Cheating Time (41 page)

He chuckled, and my face burned.

Thorne gritted his teeth and held his
tongue. I suspected there were lots of things he wanted to say to
his patient, but his professionalism prevented it. Instead, he
handed me the three syringes he'd so carefully prepared.

"I want you to give him the shots," Thorne
ordered.

Shaking my head, I tried to hand them back.
Thorne offered me his own wink. "If anyone in the world deserved to
be a medical guinea pig, it would be this man."

"Doc… are you telling me she's never given a
shot before… that you're going to make a sick man her human pin
cushion?" Sean whined.

"The way I look at it, man, she's risked her
life to save you. You owe her. This is payback at its finest."
Thorne chuckled.

I wasn't on board with learning how to give
shots on actual people. Especially not Surrogates who, when
healthy, were the strongest among us. Revenge was a simple task for
them. This knowledge and Thorne's expectation made my hands shake.
When Thorne saw, he put his hand over mine and squeezed.

"Soon this will be second nature for you.
Why don't I guide you through this?"

"Please," I begged.

He smiled, and moved behind me. He took my
hand in his, guiding it toward the alcohol swabs. I ripped the
packet opened, and he pointed to where he wanted me to clean Sean's
skin. Once the alcohol had dried, Thorne tenderly guided me through
each shot, one at a time. Sean bellowed like I was eviscerating him
with each injection.

"Jesus, man! I've seen toddlers take their
shots with less crying," Thorne chastised.

"She may be an angel, but she's definitely
no angel of mercy," Sean said.

"Oh, she's an angel of mercy all right. You
wouldn't believe the pain you would have felt if I'd been the one
giving you the shots. Carles is my fiancée. I want you to stop
hitting on her. Do you understand me? She deserves a lot more
respect than that," Thorne said, and his tone was more menacing
than anything I'd ever heard from him.

I'd suspected that Thorne could be
protective of Rorie, known he'd do whatever he needed to do in
order to keep her safe. It never occurred to me that he'd do
anything like that for me. His effort was gallant and
appreciated.

Thorne chuckled. "Does Jayden know this? I
may be sick, but I heard him pledge his eternal love to her
today."

Thorne visually cringed. Determined to
protect Thorne and his feelings as much as I could after all he'd
done for me, I said, "Shut up, Sean. Thank my fiancé for saving
your life and stop being an ass. That's the least you could do for
all of us."

Mocking me, Sean took an imaginary key from
thin air, fake zipped his lips, and pretended to throw it away. At
least he'd stopped talking, giving me a chance to control the
damage he'd done.

"You need to ignore him, Thorne. He gets off
on upsetting people even if those people are the reason he's going
to live," I mumbled.

Thorne took my hand and led me back over to
the tent's linen area.

"Are you telling me St. Romaine didn't tell
you he loved you?"

I gulped. I may have to lie to a lot of
people, but Thorne and Jayden were not going to be people I lied
to. I'd tell them the truth as much as I possibly could and hope
and pray we could work through our problems like the levelheaded
adults we all were. Something told me that pledge was going to be
easier said than done.

"He did tell me he loved me," I
whispered.

Thorne's Adam's apple bobbed up and down
before he said, "Did you tell him you loved him?"

Wringing my fingers together and staring at
them, I thought about what we'd said to each other. "No. I didn't
tell him that. I-I'm not sure why. I do love him… I'm just not sure
if it's because I've been with him my entire life or if being with
him would be comfortable.

"I know we used to argue all the time. I
know I was real upset with him last night. All of it… all of this
is just too much for me right now. I'm too broken, jumbled, and
missing to be anything to anybody. We've got to get a long way past
this before I'll have an inkling as to what I'm feeling for
anyone," I admitted.

Thorne put his fingers under my chin and
forced me to look up at him. He smiled. "I like that you were
honest with me. You could have told me anything, and I would have
hung on to your every word, relishing in you and your promises. The
respect you just gave me… it means a lot," he said.

"What in the hell is going on here?"
Barone's booming voice echoed through the infirmary.

Thorne and I both snatched our gazes toward
the door of the tent, looking as guilty as children with their
hands caught in the cookie jar right before supper was served.

Holy hell! Sean'll never
be able to trick Barone. Holy hell!

Thorne took the lead, and I couldn't have
been more grateful to him.

"President Barone, is there something I can
do for you this evening?" Thorne was over and in front of Barone,
blocking Sean from his line of vision, with the speed of someone
determined to please his president.

"I'm in search of Carles. It seems I've been
here all day, and I haven't laid eyes on her once," Barone said
loudly enough to be heard all through the tent.
And anywhere near.

I dashed Thorne's way, knowing it would be
better to give myself up than for Barone to get too nosey about
what was going on behind the curtain where Sean was. On my way
past, I turned toward my wayward charge and put my fingers to my
lips, daring him to say the first word.

Based on the contempt on his face, he was
like millions of other Aspects and would love nothing more than to
slit the throat of our president.

With my most menacing face, I mouthed,
Don't you dare get up.

"President Barone, I'm right here. I went
for a run earlier with Jayden and have been here ever since with
Thorne. No need to worry about me," I said sweetly.
The way he expected me to answer.

Pretending with him was something I had
plenty of experience doing.

"Ah, my dear, there you are. I've been
worried you were avoiding me. My dear…" He eyed me with the same
worried stare Thorne had earlier. "What happened to you?"

I looked down and as quick and easy as I'd
lied earlier, I told him about the hog.

"Carles," Thorne called from behind me.

I glanced around, and he threw a clean
T-shirt toward me.

"Thanks," I murmured as I caught it.

"Go change in that exam room." Thorne
motioned toward a much smaller exam room at the back of the
tent.

Without another word between us, I hid
myself behind the room's curtain, pulled off the blood-covered
shirt, and threw on the clean one. I felt a lot better after I'd
rid myself of the most visible memories of the Outcasts and their
bigotry.

As soon as I made my way back to the
president, his face lit up. "Ah! That's better. I'm going to have
to talk to St. Romaine about having you out in these forests and in
such danger."

"It won't do any good, sir. He's always
tried to keep me in Mom's lab and out of the forest. I refused that
lot. I love being out in the woods in the middle of the wilderness
more than I love anything. He couldn't keep me out of the forest if
he wanted to." I lied so perfectly that I was sure there wasn't an
award-winning actress who could have done a better job.

"You and I'll have to come to an agreement.
I can't have my rising star putting herself in danger," the
president said like a man who always got what he wanted.
Always.

"As you can see, I'm fine. Jayden made sure
of that. After we made it back, I worked with Thorne taking care of
patients. It was a little like being back in Mom's lab. Because I
miss it and her, I like being here. Thorne's been letting me help
him. He's a very good teacher," I said, glancing over and giving
Thorne a more genuine smile than the one I gave Barone.

Barone slapped Thorne on the back. "It's
good to see the two of you getting along so well. You're going to
be a formidable team of researchers by design."

Making a rash decision and deciding I was
going to need to explain it to Thorne later, I leaned over and
kissed his cheek like we were a lot more intimate than we actually
were. When I did, his stare jerked my way. He'd been taken off
guard, and based on the shy smile he gave me, he was pleasantly
surprised.

I ignored Barone's glare toward Thorne and
instantly regretted what I'd done. The last thing in the world I
wanted was for Barone to target Thorne or Rorie. I stepped quickly
away from him.

Just as fast, Barone recovered and donned
the political mask that said to everyone near that he was calm,
cool, and collected.

"My dear, take a walk with me. I'd love
nothing more than to spend time with you and hear all about your
time away from the capital," Barone said, putting his elbow out for
me to take hold of.

I did as expected.

"Would you like me to join you?" Thorne
asked bravely.

Letting go of the president, I turned toward
Thorne and away from Barone, giving obvious and significant signals
about where his priorities lay. My eyes darted several times toward
the curtain where Sean was laid out. Thorne's nod was infinitesimal
and would have been undetectable by Barone.

I put my hand on Thorne's chest and said,
"No, thank you, Thorne. The president and I need time to catch up.
I should be back within the hour, and we can finish what we
started. I-if you don't mind, I'd like for you to check my
MicroPharm. I got tired way too soon during my earlier run. Jayden
was irritated that it took us twice as long as it should have and
mocked me and my weakness the entire time. I want to see if my
MicroPharm needs to be refilled or if the bites are still weakening
me."

Barone, a man who was used to getting his
way at all times and taking charge of every situation, answered for
Thorne. "Of course he'll check your MicroPharm, Carlie. He's at
your beck and call. Here to treat you before he treats anyone
else," Barone arrogantly assured me.

Thorne nodded in agreement and, instantly
looking concerned for me and my health, reached for my elbow,
pulling me toward him.

"I wish I'd known sooner. I'd have already
checked you out," he said with all of the concern I was sure he
really felt.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. I just want to
make sure this is the normal progression of the illness. I'll be
back within the hour, and you can do a complete assessment."

Barone intervened yet again. "Well… not a
complete one. I'm not sure she needs to be checked out from head to
toe. Just her MicroPharm," Barone said, chuckling, but his tone was
serious enough for Thorne to understand his warning.

"No, sir. I'll only be analyzing her
MicroPharm and the bites to make sure they're not infected," Thorne
said, still focusing every ounce of his attention on me and making
it hard for me to leave the safety of his side.

Barone put his elbow out again, and I
dutifully grabbed it and let him lead me from the tent. It was late
evening and the sun was just about to set in the horizon. The sky
was a stunning shade of red that had me stopping and staring.

"
Red sky at night,
sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning
,"
Barone quoted as he stared wistfully toward the skyline.

I wasn't sure where it came from, but it
certainly fit the scene before me. In response, I offered the only
red sky adage that came to mind for me, ignoring the fact that it
was about the morning and not the evening. The quote was by William
Shakespeare and came from
Venus and
Adonis
, and I'd learned it in my literature class right
before we'd left the capital.

"
Like a red morn that ever yet
betokened,

Wreck to the seaman, tempest to
the field,

Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto
the birds,

Gusts and foul flaws to
herdsmen and to herds.
"

When I remembered that the poem was from
Shakespeare's most sexually graphic writing, my face flushed, and I
prayed Barone didn't know that tidbit of information.

When he chuckled, I suspected he did and
that I'd played into his hands.

"Interesting choice of quotes, Carlie," he
mused, pulling me farther away from Thorne.
And Jayden.

As surreptitiously as possible, I gave the
forest a quick scan. I couldn't see him and secretly hoped he
couldn't see me. I didn't want him to worry about me or get himself
in trouble.