Honesty (Mark of Nexus)
Page 6
“She and I need to talk,” Rena interrupted my thoughts with a sigh, standing up. “But that’s not going to happen with you here, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“About Wallace?”
She failed at hiding the flinch his name elicited. “Maybe.”
I lowered my brows. “But…”
“But what?”
But my dumbass brother won’t let me tell you what happened, so now I have to resort to non-specifics. I tried projecting the thought with my mind, but sadly, my Dynari talents lay in other areas.
“Maybe it was a misunderstanding.” I cleared my throat. “Maybe this chick doesn’t even want to be with him. I mean, hell, she’s an ERA plant. Maybe you shouldn’t want her to be with him.”
Determination wavered in her eyes. “I want what’s best for him.”
“So, ripping out his heart and thrusting him into the arms of the enemy is best for him?” I patted my pockets and shook my head. “Shit’s sake, Sis. You give me anxiety.”
She glared at me while I dug around for my pack and lighter.
“Here’s the deal,” I said, popping a cig into my mouth. “Your last class gets out at 2:50 on Fridays. Her last class isn’t over until 4:10. She works in the lab on weekends, but Maverick won’t be by to pick her up until 7:30 tomorrow morning.”
Suspicion narrowed her green eyes even further. “So?”
“So, we only have fifteen minutes to kill until our time window.” I shielded the tip against the wind as I clicked my lighter. “What do you want to do?”
She covered her nose and mouth with her shirt, like I’d taken a shit on the sidewalk. “I want to throw up.”
“Gimme a break,” I mumbled, letting warm, delicious smoke coil between my lips. “It’s not that bad.”
“It’s gross.” Her hair danced every which way in the breeze. “Your lungs probably hate you.”
I shrugged. “Fast healer.”
“Well, my lungs hate you,” she ground out. “Did you consider that?”
“Actually…” I pictured her little lungs, all charred and nasty. “No.”
“Shocker.” She started to walk off, but I caught her arm.
“Listen,” I said, wisps spilling from my lips. “I’ll put this out and wait with you, if you give me that redhead’s phone number.”
She let go of her collar, and the shirt snapped down around her neck. “You seriously came all this way to con me out of Rachel’s phone number?”
No, but I need an angle. I dropped my poor cigarette, sacrificed before it had fulfilled its life’s purpose, and smashed it with my boot. “There. Are you happy?”
She stared at the sidewalk. “No.”
I ran an exasperated hand over my head. “Why? Do your lungs still hate me?”
“No, but Captain Planet does. That’s litter.”
I growled as I bent to pick up the discarded remains, and then tossed them in a tray atop the trashcan. “There.”
“Good,” she mock-praised me, raising her voice. “Now explain to me why you want Rachel’s number so badly.”
Of course. It has to be some song and dance…
I looked up. “You want an essay? Because she’s got great legs, and she’s nice and shit.”
“Oh, well, when you put it that way…” She made a face. “You know she’s not going to sleep with you, right? In case you didn’t notice, she’s churchy.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to sleep with her.”
“But you do, don’t you?” She put her hands on her hips. “I’m warning you, Cole. If you convince Rachel to go out with you, and you hurt her, Wallace is going to be pissed. They’re close.”
“Are you sure it’s Wallace who’s going to be pissed?”
She scoffed. “Rachel and I aren’t even friends.”
“Good,” I said, trying not to grin. “Then give me her number.”
Her eye twitched.
I took her arm and blurred around the building for a little privacy. There was an abundance of humans around the quad, and they were distracting as hell.
“Cole.”
“Look, I’m serious. I swear to God, I’m not going to touch her.”
She backed away like my words were going to conjure some righteous retribution. “Right.”
“She’s just so,” I went on. “I don’t know. She makes me feel good.”
“You talked to her for thirty seconds.”
“And she made me feel good for thirty seconds!” I snapped. “Now are we going to argue out here, or are you going to give me her number so we can go inside and wait?”
She eyed the back door. “You know they keep this locked, right? And we can only enter through the front entrance if a resident lets us in.”
“Sure.” I punched an access code into the numbered panel beside the door. More knowledge from the CIA—Cole’s Intelligence Agency. Okay, Tits. Anyway, there was a click, and the little light turned green. “Any other pressing issues?”
I ducked inside, and she followed my lead. ERA had Corynn placed on the second floor. Room 216. If we hurried, we could get situated before she came back from class. It’d scare the shit out of her…
“Now,” I began, taking the stairs two at a time. “Do I have your blessing or not?”
Rena scampered to keep up. “Why do you care if you have my blessing? I thought you just wanted her number.”
“I have her number,” I groaned, and opened the door marked with a giant two. “I just want you to say it’s okay.”
She edged around me and started down the hallway, dragging her feet. “I don’t care, Cole. Call her if you want to. Just don’t hurt her.”
I led by placing my hand at the small of her back. “You honestly think I’d hurt someone without provocation or necessity?”
Insulting silence ensued.
Wow.
“No,” she finally admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried.”
“So, you are friends.” I grinned, coming to a halt in front of 216. “That’s cool, because I want you to like my future girlfriend.”
She wanted to kill me. It was written all over her face.
“And now that we have that out of the way.” I looked both ways before producing a mini can of WD-40. “Nobody ever said no to a little lube…”
Rena winced.
I crammed the straw in place and squirted the hole above the door handle. “And then we’ll acquaint Ms. Lock with Mr. Tension Wrench.”
I worked quickly—so quickly, in fact, I doubted she could track my movements as I swapped one tool for another. Then another. “Now for the pick gun.”
“The what?”
Click, click, click, click, click!
“Geez.” She whipped her head around, glancing up and down the hallway. “Are you trying to get caught?”
“Think I can’t get away?” I squeezed the trigger a few more times for good measure, and then removed the gun. A second later, I had the metal stick pointed the other way. “Here we go.”
“That’s it?” She twisted the door handle and moved in ahead of me.
I smirked, reset the lock, and put my tools away. “Now for some snoop—”
“What are you two doing here?” a distinctly English voice asked from behind me.
I thrust my hands in the air like a stick-up, following Sis into the darkened room. “Rena did it.”
She glared.
Corynn took a quick check of her surroundings before coming inside. The door closed behind her. “All right. What’s this, then?”
“U-Um,” Rena stammered. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”
Just when I thought she had potential as my assistant, she cracks under the pressure…
“Funny thing about observing a class for no credit,” Corynn muttered, tossing her backpack on the floor and flicking the lights on. “No one cares if you leave early.”
“Oh.”
“Well?”
“Rena wants to tell you something,” I interrupted, ja
bbing her in the side with my elbow. “Isn’t that right, Sis?”
“Ow,” she grumbled. “Right. I just wanted to say you and Wallace…well, you can go ahead and…he’s not my…”
She crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the dresser. “Are you giving me your boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend,” she corrected way too quickly.
A few seconds ticked by as the women studied each other. “Why?”
Rena straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “Because he deserves a normal life. Because I want my friend to be happy.”
Corynn cocked an eyebrow. “A normal life. That’s what you think he wants?”
“Deep down,” Rena whispered. “So we’re going to make it happen.”
I snorted, but didn’t say anything. Best damn behavior today.
“I’m going to give you his number,” she told her, looking for something to write on. “Get things rolling, so we can all move on with our lives. I don’t want to hear another thing about it.”
“So, that’s it?” Corynn asked. “You’re going along with the arrangement?”
“Yes.” Rena was either on the verge of tears or about to deck her. I couldn’t tell. “He’s yours now, so take care of him.”
“He’s still hung up on you, you know.” She paused. “But whatever. We all have our parts to play, and it’s not like he’s bad to look at.”
“R-Right.” She made for the door, and I followed.
“He might even appreciate a good roll in the sheets.”
Oh shit.
Rena paused with her hand on the door handle. “I should probably make one thing clear.”
“What?”
“I don’t know your reasons for consenting to this arrangement,” she began, lowering her voice, “and I don’t know what you left behind to be here, but I trust you. I have to. Because you’re what’s best for Wallace.”
Rena’s grip tightened. “But if you cross him, if you endanger that man in even the slightest way, I will find you, Corynn. England, America—I don’t care. I will track you to the farthest ends of the earth, and I will make you beg for death. Do you understand me?”
Hot.
Corynn’s lips twisted. “Got it.”
We fled the scene in silence, and once we got outside, I knew Rena would bolt. Before she could get anywhere, I spun her around. “Hey.”
“What?”
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and buried her face in my chest. “You’re stubborn, but you have a good heart, Sis.”
She struggled against me like a cat in water. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. It just needed said.”
I took off before she could notice I’d gone.
~
Wallace met me in the parking lot, after I called him.
I was almost touched until he said he didn’t trust me to ‘roam the streets’ of Wilcox unattended.
“What happened?” he asked, getting into the passenger side of my Jeep. “Is Faye on the offensive?”
I put out yet another cigarette. “Not yet. I’m just checking up on you.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you, jackass.”
He snorted as he settled in, cranking the seat back. “Yeah? Same to you.”
“Have you figured out what you’re going to do?”
“About what?”
“The debt crisis, obviously.” I shoved him—kind of. “This shit with Rena.”
He gave me the raised brow. “You think there’s something I can do?”
“Gee, I don’t know. You could tell her what happened?”
His lips tightened into a line. “We’ve been over this.”
Was he serious?
“It’s been almost a week.” I emphasized the passage of time by chopping the air into sections. “It wouldn’t seem forced to explain now. Just say you were giving her space.”
“And how would I know to explain what she overheard, without admitting you told me?” Wallace rubbed his brow bone until the skin turned red. “It’s useless. She’ll never believe that I won’t be better off with Corynn.”
I slammed my head against the steering wheel. “Well, find a way to convince her. I’ve got too many irons in the fire, as it is. I don’t want to worry about you two forever. Just get over yourselves and bump uglies already.”
“Your concern is touching.”
“Hey, I’m trying.”
“I know,” he mumbled. “I do appreciate it. I’m just tired. I don’t think I’ve slept for a week.”
“Makes sense with all the shit you’ve got on your plate.”
“Yeah.”
Neither of us knew what to say after that. Hell, if we were in the middle of nowhere, there’d be crickets. The Blake brothers did not bond over honest dialogue.
“So, you wanna see my burned nipples?”
“I’m leaving now.”
I snorted and lifted my head from the steering wheel to watch him go. “Suit yourself.”
“For what it’s worth”—Wallace straightened outside the Jeep and leaned back in the window—”I’ll try calling her.”
“Good man.”
“Yeah, we’ll see how that goes.” He tapped on the roof and half-assed a wave over his shoulder. “Later.”
“See ya.”
Speaking of calls…
I had one thing left on today’s agenda. Sucking in a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and tapped the newest entry on my contact list. One ring, two…
“Hello?”
“Rachel?” I asked, imagining her confused face.
“Yes?” A pause. “Can I help you?”
So trusting. She didn’t even demand to know who was calling her out of the blue.
“This is Cole Blake,” I told her, leaning back in my seat. “Wallace’s brother. You remember me?”
“Oh, sure! You never came back to the stand for that face-painting.”
Shit. I knew I was forgetting something.
“I had to take Rena back to campus,” I explained. “She, uh, got sick.”
“Oh no! That’s terrible. Is she all right now?”
I bit my lip. “Mhmm…”
She breathed a crackling sigh of relief into the receiver. “Well, that’s good.”
“She’s actually how I got your number,” I went on, caught up in the momentum. “I wanted to talk to you again.”
Hesitation. “Really?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
She laughed. Stilted. Awkward. “I don’t know…”
“So, you wanna grab dinner this weekend?”
There was a pause. “Just us?”
Was she expecting a chaperone? “Uh, yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Cole. I have to work this weekend.”
Okay, so she was expecting a chaperone.
“What about next Saturday?” I countered, trying to remember if I had anything else going on. “We could grab some coffee with Rena and Wallace. Maybe get to know each other a little better.”
Provided they’re willing to be in the same room by then…
“That sounds great,” Rachel said, much to my relief. “Where should I meet you guys?”
I sank back in my seat and blew out a sigh. “What about that place by the Laundromat?”
CHAPTER 10
Another week dragged past.
Teresa locked herself in her office most days, probably planning my demise. She hadn’t spoken to me since I showed her the stills—which was kind of stupid, if you thought about it. Why piss off the guy with the blackmail?
At least my nipples had stopped bur—
“You going to use that controller or stick it up your ass for the rumble?”
“Huh?”
I looked up to find Tits staring at me, the lights from the ceiling fan reflected in his glasses. Speaking of nipples.
“You said you would play.”
I didn’t miss a beat. “You said you would start the game.”
“Mmm…” I hugged my controller as the start screen appeared on the TV. “Gratuitous violence. My favorite.”
“Shut up.”
We played all through the night, destroying a bag of pretzels, a carton of beef jerky, and what was left of Tits’ manly figure. By four, the beast was swaying in his beanbag. Judging from the bottle count on the carpet, I estimated he’d had nine beers—maybe more. He’d be passed out by the time I got back from the bathroom.
I hadn’t shared in the latter of his indulgences. No fuzzy barrier between me and real life shit—just exhaustion and a need to part with some poor food choices. I edged around him, slipped down the hall, and flipped on the light in his bathroom.
The space was downright claustrophobic, but it’d do. I dropped my pants, copped a squat on the throne, and rested my arm on the edge of the toilet paper holder. Something about the dim lighting and cramped quarters screwed with me, like I’d wandered into a visual lullaby. I yawned.
My eyelids lowered of their own accord, despite my struggle to keep them open, and my head dropped onto my arm. Maybe if I rested for a minute, I’d be good to go. We could get another round or two in before sunrise. I just need to…
To…
I jolted in the doorframe of my childhood home, nearly running into my dad in the hallway.
“In a hurry, buddy?” He halted in his tracks, and a grin tugged at his lips. Something about the moment felt off—wrong, even—but I couldn’t decide what it was. All I knew was the rush of comfort I felt at the sight of my father. My eyes burned.
“No, I was just gonna look for Wallace.”
“I think he’s downstairs. Your grandma just got here to watch you guys while we’re out. Shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.” He crouched down and made his face serious. “Think you can be the man of the house until then?”
“What about Grandpa Freddie?”
“He has to work late. It’s just going to be you boys and Grandma this time.”
I nodded.
“Good.” The grin was back, creasing the corners of his eyes as he reached out to ruffle my hair. “I don’t want to hear about any problems, okay? No running around the house, pretending you’re invisible.”