Vivid Avowed (The Evelyn Maynard Trilogy Book 3)

by Kaydence Snow

  He rolled over, and I snuggled into his back, playing the big spoon.

  I’d spent enough time in Alec’s and Tyler’s rooms to know the afternoon sun streamed in through the windows on this side of the house. It was early afternoon, but I’d still slept half the day away. And I was in the bed alone. Why did they all recover faster than me? Didn’t we all have Variant DNA? Why did I still have to suffer the dull headache at the back of my head, the sick, empty feeling in my stomach?

  I sighed and crawled out of bed, then used Alec’s bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. I really needed to buy another four toothbrushes. Because I stayed with them—one or more of them—several times per week, I ended up using their toothbrushes way more than was hygienic. According to the World Health Organization, the mouth is home to more than seven hundred species of bacteria, and each person has their own unique mix of bacteria that don’t take kindly to other bacteria being introduced.

  I put thoughts of gum disease out of my mind. The shower and tooth brushing had me feeling almost normal, but there was one more need to attend to. My stomach grumbled as if to punctuate my thoughts.

  On the ground floor, I had to step around sheets of drywall and several wheelbarrows full of debris. I frowned, cursing myself for not stealing a pair of Alec’s socks. What the hell were they doing up there? This renovation was taking forever.

  As I walked into the kitchen, the smell of coffee drove all thoughts of swinging hammers and messy demolition from my mind. I inhaled deeply and followed my nose, walking around the corner with my eyes half-closed.

  Like a vision of hotness, all my desires incarnate, Tyler stood at the island holding a fresh latte out to me. I took it with both hands, hugging it to my chest and then taking a sip. I moaned and nearly closed my eyes, but I couldn’t tear them away from the perfect man in front of me.

  It was Sunday—usually the only day I saw Ty in sweats, relaxing—but clearly, he had to do some work. He was in gray slacks, and the rolled-up sleeves of his crisp white shirt cut into his defined forearms. Despite his neat clothing, his messy brown hair stuck up all over the place, that pesky wayward bit hanging over his forehead, and his gray eyes watched me with so much affection, so much . . .

  “Mmmm, I love you.” Was I talking to the perfect coffee or the perfect man? My brain was still struggling to keep up. He just kept watching me, his face the picture of patience even though he clearly had somewhere to be.

  I took another sip, but it wasn’t the amazing coffee spreading warmth through my chest. I set the cup down and leaned my hip on the bench, mirroring his posture.

  He tilted his head and smiled. “How are you feeling after—”

  “Shh.” I cut him off with a hand over his perfect mouth. His eyes widened, then crinkled in amusement. He kept one hand flat on the bench next to his hip, but the other went to my waist.

  I removed my hand from his mouth and trailed my fingers over his freshly shaved jaw, coming to rest at his neck, just under the crisp collar of his shirt.

  “Ask me what I’m thinking about, Ty.” I held his gaze, steady and sure as I let my Light flow into him unobstructed.

  I love you.

  I love you.

  I love you.

  I repeated the words over and over in my head, waiting for him to ask the question.

  “What are you thinking about, Eve?” His voice was low but playful, his eyes still amused.

  I watched, mesmerized and awed, as his ability filled him in. I was thinking the words so hard, with so much intention, it must have sounded like someone shouting in his head.

  The playfulness left his expression, replaced by something . . . more, deeper. He smiled and licked his lips as he pulled me against his chest.

  “Wait!” I stopped him before he could speak. “I want to say it.” A thrilling, light giddiness bubbled up in my chest and burst out of my lips. “I love you, Tyler Gabriel.”

  He grinned, his whole face lighting up. “I love you, Evelyn Maynard.”

  I returned his grin and leaned up to kiss him. We held each other close, our kisses messy and erratic, punctuated by laughter and broken by toothy smiles.

  By the time we pulled out of each other’s arms, my latte was going cold.

  He made me a fresh one, pouring coffee into his travel mug as he went. Ethan and Josh came into the kitchen, laden with grocery bags, as Tyler slid my second latte over to me.

  “Did you two go grocery shopping?” I frowned as they each gave me a kiss on the cheek and deposited the bags on the island. “Don’t you have, like . . . people for that?”

  “Yes.” Josh chuckled. “But we wanted to get out of the house for a bit, and Kid started getting ideas for dinner and . . .” He gestured to the food.

  “But how about some breakfast first?” Ethan flashed me his dimples, twirling a pan in his big hand before setting it on the stove to heat.

  “I have to head into the city for a meeting. I may need to stay the night, depending on how late it goes.” Tyler gave me a kiss on the top of my head and turned to leave. “Love you.”

  “Love you.” It was amazing how easy it was to fall into those words, how effortlessly they came tumbling out considering we’d only said them for the first time a few moments ago.

  As Tyler left, Alec came around the other side of the island in sweats and a hoodie.

  My heart sank even as it started to hammer in my chest.

  Ethan cracked an egg into the pan, the oil sizzling.

  Alec pulled his hood up over his head, avoiding eye contact.

  He’d heard. He must have. He was too close not to have heard me tell Tyler I loved him as if I’d been saying it my whole life, as if it were just part of our daily repertoire.

  I watched him, chewing on my lip, horrified and feeling like shit.

  He collected a bottle of mineral water from the fridge and walked out, not saying anything or looking at anyone. I couldn’t see the look on his face, but his unhappiness was clear from the tension in his shoulders, his hurried steps, the way his fingers gripped the bottle. I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head, what he was feeling.

  Was he kicking himself for the way he’d treated me? Or was he mad at me for torturing him like this?

  I was mad at me.

  I folded my hands on the cool stone and dropped my head onto my forearms. Why couldn’t I just say it? I felt it. I knew he felt it. He’d said it to me. So why couldn’t I say it to him? Why wasn’t I rushing out after him to tell him this instant?

  Alec and I had come very far, but I was still worried he’d hurt me. No one had ever been quite as good at tearing my heart out of my chest and stomping on it to make himself feel better. If I went after him now and tried to tell him I loved him, would he throw it back in my face, reject me yet again? That was how Alec reacted when hurt; he pushed people away, hurt them more than they were hurting him. I just couldn’t bear the cold look in his eyes, couldn’t stand the thought of hearing his hard, detached voice.

  Soothing hands rubbed my shoulders as tears pricked my eyes.

  “Just tell him, baby,” Josh whispered next to my ear.

  My silent tears spilled over. If only it were that simple.

  Eighteen

  I took the bottle of water from Karen gratefully, downing half of it in one go. When I’d first arrived for my session, I regretted wearing a summer dress and sandals. It was a hot day, but the AC inside the building was pumping. It hadn’t taken me long to wish for a cardigan.

  But once the session got underway, I was hot and sweaty in no time. They hadn’t requested any of the guys for this one. Tyler was in his office some thirty floors up, and Alec was somewhere in the building too, so they were on standby if we needed them, but the research team wanted to test my ability to transfer Light to Variants outside my Bond.

  “You OK?” Karen took a seat on the couch next to me. We were finished for the day, and it had become a bit of a routine for the two of us to sit down and debrief after e
ach session. We mostly used the area they’d set up as a living room—the couches were comfortable.

  I stretched. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a lot more effort outside the Bond.”

  “It’s to be expected. But if at any point you feel like it’s too much, you just say so, sweetie.” Karen had gone from barking cold, impersonal commands into the speakers to having semi-casual chats with me and calling me sweetie. I must have grown on her.

  The session had been grueling. I could transfer Light to other Variants without a problem. Yes, it required more concentration, but I’d done it enough that it wasn’t that difficult. But none of that was new; all Vitals could do that. What they wanted was for me to use my glowing Light to transfer to Variants outside my Bond remotely.

  I’d done it at the Melior Group event about a month earlier, so it was possible, but I’d been acting on pure adrenaline and survival instinct, not to mention the feral need to protect my Variants. I tried not to think too hard about that night. Doing so made vivid, disturbing images invade my mind—the blood, Alec falling to the floor . . .

  I couldn’t stand the thought of losing any of them.

  Naturally, Melior Group had footage of the whole thing, so Karen and the team had studied it. I’d tried to watch it myself, but as soon as the armed men appeared on the screen, I panicked. The thought of seeing Alec get shot from a whole new angle made bile rise in my throat, and I raced out of the room.

  Karen didn’t make me watch the rest of the video, but she did push me to try to replicate the transfer.

  I was grateful for the push. My own mind was curious about this development, but I was scared to try it again. Left to my own devices, I might have avoided the issue indefinitely.

  By the end, I’d managed to draw the Light, get the glow up, and remotely transfer some to a researcher with super hearing on the other side of the room. He smiled wide and pushed his glasses up his nose when my Light hit him. Then, to prove the transfer was successful, he started answering people on the other side of the reinforced concrete wall.

  It had taken the entire session to get to that point, and now I was exhausted, drained, and starving. Karen kept our chat brief and shooed me out, sending me in the direction of the cafeteria on the fifth floor.

  The elevator stopped on the ground floor, and I found myself face-to-face with Dana. Her blonde hair was up in a neat ponytail, her curvy physique covered, but not hidden, by the signature black uniform.

  “Hey,” she mumbled around a mouthful as she stepped in. She had a giant burrito clasped in both hands.

  “Hey,” I told her burrito and licked my lips. It smelled amazing. The elevator doors closed again, and we started moving up.

  “Research sesh?” she asked, taking another giant bite.

  My mouth filled with saliva, and I had to swallow before answering. “Yup.”

  “How was it?”

  “OK. Long and draining. I’m fucking starving.”

  Finally she realized I was giving her burrito looks that would make even Ethan blush, and she paused with it halfway to her mouth.

  “You’re on your way to the cafeteria, right?” She took another bite, protectively angling her body away from me.

  “Mmhmm.” We were already passing the third floor. Food was minutes away. But all I wanted was that damn burrito.

  Dana sighed and rolled her eyes, then wordlessly handed over the burrito.

  I snatched it out of her grasp and took a giant bite. It tasted just as good as it looked and smelled—tender beef, crunchy lettuce and corn, and she’d doused it in guacamole and salsa. I moaned right as the elevator doors opened on the busy fifth floor.

  Several people paused and turned toward my decidedly sexual noises. I couldn’t care less. I took another delicious bite as we stepped off the elevator.

  Marcus and Jamie stood a few feet away, shoulder to shoulder, barely containing their grins. Marcus’s black hair and dark skin couldn’t have contrasted more with Jamie’s red hair and pale complexion, but their posture and the slant to their smiles were so similar it was clear they spent a lot of time together.

  “You doing chicks now, Dana?” Marcus teased.

  “I might be.” She shrugged. “What’s it to you?”

  They laughed, and Jamie answered, “Nothing at all, but her Bond members might have something to say about it.”

  I rushed to swallow my bite. “Knock it off, or I’m telling Dot you were making rude jokes.” They just grinned wider. They knew she wouldn’t care—Dot loved a dirty joke. “And anyway, I’m all about the burrito.”

  I took an exaggeratedly slow bite, moaning and rolling my eyes into the back of my head.

  All three of them laughed, and Dana slung an arm over my shoulders. “Keep the fucking burrito. That was gold!”

  They got food from the cafeteria, and the four of us sat together as we ate, chatting. Judging by some of the questions Jamie and Marcus asked Dana, they didn’t seem to know her that well, which was odd considering she and Alec had seen each other for some time. But Alec and Dana could both be standoffish.

  Dana didn’t seem to mind the questions and even joked around with us. I hoped this would be the beginning of some new friendships for her; I had a feeling she was lonely, not that she’d ever admit it.

  “OK. Back to the strategy meeting. Kyo will have our asses if we’re late.” Marcus got to his feet.

  Jamie groaned. “Why do we have to go to that again?”

  “Because Ace can’t, and we’re stepping in for him.”

  “What’s Alec doing?” Dana asked, picking up everyone’s rubbish and dropping it in a nearby trashcan.

  Marcus and Jamie looked at me, wary.

  “It’s OK.” I waved them off and held up my shiny badge. “I have clearance now.”

  “It’s not that.” Marcus rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Come on. We really can’t be late.” Jamie tugged him along, and they rushed off.

  “That was weird.” I frowned after them.

  Dana shrugged. “Men.”

  “You heading up? I think I’ll have to wait for Tyler to finish some stuff before we can go home.”

  We stopped at the elevators, and she pushed the down button. “Nah. Heading down.”

  She gave me a tight smile. Other than the labs, the only thing below ground level were the holding cells. Dana was on Zara duty.

  I’d spoken to the guys at length after my chat with Harvey. None of them particularly wanted me around Zara for fear of my physical and emotional safety, but they were fine with whatever I decided.

  So far, though, I was still avoiding it.

  I sighed, thinking back to just that morning, when Karen had pushed me to deal with another painful thing I could’ve easily kept avoiding. I was on the other side of that now and better for it. I knew more about my glowing Light, had better control of it. I’d worked hard, and it felt good. By the end I was glad she’d pushed me.

  The situation with Zara wasn’t remotely the same, but I could feel it festering deep in that dark hole I’d locked her up in, twisting my insides any time it stirred.

  The elevator doors opened, and Dana stepped in. She raised her hand to wave goodbye, but before she could say the words, I stepped in after her. Her eyes widened in surprise for a second, but she recovered quickly and pressed the button.

  I took a deep breath and pushed it out loudly. Did I really want to do this?

  “Wait. Is this a good time? Are you, like, taking her to . . .” be interrogated? Have a toilet break? I didn’t really know how these things worked, and I was looking for an out.

  Dana shook her head. “Now is fine.”

  “Shit.” I took another deep breath. Why was I so nervous about this?

  Dana placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. Surprisingly, it helped. Knowing she was there, and not on either my side or Zara’s, made my fidgeting stop, and I took a few calmer breaths.

  After that, we didn’t speak. The elevator doors opened,
and Dana led the way to an anteroom with several corridors leading off it. I had no clue what differentiated them or what they contained. The only signs above the doors showed series of letters and numbers completely meaningless to me.

  Dana went to a door on the right, swiped her access card, and pushed it open. I followed her down a long, brightly lit corridor with heavy steel doors on either side. About halfway up, she stopped in front of one of the doors and turned to me.

  “The cells in this corridor are reinforced steel on all sides.” She pointed to the roof and ceiling. “Plus, they have an extra layer of a special material that’s impenetrable by any Variant ability. It’s like a thin, clear plastic. No one can hear anything while these doors are closed, but we monitor these detainees at all times.”

  She tapped a tablet-sized screen next to the door, and a view of the room beyond appeared. It was exactly as you’d expect a prison cell to be—small bed, desk and chair in one corner, toilet and sink in another—but more modern and clean, everything in shades of gray and white. Zara was on the bed, reading.

  I looked away from the screen as Dana continued. “There are seven detainees in this section, and only two of them are considered nonthreatening enough to have regular time outside their cells.”

  Clearly Zara was one of them. I wondered who the other person was and what they were in for. And what about the other five? What made them so unstable that even having Dana around to neutralize their abilities wasn’t enough to deem them nonthreatening? I also wondered what that ability-blocking material was, how they’d developed it, why it wasn’t available widely. I was grateful to Dana for giving me all this information; it provided a much-needed distraction from my nervousness and gave me a sense of control.

  “When I open the door”—she gestured to the handle—“there’ll be another one behind it made out of the clear material I mentioned. You have clearance to be here and speak with her, but you don’t have the training or permission from management to be in the same room as her. You’ll have to speak through the membrane.”