Stunned (The Lucidites Book 2) (39 page)

“Do I have your permission to talk to Trey about this tomorrow?”

My eyes widen with disbelief. “Aiden—”

“I’ll explain to him about our relationship,” Aiden cuts me off. “I’ll convince him it won’t affect my work—that it will encourage it. Would that be okay?”

“You would do that for me?”

He shakes his head. “I would do it for us.”

“But what about the other Head Officials? Won’t they give you hell?”

He shrugs. “Fuck ’em. All I need is Trey to sign off, then I’m golden,” he says, almost sings.

Before I know it his lips are on mine. They burn with a new intensity. Fire melts me into a million pieces. And if I can be put back together I want it to be with his hands which are pinned against my back, urging me nearer. I’m so close to him that his heart thumps against my chest and still I beg for more, wishing to erase the atoms I know that buffer us, that keep us from really touching. Threading my fingers through his gorgeously disordered hair I gently bite his bottom lip. He growls low in his throat. It sends a shiver down my back. Twice more he kisses me before peeling himself away.

Breathless, Aiden stares down at me. “Is my plan all right with you?”

I yank him back and laugh into his chest. Giddy.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He laughs. “All right, tomorrow we’ll go public. Tonight though, I need you to come down to my lab. I have something to show you. Will you meet me there in an hour?”

I nod, then pull him down toward me again, this time until we’re only separated by a breath. “I love you, Dr. Livingston.”

Chapter Fifty

A
few minutes to six o’clock, I board the elevator and hit the button for the fifth level. Just when the doors are about to close an arm shoots through, halting them. They spring open again. Joseph’s pale and sunken face floats into the elevator. Knees responsible for holding me upright give slightly. I steady myself on the steel wall. The cold hardly registers under my fingertips because all I feel is his intense pain, like a vise grip around my chest. All day I’ve been looking for this face and now I stand speechless, gawking at it. His features are wrong. Hollowed cheeks make his green eyes seem oversized. Lips so chapped they’ve split open in multiple places. “Hey, Stark,” he says, in a guttural voice that shouldn’t be his.

“Joseph?” I say, sounding wounded. “Are you okay?” The urge to wrap my arms around him, to hold him up because I sense he needs it, courses through me.

“I’m fine.”

Instinctively I know he’s lying. I reach out for his forearm, needing to know his skin is warm and his pulse is beating. He bats me off. “Leave me alone,” he says, staring straight ahead.

“Trey says you might be mixed up in something lethal.”

His eyes go wide with shock. He turns and looks at me for the first time. “You talked to him about me!? How dare you.”

“I’m worried, and can you blame me? Look at you!”

“You may not understand what’s goin’ on with me right now, but that doesn’t make it wrong.”

“Joseph—”

“I don’t know why you won’t trust me.” He twitches slightly.

“Have you lost your mind? Why would I trust you? Look at yourself. I can’t be the only person who’s telling you something is seriously wrong with you.”

“Damn it, Stark!” Joseph roars, stepping into my face. “You’re not the only one who can save the world. I might just have something to offer the Institute, if given half the f-ing chance.”

I don’t stand down or wipe his spit off my face. “Is that what this is about?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Well, yes, but it’s not like that. I want you to give me a chance to prove that what I’m workin’ on is worthy.”

When the elevator doors spring open, I stalk off for Aiden’s lab. Joseph follows. “I don’t understand why it has to be a secret. Trey said…and it makes me worry.”

“Sometimes you worry too much.” His voice is bitter.

“Sometimes you’re too flippant.”

“Well, sometimes you act like you know it all,” he fumes at me as we walk briskly.

“Well, sometimes you act like a selfish asshole!” I shoot back at him.

“Well, sometimes you can be a real bitch!” he yells as we round the corner into Aiden’s lab.

A dozen puzzled faces stare back at us. “Surprise!” they say after a moment, not quite in unison. The intended enthusiasm is muffled by embarrassment.

Joseph and I freeze next to each other. Nerves hum in my chest as I take in the faces in front of me. Most mask the awkwardness behind a fake smile. I take a step backward and think about running away. But then the singing starts. “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Joseph and Roya. Happy birthday to you!”

Birthday? Oh, that’s right.

I can’t believe my friends threw a birthday party for us. That they remembered…when I didn’t. Sentimental warmth radiates around my heart. Still I haven’t moved, only let a smile form on my face. Joseph is better at this kind of thing. He holds up his arms, covered by his large leather jacket, and rocks his head back and forth.

“Yeah!” he says, pumping his fist in the air. “Thank you!”

The group goes wild. The party officially starts. Friends rush at us taking turns giving us hugs. First Samara, then an awkward one from George, then Trent, then Patrick, and then my arms almost wrap around Aiden but I pause. A nervous bubble rises in my throat when he looks at me.

Most of the group has swarmed into the center of the lab, which has a long buffet set up in the middle. Peacock and osprey feathers arranged in blue vases are sprinkled around the lab. Dozens of strands of Christmas lights hang vertically from floor to ceiling around the perimeter of the room. Overhead plays a song I don’t recognize but instantly love. And playing on the TV over Aiden’s main workstation is a Bruce Lee movie. The work that must have been put into this…and all before our conversation earlier. Aiden really wasn’t ignoring me. How long had he been working on this? And with everything else he has going on? This explains why his eyes are rimmed red, although still carrying their usual excitement.
God, I love this guy.
For everything he’s done and everything he’s willing to do. And because a single look from him uncages the crazy monster inside me. I love when that monster roams free, sending flurries to my stomach and tightening my chest with excitement.

“Did you do this?” I point to him.

“Well…I had help,” he says, taking my hand and spinning me around.

“Doesn’t this kind of gesture expose us before you’ve talked to Trey?” I say, looking at him sideways.

“Not really. I believe this is a party for a girl
and
a boy,” he says, with a half-smile.

I watch from the corner of my vision as Joseph chats with a white coat. Even with Aiden soaking up my attention right now I’m reluctant to take my eyes off my brother. He can’t disappear again.

“Of course, we still need to be careful until after my meeting tomorrow,” Aiden says, turning, following my line of vision. “I probably shouldn’t have kissed you in the hallway earlier. I couldn’t help myself. This is a delicate situation and I need to handle it that way. I don’t want Trey to find out from anyone else but me since I suspect he’ll have concerns.”

“It’s stupid that he’d have concerns about something that isn’t his business.”

“The Institute is his business, and we both work for it. So, Roya,” Aiden says, in a different tone, “I’ve got a question I’ve been dying to ask you.”

I pull my attention away from watching Joseph and look at him directly.

“The modifier.
You
used it,” he taunts.

The sigh is automatic. “Are you serious?”

“Well, I think you know the conversation had to come up sooner or later.” His hand reaches out for mine, but halfway to me he catches himself and drops it back to his side.

“I had no choice but to use the modifier. It was the only way to survive long enough at the Grotte. And then later it was the only way to survive long enough to get home.”

“Hmm,” Aiden says, rocking on his toes and then his heels, looking cunning.

“Dr. Livingston, gloating doesn’t suit you.”

“Whether it does or doesn’t, I’m still relishing this one. You should expect no less after you chastised me for working on the device and now...” He lets the sentence hang in the air, a mischievous grin on his face.

“So you’re saying I can’t count on you to be the bigger person in these situations?”

He huffs. “Absolutely not. Physically I’ll be the bigger person in our relationship. You’ll have to be it in all other senses of the word.”

Our relationship.
Those words wrap around my heart like vines.

“Oh, you’re going to try my patience, aren’t you?”

“Every chance I get,” he retorts.

“Well,” I say, a little defeated, “I realize now the moral issues surrounding the modifier aren’t black and white.” A triumphant smile lights up his face. “Try and contain yourself until I’m done,” I warn.

He holds up his hands like surrendering. “Continue.”

“I’m not saying that I condone the modifier entirely, but I understand certain times warrant its use. I realize now that I’d cast a hasty judgment on you and for that I apologize.”

“You continue to amaze me. If I could, I’d kiss you right now.” I hold his gaze and smile politely, like he’s just told a bad knock-knock joke. “Speaking of kissing you,” he says casually. “I’ve already set up my meeting with Trey for tomorrow. I’ll come and find you afterward and let you know how it went.”

“Are you sure you still want to do this?”

He pauses for too long. If he says no right now it will be like being shot all over again, but this time I won’t make a full recovery. “Sometimes we don’t want to do something,” he says, punctuating each word with a stroke of his hand, “but it’s the only way to get us to where we want to be. And life is too short for regrets.”

He holds out his hand. I shake it. Our last secret gesture. It fills me with desire and anticipation of what our life will look like tomorrow.

“To no regrets,” I say.

Trent throws his arm around my shoulder. “Have I told you two how incredibly talented I am?”

“It’s being published in all the Lucidite newsfeeds,” Aiden tells him.

“As. It. Should,” Trent says. “Seriously though, after only a little while working in the Strategic department, I’ve already been promoted.”

“Wow!” Aiden says. “That’s really incredible.” His eyes stay focused on me.

“How’s it working with Ren?” I ask Trent.

“About like you’d imagine. He inspires with fear, bullies us, and never offers praise. But hey, the pay is worth it,” Trent says.

“There’s not enough money in the world,” I say.

Aiden winks at me. “Good to know you can’t be bought.”

“Yeah, Roya might have integrity, but that don’t buy you a mansion in the Hollywood Hills.” Trent chuckles.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me I need to go grab something.” Aiden bows low to both of us before leaving.

“So you and Aiden, huh?” Trent says, watching him stroll away. “Or is it you and George? I’m confused.”

Blood rushes to my face. “Well…” How can one word be laced with so much guilt?

“Girl, I’m not judging. Just asking.”

“Maybe I should get rid of both of them and take you up on all your offers.”

“That’s probably a poor decision on your part. I like to flirt but if I’m honest you’re not my type.”

“I can change,” I say, a laugh in my voice. “What’s your type?”

“Shorter hair for starters.”

“Hair can be cut.”

“And I like ’em taller too.”

I snap my fingers and swing them through the air. “Oh well, I can’t do anything about that. Maybe Samara’s your match, if she chops her hair that is.”

“And switches her gender,” Trent says, poking me in the ribs with his elbow.

“What?” I gasp. “I had no idea. You’re always flirting with the ladies.”

“Yeah, well I’m thinking about coming out. Tired of living a lie,” he says, seeming distracted as he scans the room, looking for someone maybe?

“I know exactly what you mean,” I say, a new pride in my voice.

An angry growl rumbles in my stomach. “Hey, I’ll see you around, Trent. I haven’t eaten all day.”

The spread is incredible, far better than the offerings in the main hall, which is impressive. Trays of Thai, Greek, Lebanese, Persian, and Mexican food line the table. A satisfied grin spreads across my face. No meat in sight. Aiden must have known that just its presence might upset my taste buds.
God, I love that guy.

The Styrofoam plate threatens to break from the contents I’ve loaded onto it. I slip another plate underneath for reinforcement. Creamy hummus on a soft pita slice has just greeted my tongue when Joseph hoarsely whispers in my ear. “Hey, Trey wants us in his office at seven.”

I turn to look at him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” There’s a bite to the word. “He sent a message down here along with his best wishes.”

I cram an olive in my mouth and shrug, unable to hide my satisfaction. Trey’s going to put a stop to Joseph’s project. Everything is going to work out.

“Try not to look so smug, would you? It’s pissing me off.”

“You’ll be pissed off no matter what,” I say in between bites of food.

“And would you eat like a lady, Stark? You’ve got tzatziki sauce dripping down your chin.”

“I’m starving. Spent my whole day looking for you,” I say, running the napkin across my face.

“Well, you found me,” he says, storming off.

From the far corner of the room I feel George’s eyes watching me. His penetrating gaze is unmistakable. Must be part of his gift. He maneuvers around Samara and Trent, his path no doubt headed for me. Suddenly I’m not hungry at all. Actually the contents of my stomach churn with dread. I drop my plate on a table. George is six feet away when the lights dim in the lab and two cakes blazing with candles roll out on carts pushed by kitchen staff.

Unabashed glee rips through the tension that was mounting. Again the crowd serenades us with another round of “Happy Birthday” and by the time the song is over I’m in front of the first cake. It’s in the shape of a peacock. Joseph is beside me standing in front of his cake, an osprey. I chance a glance at him, but as I suspected he’s not looking at me. He’s already blowing out his candles. Leaning forward I suck in a breath and release it with my wish. Seventeen candles are extinguished immediately, their wax splattering onto the blue and green frosting. Again I steal a look at Joseph. I feel like we should say something, make a speech maybe. Thankfully, Aiden interrupts any of these plans forming in my head.