Betrayed (4 page)

"Never said anything to me about it," Anthony said, his head filled with an image of Rae, Marcus, and that freakin'

bracelet. Was she thanking him forit right now, parked in some dark place in his Range Rover, or his BMW-whichever expensive car he was driving today?

"She's embarrassed about it," Yana told him. "At least around people like us. We're probably the only Benjamin-challenged people she's ever hung with."

Why are we talking about Rae? Anthony thought. It was the last thing he wanted. And wasn't the whole point of
going out for Yana to blow off steam? She was just getting herself more and more pissed off.

"Probably why she's so gaga over Marcus. They're, like, a perfectly matched set or something," Yana continued.

Okay, so maybe Rae is the second-to-last thing I want to talk about, Anthony thought. The absolute last thing was
talking about Rae and Marcus and how perfect they were together.

"So I guess she really loved him?" Anthony asked. Immediately he wished he could rip his tongue out and throw it
on the dance floor. Why had he asked that?

"Make that loves," Yana replied. "Whether she admits it or not, Rae's never gotten over him."

"So why aren't they together?" Anthony's demonic tongue made him ask.

"Probably she just wants to make him pay, at least a little longer." Yana wrapped her arms aroundAnthony's waist.

"God, why do I keep talking about Rae? I'm so pissed at her. She's the last thing I want to be thinking about right
now."

Anthony felt her warm breath against his neck, then his ear. His brain turned off. It was like his ear had wires
running all the way through his body. He couldn't think about Rae now. He couldn't think about anything. Those
wires in his body were sizzling. Frying. Electrocuting him. Maybe he'd never be able to think again.

Then Yana slowly let her face drift closer to his, and her lips pressed against his mouth. The wires running through
him snapped. The current stopped flowing. Yeah, he could still feel the heat of her mouth against his, but his brain
had flipped back on. And all he could think about was Rae. When he'd kissed her, it had been Don't go there, he
ordered himself. No thinking about her.

Anthony lowered his mouth to the hollow at the base of Yana's throat, tasting sweat and the bitterness of perfume.

Weren't we just supposed to be dancing? he thought. But this was better. There was no way dancing by itself could
get Rae out of his head. Not that the neck kissing was exactly working, either.

Yana pulled him closer, and some of those wires repaired themselves. His brain flickered, but it didn't go blank. Not
entirely. Even though he wished it would.

Rae gently placed the piece of plastic on her nightstand. She'd touched it too many times since she'd gotten home
from the Motel 6. It was like a scab. She knew she should stop picking at it, but she couldn't stop.
killed her mother

At least it had finally gotten through her brain that the thought couldn't be about her mother. Rae's mom had died
in the hospital of that strange wasting disease, the disease that had consumed her body so quickly that the doctors
didn't have time to diagnose it.

The disease I might have some mutated version of, Rae thought with a shiver. Some slow version that gives me
numb spots whenever I make a fingertip-to-fingertip connection with someone.

Not what you should be thinking of when you're about to go to sleep, Rae told herself. She clicked off her lamp
and slid under the covers. Concentrate on whose mother that thought could be about-that's slightly less nightmare
inducing.

There was Mandy Reese. It made some sense that the guy, the fake meter reader, who'd been spying on Rae,
would be thinking about Mandy's mom, Amanda. Mandy's mother had been part of the group at the Wilton Center,
the group Rae's mother had been in. Two days before the fake meter reader-the FMR-had taken Rae and Yana
prisoner, Rae and Yana had been asking a bunch of questions at the center. Rae didn't think that was a coincidence.

She figured the FMR was freaked because he thought Rae had gotten close to finding out something. Something
about the group. The experiments, whatever they were? Maybe. But definitely something that Rae could have found
out at the center. Something about Rae's mother. Which could also mean something about Mandy's mother.

Rae let out a sigh. There were way too many variables. She hated variables. Like that guy Aiden, the one who had
given them a two-minute tour of the center. What was his deal? Wa s he the second guy at the motel? Or had the
woman-whoever shewas-just used Aiden's name because she knew Rae had talked to Aiden?

And God, why wouldn't she know about that? She was working with the FMR, and the FMR had been watching
every move Rae made. Anthony's car had been bugged. Rae had been photographed with a telephoto lens.

Rae rolled onto her side and made sure her curtains were closed. They were. But the FMR could be out there,
watching, waiting for his next Rae sighting. Waiting to kill her? Possibly.

That's because I got close to something at the center, Rae thought. Something big. And I'm not going to back
away. I want to prove to Yana that I didn't send that letter. And oh, yeah, like I'd ever forget, I want to find out who
wants me dead.

Rae shivered again. She wrapped the covers around herself until they were mummy tight, but she still felt cold.

Because you're scared, she told herself. The only way to find out what you need to know is to go back to the
Wilton Center, and that terrifies you. *** Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her! KILL HER! I want Rae Voight dead. It's all I
can think about. There's a voice, a voice that doesn't completely sound like mine, that is always chanting in the back
of my head. Kill her! Kill her!

Kill her! Is it my mother's voice? Has some part of her made it back from the dead?

If you're here somewhere, Mom, don't worry. I want revenge as much as you do. You don't have to beg me to kill
Rae. I ache to do it.

But I can't. Not yet. Not until I know exactly who else is after Rae. Because they could be after me, too.

So you'll just have to be patient a little longer. We both will. But I swear to you, the instant it's possible, I will put
Rae in the ground. And until then, I'll make her suffer in any way I can. *** "So Rae wouldn't take the bracelet."

Marcus gave a grunt as he raised the weight he was bench pressing.

"She wouldn't?" Anthony said. He struggled to keep his face expressionless as he stared down at Marcus,
spotting him. She wouldn't? he repeated to himself. What girl wouldn't snatch up that bracelet in a heartbeat? Did
that mean that Rae "So now what am I supposed to do?" Marcus asked, jerking Anthony away from his thoughts.

How did I get to be this guy's freakin' romance adviser? Anthony thought, wishing there was anybody else in the
weight room who would jump in. "One more set," he told Marcus, avoiding the question. "It's not like I just threw the
bracelet at her,"Marcus continued. "I knew that wouldn't work. I told her I was sorry about what a jerk I was when
she was in the hospital and all that." Marcus thrust the weights over his head.

"Don't lock your elbows," Anthony reminded him. Clearly Marcus was going to spew no matter what. So what
Anthony had to do was give him some "uh-huhs" and "yeahs" and attempt to hear the Marcus rant as noise. No
words. Just noise.

"So what does she want from me? What else could she possibly want from me?" Marcus's breath came in harsh
pants. "I know she, you know, that Rae loved me when we were together. And that can't have changed, not so fast.

So what does she want?"

Crap. Anthony had been able to tune out a little of what Marcus said. But the words Rae loved me coming out of
Marcus's mouth-Anthony probably would have heard that loud and clear if he'd been in Alaska or someplace. If he'd
been at the bottom of the ocean.

Marcus replaced the weight in the rack and sat up. "You have a girlfriend," he said, turning to face Anthony. "Help
me figure this out. What am I supposed to do to get Rae back?"

It was like two giants had ahold of him, each one yanking in a different direction. He could almost feel the skin
across his chest getting tighter, thinner,starting to rip. The decent thing would be to help Marcus deal with the Rae
thing. That's what Anthony should want to do. But imagining Rae with Marcus, touching him, kissing him "My turn,"

Anthony said. He gave Marcus a shove with his toe, and Marcus stood up and toweled off the sweaty bench.

Anthony stretched out on it. "Take it up twenty pounds," he instructed. He wanted this to hurt. Needed it to.

"You can't be thinking you can press more than me," Marcus protested.

"Just put them on," Anthony answered. He shut his eyes and laid one arm across his chest, using his free hand to
push the arm farther, stretching out his muscles. Metal clinked against metal as Marcus adjusted the weights. At
least for a few seconds he wasn't running his mouth. Anthony reversed the stretch. "Ready when you are," Marcus
told him.

Anthony opened his eyes, raised his arms over his head, and tightened his fingers around the metal bar. He let out
a long, controlled breath as he lifted the weight, then inhaled as he brought it back down. "One." "So what should I
do?" Marcus asked.

Crap. Anthony'd been hoping Marcus would at least let him get through the set before the guystarted in again.

Anthony lifted the weight again, focusing on his screaming muscles. Was he insane, trying to lift twenty more than
Marcus?

"So what did she say, exactly?" Anthony asked, trying to talk and inhale as he brought the weight back down. It
was a total girl question. But if he was going to step up and help Marcus, it's what he needed to know.

"She said she couldn't take it because it was too big a thing," Marcus answered. "I think she thought if she took it,
it would mean we were getting back together. I told her that taking it didn't have to mean anything. That I wanted her
to have it no matter what. But I guess she didn't believe me."

"I don't believe you," Anthony said, staring at the weight as he raised it. "You're telling me you shelled out-" He
realized he had no idea what a bracelet like that would cost. "All that cash," he finished, breathing hard. "And you
weren't expecting Rae to get back together with you because of it?" "Not right that second," Marcus answered.

"But eventually," Anthony said. "Yeah," Marcus admitted.

"Obviously she still doesn't trust you," Anthony told him, resting between reps. "You've got to prove you're going
to stick around this time." Okay. He'd done it. He'd coughed up some advice, and bloodhadn't started running out of
his nose or anything.

"So you're saying I just keep being her friend? Just keep hanging around?" Marcus asked.

Anthony gave a grunt, his arms trembling as he heaved the weight back up. "Yeah," he managed to get out.

"For how long?" Marcus said, sounding as whiny as Anthony's littlest brother.

Does it matter? 'Cause if it matters, you don't want it bad enough, Anthony wanted to tell Marcus. "As long as it
takes," he forced himself to answer instead.

"What you fear is a huge part of what you are," Ms. Abramson said as she paced around the center of the group
therapy circle. "What you fear can determine what you do-or don't do. Who you approach and who you avoid. What
you allow yourself to dream about and what forms your nightmares." She gave a sharp clap. "Okay, pair up. I want
you to find out as much about your partner's fears as you can." "Rae, you wanna be-" Jesse Beven began.

Rae was already jerking her metal chair around to face him. She didn't want to talk to anyone about her fears-she
didn't even want to think about them. But part of being a good little group therapy participantwas vomiting up all
your private junk on command. If you didn't, you'd end up in the group until you were a senior citizen. So since she
had to spew, she'd rather spew to Jesse. At least he knew her biggest secret already. He knew she was a fingerprint
reader; he was the only person besides Anthony and Yana who did.

Jesse and Rae stared at each other. "So I guess I'm going first," Jesse finally said. He started tapping one of his
heels against the floor, his leg jerking up and down. "I'm kind of afraid of, uh, dogs. Big dogs, like Dobermans."

Rae nodded, then she noticed Abramson looking at them, standing close enough to hear what they were saying.

Rae stifled a sigh. Just do it, she told herself. Put on the show. "So is there any reason? Did you ever get bitten or
anything?" It wasn't exactly a brilliant question, but she was interacting. She was participating. She was earning her
little gold star for the day.

"No. Never even got snapped at or anything." Jesse's leg started bouncing faster. "But I used to have this
nightmare where there was this big dog in the hallway outside my room. When I'd wake up, I'd always want-" Jesse
hesitated, running his fingers through his red hair as if that would help him figure out the right words. "I'd want to
go into mymom's-my parents'-room, to sleep with them, you know. I was really little," he added quickly.