CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I STOPPED BEFORE HIM, STARING UNABASHEDLY AT HIS MUSCULAR body—his chiseled chest, broad shoulders, and strong legs.
He was devastatingly handsome—and he looked at home on my bed.
He was every bit as physically perfect as the Elite in the clouds, would blend in with their cohort beautifully. My chest tightened.
“So you really do like looking at me,” Hal teased, glancing up at me. His gaze found mine in the dark, lens-free, and he stared at my defect greedily. “It’s still mutual.”
My heart did a stupid little dance at that. I took the towel off my head and chucked it at him, my wet curls falling all around me. “Don’t be so full of yourself. Cover up.”
“Not with this,” he retorted, catching the damp towel and tossing it to the floor. “I took my wet jumpsuit off to warm up.”
“So you’re just going to sit here like that.” I gestured to all of him.
“Unless you have something that will fit me?” Hal challenged. I took in his hulking frame. He smirked. “Take it that’s a no. It’s just a body.”
“I’ve never seen a male body,” I responded without thinking.
My cheeks burned viciously at what I had just admitted.
I turned quickly to hide my embarrassment.
I hobbled to the sink, my legs protesting with every step, and downed a glass of water, then another.
I refilled the glass a third time before hobbling back toward the bed. Hal watched me the entire time.
“Never?”
I shook my head. “Only in art.”
“So do you want to talk about your findings of the male body or what drove you to execute a long-distance run you clearly aren’t in shape for? Barefoot. In a gown.”
I bit my lip, staring at the bed. My legs finally admitted defeat as they trembled under my weight.
“You can sit on your bed. I promise I won’t ravish you,” Hal drawled. “Unless you ask me to, Moonlight.” He flashed a sinful grin.
I rolled my eyes, though my core tightened at the suggestion. “I won’t,” I promised.
“Shame,” Hal tutted. I had to fight a smile that tugged at my lips.
I sat on the very edge of the bed, legs screaming, and a groan escaped me. My heart hammered helplessly at the proximity. I placed the glass of water on the floor.
“I had dinner with my birth family tonight. They are all Elite. As you can imagine, they aren’t .
. . they aren’t proud to have a Minor Defect as an offspring.
I had never even met my birth brothers.” I swallowed, staring at the ceiling.
“Collin was supposed to be there, and he couldn’t come, so I went alone, in blue. ”
Hal shifted slightly, facing me, his expression serious. “Your dinner was with your birth family?”
“Yes. I don’t know what I expected. I knew they hadn’t lived isolated lives like mine, but they are a family.
They have a life together.” My throat tightened again, and I swallowed.
“One of my brothers didn’t know I existed.
Maybe none of them did. I can’t decide what is worse, being unknown or knowing I’m utterly alone in my loneliness.
” I looked at the ceiling, eyes burning.
“I thanked a fellow Defect for bringing me water, and my birth father, he—he didn’t like that.
” I took a steadying breath. “He said the Elite petitioned to have the Defects eliminated.”
Hal didn’t respond right away, and I continued. “I asked if he would have me eliminated. He said there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for the Greater Good. I don’t know why I expected anything else, but I lost it, and I stormed out. I couldn’t breathe in the Pod. So I ran.”
I shivered. It wasn’t entirely from the cold.
I felt too bare from my confession. I pulled the covers out, working my way under them.
I felt Hal’s weight shift, moving until he sat beside me, leaning against the wall.
I allowed myself to stare at his towering form, the darkness my ally.
His jaw was set, making its hard line more pronounced.
His legs were crossed at the ankle, hands folded in his lap.
It should have been a relaxed position, but his shoulders were too stiff.
He was too still. I found myself wanting to reach out and touch him.
Hal stayed silent for several minutes, our breathing the only sounds in the dark. Finally, he broke the silence. “My parents were both Major Defects. They fell in love.” He raked a hand through his hair.
“Is it common for Majors to have offspring?” I asked.
“The Illum do not want Major Defect offspring to exist. So Majors do not speak about them,” Hal told me.
“Which was why my parents hid in the tunnels beneath the city for seven years. I had a family most don’t.
They loved each other, and they loved me with everything they had.
That Act your father talked about, it was being discussed.
Majors got scared. My dad was a brave man.
A couple of other Majors went to the surface to get information on a way out.
They were caught. The Elite Force broke in one night while we were sleeping.
They got to my mom. I was too young to fight them off. ”
My hand flew to my mouth, horror rolling through me.
“They told me if I went with them, my parents would be forgiven for their crimes, that I was the cost of their decisions.” I heard Hal take a deep breath.
“I was too young to know what to do so I went. They implanted me with a chip, gave me an identification number. I was told I was going to the Minor Academy when an Illum named Charles informed the men in white coats that two Major Defects had produced an Elite offspring.” Hal loosed a bitter laugh.
“How?”
“Beats me. The Illum didn’t like it. I wasn’t meant to exist in the first place. I definitely wasn’t meant to be Elite, but according to their chip, my genes were perfect,” Hal spat.
“Hal, I’m so—”
“Don’t be sorry for me, Moonlight. I made peace with those demons long ago.” Still, there was an edge to how he said it.
“And your parents?”
“When I could, I went back. Disobeyed my MIND.” Hal stared out the window next to the bed. Rain continued to fall, gently pattering against the glass. “The Elite Force killed them the night they took me away.”
I reached out, grabbing his thigh.
He looked down at me. “I don’t want pity. I have known love, and that is—” He paused, seemingly at war with himself. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them. I told you so you would know what the Illum and Elite are capable of. Trust what you see and not what they tell you.”
“If you’re Elite, why did they put you in blue?”
Hal let out a sigh. “We can talk about it tomorrow after you’ve slept. It’s a long story.”
We sat in silence for some time, our confessions mingling.
My blinks became longer as I wondered what exactly made a person a Major Defect.
How had two Majors made an Elite? It didn’t make sense.
If they had love hidden in their tunnels, did that make the surface the place to fear?
I had been taught to fear being cast down without really understanding it—that the worse possible fate, other than elimination, was to live outside of the Illum’s light as a Major Defect. I felt sleep tugging on my mind.
“I’m glad you were there tonight,” I murmured, eyelids closing.
The warmth of his body aligned with mine as one of his arms wound around my waist, pulling me in. Through the haze of impending sleep my stomach fluttered at the contact. I nestled back into him.
“Get some sleep, Moonlight,” Hal breathed into my ear.
I smiled into my pillow at the nickname, too tired to fight it, to hide. My breathing became deep and slow. Sleep curled up around my sore body as dreams came out to play. I heard Hal mutter through the haze, or maybe it was my dream.
“I’d do anything for love.”
There was no talk of sleeping on the floor as sleep claimed me.