by Jus Accardo
She jabbed a thumb in my direction. “I told Noah I would help him.”
Rabbit’s eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth for a moment before saying, “Like you helped our Noah?”
Ash looked like he’d slapped her, and a little voice inside my head goaded me to stalk across the room and wipe the walls with his face—which was bullshit. Why the hell did I care how he talked to her? “What are you babbling about?”
“She didn’t tell you?” He jabbed a finger at her. “She might not have killed him, but she’s still partially responsible for his death.”
I’d met some impressive girls during this crazy ride. Self-reliant, independent and fierce, and ready to kick ass and take names. None of them compared to Ash in that moment. She flew across the room and grabbed Rabbit by the front of his shirt, hauling him off the seat. “Noah did not kill himself because of me!”
If he was stunned by the outburst and force that came with it, it didn’t show. He simply removed her hands and took a step back. “Anyone who believes that a guy like Noah Anderson killed himself over a girl like you is smoking the good stuff and crapping out unicorns.”
“So you believe me? That he was murdered?” The hope in her voice made me twitchy. I’d sounded like that once. When we’d first started all this. Even though I knew my sister was lost, I’d hoped I could save the others.
“I’m sure of it,” Phil confirmed, voice barely above a whisper. “Just as much as I’m sure that I’m equally to blame for it.”
Chapter Eight
Ash
I opened my mouth but no words came. Phil was still looking at me the same way. With tightly controlled tolerance and barely disguised disgust. Except now in addition to that there was something else. The shadow of guilt gleamed in his eyes. He wasn’t the only one who’d changed.
Noah stood stiffer. He moved to stand beside me, almost protective in a way that made my chest ache. How many times had my Noah stood beside me as Cora raged? Everything from my behavior in public to a bad grade in school. He’d defended me through the worst of her tirades, even getting between us the one and only time she attempted to strike me. “What did you do?”
Phil looked from him to me and sighed. “He’s always been on the fence about the things that went on at the lab, but last year when you pushed him—”
No one anywhere had ever pushed Noah Anderson to do anything. “Pushed him? What are you talking about?”
“You encouraged him to keep digging.” His voice hardened and his entire body went rigid. “You said something wasn’t right and if anyone could find out what was going on, it was him.”
I remember the exact day I’d said it. Infinity had just won the lawsuit against Miriam Wagner, the reporter who claimed to have proof that they’d been skipping criminals to un-researched worlds. Noah had always questioned the work his parents did—probably because he knew what kind of people they were. When Wagner wrote an article claiming she had proof that Infinity had be dumping the worst of our society on random worlds—innocent worlds—for some reason, it made him really sit up and take notice.
“All I said was that someone should find out what kind of proof she had. He believed the reporter despite the fact that she retracted the entire article and resigned from the paper, assuming his parents had bullied or bribed her into it.” And maybe Phil was right. Maybe I had pushed him. Maybe he would have continued to simply be ashamed of his parents’ work instead of hell-bent on proving their wrongdoing if I hadn’t suggested he could do something about it.
Maybe he’d still be alive.
“Doesn’t matter what you said. He started digging into everything he could get his hands on, and when he came to me and asked that I keep an eye open, like an idiot I agreed. For the longest time I didn’t see or hear anything. Then, a few months ago, I got wind of something called Omega.”
Omega. That word…there was something familiar about it. “What’s Omega?” It was the thing Noah had asked me about. Something Cora had said to him while I was out cold in the basement.
“All I know for sure is that it’s a project Cora has been working on for years. From what I gathered, the project even predates Infinity’s contract with law enforcement.” Phil let his gaze drop to the floor and shuffled from foot to foot. “I think that’s why he’s dead. I told him what I’d heard, the whispers about Omega, and he ran with it. I think he found a lot more than he bargained for.”
“You—I…” Once again, no words would come. But feelings? Oh. Yeah. Those were coming with the force of a tsunami. I slapped him. The sound of it echoed through the eerily silent room, the force behind the blow sending warm pins and needles up my arm. “As cliché as this is gonna sound, how dare you? You knew damn well that note was bullshit and you said nothing? How could you sit there, silent, while Cora tells everyone he killed himself?”
He looked up. “Say something? To who? Cora and Karl Anderson own this town. Hell, they probably own parts of the government. If I’d opened my mouth, then I’d be just as dead as Noah. No one butts heads with the Andersons. You of all people should know that.” Expression darkening, he added, “I can’t stand you, Ash. I never liked you. I put up with you for Noah, but that’s it. That note might have been pure fabrication, but the content hit a little close to home, don’t you think?”
I knew we’d never be best friends, but his words were like a knife to the gut. Heat flamed to life in my cheeks.
“Yeah,” he said. “Noah told me what you did. How you went and messed with his head.”
“That’s not what I meant to do.” Knowing Noah was standing here, witnessing—hearing—all this made it ten times worse. We’d agreed the kiss was a bad idea and that had been that. But Noah had told Phil? That meant he hadn’t been okay with it in the end. I had screwed things up…
An all-over rush of heat exploded inside me, followed by an icy chill. I held my breath, choosing fury at his words over devastation, because down in the deepest bits of my soul, I knew some small part of what he was saying was true. It was true and I was ashamed.
“He told you—he asked you not to! I don’t believe for one second that you didn’t see how he struggled with your whole twisted relationship. You’re just a Bottom Tier tramp who was looking for a way—”
“Whoa…” Noah held up his hands and stepped between us. He grabbed the front of Phil’s shirt, and for a second I was sure he was going to toss the guy across the room. Instead, though, he shoved him hard. Phil stumbled but recovered, glaring at me with more hatred than I’d ever seen. “Whatever went on between them seems like it should be their business. And honestly? I don’t really have time for the high school drama. Omega? You were saying?”
Phil hesitated. With one last death-glare in my direction, he refocused on Noah. “I think he found something about Omega. He had something to tell me.”
“Okay…”
He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, there was an all too familiar glint there. “Except I kept blowing him off. I know who Cora and Karl Anderson are. Probably better than he did, and I was afraid…”
“So you thought putting it off would what, make it all go away?” Noah was glaring at him like he wanted to slug him. “Sounds like you were a great friend.”
“I made a mistake. One I can never take back…” Phil squared his shoulders and stood a little straighter, but I didn’t miss the way he flinched. With a sigh, he said, “I need to know what he found about Omega. I want out from under Cora’s thumb. The only way I get to walk away from Infinity is if it doesn’t exist anymore. At least not under Cora and Karl’s rule. If you find out what it was he uncovered, if you give me a way to take them down, I’ll fix your cuffs.”
Noah regarded him silently for a moment before shaking his head. “There’s little chance I could get my hands on the main cuff. Is that going to be a problem when it comes to fixing them?”
He shook his head. “I need the main cuff to make any type of alteratio
ns. You get me the information I need and that cuff—” he glanced at me, frowning— “Which should give you enough ammo to have your listed status reversed—and I will fix your little problem. Hell, I’ll make them even better. Side note, though. You’re on the clock. If I don’t get the core out within fifty hours or so of it ceasing to function, it will fry the entire cuff. You’ll be stranded.”
It was a great idea, yanno, except for a few small problems. “How on earth are we supposed to—”
The sound of gravel out front and a flash of lights had us all frozen.
Noah darted for the window and tugged back the thick drapes with a curse. “Who knew you were coming up here?”
Phil shook his head. “No one. I hardly ever leave the lab, and when I do, I don’t leave an itinerary.”
“Well, someone followed you.” He grabbed my arm and dragged me across the floor toward the back door. “We gotta go. We’ll be in touch.”
Noah had me pushed over the threshold and running for the tree line before I could even blink. As we went, I could see the glare of several additional sets of headlights as they pulled up the long gravel driveway. Hushed voices drifted toward us, followed by several shouts, one of which bellowed the word woods.
“Faster, faster,” Noah snapped. He grabbed my wrist and pulled harder, making me stumble. I tried to catch myself, but the momentum was too much. I hit the ground with a grunt. His grip was so tight that I dragged him right along with me.
We’d ventured into the woods far enough that the thick trees overhead had blocked out what little light there was. Aside from a thin beam here and there, I couldn’t really see much. Navigation was an issue and seeing obstacles—say, a tall man with a gun standing a few feet in our path—was challenging.
Noah let go of me and jumped to his feet. As the man swung out, he ducked. The action took him away from the path of the blow but disrupted his balance. He wobbled to the right, giving our attacker a chance to land a solid, well placed jab.
But this Noah, like mine, was no pushover. He took the hit like a champ, then fired back with two of his own. He struck the enemy first in the jaw, then again in the neck, just below his Adam’s apple. He staggered back, choking, and Noah took the opportunity to bring his knee up, catching the guy in the gut. He crumbled to the ground.
“We need to get gone. Know someplace safe? At the risk of sounding like Cade, we need a plan.”
“I know a place.”
He hauled me upright in a single, graceful sweep, and we took off into the night.
...
I didn’t remember my parents. I had no memory of them dying or the circumstances that landed me in a shambled Bottom Tier orphanage. The day I turned fourteen, Cora had given me an envelope with all my family information and not-so-subtly suggested I try finding a blood relative. Of course, I had—which had led me here.
“What is this place?”
I’d brought us to the outer limits of town, to a barely standing home at the back of an abandoned cul-de-sac. With every year that passed, more houses—hell, entire communities—were turning into this. Families skipped for the stupidest things, their properties left in limbo, sometimes for decades.
I ran my finger along the edge of the rotting deck. “My mom used to live here. She was the maid. Records show that the owner, a guy named Rickard Musa, was skipped just after I was born.”
“Skipped? Why?”
I pushed through the door. I’d come here once a week for the first month after I’d found it. It was dirty and falling down, but it made me feel closer to the mother I’d never really known. This wasn’t her home, but she’d lived here. Worked here. I had to believe there were pieces of her, regardless of how small, lingering in this place. Those unseen ghosts had brought me comfort on my darkest days. “Something about a debt dispute. I don’t have the whole story. He was a Mid-Tier citizen. Treated my mom pretty good from what I found. After he was skipped she moved on. Not much information after that.”
Noah closed the door behind him and followed me farther into the house. “Is this really the safest place to come? If this belonged to someone connected to your mother, then won’t they come looking?”
“Nah. Cora has no idea I found it. She probably doesn’t even know about it herself. I had to dig for almost a year to find it. I don’t think we should stay for days, but we should be safe until we figure out exactly what to do. Catch our breath, ya know?”
“Speaking of…” He glanced at the couch. It was filthy and caved in on the right side, and I couldn’t tell if the smell was coming from it or the house in general. In the end, Noah decided to settle on the floor in front of it. “Any ideas? They’re out there looking for us. That guy back there was packing—but he didn’t use it. Cora wants us alive for some reason. I don’t wanna drag this whole mess back to Cade and Kori…”
“I know—” A sharp pain thrummed through my chest as I settled on the ground across from him. “I knew how Noah’s mind worked. He was one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. If he’d really found something, he’d make a backup plan. Set something up for Phil or me to find in case something happened to him.”
He drew his knees up and rested an arm atop them. How he could manage to look so casual, so comfortable, despite the situation and surroundings made me a little jealous. “What Rabbit said about you and him—”
“Phil doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” I snapped. I hadn’t meant it to come out so sharp, but he was starting to get to me. His face, his voice, the way that kiss caused my skin to heat each time I thought about it… It had tripped me up in a way that kissing my Noah hadn’t. That had been a bad judgment call on my part. A mistake made from selfish curiosity. But this one was something else entirely… I shook off the confusion swirling inside my head and refocused on Noah.
Instead of returning the snip, he leaned back against the good side of the couch. He held his hands up in surrender. “Moving on.”
I sighed. I could do this. I could play nice. So what if he looked and sounded like my best friend? He wasn’t. Every moment I spent with him made that more and more apparent. “I think the first place to start would be his room at the house.”
“Which I’m going to assume isn’t someplace we can get to by waltzing in through the front door.”
“We can’t,” I agreed. “But it won’t be too hard to get in. The estate is massive and the boys always had a way in and out without being caught.” I couldn’t help snickering. “The Anderson boys were notorious troublemakers.”
He smiled and my heart rate spiked a notch. “Yeah. I can see that.”
...
“You sure this is safe?” Noah followed behind as I wove my way through the trees that bordered the Anderson estate. There was a small tunnel that led into the basement, the opening marked by a large bolder on which Corey had spray painted a caricature of his parents during one of his more rebellious stages. I hadn’t been in this way in a couple of years, and while I was sure the paint had chipped and faded, I was hoping there was still enough left to mark the spot.
“Yes.” We’d waited until noon, then headed back into town. I might have been booted from their lives, but Cora and Karl were notoriously habitual. “Every Tuesday they have a meeting with the heads of the science department at the Infinity building. They’ll be out of the house for at least three hours.”
“Is that gonna be enough time?”
Would it? Noah hadn’t been known for his organizational skills. I often joked that his room was like a black hole. Still… If he’d left something, he’d make sure I’d be able to find it somehow. I hoped. “I’m not sure.”
“That doesn’t sound encouraging.” Noah had called his friends to touch base. They were still looking for three people, plus some girl named Ava, and from what I could glean from the conversation I’d overheard, weren’t having any luck. “So, uh, tell me something about me. I mean, him. What was he like?”
The question surprised me. “Oh. Well, he
was nice.”
Noah snorted. “Nice? Please. If all you can say about the guy is that he was nice, then he must have been boring as all hell.”
“He wasn’t boring,” I said, defensive. He was anything but. Sometimes, I’d almost wished he was a little boring.
“So then tell me something interesting about him. Please. Save me from thinking I was a dud on this world.”
“He was a hit with the ladies.” I didn’t know why, but something told me this Noah would appreciate that. “Like, I’m talking all ages. He spoke and every single one just fell in line.” I couldn’t help snickering. “It got so bad, at one point, he started using the cheesiest pick-up lines he could find to see if he could fail.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“We were out at a club one night. This girl had been eyeing him from the moment we walked in. Batting her eyes, flicking her hair—you know. I knew all he’d have to do was waltz over, flash her a smile, and she’d be his. So I bet him he couldn’t turn her off. He walked over and asked her if she regularly sat in sugar because she had the sweetest ass he’d ever seen.”
He let out a hoot. “Classic! Did it work?”
“No way. She fell for it and nearly threw him down on the bar right then and there.”
“Nice.” He laughed. “What about you? What lines have guys used on you?”
“Me?” Heat rushed to my cheeks for several different reasons. The first being him. What would I have done if the Noah standing in front of me had tried that sugar line on me? Truthfully? I probably would have decked him. Secretly? I would have found him adorable as hell. Second, how pathetic was my answer going to be? “I wasn’t really in a position to be the target of pickup lines.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, past a strand of hair that had fallen loose from his band. “How so?”
“To the other boys in my tier, I was off limits while staying in a Top Tier home. If anyone was ever interested, he never came forward.”
He laughed again, this time louder. “Right. You’re going to try to get me to believe that a girl who looks like you never had any male attention?”