“Garrick!” I shrieked, trying to grab at him to pull him off. It would have taken a miracle but I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing.
“Fight… Fight… Fight…” the crowd started to chant around us. Like they needed any more encouragement.
Mack’s fist collided with Garrick’s face, sending him spinning to the side. It was a sickening blow. Garrick immediately went back at him, getting in a punch of his own to the side of his head. They were going to kill each other if they didn’t stop soon.
As I struggled to get a hold of either of them to end it, strong hands grabbed my waist and pulled me backwards. I had no choice except to let them, I couldn’t get out of their grip.
“Stay out of it, I’ll get Garrick,” Lochie whispered in my ear as he placed me back on the floor.
I stood back and took in deep breaths as Lochie and a few of the other guys went into the scrum. I lost sight of what was going on as bodies tightened in on their fighting match.
It was a long wait, but eventually Lochie pulled Garrick out through the crowd. He shoved him along, pushing him forward until they stepped outside into Ella’s backyard. I followed as quickly as I could behind them.
I caught up just as Lochie gave Garrick one final, hard push. “What were you thinking? What part of murder charges don’t you understand? You want to add to your body count?”
Garrick’s face was covered in blood, the bruises were already starting to swell on his face. He was a mess but he stood tall against Lochie, refusing to let him get any kind of a hand up. “It’s none of your business. I didn’t need saving.”
“Oh yeah? Really?” Lochie challenged.
“Well you weren’t doing anything.”
“I had it handled.”
Garrick used his sleeve to wipe at the blood streaming from his nose. So much for a fun party. It had been… what? Two minutes? “You were letting him insult your girlfriend. That wasn’t handling it.”
It was time I stepped in before there was another almighty brawl. Boys, seriously. “Come on, Garrick,” I started. “I’ll take you home.”
“I’m not leaving. We’re here to party, remember? You insisted.” Now he was just being contrary for the sake of it. Surely he wasn’t serious?
“You’re bleeding. Everywhere.”
“I’ll help you get cleaned up,” Ella said as she came up behind me. I didn’t even realize she was there. She headed straight for Garrick and took a hold of his arm. “I’ve got a full first aid kit upstairs. Come on.”
Garrick allowed himself to be led away as the crowd parted for him. The music was turned back on, and just like that, the party resumed as if nothing happened.
I turned to Lochie. “Thank you for helping. But not for arguing with Garrick.”
“You’re welcome.” He bowed like he was a butler or something. “And Garrick’s a dick.”
“Because it’s a party, and there are people watching, I’m going to let that one slide.”
“You’re letting it slide because you know I’m right.”
“You’re not right.”
He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, mumbling as he did it. “I’m always right.”
I pretended to push him away, because he really was being annoying again. I needed to learn to pick my battles with Lochie better, otherwise we could bicker all night long. This particular battle wasn’t worth it. Some distraction was needed. “How about we dance? It is a party after all.”
“I like your thinking, Jones.” His hand slid down my arm until our fingers interlocked. He led me back inside and through to the dance floor – otherwise known as the living room.
Ella had gone all out for the party, even hiring a live band to play. They were good too, but I hadn’t heard of them before. I caught a glimpse of Lola and Asher dancing along in their own, unique way. They weren’t exactly traditional dancers, more the jump up and down, head banging type. It was cute to watch them together.
Lochie and I were boring dancers. We moved to the beat and tried not to make fools of ourselves. It was so nice having some mindless fun. We could forget about all our problems for a little while. Especially if Mack stayed out of our way.
If Lochie decided to leave in two and a half weeks, I was going to be devastated. I would miss him like I was missing half of myself. It felt sappy thinking like that, but it was true. He had become such a big part of my life that we were intrinsically linked now.
He hadn’t brought up the subject since that morning on the boat and neither had I. It was still there though, it was the white elephant in the room that we didn’t talk about. I wasn’t sure which way he was leaning and I probably didn’t want to know either. I didn’t ask questions if I didn’t want to know the answers, that was my rule.
Still, I didn’t want to hold him back. If going to college early and doing summer school was good for him, then I wanted him to do it. I just wished he didn’t have to go away from me to do it. But I guess I couldn’t have everything. Maybe we could make the whole long distance thing work. Or maybe he would get there and forget all about me.
Lochie kept looking at something in the corner of the room while we danced. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but after the fourth time, I knew I wasn’t. I craned my head around to see what he was looking at but I couldn’t see anything.
As I opened my mouth to ask him what was so much more fascinating than me, the song finished and the Hooded Roses took over the band instruments.
“Lola’s playing,” I said excitedly and turned to face the makeshift stage. Lochie put his arm around me and pulled me close to his chest. It was the perfect position to watch them.
Asher strummed his first chord as the drummer counted them in. Lola waited for her cue before she started singing. The song was one I knew but the original had nothing on their version. Lola belted out the lyrics like she wrote them, putting all her emotions into the song. I was officially blown away.
“They are amazing,” I said under my breath, unable to take my eyes off them. They must have put in some serious rehearsal time. If they played like that at Rockapalooza, Lola’s dreams of running off to L.A. to score a record deal were going to become a reality. Her parents had nothing to worry about.
“They’ve improved… a lot,” Lochie agreed. He hadn’t seen them perform in a long time. He was probably twice as surprised as I was, he just knew how to hide it better.
By the time the song finished, there wasn’t one person at the party not cheering for them. I joined in the applause as Lola took a bow for her adoring fans. Her cool factor just shot through the roof.
“Guys, enough,” Lola started as she stepped off the stage. “You’ll make the real band feel bad.”
The ‘real’ band returned to their instruments and were good natured about being upstaged by a bunch of amateurs. They started playing and the party went back to dancing and drinking.
Lochie’s hands found themselves on my back as he pulled me against him so we could dance together some more. I let him do all the leading, just following along to the music.
It crossed my mind that I hadn’t seen Garrick in a while. I considered going to look for him, but I knew he was in good hands with Ella. She probably tended to all his wounds and kissed them better. At least, I hoped she did. Garrick could do a lot worse than Ella, if only he’d let her have her way with him. I somehow doubted he would. It was a pity, they would have made a cute couple.
My other half, however, was still looking over at the damn corner. “What’s over there?” I asked, a little less nice than I had intended.
“Nothing,” Lochie replied.
“You keep looking over there, so it has to be something.” I stared him in the eyes, daring him to lie to me again. I wished I could read his mind so he couldn’t get away with anything.
But, then again, did I really want to know every thought that filtered through Lochie Mercury’s brain? Probably not. Actually, it would probably be quite gross. Scrap that wish.
“What is it?” I pressed further. That question I did want an answer to. Like, now.
He sighed, resigning himself to the fact I wasn’t going to drop it anytime soon. “I think there’s a guy over there that is a member of the Originals.”
CHAPTER 9
Just hearing the Originals was enough to send a cold chill down my spine. What frightened me most about that organization was the fact they didn’t see aliens as anything other than the enemy. To them, we didn’t have feelings, we didn’t have needs, and we certainly didn’t deserve to be walking the same earth. We were all to be destroyed in the name of human preservation.
Even stepping out of the shadows when our existence on Earth was announced, the Originals didn’t cease doing the wrong thing. Every day they campaigned for our destruction and every day I feared they grew a little closer to getting their own way.
I turned around as subtly as possible, leaning against Lochie so it looked like we were still dancing. “Which one?” I asked.
“The guy by the window with the light blue shirt on,” Lochie replied. I scanned the crowd as I tried to spot the one he was talking about.
My eyes found the light blue shirt. “The one with blonde hair?”
“That’s the one. Do you recognize him?”
My view kept getting blocked as people moved all over the place between us. I had to stand on my tiptoes to get a slightly better look. No matter how many glimpses I got, I couldn’t recognize him. “I don’t think so. How do you know him?”
“He was at a few of the meetings I went to.” Lochie had attended God only knew how many meetings of the Originals when I had been taken by the Department. He pretended to hate aliens and they planned on using him to get at me. The moment I found out he was risking his life to work out their plan, I made him stop going. And like always, he didn’t want to listen to me.
I made a move to go speak with the guy. Lochie stopped me, sliding his arm around my belly to hold me in place. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Uh, to talk to him.” Wasn’t that obvious?
“You can’t do that. He might be a spy or something,” he whispered in my ear. As much as I didn’t like him bossing me around, it was kind of hot when he did that.
“Fine,” I sighed. He could win that battle too. I would just need to keep my eye on Mr. Blue Shirt. If he was there to spy on Garrick and I, then he would stay close, making it easy.
Lochie and I danced until it was too hot to keep going. He led me into the kitchen where it was quieter and the beverage selection was marginally better.
“It looks like our options are beer and more beer.” He held up a red cup and pointed it at a row of kegs. “Do you want beer?”
“You go ahead, I’ll track down some water or something,” I replied, heading for the fridge. There had to be something non-alcoholic around. Ella’s parents must have been really open-minded or she was good at hiding all the kegs.
Lochie poured himself a drink as I found a bottle of water in the fridge door. The rules of Project Integrate said I couldn’t break any laws. Even though the project didn’t exist anymore, I still couldn’t bring myself to drink underage. I didn’t judge others for it, but I had to stick to my own rules.
“Cheers,” Lochie said as he clinked his plastic red cup to my bottled water. I echoed him.
“Ella knows how to throw a party,” I said, meaning every word of it. I didn’t know she had it in her, clearly there was a lot I needed to learn about the girl.
“She certainly does. At least Mack has stayed away from us.”
“He’s an idiot.”
“He needs to keep his mouth shut.”
I couldn’t agree more. But he was only going to get to me if I let him. If I ignored Mack, then his words meant nothing.
“I’m going to find a bathroom,” I declared, decided it was time to check my makeup and take a few moments out.
“It’s upstairs, third door on the right,” Lochie immediately replied. I really wanted to know how he knew where the bathroom was in Ella’s house but I decided I didn’t want to hear the answer. Some things were better left unknown.
I left Lochie in the kitchen and followed his directions, finding the bathroom exactly where he said it would be. I had to wait my turn before I got my quantum of solace.
Afterwards, I didn’t hurry back. I wanted to check on Garrick and make sure he was staying out of trouble. I also kind of really wanted the gossip about how things were going with him and Ella. If I stumbled over either one of them I would have been happy.
Neither of them were upstairs or in the living room. But out on the back patio I almost ran right into Mr. Blue Shirt, making my quest completely forgotten.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there,” I mumbled, taking a step back from him. He was tall up close, even taller than Lochie or Garrick. I had to look right up just to meet his gaze.
“Maybe you should watch where you’re going,” he replied gruffly. Okay, clearly he wasn’t the nice small talk kind of guy. I wasn’t going to let him scare me off though. My plan was to play completely dumb.
“I probably should be more careful. Hey, do I know you? My name is Amery. Maybe we had English together last year?” I was pretty certain he didn’t even go to the same school as I had.
“I don’t think so.”
“You look so familiar, I must know you from somewhere. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.”
“Come on, you’re not even going to tell me your name?” I flashed him my best flirty smile, hoping I might have some charm to win him over. Although, if Lochie was right and he was a member of the Originals, I was fighting a losing battle.
“Nelson.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Nelson.” I held out my hand for him to shake but he left me hanging there. I took it back, a little embarrassed. There was nothing like the sting of rejection, even if it was from the enemy. “How do you know Ella?”
“We work together,” Nelson replied. He was barely looking at me as he spoke. I was pretty sure he was trying to find an exit out of the conversation. Little did he know how persistent I was.
“Oh, that’s cool. Maybe that’s where I’ve seen you. Great party, huh?”
“It’s okay.”
I wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to play along with my little charade. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to bait him a little. “Did you see that fight earlier? Between that guy and the alien? Now that was intense.”
Nelson’s eyes shot around to look at me. “Don’t pretend you’re not one of them. I know what you are.”
I kept my act up, trying to keep the conversation light even though he was trying to make it dark. “And what am I?”
He suddenly grabbed my left wrist and twisted it around to show my triangle tattoo. He held it up as pain shot through my arm. “You’re one of them.”
I tried to laugh but it sounded more nervous than flippant. “Oh, you mean I’m an alien? Yeah, of course I am. I thought you were totally talking about something else. Silly me.”
He released my wrist, pushing it away like my skin might have contaminated him. “Don’t get too comfortable with being here. Look what happened with your friend.”
“The fight? I don’t know, I think they both got a few swings in.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nelson said, it almost sounded like a threat. Actually, it definitely sounded like a threat. I opened my mouth to reply but someone grabbed me from behind before I could.
“Amery, I found you,” Lochie said happily. Apparently I just got caught doing something he didn’t want me to do. He addressed Nelson next. “Do you mind if I steal my girl away? I love this song and we need to dance.”
Nelson shrugged and stormed off before I got a chance to say anything further. All the questions I wanted to ask him were still on the tip of my tongue. I guessed that’s where they would have to stay.
Lochie dragged me into the backyard and around the hou
se to a quiet area. “What were you doing?”
“What did it look like I was doing? I was talking to the guy,” I replied innocently. I didn’t particularly want to get into an argument with him, especially not at a party where there might be witnesses, but he was being unreasonable. As usual.
“We agreed it was dangerous and we should both stay away from him.”
“No, you said that. It didn’t mean I agreed.”
Lochie rolled his eyes, growing exasperated. “It was implied. You enjoy putting yourself in situations that could be dangerous, don’t you?”
“Only because it makes you so angry.”
“Amery-”
“Come on, Lochie. I was just talking to the guy. We were surrounded by people. He wasn’t going to decapitate me with an audience.” I smiled, hoping that might win him over. I don’t know why, it never usually worked. There was that optimism again.
“You are impossible,” he said, still angry.
“And so are you. I guess that’s why we make such a good couple.”
“Are you ever going to do what I say?”
It was almost funny that he thought I would ever follow instructions like a good little girl. He knew what he was signing up for when we started dating. “Are you ever going to do what I say?” I asked, turning the spotlight back on him.
He looked at me, mentally weighing up his answer. “No,” he finally confessed.
“Then shut up and quit bossing me around.” I grinned to soften the command. Some serious distraction was in order to get him out of his pouty mood. “Besides, we have the super fun mega awesome perfect date coming up. You should be trying to get clues out of me, not arguing with me.”
Lochie laughed, finally. It was the best sound ever. “That’s what we’re calling it now? A super fun mega something?”
“Yes, we are, that’s how big it is.”
“So do I need to do anything to prepare for it?” He took a step closer so our bodies were pressed against each other. His right hand leaned on the wall behind me, boxing me in. If he was anyone else I might have been claustrophobic, but with Lochie it was just fine. Just fine indeed.
Project Integrate Series Boxed Set Page 74