13. Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
Layla
“ Y ou need to eat.”
I blink up at Jensen, wondering how in the world we ended up in each other’s lives again. It feels impossible, and yet here we are, and for just a moment, I’m transported back to that Texas library where we met, sitting across from him in casual conversation while wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Only the fantasy kiss of way back when has transformed into a flashback of my fleeting glimpse of him gloriously naked.
He arches a brow at me, the twinkle in his eyes indicating my expression reveals far more than I wish, and I delicately clear my throat. “I see stress doesn’t affect your appetite,” I comment, noting his second large stack of sandwiches. “And I assume the orange juice has to do with the chronic vitamin C deficiency the documents reference in a multitude of ways?”
He finishes off half the glass. “Yes. I can attest to the fact that GTECHs have a chronic vitamin C deficiency and a rapid metabolism that requires fuel. Lots of it, and often. If ICE users were the same, you’d have eaten that sandwich.”
“So, you’re stronger and faster than a human. And you can travel in the wind?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“What else?”
“If you’re asking if I have an extra special skill, as a few of the GTECHs like Julian do, no. I do not. Not yet, at least. It seems as if we’re still evolving, whatever the hell that means. Even the healing process has changed.”
“I saw that in the file. You heal quickly, but over time it comes with an illness.”
“Yes. Brutal hours of healing. And, as for what else is changing, believe it or not, Julian wasn’t always a crazy fuck as he is now. It happened after he developed the ability to communicate with wolves.”
“He changed? As in, his personality?”
“After that, he became a crazy fuck, but his twin brother, Caleb, is the leader of the Renegades, and he’s as honorable as they get.”
“Can he talk to the wolves, too?”
“No. And he’s terrified of the day he might somehow become like his brother.”
My brow furrows. “It’s as if something in his chemistry changed. I’ve read as much in the data on the transitions you’ve gone through as GTECHs, and it’s what we don’t know that’s scary. And yet, Julian still chose to peddle ICE, which has just as many unknowns. Our world is in trouble, and I’m not sure we can stop whatever is coming.”
“Julian doesn’t want to stop it. That’s the problem. We have half our population of GTECHs trying to rule the world as the entitled species, the ruling class.”
“Power and money are always the roots of destruction,” I conclude. “The wind thing is really interesting, though. I really don’t understand how it’s possible. It defies all scientific logic. Where does your body go?”
“It’s almost like we’re in another dimension, though that has no science behind it at all. It happens so fast that it might simply be too fast for the human eye to observe.”
“How far can you travel?”
“My limit is five hundred miles without a break. Then I have to stop and start again. We’re not all the same.”
“How do you tell it where you want to go?”
“It’s like flying a plane with your mind, is the only way I can describe it.”
“So, you just think it and it happens?”
“It’s more of a command.”
“You command the wind ?” My tone is incredulous.
“Yes, but no one can do it the way Creed does. Creed, who you have not met, has a special bond with the wind, the same way Julian does with wolves.”
“How did you figure out you can travel with the wind if you have to command it to actually use it?”
“Creed. He has a special way with the wind. It talks to him, and, well, you can guess where that went.”
I blink several times, trying to process this. “Do you know how crazy this sounds?”
“Rubber-room crazy. Yes. I know.” He inhales and lets air trickle from his lips. “About our date—”
My hands fly up. “I told you—”
“I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I do. I’d been hacking illegally. I was cocky enough to think I could hack the government and get away with it. And I did, but they tracked me down. I was given an option. Prison, or enlist and my grandmother would be cared for. It was all rapid fire, and I wasn’t given time to consider my options.”
“Oh. I see. You—”
“Broke the law. I was desperate to care for my grandmother. And far from mature enough to understand that desperate is a bad place to operate from. I was looking forward to our date. I even wanted to ask them to give me that one night, but that wasn’t going to be an option. And then later, when I thought I’d come see you, I didn’t know how to tell you I was breaking the law; therefore, I was basically on military arrest.”
“But you are now?”
“It seems more important that you know that I didn’t dismiss you or forget you than it does hiding what I can’t change. It happened. It’s who I was then. It’s not who I am now.”
I consider him a long moment, and my heart squeezes over the way he cared for his grandmother and the way he’s described wanting to stay to see me again. “I think it is, but Jensen, I think that’s a good thing.”
“I’m not sure what that means, Layla.”
“You’re here, fourteen years later, risking your life for your country, just like you risked everything for your grandmother. I know you could have gotten out if you’d wanted to, but you stayed, and you’re here now fighting to save me and the world. That makes you a good man, Jensen. And I’m honestly lucky to have the chance to fight by your side, in my own way.”
Abruptly, the door to the apartment opens, and my heart lurches.
Jensen tenses and holds up a hand. “Stay where you are,” he orders softly, already on his feet and facing the door in confrontation of the two soldiers dressed in desert fatigues who’ve just entered the quarters.
“What do you want?” he demands, his shoulders tense, squared for battle, while I’m on my feet just as ready, expecting the worst.
And that’s what I get. “We’re to escort the woman to the lab,” one of them states.
“All right,” Jensen agrees calmly, his gaze unwaveringly locked on the other man. “We’ll go to the lab.”
“Not you,” the other soldier corrects and jerks his head to me. “Just you.”
My heart explodes in my chest. Without Jensen, I’ll face Tad on my own, and that man terrifies me.
“Where she goes, I go,” Jensen declares. “That’s non-negotiable.”
Both soldiers move in unison, their hands settling on their weapons in their hip holsters. “We have orders,” one of them states. “She comes alone.”
The idea that Jensen ends up bloody again, and maybe dead this time, is too much for me to handle. “I’ll go,” I state, and when Jensen’s gaze jerks to mine, I add, “I’ll be fine. I really do need a lab to do my work.”
“Forget it,” he states. He’s hardheaded, I’m learning quickly.
I round the table and step to his side, glancing up at him. “I have to do this. I’ll be okay.”
The two soldiers raise their weapons and point them at Jensen, while one of them states, “She’ll be okay, but you might not be.”
“I’m going,” I say softly, and take a step forward.
Jensen captures my arm, and I rotate to face him, my palms landing on his chest, his own heart thundering beneath my touch. “I will be okay,” I vow. “I need you to be, too. Then you can take me on that date you still owe me.”
His eyes soften, a mix of anger and fear, but there is tenderness in the depths of his stare, meant for me and me alone. “I would like that very much.”
The idea that I may never see him again is too much. I can’t take it, and I dare to push to my toes and kiss him. He cups my head, his mouth slanting over mine, a deep lick of his tongue before he whispers, “Don’t cross Tad or Julian.”
“Let’s go!” One of the soldiers commands.
Jensen’s hands fall away from me, the warmth of his touch transforming into a chill I feel inside and out. I back away from him, from the torment in his eyes that must mimic what is in mine as well, and I rotate and allow the guards to guide me out of the room and into the hallway.