The pit of my stomach tightened. My jaw hurt from the anger settling in my muscles. Everything I was today was because of his selfishness. Because he was more concerned with a machine than humans. The cool air of regret brushed along the entry of my nose as it burnt down the back of my throat. I knew when he looked at me he wasn’t about to apologize or tell me something that I wanted to hear.
“I didn’t lie to you. You had some virus protection, just not the one to stop that virus.” He continued to look me dead straight in the eyes. I felt strange; I knew he was trying to tell me something.
I looked over to Alejandro. His expression was frozen in shock. He pulled one of the pillows across his chest. The muscles in his arms flexed. His hands clutched at the pillow and I could hear the feathers break under his grasp. Did he know what had happened? What was I missing? I glanced back at Roger as he spoke in coded words and confusing confessions.
“The virus was strong … and hidden deep in the operating system. I didn’t think—think you’d be so affected by it. Lauren … I didn’t think—I didn’t think … I didn’t expect that it would penetrate and become so entrenched and twisted into it. Didn’t think it would wreak so much havoc in the body.” His physical stance became protective. His eyes darted between Alejandro and me.
I struggled to understand what he was trying to say. His words snarled my thoughts. I should’ve known it was something he did to me. A familiar wave of betrayal swelled in my soul. I knew it so well now.
“You gave me the virus? Why?” I wanted to get out of the bed. I struggled to push up on my knees but a massive conveyer belt pulled me back to the mattress; it was Alejandro using all of his strength to stop me.
“Don’t do it. You need him still,” Alejandro whispered into my ear, his arms wrapped around my chest and my skin surged with his touch, I ached to hurt Roger. I hated what he stood for; I hated that he kept pushing me, testing me in the sickest ways. Alejandro adjusted his arms across me and my body rested heavy against him.
“It wasn’t something I planned. It happened when you entered my mind this last time. I set a booby trap of sorts, to keep people from accessing my prototype. You shouldn’t have entered my mind. I didn’t think it would affect you like it did.”
“More excuses? It doesn’t matter that you didn’t plan it. It still happened. You’re so hungry for this prototype to be successful, you’re willing to kill and maim people to do it? Who are you? You’re not the person I loved and respected.” I wanted Roger to hurt … God, I wanted him to feel my pain. I got up from the bed quickly, making sure Alejandro couldn’t catch me. My eyes spun in my head and the room joined in the spin … I lost my balance and fell back into Alejandro. I wasn’t able to leave.
“Lauren, stop.” Roger lunged for me.
“Don’t touch me—ever again.” I pushed my hands out to stop him. The prototype had been in his head for six months and it released a beast in him that made him unbelievably strong, so much stronger than me.
I was spent, done with people who didn’t work in my life anymore. Roger broke me, took my life from me and plunged me into the darkest corners of my humanity. I only had words that could hurt him deep enough to make a difference.
“I hate you. You are dead to me. More than dead, you are nothing to me. Get out!” I stared him down to look away.
“Tell her what I did for you.” He looked past me to Alejandro, his eyes narrowed, like he had something he had to tell me.
“She told you to leave,” Alejandro said as he pulled his arms tighter around me. I was completely content in the choice of words I spat at him and the answer Alejandro gave.
“Someday you will thank me for this, you’ll see,” Roger whispered.
“I will never thank you for ruining my life, ever!”
Roger looked up at me one last time before he grabbed his wallet and keys off the small table and walked out the door.
I turned to Alejandro and rested my head against his chest. His heart beat settled me and mellowed the seditious questions that ravaged my mind.
What did I just do? Did I think this through? Handle the prototype without Roger? What about the CIA?
Alejandro pressed his temperate hand to the side of my head and pushed against my ear. His soothing lips warmed the middle of my forehead as he answered my thoughts. Pressure trapped my breath and for a threadlike moment, I was twisted into believing nothing was what I expected.
I never fully understood the meaning behind the saying, hindsight is twenty-twenty. I guess because it was never really relevant in my life—until now. If all I had to do was turn back to change my future, I never would have let my emotions hold my rational thoughts captive. I would have fought against every moment that led me to where I am…
Now I’m shackled to a technology I barely understand and in love with the man who knowingly funded it. Do I find a way to put to rest the burden I have become, or am I resolved to exist with the prototype for the rest of my life?
Eternity is such a long time.
Book Two
The Possession Series
~Coming 2015~
By day she teaches computers at an elementary school; by night she dawns the cloak of motherhood, wifehood, and authorship. Worried that she’s irritating her husband as she clicks away at her laptop until three in the morning, she’s penned a New Adult trilogy titled The Wilson Mooney Series.
She is finding her way through self-publishing and is truly learning to let go with every curve and bump in the creative process. Gretchen de la O is a mother of three boys, a believer that anything is possible, and a lover of life.
Her newest work, Prototype, is the first book in an Adult Romantic Suspense titled, The Possession Series.
Where to find Gretchen de la O:
www.gretchendelao.com
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Prototype Page 25