Experimenting With Ed (13 page)

“Hungry?” Darwin asked, sliding the door closed and pushing a button on the keypad next to the doorframe.

“Starving for anything except protein bars,” Claire told him, her eyes on the keypad. “What’s with you guys and your electronic locks? Is there something wrong with the traditional chain and padlock?”

He gave her an are-you-crazy look. “Too easy to cut.”

“Huh.” She chewed this over for a few seconds and then shrugged. “Guess that’s true. Well, at least you know your bike’s not getting stolen,” she told Ed.

There was another keypad lock on the front door of the cabin. Darwin entered the code and then pushed the door open. Pulling off her coat, Claire followed him in with Ed close behind her.

“It’s cute!” she exclaimed, looking around the main room, which seemed to serve as both living room and kitchen. The log walls were a light gold, lit by the windows set high in the walls. An open loft stretched half the length of the cabin, with a spiral staircase curling up to it. The stone fireplace was central, squatting between two doors, one of which Claire desperately hoped was a bathroom. She’d had enough of peeing behind trees.

“Could I use your bathroom?” she asked, wanting to hug Darwin when he nodded and gestured toward the door on the right. Hanging her coat on one of the hooks by the door, she hurried into the bathroom. She swung the door closed behind her and muffled a shriek when she saw her reflection in the mirror above the sink.

The door swung open. “What’s wrong?” Ed asked, looking around the small room.

“You should’ve told me my hair was this bad!” she moaned, trying to finger-comb it away from her face but only managing to get her hand caught in the tangled mess. “Darwin must think I’m a freak.”

“That’s why you screamed?” His eyebrow chastised her. “Your hair?”

She shrugged, a little sheepish. “I didn’t really
scream
,” she told him. “It was more of…um, an exclamation of horror. Your supersonic hearing just made it sound screamier than it actual was.”

“It was a scream,” Darwin called from the other room.

Claire frowned. “Well it’s not like you’re part of the normal-hearing control group, Darwin.”

“Control group?” Darwin joined Ed in the doorway. “You a scientist?” The way he said “scientist” was in the same tone she would’ve used for “cockroach”.

“Not anymore,” she sighed. “I quit, then my boss tried to kill me and, like that wasn’t bad enough, he accused me of sabotaging his research and lighting my own apartment building on fire, so the cops are after us. So I’m not a scientist anymore. I’m more of a jobless fugitive now.”

Darwin seemed to take the whole rambling explanation in stride. “Did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Sabotage his research?”

She shook her head. “No.”

With a grunt that sounded disappointed, Darwin disappeared from the doorway.

Claire turned her head and caught another glimpse of herself in the mirror. “This is really bad.” She tugged on a handful of her hair. “Darwin, can I use a brush or comb? I don’t have head lice.”

“Yeah.” His voice floated in from the other room.

“Thanks.” She glanced at Ed. “Now that you know I’m not dying, could I…?” She made shooing motions at him.

“I could stay,” he offered, not moving, “if you need help.”

“I’m good,” she assured him. “I’m just excited about using that toilet over there that’s indoors
and
isn’t a tree.”

He backed reluctantly out of the room and she swung the door shut again. Avoiding looking in the mirror and scaring herself again, she pulled open Darwin’s freakishly neat drawers and found a brush.

“Here we go,” she muttered before attacking that beast that was sitting on her head.

Chapter Nine

“So how’d you know we were coming?” she asked Darwin through a mouthful of the best-tasting sandwich she’d ever eaten.

Before he answered, he shot Ed a glance. When she followed his gaze, Claire saw Ed give a tiny nod. “He sent me a text,” Darwin explained.

“Text?” Claire repeated. “When?”

“Yesterday.” It was Ed who answered this time. “While shopping for supplies. Bought a disposable phone, sent the text, disposed of the phone.”

“Oh.” She chewed on another bite of sandwich. It really did taste amazing. “How’d you know where he lived?”

“We all emailed our addresses to each other,” Ed told her. “Soon as we got settled. That way, Cal knew where to send our…paperwork.”

“Paperwork?”

“New IDs.”

“Ah,” Claire said.

“Plus it gives us some options when the shit hits the fan.”

Nodding glumly, she swallowed the food in her mouth. “And hit the fan it did. Sorry about that, by the way.”

He shrugged. “Not your fault.”

Although she didn’t think that was quite true, she let it pass. “How’d you know how to get here? Especially after our cross-country detour?”

Ed tapped his temple. “Built-in GPS.”

“Handy,” she said, impressed. “So what’s next?”

The men exchanged glances. “Next?” Ed asked.

“There’s a drawing of you—an eerily accurate sketch, by the way—and a picture of me on the news. We’ll be recognized if we leave the cabin and then the police will show up and throw me in jail and you back in the lab, so what’s our plan?” she asked with exaggerated patience.

“She’s not dumb,” Darwin commented, sitting back in his chair.

“Nope,” Ed agreed. “D’s heading to town to pick up a few things.”

“Things?”

“To make us less recognizable,” Ed elaborated.

Claire nodded. “Gotcha. Good idea. What about the long-term plan?”

“Long-term?”

She sighed. For two guys with computers in their brains, they weren’t too quick on the uptake sometimes. “We can’t just hide for the rest of our lives. What about a job? I have a little savings but I probably can’t access it without the cops tracking me down. Besides, I can’t let that bastard Gordon get away with this! He tried to
kill
me, for God’s sake! And he told the whole world I was in love with him!” Just the thought made her sick to her stomach.

“Hiding
is
our plan,” Ed told her after a few seconds of silence. “There’s no other plan. If they find us, they’ll bring us back.”

“Can’t you…” Claire frowned, trying to think as she spoke. “I don’t know, come out to the media or something? You can prove it—you’re so strong and they could do body scans to see all the hardware they stuck in you.”

Darwin snorted. “Sure. They’ll just let millions of dollars worth of research literally just walk away.”

“Someone’s going to want to use us,” Ed added. “If not them, then some other government branch or private group. They’ll figure if we’re not working for them, we’re working for someone else.”

With a nod, Darwin said, “Either we’re fighting for someone or we’re lab rats to stick with needles and keep in a cage. Compared to those options, hiding sounds fucking wonderful.”

Playing with the remaining crumbs on her plate, Claire frowned in thought. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into my mess, Ed,” she told him. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t drag me,” he said. “I just showed up. Remember?”

Although she smiled, it dropped away quickly. Claire knew she couldn’t just let Gordon get away with trying to kill her and faking the research. She was also sure she couldn’t depend on Ed to help her. He and Darwin had so much more to lose than she did if they were captured. She couldn’t drag them back into the open with her.

“What?” Ed asked and she jumped, glancing at him guiltily.

“What?” she echoed, trying to look guileless but knowing her poker face sucked. As Ed had told her just a couple days ago, she wasn’t cut out to be a spy.

“What’re you planning?” he elaborated.

“Nothing,” she said too quickly. Claire made a face. “Is mind reading part of your super powers?”

“No.” He sat back in his chair, his gaze locked on her. “I’m starting to know you. You’re plotting something.”

“Claire reading, then.” She smiled. “Does that mean you’re Claire-voyant?”

Darwin groaned but Ed rewarded her pun with a quick grin. “Pretty much. Yeah.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m going to go back but I’m going alone.”

“No.”

“Yes,” Claire insisted, holding up a hand when Ed’s eyes flared with temper. “What are they going to do if they catch me? Maybe the cops’ll arrest me but they can’t convict me of anything. Where’s the proof? There is none because I didn’t
do
anything.”

“I’m not worried about you getting arrested,” Ed told her, his voice tight. “
They
know we’re…together. They’ll use you as bait to get me to come back.”

“Tie me to the railroad tracks, you mean?” she teased, but his expression didn’t change. “It’s easy. Just don’t take the bait. What’re they going to do, kill me?”

“Probably.” It was Darwin who spoke. Ed was staring at her, his expression darker than she’d ever seen.

Glancing away, she tried another tactic. “I’m just going to run into the lab and grab my old laptop. With all the excitement yesterday, I’m sure no one bothered to do anything with it. I have all the original research data on it. With that, I can prove Gordon faked the results.” Claire realized her tone was bordering on pleading and cleared her throat. “This is my decision. I’m an independent adult and I don’t need your permission.”

Ed’s furious gaze didn’t waiver. “How’re you getting into the lab?”

“I’ll just go in the morning, after Nadine or Joelle arrives. The front door will be open and they usually prop the lab door open when they’re in there since it gets really warm. I’ll just wait until they go to the bathroom or something and the lab’s empty.”

He was frowning more fiercely than ever. “It won’t work. You’ll get caught.”

“Not necessarily,” she objected, a little miffed he thought she was so incompetent. “I can be sneaky.”

Ed’s eyebrow didn’t believe that for a second.

“We’ll go with you,” Darwin said, drawing both their gazes to him. “Get in, grab the laptop and get back here.”

“But what if you’re caught?” she protested. “You’ll be sent back!”

“Should be simple.” Darwin pushed to his feet. “I’ll get those supplies. You two stay here and keep your heads down.” He turned and strode to the front door.

“Darwin,” Claire called after him. “Why are you doing this? You don’t even know me.”

He gave her a surprisingly sweet grin. “Been doing construction. I’m bored out of my fucking skull. Could use a fun little B and E.”

“No breaking,” she told him. “Just entering and then exiting, so an E and E.”

“E and E, then.” With a mocking salute, he left and the door closed behind him, beeping as the lock engaged, leaving a heavy silence.

Claire couldn’t look at Ed. Her gaze hopped around the cabin until she couldn’t stand it anymore and met his eyes. His fury was hidden, his face stony, all expression locked down tightly.

She had to do something. Standing up, she reached for Ed’s plate but before she could grab it, his fingers closed around her wrist. Startled, she looked at him. He pulled her toward him, reeling her in with a steady pressure. Claire allowed herself to be drawn, caught by his hand and something in his gaze, something she didn’t want to define or even think about too much, since she had a feeling it would seriously freak her out.

Her knee bumped his thigh. Without thinking about it, she straddled his lap, sitting facing him like they were kids playing spider on a swing.

“Why won’t you let me protect you?” he asked, his voice low and gruff.

“Why won’t you let me protect
you
?” Claire countered.

Ed frowned. “Because you’re tiny.”

“And you’re in greater danger than I am.”

Bending his head, he buried his face in the side of her neck. Surprised, she raised a hand, resting it uncertainly on his hair. “Even if they wiped my memories again,” he said, the air from his words making her shiver, “I’d still remember how you smelled.”

Claire’s fingers closed convulsively on a handful of his hair. “They won’t wipe your memories,” she told him fiercely. “They’re never getting hold of you again. I don’t care if you have to hand me an Uzi and post me outside the front door.”

With a choked laugh, he kissed her neck, bringing goose bumps up on her skin. He trailed his lips across her throat as her grip on his hair softened. Burrowing her fingers through the strands, she massaged his scalp, scratching gentle lines across his head.

His lips grew more urgent and his teeth touched her skin in a light threat as he kissed his way along her jaw. Reaching her ear, Ed sucked at her earlobe and she gasped, gripping his head with both hands now.

Shifting forward, she ground against the bulge beneath his jeans and he grabbed her hips, holding her there. By the time he released her, Claire was panting, so overheated she nearly cried out in relief when he unzipped her sweatshirt.

With a final nip to her earlobe, he pulled his head away, grunting, “Up!”

After a few hazy seconds, she realized he meant her arms and she hurried to comply. As soon as she raised them, Ed dragged her shirt and sweatshirt over her head, pulling them off and tossing them aside, leaving her in just her bra.

He kissed her as he worked the back clasp free, his lips hard and his tongue demanding. Claire gave in happily, moaning as the pressure from the kiss tipped her head back. She was so enthralled, she didn’t even notice when her bra fell away. Only when the air brushed against her bare breasts did she realize she was naked from the waist up.

Dying for the pressure of Ed’s chest against hers, she pulled away from his mouth so she could work the buttons loose on his shirt. Impatiently, he pulled his shirt over his head before she could get it completely undone.

Grasping her beneath her ribs on both sides, he lifted her high enough to catch a nipple in his mouth. She cried out as he sucked, pulling almost painfully on the eager nub. Ed switched back and forth, licking and kissing both breasts, lightly biting her nipples until she was mewling with need.

When he finally lowered her back onto his lap, her hands went immediately to the button on his jeans. She frantically fumbled to unfasten his zipper but his hands covered hers, stilling them. She looked at him in confusion through a fog of lust.

“You said…” he started before dropping his eyes to the side. “You said you didn’t want this.”

Not want this? Is he crazy?
Claire stared at him. “I said what?”

“You’re too sore,” he explained. “You said it’s not worth it.”

When it finally occurred to her what the holy hell he was talking about, she almost laughed. “You mean when we were on the bike, going through those trees?”

He nodded.

Now she did laugh, although it was a slightly pained sound. “You weren’t supposed to hear that. I was just sore. I’m good now.” She twisted her hands beneath his, trying to grasp the zipper. “Very good. Very, very good.”

His eyebrow doubted that.

“Ed,” she told him, stretching up to give him a hard kiss. “If you don’t fuck me within the next five seconds, I’m not responsible for what might happen, okay?”

“Sure?” he asked, sliding his hands up her forearms.

With a rush of relief and excitement, Claire tackled his zipper again, managing to work the fastener down. “Yes. Now lift up.” He raised his hips and she yanked his jeans and boxer briefs down around his thighs, barely waiting until his ass hit the chair seat again before closing her fingers around his erection.