Discovering Beauty

by Robyn Peterman

  “You believe me now?” she asked.

  “I believe you believe it.”

  Her sigh made my chest tighten. I actually found myself wanting to believe her absurd story just to make her feel better, but it was too far fetched and I wasn’t good at faking polite behavior. Georgia put her laptop on the floor and pulled her legs to her chest. Rolling the sleeve of her t-shirt up, she moved her arm next to the steering wheel and held her breath.

  Thin, still pink scars covered the skin. Slivery white older scars were mixed in making her arm look like a macabre jigsaw puzzle. My sharp intake of breath made her jerk her arm away in shame. I knew she thought I was repulsed by what I saw, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

  I was simply too furious to speak. However, my silence was being misconstrued and that was unacceptable.

  “Is your whole body like that?” I asked through clenched teeth.

  Keeping my eyes on the road to give her some space and to protect her from the rage burning in my eyes, I waited until she was ready to speak. I gripped the steering wheel tight and kept my foot on the accelerator. What I really wanted to do was pull over and take the damaged woman into my arms. However, I wasn’t the one to save her. I could make sure she was safe, but I was more broken than she was. I would only destroy what might be left of her.

  “Yes, mostly my arms and back. They gave me injections and then slit my skin and used something topical,” she replied tonelessly. “I’m a hideous beast.”

  Done. I was done. It wasn’t a brilliant move to pull over, but we were traveling past wooded areas—plenty of cover. Turning the wheel sharply to the right, I eased the car off the road and pulled into a grove of thick pine.

  Leaving the ignition on, I gathered my thoughts and tried to tamp down my anger.

  “You are not a beast,” I said slowly, trying to find the words she would believe.

  She shook her head and put her slim hand on my arm. The feel of her skin on mine calmed my seething rage.

  “I am,” she whispered. “I’m broken and that’s just the way it is. I’m sorry I’m disgusting to you, but it’s okay. I’m disgusting to me too. Please don’t feel bad.”

  Turning to face her, I grabbed her hand as she tried to pull it away. Easing the sleeve back up, I examined the marks and then raised her arm to my lips. Gently kissing the thin angry lines on her skin, I felt her tremble and heard her start to cry.

  “Please don’t,” she whispered through her tears.

  “Am I hurting you?” I asked, still holding tight to her arm.

  She shook her head and closed her eyes. “No. Not physically.”

  “You are not a beast,” I repeated. “You are a beautiful woman.”

  “Not even close. I’m barely human,” she muttered almost inaudibly. “You don’t know me.”

  “I know pain and I know torture when I see it,” I replied. “I know bravery and I know desperation.”

  Georgia said nothing. It was clear she didn’t believe me, but the words had been spoken. I was many bad things, but I wasn’t a liar. She might not know that yet, but in time—if we had time—she would. I wasn’t sure why I cared, but dissecting my feelings would be a waste of minutes.

  The ringing of a phone from her bag snapped both of us back into the moment.

  “Who the hell is that?” I asked, realizing I was too comfortable with a woman who possibly had more baggage than she’d let on. However, my instincts were still fine with all of the craziness.

  “Has to be Tex,” she said, reaching into her duffle. “He’s the only one with the number.”

  “Put him on speaker.”

  She nodded and followed my command. This would be interesting—or at least telling.

  “Tex,” she said as she laid the phone on the dash.

  “Georgia,” his gruff voice came through the line. “And Beauty.”

  “I don’t go by that name anymore,” I snapped as I felt Georgia’s gaze fly to my face.

  “You never did,” Tex said with a chuckle. “Never stopped any of us from calling you by it. How are you, boy? Been a long time.”

  “If you’re calling to shoot the shit, I’m a little busy right now,” I replied with a small smile pulling at my lips.

  “I don’t shoot the shit, boy,” he said. “Never have. Never will. You okay, Georgia?”

  “Define okay,” she said with a small giggle.

  “Well, you’re alive and so is Beauty, so I’m guessing that will do for now. You two need to stay deep. You’ve got a fiery hell storm on your asses.”

  “Wanna be more specific?” Georgia asked, checking her weapons and loading her guns.

  “Apparently the men in black you two popped off earlier were wearing body cams. Got excellent footage of the two of you leaving the scene. For two people who don’t exist on any government roster, you’re real damned popular right now.”

  “And you know this, how?” I asked through clenched teeth as I pulled the car back onto the road and floored it.

  We were about an hour from where we were headed and needed to get there quickly. If what Tex said was true—and I was sure it was—the CIA fuckers would start closing roads all over Georgia and the surrounding states.

  Tex simply laughed at my question. I knew it was a ridiculous question. The man had skills that were fucking magical. His hacking ability and connections were what the CIA and FBI could only dream of having. It was clear he’d viewed the footage—in the end it was irrelevant how. If he’d seen it, many more had as well.

  “As I was saying,” Tex went on, ignoring my question. “I’d suggest you hightail it somewhere safe. You want some addresses?”

  “The house you sent Georgia to was supposed to be safe. It wasn’t,” I said, trying to keep my foot from pressing the pedal all the way to the floor. The last thing we needed was to get pulled over by some local cop for speeding.

  “Yeah, that surprised me,” Tex admitted, sounding perplexed. “Were you tailed, Georgia?”

  She shrugged and then remembered Tex couldn’t see her. “I don’t think so, but that’s not my specialty. I was pretty scattered after I bit Carter and he passed out. He’s kind of heavy to drag. If I was being followed I wasn’t aware of it. Sorry.”

  “Apologies are for pussies—it is what it is. Just have to keep moving until we can figure this shit out,” Tex said and then paused. “You bit Beauty?”

  Her blush of embarrassment was so alluring I turned away. Save her and leave her. That was the only thing I could do to keep her truly safe.

  “Umm… yes,” she whispered. “We were, well… It was my fault. I’m worried about it—terrified actually. He was out for three days. Do you think…?”

  Tex was silent while he digested this new wrinkle. He was a man of few words, but a few words would be helpful at the moment. The puzzle was still missing too many pieces for my liking. Was he being careful with her sanity? Did he buy the animal thing? Did he think it was PTSD as well?

  Damn it, it would have been far better to have had a private conversation with him.

  “Beauty, have you sprouted fangs?” Tex asked without a hint of humor in his voice.

  “Are you fucking serious?”

  “As a heart attack,” he replied without missing a beat.

  I was struck dumb. Had everyone lost their fucking minds or was Georgia really an animal?

  “No,” she answered for me. “He hasn’t.”

  “Georgia, did you go animal when the men in black came?” Tex pressed.

  She too was now silent and she stared at me.

  “Did I lose you?” Tex asked.

  Pulling herself together, Georgia found her voice. “I didn’t. And I don’t know why.”

  “Interesting,” Tex said. “Is it because you felt safe with Beauty or have you lost the ability?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered, confused.

  Confused was mild for what I was experiencing at the moment. I felt like I was living in some fucked up alterna
te universe where everyone was in on the joke except me.

  “Beauty, are you headed where I think you’re headed?”

  “Depends on what’s in your head, old man,” I said. “But most likely, yes.”

  “Fine. Have your blood and Georgia’s blood tested and get back to me with the report. It will tell us… well, not real sure what it will tell us, but I can check it against what I have.”

  I couldn’t look at her. I had too many questions and I wasn’t feeling polite. Had she turned me into an animal? Honestly how much different would I be from the animal I already was? My humanity was lost years ago.

  “So you believe her? You believe she turns into a fucking panther?” I asked Tex. I heard Georgia’s swift intake of breath and watched as she turned her head to stare out the window.

  “I do.” Tex’s voice was clipped and his displeasure with me was clear. “However, I understand it’s hard to fathom. I’d heard whispers of the program for years just never knew if it was true.”

  “And it is?” I asked, still trying to wrap my mind around something so fucked up. I mean, I’d seen fucked up, but this was a new level.

  “It is,” Georgia said before Tex had time to confirm.

  Taking my eyes off the road for a brief moment, I stared at her. She was pale and resigned and I hated myself for pressing the issue. But I was who I was and changing wasn’t an option. Facts and orders I understood. Blind faith… not so much.

  “Fine,” I said, turning my focus back to the road. “Can you get us out of the country? New identities? No traces?”

  “Give me forty-eight hours. Sit tight and I’ll try to make it happen,” Tex said. “And just so you know, there’s a shoot to kill order on you and a capture alive order on Georgia.”

  “Forty-eight hours,” I repeated so he knew I was on the same page. The rest of it didn’t surprise me at all.

  “Forty-eight hours,” Georgia whispered to Tex. “Thank you.”

  Glancing over at her, I was again struck by her beauty. But more than that, I was amazed that she was still a functioning human being if all this was true. It was going to be an interesting two days—very interesting.

  Chapter Six

  Georgia

  “Just drop me somewhere and leave. For real,” I said, hoping my voice sounded stronger than I felt inside. I’d created a clusterfuck for Carter and it made me hate myself more than I already did. “It’s me they want not you. If I’d known it would go down like this, I never would have gotten you involved.”

  “Little too late for that,” Carter said, expertly navigating the winding back roads we were traveling.

  We’d hit North Carolina about thirty minutes ago. Carter was driving fast.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, picking at my fingernails and trying not to cry. “I swear to God I didn’t think I was going to get a government bounty put on your head.”

  He nodded curtly and then glanced over with a lopsided grin that made my tummy flip. God, he really was Beauty—inside and out. He might not believe it, but I could see it clearly.

  “I kinda like being a fugitive. Keeps the boredom at bay,” he said.

  “I guess that’s one fucked up way to look at it,” I muttered with a small giggle. “You’re nuts.”

  “Pot, kettle, black,” he shot back with a laugh.

  Being alone with him for forty-eight hours was going to be a challenge. I wanted this man more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. He thought my scarred body was beautiful. Of course he wasn’t quite right in the head, but then again… neither was I. We were two severely broken beings. Maybe…

  “Just follow my lead when we get there.”

  “Get where?” I asked, pushing aside the pathetic romantic notions I had about Carter Davis. He was just being kind when he kissed my ruined arm and I was a fool to hope for more. Hell, we might not even live to see tomorrow.

  “To where we’re going,” he answered cryptically.

  I was aware he still didn’t completely trust me and I wasn’t sure if he believed I turned into a version of an animal, but I couldn’t fault him. I was a disastrous tornado of trouble that had shown up out of nowhere, bitten him and put him on the government’s hit list. Not exactly trustworthy material.

  “I can do that,” I told him.

  “That’s my girl.”

  God, if he only knew how much I wanted that to be true—his girl. I knew it could never be, but a girl can dream, right?

  “Oh my God,” I said with a surprised laugh. “There are three of you?”

  “There is only one of me,” Carter said in mock insult. “The other two are just cheap imitations.”

  “What the fuck?” the male who looked identical to Carter yelled from about three hundred feet away. “The prodigal son comes back from the dead.”

  We’d arrived at what I could only describe as a fortress built into the side of a mountain. It was rustic and beautiful—all stone with sweeping teak wood porches. It was surrounded by enormous trees and expertly manicured grasses and shrubs. We’d driven for what felt like five miles along a rutted out dirt road and then it opened to this. Magical, majestic and definitely in the middle of nowhere.

  Carter got out of the car, came over to my side and opened the door. I stepped out and stayed slightly behind him.

  Due to my enhancements, my vision was incredible. If the effects of turning into an animal were leaving me, my eyes were still bionic. The man stood with a woman who was also the spitting image of himself and Carter, but definitely feminine and gorgeous. There was no missing that they were all related and most likely triplets. Even down to the dimple in the left cheek that the three of them had when they smiled.

  “Turn off the landmines,” Carter yelled. “I only have nine lives and I’m down to two, you ugly son of a bitch.”

  The woman hadn’t spoken yet. She stared at Carter as if she was seeing a ghost and her eyes kept skipping over to me in shock. Pulling a remote from her pocket she typed in a command and then glanced back up. With my eyesight, I was able to make out the combination. I was a freak of nature—a killing machine with skills to survive almost anything. If the remote was made up of numbers, the combo was 66633. If it was something else, I’d seen the pattern and could figure it out.

  “Drive in,” she instructed. “If I know you, and I suspect I still might, we need to hide or destroy that car.”

  With a nod and a salute to his sister, Carter led me back to the car and restarted the ignition.

  “They have landmines?” I asked, wondering what kind of normal people planted explosives all over their property.

  “Yep. This is what you could call a real safe house—as in a very safe house.”

  “Are they fugitives too?” I asked, wondering what I was walking into. Not that I had a problem with fugitives since I was one myself.

  “Umm… no,” Carter said with a laugh. “Although I’d pay money to hear you ask them that. My brother and sister are what you might call insane with conspiracy theory issues.”

  “You’re triplets?”

  “We are. However, I’m the oldest and therefore the smartest, best looking and the wisest.”

  “And the most humble?” I added with a laugh.

  “Most definitely,” he replied with a grin.

  “Are your parents here too?” I asked.

  “No. They’re dead.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “I’m not,” he replied without emotion. “There’s a reason I spent too many years as a SEAL who took the sure death assignments repeatedly and these two are living like prisoners of their own making. Normal upbringings don’t produce the kind of fucked up we are.”

  I just nodded, unsure how to respond. My childhood had sucked. I was the freak no one wanted, but I wasn’t abused—at least not physically. However, I was pretty sure I could give all of them a run for the money in the fucked up department.

  “My brother’s name is Caleb and my sister is Nancy,” he said as
he slowly maneuvered the vehicle to the garage on the side of the house. “Caleb is a computer genius and likes to detonate things.”

  “Things?” I questioned with a laugh.

  Carter looked at me with a grin. “Buildings, cities… bad guys. He started when we were young—messing with refrigerators and microwaves before he graduated to larger scale material.”

  “Cars?” I asked, trying not to laugh. It wasn’t really funny, but at the same time it was.

  “Definitely cars,” Carter confirmed with a shake of his head. “He makes me feel almost normal.”

  “And your sister?”

  “Nancy is a doctor—or she trained as one. She didn’t do too well with the authority figures in the medical system and left to do research on her own. She’s paid the big bucks. Her mind is as brilliant as Caleb’s is destructive.”

  “What does she research?” I asked.

  “Whatever strikes her fancy,” he replied.

  “Okay,” I said, taking the information in. “If Caleb is destructive and Nancy is brilliant where does that leave you?”

  Carter turned off the car and moved his body to face mine. “I don’t exactly know, Georgia from Georgia. Why don’t you tell me? Where does that leave me?”

  He leaned in. His lips were inches from mine and his delicious scent made me dizzy. Was this certifiable man coming onto me? God, I hoped so. I was definitely out of practice at this game since I’d been living in a cage for the better part of a year. The timing was a little off as his brother and sister were sure to be here any second, but…

  “Are you flirting with me?” I whispered, longing to close the distance between us and taste his lips.

  “And if I am, Georgia from Georgia?” he questioned in a voice that sent happy chills all through me.

  “If you are,” I said with an unsteady giggle. “You’re really good at it.”

  “So it’s working?”

  “Yep. It’s working,” I replied with my eyes glued to his full lips. “But I’m not a real good bet.”

  “I’m a worse bet. We get one life and one heart,” he said. “Even if it’s just some stolen moments with you, I’ll take them.”