Shades of Gray - By Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge Page 0,46
consequences.”
Lester’s mouth turned down. “You don’t like this? You’d rather we split up?”
“No. Damnit, Lester, I’m not saying that.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. It was living ink in the faulty light, and Valerie resisted the urge to move it out of his eyes. He said, “Then what, luv?”
Valerie bit her lip. “I don’t want to sneak around anymore. I love you, Les. I’m not worried about Corp.”
Silence, and Valerie could feel her heart thudding. Men had told her they loved her, twice. She’d never said it back. She wasn’t the honey that had bees swarming like Angelica was, not that she begrudged Holly the attention. She appreciated it when her friend took the brunt of the catcalls and press, really. Valerie would have taken some horny drunk’s head off long since if she’d had to put up with Angelica’s popularity.
The radiator clanked on, horribly loud in the still room.
Finally, Lester slid his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “All right, then,” he said. “Tomorrow morning. We’ll go to Extrahuman Resources and disclose our relationship. They’ll probably throw us a press conference and all. We’ll be terribly, terribly popular with the vids, me being so gorgeous and you being … well, you.”
The doorbell rang, and Valerie jumped, glad for the distraction. “That’s pizza.” She grabbed Lester’s undershirt and her own panties and dressed to get the door.
“Valentine.” That was the name he’d made up for her, after their first night together. Right around Valentine’s Day. She grinned from the memory. Only Lester could be that cheesy and get away with it.
“Yes, Les?”
“I love you too.”
CHAPTER 19
ANGELICA
Blackout has shown signs of decay. I want to decommission him, but Aaron claims to have a better solution.
—From the journal of Martin Moore, entry #70
Angelica, get your mind out of the clouds!”
Holly blinked, then frowned at her console. An ambulance was blaring about five hundred meters behind her, coming up fast. Other hovers had skittered to the right, getting safely out of the way. Muttering, Holly punched in commands, and the patrol car zoomed to the right. It didn’t matter that the ambulance could have jumped the currents over them; whether in the air or on the ground, there were road rules in effect. Sirens wailing? Move to the right. Fast.
“Jehovah, girl, where’s your brain been lately?”
Holly sighed as she flipped on the autocruiser, then she spun in her seat to face Vixen. “Look,” she said, “I’m sorry …”
“Button it.” Valerie leaned forward, her dark eyes glittering with anger. “You’ve been going through the motions, and now you almost caused a collision with an emergency vehicle.”
Holly bristled. “I said I’m sorry.”
“And what happened before with Mnemonic? You forget how to turn off your power? Or maybe you like blissing out your teammates?”
“Christo, it was an accident. How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”
“I’m sorry,” Valerie said, mimicking her voice. “Sorry doesn’t cut it, Angelica. Not on Team Alpha.”
Holly bit back a scathing comment. Val was right. Damn it. She sighed, closed her eyes.
“Hols,” her partner said, softening her voice. “What’s wrong? You haven’t been yourself in … well, in weeks.”
How to tell Valerie that she’d been having trouble concentrating? No, she scolded herself, be honest with yourself at least. It’s worse than that. She’d start thinking about something, but just as it would start to take shape, her mind would slip and she’d be distracted, then she couldn’t remember what she’d been doing.
But if she said anything about it, she’d be sent to Dr. Moore for some of his unconventional therapy. And she’d be damned before she allowed that to happen. Her voice strained, she said, “It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit on toast. It’s something, or you wouldn’t be so off your game.”
“Just not sleeping well.” And that was the truth. Holly couldn’t remember when the last time was she’d woken up feeling well rested.
“Everything okay with Hal?”
Hal.
Holly rolls over, a contented smile on her lips, and looks up at Hal. “That,” she purrs, “was amazing.”
He laughs softly, the sound doing incredible things to her way down low. “You were pretty amazing yourself.”
“Mmmm.” She stretches, working on a kink in her shoulder. The man was a fabulous lover, no question, but he could be a little rough in the heat of passion. Holly didn’t mind. She loved passion. “I’d love to stay, but I have a 6:00 A.M. patrol with Vixen.”
“It couldn’t have worked tonight anyway. I’ve got an appointment with Dr. Moore in about thirty. Have to get over to