by Jamie Grey
Finally, I cleared my throat, annoyed and happy at the same time. “It might have been nice to have known that. Here I thought you guys hated each other for most of my life. Oh, and you might want to be a little clearer with Jordan, too. I’m not the only one you’ve fooled.”
Dad pushed open the doors to QT, and a wave of laughter and chatter greeted us. Jordan appeared instantly, dressed in a slinky black gown, as if she’d been waiting to pounce.
“William,” her voice was husky as she drank in my dad in his tux.
“Coworkers, huh?” I muttered.
“Lexie,” Dad warned. “Good evening, Jordan. You look very nice.”
She preened, her grin wide and predatory. “I thought you might like it.” She tucked a hand in Dad’s other arm. “Hey there, Lexie. Love the dress.”
I sighed and stepped away, shaking my head. “I’m going to go find my friends. I’ll see you guys later.”
Dad stopped me. “Dr. Danvers is going to make a special announcement at eight, so make sure you’re there.”
I nodded. “I will. Have fun.”
Jordan and Dad strolled off toward a group of other scientists sipping champagne from tall crystal flutes. The whole lobby was a glittering wonderland of black and gold, from the tables covered in sparkling fabric to the lavish displays of black feathers and gold glitter. Onyx candles flickered on every surface, scenting the room with melting wax.
A group of my classmates stood nearby, and suddenly, I was self-conscious and uneasy. I’d come alone. Dateless. At my last school, that would have been grounds for social shunning. But I had a purpose tonight, and it included saving all of their sorry lives. I squared my shoulders, ignoring my imagination as it conjured up whispers and giggles from the group.
My pulse steadied as I spotted Max and Zella across the room. Walking carefully so I didn’t trip in my heels, I pushed through the crowds toward them. If I didn’t already have a crush on Asher, I would have totally fallen for Max in his tux. He looked unbelievable. His hair was carefully messy, and oh my god, he had shoulders like Thor.
Zella’s gazed at him hungrily, and I bit back a smile. Evidently, I wasn’t the only one appreciating the view.
“Hey, guys.”
“Wow.” Max’s jaw dropped open. “Lexie, you look great.”
I felt heat stain my cheeks. “Thanks, Max. You look pretty good yourself. And Zella? That dress is amazing.”
She’d worn a peacock-blue dress that showed off her great legs and made her dark skin glow. The bubble skirt hit just above her knee, and the corset bodice highlighted curves I had no idea she had.
Zella smiled at me. “Thanks, Lexie. I love that color on you.”
The three of us stood awkwardly for a moment, the sound of Mozart from the quartet across the room weaving between us.
“There’s Asher and Amy.” Max practically jumped to attention at having something to break the heavy silence. His eyes got a strange, glazed expression. Zella and I exchanged confused glances.
And then I spotted Amy. Her sparkling silver dress put mine to shame. It was short, figure-hugging, and something my dad would have killed me for wearing. Every guy in the place was drooling over her, their heads turning and whispers rippling through the crowd as she walked past. The sequins on her dress sparkled in the candlelight, and she’d piled her blonde hair on her head, letting a few long curls hang loose and draw the eye to her tan shoulders.
I tugged at the bodice of my own dress and wished I’d gone with something…tighter. I let out a sigh and finally noticed the guy she was clutching like her life depended on it.
Asher.
My lips parted as a whoosh of air snuck past them. I barely recognized him in his tux. His hair was still messy, but he’d worn a blue bowtie that matched the color of his eyes. And the way his jacket molded to his shoulders? So. Hot.
Amy toppled on her heels with a giggle and clutched at his arm to stay upright. Asher slipped an arm around her, and I tried not to growl as they approached. He made my heart pound on a good day but dressed like this?
Pull it together, Kepler, I told myself.
I squared my shoulders. Beside me, Zella clutched her hands together, and I flashed her a sympathetic smile.
“Zella, don’t you look cute.” Amy’s eyes raked up and down Zella’s dress, and then she turned to me, eyebrow raised. “And Lexie. That’s an interesting color. You look…a bit like an ultraviolet catastrophe.”
I wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to hide from her as my eyes started to smart.
“I think Lexie’s dress is gorgeous,” Zella said, stepping forward so we were shoulder-to-shoulder. Beside her, Max nodded. Gratitude flooded through me, and I smiled at both of them.
Amy giggled. “I didn’t mean anything by it, you know. It’s just…violet.”
I stared at the floor and wished it would swallow me. Or Amy.
“Lexie always looks beautiful. But tonight…” Asher’s voice trailed off, and I glanced up at him. A ghost of a smile played on his lips, making my insides squirm. His eyes only left mine to travel down the length of the dress and back to my face. A blush heated my cheeks as his smile deepened, and for a moment, we were the only two people there.
“Tonight, she’s the most beautiful woman in the room.”
Amy went still, her lips parted in shock. I couldn’t help the smirk I felt on my face.
Even clueless Max obviously felt the tension as he glanced between us. “What’s the plan then?” he asked. “Danvers has an announcement scheduled for eight. Do we do this now or during the announcement?”
Asher scanned the room. “I’m tempted to do it now just to get it over with, but it’ll make more sense to wait. Everyone will be here listening to her.”
Max nodded once. “My thought, too. We have twenty minutes. I’m starving — anyone up for some food?”
Zella rolled her eyes. “You and your stomach. Maybe after you eat, we can dance?”
His eyes widened. “Um…yeah. Maybe.”
They wandered off toward the buffet table, leaving me with Asher and Amy. His words still made my cheeks burn, and I wobbled a little on my heels, not wanting to meet his gaze. Especially not with the death stare Amy was giving me.
“I’m going to…” I started
“Want to go…” Asher said.
We both laughed uncomfortably, and I waved at him. “Continue.”
“I was just going to ask if you wanted to scope out the other end of the room. We should probably figure out some alternate escape routes.”
I nodded. “Sure. That’s a good idea.”
Amy leveled a stare at me before smiling sweetly at Asher. “I’m going to go find something to drink. Catch up with me when you’re done, all right?” Amy slunk away, hips swinging. She glanced back at us and blew Asher a kiss.
“Oh my god. Seriously?” The words escaped before I could stop myself.
Asher scuffed a shoe against the floor and looked away. “She doesn’t get the point, does she?”
“Then maybe you’re not hinting loud enough.” I turned away, heat flooding my cheeks again at my outburst.
“Lexicon…” He gave me one of those looks, and I shook my head. I had to keep reminding myself it didn’t matter. Asher’s love life was none of my business.
“Come on — don’t be like that.”
I let out a sigh, his smile melting away my embarrassment and anger. I shrugged. “Let’s go check out the other side of the room.”
He offered an arm, and I slipped a hand in the crook of his elbow. I watched the violet fabric of my dress swish around my ankles as we walked and tried to ignore the heat from his body wrapping around me.
We stopped at a pair of glass doors, and Asher waved to the space past them. “This is the main corridor to Avery’s office. About halfway down, there are two smaller ones that loop back around on either side. It’s basically a circle bisected by a line.”
I strained to see further into the corrido
r, wishing I could make out more than the soft security lights illuminating nameplates on each door. “So we could sneak out one of the side halls if we needed to?”
He nodded. “But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I can’t imagine playing hide-and-seek in the dark would be much fun.”
I flushed and looked away. Sounded like a lot of fun to me. As long as he caught me at the end.
Asher pulled his cell phone out of his tux pocket. “It’s five to eight. Should we warn the others we’re going in?”
I searched the crowded ballroom but only saw a wall of tuxedoed men and swirling dresses. “Might as well. That way they can wander in this direction and keep an eye out.”
He texted, and almost at the same moment, the tone of the crowd shifted as they started making their way toward the dais at the other end of the room. The murmurs grew more pronounced, swelling with excitement.
I spotted Max and Zella pushing their way through the crowds in the opposite direction. Amy didn’t seem to be having a problem; they parted for her like the Red Sea as she passed.
“Ready?” Asher asked as everyone joined us near the door.
Max nodded. “I’ll go left, Amy, you go right. Zella can have the middle. We’ll give you a fifteen-minute warning. And we’ll text if anyone starts heading your way.”
“Let’s do this.” Asher held open the door for me with a flourish that made my heart trip.
At the far end of the room, everyone’s attention was on the podium where Dr. Danvers, dressed in a slinky black dress, tapped at a microphone. “Good evening, everyone. I know we’re gathered here for a celebration, but a shadow lies over us. The death of Michael Avery was shocking and unexpected. Some of you might be wondering what’s next for Quantum Technologies. Tonight, we’re here to both celebrate the legacy of Dr. Avery and talk about our future.”
The heavy glass doors shut behind us, cutting off Danvers’ words and leaving Asher and me alone in the darkened hallway. I tried to ignore the weirdness between us and slipped out of my heels to tiptoe toward Avery’s office at the end of the hall. The overhead fluorescent lights had been shut off, and only the soft light from sconces on the wall lighted the way. The guards who’d been standing watch over Avery’s office were gone, though the door was still blocked with a strip of yellow police tape. Like all the office doors in this wing, there was a keypad and fingerprint scanner.
“Did you bring it?” Asher asked.
I nodded and pulled the envelope from my clutch purse. Inside was a thin sheet of plastic with a copy of Avery’s thumbprint. Asher had pulled Avery’s records, and I’d used the skin-plastic copy machine in my dad’s office to make the print. It always helped to have a genius scientist with access to all the cool machines as a dad.
“Ready when you are.”
Asher typed in the password he’d gotten from hacking into the QT security system, and when the scanner glowed green, I pressed the plastic down, careful to keep my fingers out of the scanner’s light. One long second passed, then two, and finally, the door beeped and swung open.
I ducked under the police tape before I could think about what we were doing. “Let’s get this over with.” I tucked the print scan back into my purse and pulled out a tiny flashlight.
Asher slid into Avery’s chair and booted up the computer. “I’ll start on his computer files if you search the desk drawers.”
“Deal.” Nervous sweat beaded my forehead, and I pushed back the strands of hair plastered to my forehead before yanking open the top drawer and rummaging through it. Mostly office supplies. The guy seemed to have a thing for paperclips. Drawer two was snack foods. A jar of peanut butter, some crumbly crackers, three packets of oatmeal.
Drawer three was full of files. I sank to the ground and crossed my legs beneath my dress, pulling the files out one-by-one and opening them on my lap. I scanned through each document, but most of them were performance reviews or personnel files for Avery’s employees. The last folder seemed to be full of glossy handouts from conferences. I pulled them out one at time. Most of them were for things like the American Institute of Physics or the Biomedical Engineering Society or the Nano Today Conference, but the last brochure in the pile made me suck in my breath.
It was the same one Major Grant had given me on his “visit.”
It was for Branston Academy.
“What did you find?” Asher asked. I directed the flashlight to the cover, and his lips thinned. “Why would he have that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they tried to recruit him, too.” I could still feel the sting of Grant’s needle, and I pushed those thoughts away.
I flipped through the pages of the brochure, recognizing the fake smiles I’d seen in my own copy. On the last page, someone had scrawled a phone number in blue ink. I tucked the brochure into my purse and hurried to put the rest of the files back in the drawer.
“Are you finding anything, Ash?”
“Nothing but dozens of project status emails to Danvers and his team, and some pretty hot messages to the latest girl he was hitting on.”
“Oh?” I got to my feet to lean over his shoulder, and he shook his head.
“Keep moving, Lexicon. You can see them later.”
I stuck out my tongue and flicked the flashlight at the old-school clock on the wall. We’d been there seven minutes already. “We should hurry. Danvers will be wrapping up her speech soon.”
He nodded, not taking his eyes from the glowing monitor. It turned his skin a weird shade of blue and washed out his eyes until they looked colorless. “I’m almost done here. Take a look through his bookshelf before we go.”
I nodded and moved over to the tall shelf. It was mostly full of decorative items, a vase, a model of an atom, a few awards. The books were all crowded together on one shelf, and I gripped the flashlight in my teeth, aiming it at each book as I pulled it out. Most of them were texts he’d written or contributed to, a few looked like research books, and there were even one or two spy novels tucked between the scientific texts. I flipped through the pages of each book quickly, but there were no notes, no sign he’d even read any of them. We were wasting our time here, and if anyone caught us…
The glow from the computer faded as Asher shut it down, leaving my tiny flashlight the only light in the room. He moved through the shadows to join me at the bookshelf; I could feel the heat of him before his arm touched mine.
“What can I do?”
I could think of quite a few things he could do, especially in that tuxedo, but I smoothed my suddenly sweaty palms on my dress and turned to face him, the flashlight in my mouth shining directly in his face, turning his eyes into stars. He blinked and threw a hand up to shield his eyes.
“Watch it, Lexicon.” His voice was husky as he tugged the flashlight from my teeth and turned it on me.
It was such an odd feeling, knowing he was there, watching me, studying me, but invisible in the darkness. I forced a smile. “One left to go and then we can get out of here. Though I’m not expecting to find anything.”
“I hope there’s something on the information I copied from his computer. I’d hate for this to be a waste of time.” Asher directed the flashlight to the lowest shelf and then snapped the light off. “Did you hear that?”
My ears strained, but I was more conscious of Asher’s closeness, of the feel of his body beside mine in the dark. A thousand tendrils of heat stretched between us, connecting us. “I didn’t…”
“Shh…” He put a finger against my lips. I froze as his skin touched mine, and a shiver of pleasure snaked through me. I wished I could see his face. I was glad he couldn’t see mine.
And then I heard it too. Voices.
My phone vibrated in my purse, and I pulled it out. The text was from Zella.
Danvers and Kepler on the way.
I grimaced. So much for an early warning system. Thank god Asher had heard them. I leaned closer to him to whisper, “Danvers and my dad. We need to hide.”
We bot
h realized it at the same moment. There was no place to hide. Avery’s desk was glass, modern and sleek. There were no closets, no huge chairs to hide behind. We were trapped.
Outside the door, the voices grew louder. Dad had that overly reasonable tone he always got when he was trying to make a point.
“You know I can’t continue on this project using Avery’s plan, Carla. That’s not how I work. I need time to reevaluate the approach.”
“We don’t have time, William. QT can’t afford any mistakes right now. We’re under investigation from the government, and Branston is breathing down our necks. If this doesn’t go well, they’ll take us over for sure. And then none of us will be safe.”
Asher tensed beside me, and I wanted to touch him, to reassure him it would be okay and my dad would make this right, but I held back, waiting for Dad’s answer.
“I understand, but we can’t take chances with this. One wrong step and it won’t just be our jobs at stake — it’ll be our lives.” He let out a deep sigh. “I need his files, Carla.”
There was a long pause, but finally, she said, “Fine.” The keypad beeped as she entered a password.
Asher slid a hand around my waist and yanked me to him, his other hand tangling in the hair at the back of my neck.
And then he kissed me.
I sank into him, my body fitting against his chest like a puzzle piece. My arms snaked up to his shoulders, brushing through the soft hair at the back of his neck. His lips crushed mine as his hands splayed across my back, pulling me even closer. The smooth fabric of his tux wrinkled beneath my grasping fingers.
The heat of him, the taste of him overwhelmed me, and the kiss deepened until the whole room was spinning. I forgot where we were, what we were doing. All that mattered was the chemistry between us, the way my hips pressed to his, the feel of his arms around me.
Asher’s fingers feathered against my jaw, each touch searing and gentle at the same time. His other hand traced the contour of my waist, curled around me, pulling me closer until our heartbeats mirrored each other. He tasted exactly like I’d expected — like Asher. And I wanted more.