“Do you think it was smart to turn down a security detail?” I lay across the bed in Bree’s childhood room. Her father had insisted we stay in the fortress he called home, where we could hide from police. He’d yet to fully understand that we had our own ways to stay hidden.
Bree was looking through her closet. Apparently her mother had purchased her a new wardrobe for the summer, knowing her father was expecting her to work for his company. She stepped out holding a modest navy dress that didn’t excite me at all. “Would you feel better if you had a bodyguard? I’m happy to tell Dad to send one over for you.”
“For me? No, I was thinking…” Then I understood. “You’re joking.”
She smiled. When I didn’t return the smile, she hung the garment back in the closet and crossed the room. She had refused to have a straightforward conversation with me since we’d left BioTech. Had barely looked me in the eyes.
When she wandered close enough, I reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the bed, forcing her to sit. I propped my head up on a bent elbow. “Talk to me,” I said. “You’re still mad at me.” I didn’t want to remind her why, just in case she had already forgotten some of the reasons she had to be angry.
She took in a breath. Let it out. She seemed to study my hair, the stubble on my cheeks, my chin. She avoided my eyes. I had hurt her when we were on Palmyra, and then I’d totally pissed her off inside the hotel room with the whole bath towel incident. She was scared to open up. But she needed to if I was going to be able to help her.
“I am sorry,” I said finally.
“Oh yeah?” She did look at me then. “What exactly are you sorry for?”
It was my turn to sigh heavily. “For lots of things. But mostly for making you feel you can’t trust me. You need to talk to me, Red.”
“Fine. But for the record, you suck at apologies.” She twisted her hands in her lap. When she was ready, she turned more toward me, bending her knee in front of her on the bed. “I think the clones are in that Building B that Minerva talked about.”
“You think your father is hiding them because he knows you wouldn’t approve?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I suppose anything could be going on in there, really. All the labs are heavily secured, and he definitely doesn’t want his discoveries leaked, but… something just doesn’t add up. I just… Would he really experiment on human clones?”
“What do you mean? Look at the rest of our parents. It’s not unheard of that any one of them would take the whole cloning business too far. Even Lexi’s mother has done some questionable things. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the tracker at the base of my skull.”
“True. But…” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. She started to get up, to shut me out again.
I reached out and grabbed her arm. Forced her to look at me. “I’m sorry, Red. But we’ve all had to face that our parents aren’t who we thought they were. You’re no different.”
She jerked her arm away. “Don’t you think I know that? I don’t need you telling me things I already know.”
“Why are you yelling? I’m only here to help.”
“Are you? Because it feels to me you’re on a mission to find my dad guilty of… of something.”
I couldn’t help but think, If the shoe fits. I swallowed that thought. “Can you just admit that you need me here?”
She stood. “I don’t need—”
“Stop.” I swung my feet around, rose from the bed, and stepped in front of her. Slid my hand to the back of her neck. “Just stop. Stop shutting me out.”
She tried to look away, but I held on to her neck and kept her head pointed at mine. After a couple of blinks, she focused on me. “What do you want from me?” she asked, exasperated.
I let her go and sat on the edge of the bed again. “Can we just call a truce and admit that there’s something fishy going on at your father’s labs and that you and I should work together to figure it out?”
“Fine. Of course.” She jutted out a hip and crossed her arms.
“Can we also admit that there’s something going on between us?”
She narrowed her gaze. “I know no such thing.” There wasn’t an insecure bone in her body. I had rejected her on the island, and now she would work hard to make sure I knew that she didn’t give a rat’s ass that I had.
I let a grin lift my face as I came up with a brilliant plan. “How about we make a game of this?” She liked games. We’d played lots of relationship games last year. Before things took a more serious turn.
“A game? Out of which part? You want to make a game out of searching for some lost cloned kids? Or, dear Jonas, do you want to make a game out of proving I didn’t murder Vance? Winner doesn’t go to jail for life or get sentenced to death by lethal injection.”
“Okay, maybe ‘game’ wasn’t the right word. Why don’t we do some pretending?”
“Pretending,” she deadpanned.
“Yes. We’re in this together. We have work to do. How about you and I pretend that we’re a couple? Have a little fun, for old times’ sake.”
By the terrified look in her eyes, I realized that this was the most brilliant plan I’d ever devised.
“Why would we do that?” She uncrossed her arms and let them fall to her sides.
“Because you’re completely stressed out. I can sense the tension in your head without even reading your mind. It’s radiating off of you.”
“And what makes you think pretending to be a couple will help?”
“Come here,” I told her.
She hesitated. But then she took a step forward so she was right in front of me. I hooked my fingers through the belt loops of her jeans, urging her even closer. “We’ll show your father a united front, which we are. I’m here to stay until you’re cleared of the investigation. And until we figure out what happened to the kidnapped clones from Palmyra.”
The slight quirk of Bree’s eyebrow told me she was at least considering the proposition.
“We also tell your father that you and I are a package deal. You and I both know that we’re in danger. We can better protect each other when we stay close. I hate to think what would happen if you hadn’t gotten inside my room when that rogue clone nearly choked me to death last night.” I touched my neck, remembering. “That was a strong little bastard.”
She nodded at that.
“Raven and Kyle had to return to Kentucky,” I continued. “And I don’t like how vulnerable we are now that Lexi and Jack are headed to Palmyra.”
She still looked unconvinced.
“Look, I’m not trying to pressure you into any kind of relationship you don’t want with me…”
Her eyes narrowed into a look I couldn’t quite interpret.
“… But I don’t want to lose you as a friend. And since you left Palmyra, you’ve shut me out. You’ve been quiet, which is unlike you.”
“So, this pretending… What does it entail?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me in a much more Bree-like playfulness, and I couldn’t stop from returning her grin.
“Come here, and I’ll show you.”
I held out a hand. When she slid her fingers into mine, I gave her a yank, and quick as a flash, I had her on her back against the soft mattress. I knelt over her, pinning her arms to her sides with my knees. I raised my fingers for only an instant before I tickled her sides.
She squirmed and yelled and laughed. “Jonas, stop! Don’t tickle me!” She laughed harder than I’d heard her laugh in months. “Okay, okay,” she breathed. “I give. I’ll be your pretend girlfriend.”
I released her and lay beside her. It was good to see her smile again. I hated that I had been to blame for that distant look in her eye. Somehow I’d make it up to her. I knew one thing for sure, I didn’t want to lose Bree. Even if we weren’t right for each other as a couple.
She rolled toward me. “Since we’re pretending we’re a couple, how about I take you on a pretend date?”
“What do you have in mind?”
She only grinned in answer.