“Paxie, your leg is swollen and black and blue. And purple and yellow and green…”
She shrugged, pulling away and tugging on her pants. “Your dad did a number on me. I was just about to teleport to India and ask Sakra for a quick heal.”
“Okay. Sorry for stopping in like this if it makes you uncomfortable. I just got home from work and felt a disturbance in your prana. I wanted to come and take a peek to see if you were okay.”
“Thanks. I’m fine, really. It’s good to see you again, Thorn.” she said before turning to leave.
“Pax!” called out Bree, moving to block her exit. “Don’t go! Make friends again with Thorn. Bree miss Pax!”
Pax felt an ache in her chest as she reached out and caressed the robot lovingly. “I have to go, Bree. I’ll see you soon. I promise.”
“Would you like to keep him?” Thornton suddenly offered. He had found it painful to say the words, for Bree was his dearest companion, who incessantly reminded him of the pleasant past. It was Bree who had kept Thornton sane through some of the toughest moments of this breakup, when he had been sitting alone and questioning everything. But it seemed like Pax needed Bree as much as he did.
Lifting her chin, Pax looked at Thornton carefully. “Are you sure? You would… let me keep Bree?”
“Yes, of course. Technically, he’s your robot. Mom made him specifically for you,” Thornton said, forcing a smile. He had felt his heart breaking when he entered the room and saw Pax sitting on the floor and hugging Bree and whispering to him. Just as she had done so many years ago. He had also felt a small amount of jealousy. The same jealousy he’d always felt when Pax connected so deeply with Bree instead of with him.
“Thanks, Thorn… I don’t know what to say…”
The two stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. “Just take care of Bree for me. He’s my favorite little snowball,” said Thornton affectionately.
“Bree is not snowball! Not snowball! Bree. Bree.”
Pax felt her lips break into an involuntary smile. The nickname had been established the previous year during the winter holidays when Layla’s girls had decided to dress the puppy up in their infant brother’s clothes. Olive and Nyssa had carefully placed one of Oren’s diapers onto the dog, cutting a hole for his wagging tail. Then, they had chased the dog around for an hour and struggled to get him into a onesie while the grownups drank downstairs. For the finishing touch, Nyssa’s brilliant idea had been to carefully place four of Oren’s baby shoes onto the dog’s metal paws. They had been unable to find one of the matching pairs, so the shoes on his front paws were different colors.
When Pax and Thornton had finally seen the robot-puppy, they had both laughed so hard they cried. (The spiked Christmas eggnog had helped to enhance the hilarity of the situation.) Bree had not been amused—it was not in his programming to find such an event amusing.
“Help! Pax, help! Children torture Bree with anthropomorphic accessories!”
This had caused Pax to spew out her eggnog in a fit of giggles. “Bree, they’re just playing with you. Relax! They don’t mean any harm.”
“Why do you call him Bree?” Nyssa asked in confusion. “He needs a better name. Something cuter.”
Olive looked around frantically, and found a snowman ornament on the tree. “Snowball!” she shouted.
“Yeah, Snowball!” Nyssa shouted.
“Bree is not snowball!” the robot had insisted hysterically. “Bree is not snowball!”
“Oh, dear,” Rose said with a sigh. “He’s an older model and he doesn’t respond well to nicknames—he can only understand metaphors or similes.”
“Data does not compute! Snowball is comprised of frozen water. This will cause rust and corrosion for Bree! Incorrect data!”
The two girls had taken this as incentive to spend the rest of the night teasing the frustrated robot and singing songs about snowmen as they danced around him. Bree had spent the evening looking dolefully at Thornton and Pax with his best rendition of a robot-pout.
It had been a memorable winter. Now it was bittersweet. Every happy memory was tainted with the sting of loss.
Thornton cleared his throat. “Remember to store him away from any moisture or salt. No excessive heat, Pax! That means you better watch those hands of yours.”
“Good Sakra, Thorn! You think that after a few months of not living together, I’m suddenly going to forget how to take care of our robot?”
“Well, it’s been a bit longer since we deactivated Bree for his repairs. And you were in the vector zone for the equivalent of something like four years. It’s been a much longer time for you,” he explained hesitantly. “You and I have drifted apart, so I just figured maybe there wasn’t any room in your heart left for either of us.”
“How dare you say that,” she whispered. She clenched her fists. “I should ask Bree whether you even checked his circuitry in the past month!”
“Bree. Bree. Thorn still forgets! Thorn still forgets!”
“See!” she said smugly.
Thornton smiled. “Well, you’re his mother. It’s your job to remind me when he needs a tune-up, or bug me to fix him when he malfunctions.”
Her face fell when she realized how awkward it was to be talking about Bree in these terms. In a way, however, they were like Bree’s parents. The concept gave her an idea. “Why don't we work out a joint custody arrangement?” Pax suggested. “Bree can come live with me, but visit you on the weekends.”
“That sounds good to me…”
“No! Bree love Thorn and Pax! Bree want both! Live with Thorn and Pax together! Like before. Bree. Bree.”
The former couple looked at each other in surprise and Pax felt a blush creep into her cheeks as her eyes drifted to the ground. “No, Bree, you don’t understand.”
“Just take him, Pax,” said Thornton sourly.
Pax suddenly realized that if she kept Bree, the curious little robot might find out about Para and accidentally reveal them. As much as she missed her companion and the sidekick of her teenage years, she couldn’t risk it.
“Well, Thorn, how about this,” she said, lifting her eyes to meet his again. “I am still staying with Mara, and you know how she has a weird problem with Bree…”
“Bree. Bree. Amara is scared!”
Thornton grinned. “That’s mom’s fault. She used to tell Mara bedtime stories about artificial intelligence taking over the world, and it frightened the daylights out of the poor girl. But I highly doubt she would scream at the sight of Bree like she used to.”
Pax chuckled. “You’d be surprised—she still has to leave the room or change the channel if there are marginally clever robots on TV.”
“Can you imagine?” Thornton asked with a smirk. “She’s part-goddess, and she’s terrified of talking robots.”
The two began to laugh together, and it felt too familiar—too comforting. Pax backed away, knowing that this innocent laughter was more dangerous than anything else Thornton could possibly throw at her. She felt her insides pulling toward him, and she wanted to throw him down on an infirmary bench and have him, broken leg and all. Even with Bree watching and complaining about the confusing data. She bit her lip and waved her hand as if it would toss these visions from her mind. She cleared her throat.
“I probably shouldn’t invite Bree to live with me while I’m staying at Mara’s. Why don't you keep him for a bit longer… and then when I get settled with my own place, he can stay with me for a little while?”
“Of course,” he said, somewhat relieved that he wouldn’t be losing Bree in addition to Pax. At least not right away. “Just let me know when you want him.”
Pax nodded at Thornton, thanking him with the classic Burnson smile. She saw a look in his eyes which suddenly reminded her of the sweet words he’d said to Para just a day before. Her smile disappeared, and her eyes fell back to the ground as she moved to leave.
“Paxie…”
“I have to go.”
Cha
pter 11: Meddling and Manipulation
Amara was sitting at a well-lit vanity and carefully applying darkening mascara to her pale blonde lashes.
“Mara, did you take your—” Pax turned the corner as she was tying her hair into a ponytail, and she immediately frowned. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Amara snapped. “Damn, you made me talk and now I smudged it!”
“We’re going to train with Uncle Ash. You don’t need makeup. He’s a simpleton from the backwoods; he could never tell the difference between fancy Mara and just-woken-up Mara.”
“He’s not as dumb as you think he is,” Amara said softly. “I seem to recall that a girl from that same remote wilderness hustled through med school without even trying.”
Pax shrugged. “It’s kind of easy to study when you just put your hand on a book and absorb all the words in a matter of minutes.”
“No way!” Amara gasped. “You cheated in school? Does Amelia know that?”
“Grandma is none the wiser—and she doesn’t need to know,” Pax said with a smile. “My point is that if it was so fucking easy for me to get through school, and then other school, and more school on top of that—using my natural abilities—then Ash could’ve done the same thing. That’s all Grandma ever wanted—to see him become successful. He should’ve done it for her at least.”
“So he could sit around with a medical degree he doesn’t ever use like you do?” Amara asked sweetly.
“Exactly. At least it would make his mom happy, and he’d feel a bit better about himself. And by the way, I did use my degree for a while. I only stopped when it didn’t seem to matter anymore.”
“When you killed someone for the first time,” Amara said, reading her thoughts as she applied a gloss to her lips.
“Yes,” Pax said, quickly changing the subject. “For Sakra’s sake, you don’t need to wear makeup to work out! When you get sweaty it will make everything messy and disgusting.”
“I don’t think Para will break a sweat during any of these pathetic, fake training sessions.”
“That’s true. Well, try to remember not to throw yourself at him so obviously this time.”
“I am not obvious!” Amara insisted.
Pax placed her hands on her hips, mimicking her friend by using a high pitched voice. “Ohmigod, stop smoking now, Ash! I can’t bear the thought of such a disgusting object touching your beautiful body! Ohhh, Ash, you’re sooo strong, and sooo fast! Do you work out a lot to build those big, sexy muscles?”
“I do not sound like that!” screeched Amara in a high-pitched voice, in effect sounding exactly like that. She realized it immediately and began to grumble.
Pax laughed. “It doesn’t matter, really. Ash is oblivious. I’m more concerned about the family dinner tomorrow.”
“So am I,” Amara said softly. “I am kind of freaked out that Dad will see Para and immediately know that it’s us. And then punish us for our stupid scam. And whatever he does, you know it’s going to be painful. He’ll break a lot more than our legs.”
“Well, we just have to plan carefully. It won’t be easy to deceive Vincent, but it can be done.”
* * *
The next day, as Para approached the Kalgren compound, she didn’t realize that one member of the household, one with a particularly scientific and suspicious mind, peered down at her through a small gap in venetian blinds. It was a momentary calculated and distrustful glance amidst the chaos of the family within the house.
“The bots have almost finished making dinner,” Rose pointed out sharply. “Where is she?”
“She’s a busy girl, mom. She’ll be here.”
“I hope so. If she doesn’t arrive here in five minutes, I swear…”
“She’s already been shot for dating me. What worse could you put her through?”
“I am a mother, therefore I am an expert at creative torture…”
“Woman, quit your griping. I am hungry, may we begin eating?”
“If you take off your armor and use your hands, I’ll let you start eating, Vince.”
"I will not take off my armor. I am returning to my training immediately after this ridiculous dinner. I have agreed to meet the boy’s new weakling woman, have I not?”
“Father!”
“If she doesn’t show up in three minutes, I swear…”
The doorbell chose that moment to ring.
“Told you.”
Thornton went to answer the door and he greeted Para with a kiss on the lips. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “My parents are a little bit crazy…”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle. They can’t be worse than mine!” she said with a laugh. Really. They can’t be worse than mine, because they are somewhat mine. I crack myself up.
“Boy!” shouted Vincent, “Bring her in here now so we can begin eating.”
Thornton whispered again, “And my father is really rude and a bit scary…”
“And he has great hearing!” shouted Vincent. “So quit whispering and get the fuck in here so I can eat!”
Wow… Dad’s being particularly rude, thought Para, I mean, he’s not exactly a social butterfly, but this is unusually crass. Even for him!
Para followed Thornton into the room where a smiling Rose greeted her with a handshake.
“Hello, dear. I’m Rose, Thorn’s mom.”
“Medea Meadows. It’s great to finally meet you!”
“What a lovely name. That grunting fellow is Thorn’s grumpy father, but you can just ignore Vince altogether. Thornton has told us absolutely nothing about you, so you will have to tell us all about yourself.”
“Sure! For starters, I brought presents for both of you.” Para handed a gift bag to Rose and walked over to Vince to hand him his. The deva turned his head away from her angrily in refusal.
“Gosh!” exclaimed Rose. “It’s the DVD set of Season Six of The Cold and The Powerful! I love that show. I can’t wait to watch it!”
Para laughed, and turned back to the angry blonde man. “Won’t you accept my gift, Vincent?”
He scowled at her. “Address me with some respect, female! Do you know who I am? Do you have any clue in just whose presence you’re standing?”
Para curiously peered into Vincent’s mind to survey his thoughts: I wonder how much of an asshole I will have to be to scare her away from my son. I do not want my son to end up with some pathetic, sniveling human. He belongs with Pax. The kids will get over their differences eventually, but I can’t allow some creature with the energy levels of a small rodent to get in the way of Thorn and Pax being together. The last thing those two need right now is more obstacles and complications.
Para smiled. She genuinely smiled. Vince, she thought fondly. You’re the best.
“Mr. Kalgren, sir,” she said coyly, holding out the gift bag very close to his face, “I would love it if you would at least look at your gift. I spent a lot of time choosing it.”
A delicate aroma reached his sensitive nostrils and they flared rebelliously.
“I need nothing from you whatsoever!” Vincent growled, snatching the bag away from her hand. “I am the King of Devas! What could you possibly give me that I… is this raspberry amaretto vanilla swirl fudge? That’s my favorite.”
Rose giggled. “What do you say, Vince?”
Gruffly, he murmured a thank you. The fudge was already out of its packaging and in his mouth.
Para concealed her smirk. “My pleasure, sir.” Oh, pops. You adorable big buffoon.
“Medea, please take a seat,” said Thornton, pulling a seat for her at the dinner table. Para suppressed a frown, since Thornton had pulled Pax’s chair out for her. Nevertheless, she sat down and thanked him. Both Pax and Amara had eaten before the dinner so that Para wouldn’t be so ravenously hungry that she revealed herself through her excessive appetite.
The Kalgren family began to eat pleasantly, with Rose and Para making idle chit-chat while the men scarfed down their m
eals. Para ignored her somehow still growling stomach and tried to eat in a dainty manner.
“I can't believe you’re a fan of that show too!” Rose was prattling on. “Can you believe they killed off Garrick at the end of Season Five? He was such a hunk! What a dreamy man, really, I could just…”
Vincent snarled, a red aura of prana cackling around him. He glared at Rose as he reached for a leg of chicken and ripped at it with his teeth in a manner which was positively bestial.
“Relax, Vince! He’s a character on a TV show. Quit scaring our guest! What’s gotten into you?”
Thornton and Rose had both looked at Para with worry, hoping she wouldn’t be too frightened, but she only lightly giggled at Vincent’s show of anger while she shoveled creamed corn into her mouth at an alarming rate.
She heard their surprised thoughts and she paused, swallowed, and smiled. “This corn is delicious! Rose, you’re a wonderful cook.”
“Oh, sweetie,” said Rose grinning. “I couldn't cook to save my life. But I do make the robots who do the cooking!”
“That’s even more impressive,” said Para as she stabbed a shrimp and brought it to her mouth.
When Para laughed, Vincent paused in his voracious chewing for a second. There’s something about that laugh... He stared at her deep plunge neckline with a frown as he tried to place the sound, but he soon grew distracted. I can see why my son has chosen this new woman. Although she might be weak, her breasts are larger, rounder, fuller and far more appetizing than Pax’s are. If I were 30 years younger…
Thirty Minutes to Heartbreak Box Set (Books 1-3) Page 73