The Vanishing Girl

by Laura Thalassa

  “I like him,” I said softly. “So much. And I know he likes me, so this shouldn’t be a problem, but it is. Because he’s just like me—he can teleport. I’m scared that if I let myself fall for him, and then he dies, there will be nothing left of me.” I didn’t know the words were true until I spoke them.

  “It sounds like you’ve thought this through many steps down the road.”

  “Is that surprising?” I asked. “Wasn’t I created to think this way?”

  Debbie didn’t say anything for a minute. Finally, she cleared her throat. “Don’t you think it’d be nice to let someone in? It sounds pretty lonely to be you.”

  I frowned and blinked rapidly to diffuse the tears that wanted to come.

  “Yeah … it’d be nice,” I admitted, “but I sort of pushed him away.”

  “Well,” Debbie said, “just going off what you told me, it sounds like that hasn’t stopped him in the past.”

  I laughed in spite of myself. So true.

  “And,” she continued, “this isn’t advice, but in my own experience, an apology goes a really long way.”

  An apology … I think I could do that.

  As soon as I left Debbie’s office, I made a beeline for his room. He lived on an adjacent hallway to mine. I’d never been in it before, but I’d seen him come in and out of the room between classes.

  I knocked on Caden’s door. Several seconds passed and no one answered. I tried the handle.

  Unlocked. I was so going in.

  I opened the door and slipped inside. Once the door clicked behind me, I looked around.

  His walls were a collage of images. Some were photographs of nature, some were posters of albums and movies, and some were artwork. I don’t know what I’d expected from dangerous, cocky Caden, but it wasn’t this.

  His queen size bed took up most of one wall, and across from it was his desk. Two large bookshelves rested against the far wall, filled with books.

  I moseyed over to his book collection and flipped through it. Just about every genre was represented here, including romance. Hypocrite much?

  I grabbed a bodice ripper, and made myself comfortable on his bed. I’d do a little light reading until Caden came back.

  Forty minutes and three sex scenes later, the door opened, and a sweaty, shirtless Caden came into the room.

  Whoa. I shifted uncomfortably as I took in his tanned skin and rippling muscles. It probably wasn’t the best idea to read a romance novel right before seeing him. Heat pooled low in my stomach.

  As soon as he saw me, surprise registered on Caden’s face, followed by a slow, smoldering grin.

  “You know,” I said conversationally, moving the romance novel away from my face, “I’ve never understood why people liked these things,” I said, throwing Caden’s earlier line back at him.

  His dimples deepened, more delicious than ever. “Does the fact that you found that make me less manly?”

  Laughter bubbled out of me, and my heart sped up. Screw the creepy scientists and their twisted plans for us. I liked Caden, and I was going to stop running from him.

  “Not in the least.” I put the book down. “I owe you an apology.”

  His face lost all traces of playfulness.

  I started to get up from his bed, but he put his hand out. “Don’t get up. I kind of like the way you look there.”

  Okay, definitely not helping my libido. “I’m sorry for pushing you away, Caden. I really like you, and your muscles are distracting …” I trailed off. Whoops. Not what I meant to say.

  Caden raised his eyebrows and looked down at his naked torso before glancing back up at me with a lopsided grin.

  I coughed. “Er … I meant to say that I was sorry that my disgust towards this program was misdirected at you.”

  Caden came around the bed, and suddenly a very sweaty, muscular man wrapped me up in his arms. “Thank you,” he whispered into my ear.

  “Welcome …” I hugged him back. Without really meaning to, I traced the slick muscles of his back, not caring that my clothes were now sweaty.

  He pulled away. “I have to take a shower. Please don’t leave; I’ll be quick.” He turned and walked away, and my eyes ate up the way his back muscles rippled beneath his skin. At the base of his neck, black lines curled out, tracing their way along the surrounding muscles.

  It chilled my blood, seeing those same lines I had on my shoulder blade.

  Caden paused. “If you want, you can join me—now that you’re all sweaty too,” he said, his back to me.

  “Join?” My eyes widened at his offer, and I forgot all about the inky markings.

  “Yeah.” Now he turned to look at me. “Unless casual nudity makes you uneasy.” There was nothing casual about being naked around Caden.

  Too many thoughts were rushing through my head. Was this a bad idea? Did I care? Would I regret this?

  I stayed silent for too long.

  Caden shrugged. “It’s a standing offer in case you change your mind.” He began walking again, pulling down his gym shorts on his way to the bathroom.

  All that is holy, that man had an exquisite backside.

  Slowly I got up from the bed, and with shaking hands I began to strip down. I crossed the room and opened the shower door.

  Caden’s hair was slicked back, the water turning its normal golden hue into the color of wet sand. He drank me in as I stepped inside, and I felt that same nervous rush of excitement I had when I’d removed my clothing by the lake. This was much harder, though. Then I could act as though I hadn’t really wanted to be naked in front of him.

  But now I did.

  We stared at each other for a beat, and then Caden closed the distance between us and kissed me. I didn’t jump away when I felt the hard press of his body against mine. Instead I moved against him.

  He groaned and pulled away. “Stop being such a temptress,” he said.

  “Then stop being such a tease.” I slid past him, brushing against his slick body as I maneuvered my way under the shower’s spray.

  He gave me a serious look. “There is nothing about this that’s funny.”

  I leaned my head back and let the shower smooth back my hair. “I agree,” I said, closing my eyes as water dripped down my face.

  A small sound came out of Caden’s mouth.

  I opened my eyes slowly. His gaze was smoldering, and it devoured every inch of my body. The sight stirred something low in my stomach. I let my own eyes move over him, from his wide shoulders, to his rounded pecs, to his rippling abs. A deep V pointed to his arousal.

  My breathing sped up. “Maybe this was a bad idea,” I said.

  “I can control myself.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not you I’m worried about.”

  Caden’s eyebrows rose. “I’m just going to throw this out there, but I’m okay with being taken advantage of.” Even though his face was serious, his eyes twinkled.

  I smiled at him and reached for his body wash, relieved on some level that Caden was okay going as far as I was. “Okay then, you’ve convinced me.”

  “Good.”

  Caden tugged the body wash out of my hand. “Mind if I wash you?” he asked.

  My mouth went dry, and I cleared my throat. “Not at all.”

  He poured some of the shower gel onto his hands. “Turn around,” he said.

  I did as he asked, and a moment later I felt his calloused hands rubbing soap along my shoulders. I sucked in a breath. His touch raised the gooseflesh of my skin, each stroke sensual.

  Gradually, his hands lowered. After he’d run them over the small of my back, he paused. I almost yelped when I felt Caden’s hands cup my butt.

  “You have such a sweet ass,” he said, his voice low. My breath hitched at his wor
ds.

  He cleared his throat. “You should probably turn around.”

  I faced him, my heart hammering in my chest. He poured more body wash onto his hands and watched me as he placed his hands over my breasts.

  My mouth parted and my eyes lowered at the feel of his hands gliding over the sensitive flesh. But as quickly as they passed over my breasts, they were gone. My belly tightened as they caressed the soft skin of my stomach.

  Caden’s hands dipped lower and lower until …

  I caught his hand just as it was about to dip past my pubic bone, my breathing heavy. “My turn.”

  I squeezed out the body wash onto my palm and rubbed my hands together. I reached out and touched Caden’s slick chest. As soon as my sudsy fingers touched his skin, they seemed to have an agenda of their own. I glided them over his pecs and his large shoulder muscles, imagining what it would feel like to wrap the rest of my body around this skin.

  I didn’t even bother pretending to wash him after that. While I still rubbed soap onto him, I was more interested in feeling every hard plane of his body. I turned him around with my hands, noticing his sly smile as I did so.

  I ran my hand over the dips and rises of his back muscles, noticing the goose bumps that appeared under my fingers. Caden made a sound low in his throat. “Whatever it is you’re doing, it feels so damn good.”

  I smiled and moved my hands to his back dimples. I swallowed when I glanced further down at his utterly perfect ass, before I finally got up the courage to run my hands over it.

  As soon as I did so, I felt Caden’s body tense. “You’re killing me slowly,” he said, turning around to face me. He leaned in and kissed me, nipping my lower lip gently and running his tongue over it.

  While I kissed him back, my fingers moved down Caden’s ribcage and danced along the deep V that cut into his torso. My pulse skipped along. He was put together perfectly.

  Caden broke off the kiss, grabbed my hands in one of his, and reached around me with the other to turn off the facet. “Shower’s over,” he said, breathing heavily. The hand that held mine trembled slightly.

  I nodded once, my breath also coming out in ragged bursts. I leaned my head against his chest and felt his arms wrap around me.

  If he hadn’t stopped us, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to.

  Chapter 19

  I sat on the carpet in front of Caden’s bed, clad in an oversized shirt and sweats, and watched as Caden showed me the various parts of a gun and how to assemble them. Unlike me, the government seemed to trust him with actual weapons.

  Everything about Caden was sexy. From his rich voice, to the way his forearms rippled as he assembled the weapon, to the way he looked at me. I’d noticed this all before, but after the shower, I noticed each feature with renewed appreciation.

  “Ember, are you even paying attention?” Caden eyed me suspiciously.

  “What—oh yeah.” It had been two hours since we jumped out of the shower, yet still I couldn’t stop visualizing him naked. I had thought this was a dude problem, but nope, right now it was a girl problem as well.

  “Ember.”

  “Huh?”

  “Stop eyeing me like I’m going to be your next meal. It’s distracting.” Caden’s eyes dropped to my mouth.

  “Sorry.” I couldn’t even come up with a witty response, that’s how distracted I was.

  “It’s okay. Can you repeat back to me the first three steps of assembling an SSAK forty-seven using the terms I just went over?”

  I diligently repeated the steps back to him when a knock on the door interrupted us.

  “Come in!” Caden called.

  Two men dressed in fatigues came into the room. “Are you ready for your mission?” one asked. But it wasn’t really a question.

  I heard Caden curse under his breath. “Sorry, princess,” he said to me, “I forgot about this.” To the men he said, “Yeah, I’m ready.” He stood up.

  Crap, I still hadn’t checked that sheet to find out when our second simulation would be. I glanced at Caden. “Is our second simulation today?”

  “No, it’s tomorrow.” He wouldn’t look at me.

  “Then where are you …” Mission. That’s what the man had said. That Caden was going on a mission.

  “You can stay in my room for as long as you want,” Caden said. He leaned in and brushed my lips with his. Before I had a chance to kiss him back, he pulled away and followed the men out.

  I touched my lips and watched the door click shut. Even though Caden had been sent to capture me two weeks ago, I had assumed that was a special occasion. My impression was that everyone in my classes was preparing to go on missions for the first time ever. It had never crossed my mind that some had already started doing them.

  I left Caden’s room shortly after he did, intent on grabbing dinner. Now that he was no longer there, I had no reason to stay in it.

  As I turned the corner to the dining hall, I heard shouts in the distance. Reflexively I moved towards the noise.

  I shouldn’t have bothered; it was getting closer and closer to me. A stretcher rounded the corner and on it I saw something I’d only seen pictures of.

  A teleporter drenched in blood lay on the stretcher, his naked body only covered where the medics had tried to temporarily staunch the blood loss. By the looks of it, the wound was too extensive for this to help much.

  I backed up at the sight. Someone had been spliced.

  Amongst all the blood, a tuft of short blonde hair had managed to stay dry. The sight chilled me.

  Eric.

  I didn’t know him well, but he was a good friend of Caden’s, and he had always been kind to me.

  And he had a pair. I looked at the throng of people surrounding him, but Serena wasn’t amongst them. Of course she wouldn’t be; she’d been in the simulation with him.

  My gut twisted. Before her ten minutes were up, had she seen Eric get injured? Had she worried this might happen? That she might never see him again? I didn’t envy her. Waking up and realizing your partner was dead, someone who you were friends with—maybe more than just friends—that just might be the worst feeling in the world.

  Caden’s on a mission. The same thing could happen to him. My skin felt feverish, and the hallway much too claustrophobic.

  Pull yourself together. He was good. I’d seen him in action.

  The doors outside the front entrance banged closed. I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I’d only now noticed that Eric and the group of medics were already outside.

  I followed, interested in the facility’s procedure when it came to splicing. Ahead of me a helicopter started up on a launch pad some distance away from the main building. The medics loaded Eric onto it, and then hopped in themselves. Once the engines were ready, the helicopter lifted up into the sky.

  I watched until even the blinking lights of the chopper had disappeared over the hills. The whole thing took less than five minutes, but it still probably wasn’t fast enough to save Eric’s life.

  And that was how we left the facility. In a body bag.

  I looked around me. I stood in someone’s living room. Along the walls hung a series of images. The small room was starkly furnished and it smelled musty. I walked to a window and peered outside. This house appeared to be one of many nestled next to each other. Was I in Europe?

  “Hi Ember,” the familiar voice spoke from behind me.

  I turned. “Adrian.” I was thrilled he wasn’t trying to throw me out or argue with me. I guess he’d gotten used to my unexpected drop-ins. “Is this your house?” I asked, my eyes moving around the room.

  He shook his head. “My father’s. Listen Ember,” he said as I took in the living room we stood in again, “I’ve been reading my father’s notes and doing some serious research on the p
roject you’re a part of. The more I learn, the more sinister secrets I uncover.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” I said as I picked up a photo of a rather ugly looking man.

  “Did you know that you are permanent property of the government?”

  I put the photo back and glanced up at him. “What, exactly, does that mean?” I asked.

  He took me in, his eyes sad. “Think of it as a new form of slavery. It means that the government can require you to work for them for years—they chose your destiny, not the other way around.”

  They had told me two years. Two years and then I was out. But thinking over the extensive facility I lived in, Adrian had to be right. You didn’t pour in that kind of money just to let it all go after two years.

  And considering that drawer of deceased teleporters, if what Adrian was saying were true, then … “It’s a death sentence.”

  He exhaled. “Yes.”

  The sound of my door opening and closing roused me from my dreams. A shadow moved through the darkness. I felt my mattress dip as the figure sat on the edge of my bed.

  I could make out a bowed head and slumped shoulders. For a long time neither of us moved.

  “Eric was hurt badly in his simulation,” Caden said. “They’re saying he might not make it.” His voice was emotionless. From what I’d seen of Eric, I couldn’t imagine how he would survive an injury that extensive.

  Caden’s shoulders shook, and I was glad the lights were off. The sight of him losing it would have completely undone me.

  Still, I slid out of the covers and came to where Caden sat. Using the tips of my fingers, I turned his head and kissed his lips, ignoring for his sake the wetness on his cheeks.

  He swiveled his body, his lips parting as he leaned into me, all his attention focused on the sensation. My tongue caressed his, and two of his tears hit my cheeks.