I kissed his cheek. “In this case, your family went with you. This particular grouping is transportable. Your family didn’t leave you, and you didn’t leave them.”

  He scrunched up his face. “Am I being a coward?”

  “No.” How could he even think that? “I think we made a pretty big statement. You guys risk your lives jumping through time. And they go and question you?” My temper flared at the thought again. “I want to…”

  He kissed me square on the lips. “Don’t get worked up. Your cheeks are getting all red. It’s adorable when you’re mad. It’s also scary. You go all Sandler on me, and the next thing I know, you’ll be charging ahead of a brigade to take down whoever got you upset.”

  I groaned. “I can’t worry about being a Sandler. I am one. Once upon a time, before my father ruined the name, that meant strength and ability. I’m going to own that.”

  He bit the top of my shoulder. “Sounds good.”

  The door swung open, and Ari leaned against the doorframe. “We need to get hooked into the system. Couldn’t call either of you. The Farm is under serious attack. We can see it on the sensors. What do you want to do?”

  Jackson rose. “Go help. I mean, fuck, they don’t trust me, fine. I don’t want them to die. We can always leave again. Who is it? Sandler or Evander?”

  “Sandler.” Ari walked over, leaned down, and kissed me. “You guys might want to get dressed. It might be hard to go into battle wearing your towels. Funny. But difficult.”

  I snorted. “True.”