Tyler let his eyelids drift shut as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Pete went through girls like water. And a girl like Nessa, desperate and vulnerable and living right under his nose? No matter what Tyler said to him, Nessa would be too much of a temptation. He’d be all over her like a rash. And she wouldn’t be able to walk away because she had nowhere else to go. The idea had disaster written all over it. Dammit.
Tyler glanced at Jay, wondering whether she had come to the same conclusion. From the set of her jaw and the way she was flexing her fingers, she’d happily strangle someone right about now. Pete, most likely. And he’d bet his guitar Nessa would be a close runner-up for second.
“You can have the spare room,” Jay said. And before Nessa could voice her thanks, Jay added, “Temporarily. Until you get a job. And believe me, Vanessa, you will get a job. Is that clear?”
Nessa gulped and nodded and opened her mouth to respond but Jay silenced her with a sharp gesture. “Show her to her room, Tyler. And grab her some linen so she can make up her bed. I’ve thrown together another pizza. Dinner will be in ten.” And with that, Jay turned on her heel and vanished into the kitchen again.
“She’s not happy, is she?”
Tyler puffed a disgruntled breath through his nose. “Ya think?” He slanted Nessa a sideways gaze, half-expecting a triumphant expression because she’d gotten what she wanted.
She looked anything but triumphant. Maybe she had changed.
Yeah. Riiight.
“Maybe it’d be best if I went back to your apartment. Pete’s a bit of a sleaze but I’ve handled sleazy guys before. We get a lot of them at Time-Out.” Her attempt at a laugh was brittle and pathetic and not at all convincing.
“If Jay says you can stay here, then you can stay.”
Nessa quirked an eyebrow. “And what Jay says goes?”
If she thought she’d get a rise out of him with that comment she’d be disappointed. “It’s her place. And you’d better remember that.”
He stomped up the stairs to the second floor with Nessa trailing behind him. A chivalrous guy would give her the larger of the two spare bedrooms—his room. Tyler wasn’t feeling particularly chivalrous. He opened the door on the smallest of the three bedrooms. “Here’s your room.”
Nessa pushed past him and walked to the middle of the room. Tyler leaned his shoulder on the doorjamb and watched her turn a slow three-sixty. Her eyes widened as she took in the double bed, the freestanding wooden wardrobe with matching tallboy and bedside cabinets, the flat-screen on the wall. She dropped her duffel on the rug and sank onto the bed. She bounced experimentally. When she quit bouncing, she smoothed the maroon-colored comforter laid atop the mattress with her palm. “Wow.”
“Yeah. It is nice. So don’t steal anything. Don’t fuck this up, Vanessa.”
Hurt flared in her eyes and before he felt tempted to apologize, Tyler said, “I’ll go get some sheets.”
When he came back with an armful of bed linen and towels, Nessa hadn’t moved. She accepted the linen, placing it carefully on the bed beside her. “So what’s with the changing names?”
“What do you mean?”
“Jay Smith. Jaime Smythson.”
“Oh. That.” Tyler groped about for an explanation that wouldn’t set off Nessa’s BS meter. She was gazing at him, all expectant and curious, and he was freaking clueless. Crap.
“This really is her place, isn’t it?” Nessa said. “Jay’s, I mean.”
“Yep.”
“It’s not a rental.”
“Nope.”
“I get it. She’s like, really rich, isn’t she? And she didn’t want the kids at Greenfield High to know, so she went by an alias.”
“Yep.” Whew. Dodged that bullet.
“Is that why you’ve hooked up with her again?”
Tyler threw her a look that he hoped conveyed his disgust. “Not everyone chooses their significant others based on their bank account balances, Vanessa.”
Did it still rankle to have been dumped in high school because he couldn’t afford his own car? Yeah. Guess it did.
“True,” Nessa said. “But being poor blows chunks. So if the person you hook up with is loaded, all the better, I reckon.”
“I’m sure you do. Not that anyone would ever guess that about you after the way you ditched me for Matt. And Matt for Shawn.”
Nessa at least had the grace to flush pink at his not-so-subtle jibe. “Yeah. Well, more fool me, I guess. Look, all I’m saying is no one would blame you for, you know.”
“Hooking up with Jay because she’s obviously loaded?” Tyler’s sweeping gesture encompassed his surroundings. “Jesus, Vanessa. You’re some piece of work. To set the record straight once and for all, Jay came looking for me. She found out I’d enrolled at Appleton, and tracked me down there before I transferred. I haven’t moved in here permanently and I don’t let her pay for everything. So back the fuck off with the shitty little digs and insinuations.”
He pushed away from the doorway and strode over to her. He got right up in her face, grasping her chin and forcing her to look at him. “And if it crosses your mind it might be kinda fun to suggest to Jay I’m only interested in her money, I’ll kick you out on your ass so fast you won’t know what’s hit you. You got that?”
She wrenched her chin from his hands, hunched her shoulders and hugged her middle. “Yeah. I got that.”
Jay had entered the room on catlike feet and startled them both when she said, “Dinner’s ready. Come grab it before it gets cold.”
Tyler backed up and slung an arm about her waist. He nuzzled her cheek. ‘Thanks for baking extra pizza.”
“When it comes to pizza, you don’t share well with others.”
He laughed and squeezed the intriguing indent where the curve of her hip met her waist. If Jay had been ticklish that would have gotten a really good reaction. It sure had whenever he’d done the same to Nessa. But Jay wasn’t ticklish—or not in any place he’d yet discovered.
“Right on,” he said. “And I especially don’t like sharing your pizza. It’s far too good to share.”
“Is there somewhere I can wash up?” Nessa asked, her too-bright tone shattering the moment.
“Bathroom’s across the hall,” Jay said. “And don’t worry about walking in on Tyler. He’ll use the en suite off the main bedroom.”
Was he imagining that ever so slight edge to Jay’s voice? Like she was… staking her claim. Uh oh. He hoped Nessa’s visit would be very short.
“Thanks for everything, Jay.” Nessa ducked her head, hiding behind her hair again. “I mean that sincerely.”
“I hope so.”
Nessa stood. Jay gave her a head-to-toer. “Tomorrow I’ll give you some cash for clothes and other necessities. You can borrow some of mine in the meantime.”
“I promise I’ll pay you back.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
Nessa blinked. “O-Okay.”
Tyler didn’t exactly drag Jay from the room, but it was a close thing. Sheesh. This was like living some dumbass sit-com where the poor schmuck of a leading man got stuck living with his current girlfriend and his ex, and both of them made his life hell. The situation might be good for a few laughs on the big screen, but Tyler wasn’t laughing.
“I don’t trust that girl as far as I could throw her,” he heard Jay mutter as they negotiated the stairs, his arm still slung about her waist and his hip bumping hers.
He leaned in to whisper, “Which, being a super-strong cyborg is a reeeally long way—maybe even into orbit, right?”
Jay gave a credible snicker. “I could see me breaking world records with her.”
“You think she’s got an agenda?”
“I know she’s got an agenda.”
“So why let her stay?”
She nudged him with her hip as if to emphasize what she was about to say. “There’s a saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
“Ah.” Tyler mulled
how to broach the next subject without looking like an overprotective idiot. It wasn’t like Jay couldn’t look after herself. “Speaking of keeping people close, mind if I stay over while Vanessa’s here?”
Jay gestured with a hand to indicate they would be eating in the living room rather than using the kitchen’s breakfast bar. “I’ll be most unhappy if you jump her when my back’s turned.”
Tyler’s heart lurched and his stomach tied itself in a big knot. Surely she couldn’t think that was the reason? Shit. A big stinking cartload of it. He grasped her wrist and whirled her to face him. “I would never cheat on you, Jay. I hope you know that.”
She searched his face, her too-blue-to-be-human eyes boring into his. “I do know that. Just like I know that if you decide you can’t be with me anymore because of what I am, you’ll inform me.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“You say that now, but—”
“I want to stay with you. Not just in your house, but in your bedroom. Like we’re a couple.” He scrubbed his fingers through his hair. God. He was making a mess of this. “I mean, I know we’re a couple, but we aren’t living together living together. We’re more like, ah, roommates. And I don’t want Vanessa getting—”
“The wrong idea.”
He nodded.
“You can sleep wherever you like, Tyler.”
What he’d asked—what she’d agreed to—hit him like a big-ass punch to the solar plexus, leaving him momentarily breathless. This was big. This was monumentally frickin’ huge.
“Are you sure you’ll be comfortable sharing a bed with me, Tyler?”
How to put this? He wanted to be there to shield Jay if Nessa noticed there was something “off” about her. He wanted to keep an eye on things in case Nessa pushed Jay too far and Jay pushed back and stuff got… out of hand. And he wanted to take his relationship with Jay to the next level—the next “human” level, that is.
God—and perhaps only Jay’s creator—knew how far Jay was capable of evolving. And Tyler wanted so badly to find out that sometimes it was all he could do to hold off and take a step back and let things proceed at their own pace. It wasn’t just about sharing her bed, it was about sharing her life. It was about finding out whether they could function as equals when she was superhuman and he was ordinary. It was about discovering whether he could ever be part of her future. Or whether they were both dreaming and hoping for the impossible.
He was saved from having to respond when Nessa wandered into the living room, the words, “Something smells good,” on her lips. He didn’t know whether to be relieved as all heck he wouldn’t have to reveal what was in his heart, and risk saying it wrong and screwing things up, or POed that it was still all bottled up inside him.
“Jay’s cooking is to die for,” he said quickly, and felt a little less overwhelmed when Jay rewarded him with a smile.
“I’ll grab some sodas,” she said. “What do you like to drink, Vanessa?”
“Diet Dr. Pepper,” Tyler said without thinking. He ground his teeth and gave himself a mental kick. Way to go, dude. Way to rub your girlfriend’s face in the fact you can still remember what your ex likes to drink. His gaze slid to Jay, searching her expression for a reaction.
“I don’t have diet,” she said, staring right at him and giving him nothing.
Damn, he hated when she went all impassive on him like that, like she’d slipped on an inhuman mask that hid her real self from the world. From him.
“Regular is fine,” Nessa said.
“I’ll get them.” Tyler made a sit-down gesture to Jay, and retreated into the kitchen, relieved to have a few moments to get his shit together. The sooner this nightmare was over, and Nessa was back on her feet and gone from their lives, the better.
~~~
Chapter Four
Jay glided down the hall and paused outside the door to the guest room. She could hear Vanessa’s deep, even breathing. The girl was either asleep or doing an excellent job at faking it. Jay turned the handle and pushed the door, using just enough force for it to swing noiselessly open. The hinges of this door tended to squeak if it was opened slowly.
She flicked her gaze over the lump in the bed.
Vanessa had changed into one of Tyler’s old t-shirts and pulled the comforter up to her shoulders. With a slight adjustment to her optics, Jay could see that Vanessa lay on her side. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, cheek cradled in the palm of one hand. The other hand was curled into a fist and pressed against her breastbone. If Jay had been human, such a childlike pose might have provoked a sympathetic response, but all she felt was….
What did she feel?
She analyzed her responses. The chili-hot burning in her lower gut, the dull ache in the muscles of her jaw from clenching it too tightly. Anger. The sporadic chills that stroked her skin, making the fine hairs on her arms and nape stand up. Suspicion and distrust. And what of the sharp little pains that stabbed her heart, whenever Tyler paid attention to Vanessa? That was more difficult to define.
It both fascinated and disturbed Jay that Vanessa’s presence could affect her physically like this.
She padded into the room, her bare feet almost silent against the floorboards. She placed the armful of clothing on the tallboy—a pair of sweats, a couple of t-shirts, a warm hoodie, socks, panties, and an exercise top that Vanessa could use as a bra.
Vanessa’s discarded clothing lay at the bottom of the bed. Jay resisted the temptation to rifle through the pile and check all the pockets. Vanessa had done nothing to earn such treatment, not when all Jay had to go on was intuition and groundless suspicion—human feelings she couldn’t rely on when there were no cold hard facts to back them up. She would do some digging and see what she uncovered before she took action.
She slipped from the room and headed for the main bedroom.
The shower was still running in the en suite. The beginnings of a smile twitched her lips. Tyler certainly liked to take his time in the shower.
The smile died before it could be fully born, morphing into something pensive. She liked having him stay over. She’d wondered whether he would ever ask to share her bed. And the electric thrill that had coursed through her when he’d finally made that request reminded her of the time she’d thrust a finger into a live socket—purely for research purposes of course.
So far as Jay knew, that thrill meant she wanted Tyler in her bed, tucking her in close to him and holding her through the night. But wanting didn’t take into account the practicalities, chief being that Jay didn’t use her bed for the purpose of sleeping.
The first time Tyler had stayed the night, after he’d turned in she had continued on with the activity she’d been involved in at the time. She’d heard him roaming around and been unconcerned when he’d wandered into her office and found her testing out a new program she’d written. When she’d asked, he’d explained his insomnia was part of his creative process. If he was in the throes of writing a new piece, the music inside his head demanded his attention and he would feel compelled to move and pace the floor. When, inevitably, the confines of his bedroom became too restrictive, he would wander the house. And then he’d paused, expectantly, obviously waiting for her to confess the reasons for her own wakefulness.
Jay had blamed her apparent sleeplessness on wanting to test an improvement for the program she was writing. She’d concluded it would only emphasize her inhumanness for him to discover that in truth she didn’t require sleep at all, so now she only rarely pulled an all-nighter when he stayed over. Usually she would climb into her bed and spend a few hours either reading, watching TV, listening to music on her iPod, or surfing the Net on her laptop. She could do these activities in the dark, and when it came to watching TV, with the sound turned so far down it would be barely audible to a human. She chose these activities because they were normal things humans did when they couldn’t sleep.
But what was she to do now that Tyler would be sleeping in her bed, with her, expecting her
to sleep like a normal human would do?
To maintain optimum performance levels, Jay’s “rest” requirements were a once a week period of what she termed downtime to recharge and update her systems. Though she had accessed numerous studies about human sleep patterns, she’d never observed a human sleeping for an entire night. So, to ensure she mimicked human sleep she decided she would enter a quasi-downtime state.
The water shut off in the shower. Jay felt her limbs twitch. Her heartbeat quickened. The blood in her veins seemed to… to… fizz. And she abruptly realized she was pacing the room.
How strange. Was this combination of physical responses anticipation?
She locked her muscles, forcing herself to still as she cocked her head, listening. Tyler was brushing his teeth. It should not be considered intrusive of her to enter the en suite. For a human, brushing one’s teeth should not require privacy. She strode to the en suite and paused, unsure, and not appreciating the sensation. Should she knock? Or would that be deemed too formal, considering this was her bedroom?
Toothbrush in mouth, Tyler yanked open the door and then turned back to the washbasin. When he’d rinsed his mouth he glanced up and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. “I heard you lurking. Don’t let me hold you up. Just gotta floss and I’m done.”
Jay closed her sagging jaw and blinked to clear her head. It was one thing to admire his physical form on a purely aesthetic level—for example, as he wandered past her on his way to the laundry clad in only a towel draped low on his hips. It was quite another to be this close to him, in a confined space. Close enough to easily see the beads of moisture dotting his spine where he’d missed drying himself. Close enough to inhale and taste the citrusy body-wash that mingled with Tyler’s own unique scent to create a tantalizing new scent—one that curled through her senses and stoked a feeling she could only label as “need”. She knew there was nothing “aesthetic” about the way she was viewing him now.
Freaks in the City Page 6