Outer Banks (14 page)

We sat in the living room together for the first time, watching some brain dead sitcom rerun. I got up during a commercial to get a snack.

As I walked behind the sofa I saw a shelf lined with photos. I recognized Emery when she was a teenager, looking way too cute with the braces. I saw a picture of a baby that could have been Em or any baby. They all looked the same to me, really.

There was a photo of Emery and her dad skiing. That looked more recent. The last was a professional portrait. It was of Emery and a man sitting on the ground. Smiles on their faces. The shiny diamond on her left hand was obviously being showcased. An engagement picture.

I continued walking to the kitchen. When I opened the refrigerator I saw the blood inside next to the beer. What a combination.

“You need anything?” I called.

“No thanks, I'm fine.”

I got a beer and some chips and went back to my spot at the other end of the sofa. There was enough room for three people to sit between us.

“So your dad mentioned you were engaged. Is that right?” I looked down at her left hand which was empty. She caught me looking.

“I traded my ring for some of that lab equipment you saw in my room at OBX. And my father shouldn't be sharing my personal information with the hired help.”

Ouch.

“Sorry,” I said with an edge. I finished my beer and went back to my room without saying good night, or good day or good whatever.

“Hired help?” I muttered to myself. “What a bitch!” That was it. I was angry at myself for ever being smitten with her. It had blinded me to the kind of person she really was.

I continued to grumble as I brushed my teeth and changed. By the time I came back out to my room I had half talked myself into leaving with my money as soon as she went to sleep. This was the last straw.

“Hired help. Who says that anymore?” I continued my rant as I gathered my things for a quick escape. “She wasn't human even
before
the Bugs came.” I wasn't going to let her just say she was sorry and then do this to me again and again. It just wasn't worth it.

I heard a light knock at my door and froze. Was it too late to pretend I was asleep? She could probably hear me muttering and see the light under the door.

Fine. She was rude. I could be rude too.

I opened the door brusquely and she jumped back in surprise.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked.

“As long as it's not personal.” I turned my back on her to continue gathering my clothes. It was only then I realized I was only wearing shorts and no shirt.

“Are you leaving?” she asked.

I shrugged again. I still wasn't sure. I might have just been throwing a fit like a girl.

“I'm sorry. I don't know why I keep saying horrible things to you. I keep having to apologize.” She held her hands out.

“You don't need to apologize. I
am
the hired help. It's
not
my business.” I calmed down and threw my clothes on the dresser. This was the truth. I wasn't acting like a professional, I was acting like a friend. And if she didn't want a friend, fine. I didn't have to be one.

I had no right to be mad at her. I should have been mad at myself for being attracted to her in the first place. It kept getting in the way.

“Dillon?” She said my name quietly, causing my heart to skip. How did she do that? “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you that way. I was rude. I know what you risked to bring me here, yet you did and now I'm being so mean to you.”

She covered her face and slid down the wall by the door.

“The answer to your question is, I don't know if I'm engaged.”

She looked up at me and I don't know what she saw. I didn't respond.

“When Trevor found me at the hospital after I'd changed,” she gestured down her body. “He acted like the same person I knew. He was always a little clinical, but we were scientists and it worked for us. But at that point, I needed someone to hold me and tell me everything was going to work out. I wanted to hear that he didn't care what I looked like, he would love me anyway. He didn't. He started talking about how we should focus on finding a reversing agent, where the best place would be to set up a lab, who to recruit for the team.

“He acted like nothing had changed and this was just another problem to solve. At first, I appreciated it. It kept me focused. But at some point I forgot to go to the clinic for food. I could feel sleep coming so I asked if he would go for me. He said something about being uncomfortable around
those people
.” She took a deep breath.

“It shouldn't have bothered me, but it did. As you are well aware, I'm not one to keep my mouth shut when something bothers me. We got into an argument. He said he didn't mean me. Eventually he went, but I was asleep before he got back.”

I knew this story was about to take a tragic turn.

“When I woke up, he had a bag waiting along with an apology. I didn't hear him because the hunger took over. I don't know what happened. After I ate and was calm again, I saw scratch marks on his face and a cut on his hand. He was terrified.

“He suggested I surrender myself. He came up with the idea of me working from inside the facility in OBX where I would be safe and have better access to volunteers while he worked on a cure from the outside with the company's resources. We were supposed to coordinate once a week.

“After a few weeks he stopped answering my calls. Then things went bad in the lab, I was in general population and I ended up writing on my walls and hating everyone.”

She shook her head.

“It wasn't his fault. I attacked him. He'd fallen in love with a different person than I am now. I'd fallen in love with the person I thought he was.” Her head tilted up slightly. “He's working on another project now. I wish him the best.”

This was crap. You don't just give up like that. If the woman I loved was infected I would take her somewhere she could be safe and protect her with my life.

“He's called me a few times since my father filled him in on our operation here. I don't know what to say to him.”

I opened my mouth to give her a few suggestions and then shut it. She wouldn't want to hear them.

She gave me a weak smile. “You're a good person, Dillon. I don't know why I keep treating you so badly. You don't deserve it. Please forgive me, and please stay. I don't know if I would be
scared
here alone, but I would be lonely if you left.”

“You should go to bed. It's almost time to sleep,” I said. I hadn't decided anything yet.

“I can't go to sleep not knowing if you'll be here when I get up.” She shook her head. “If you're angry and you leave and I don't get to fix this…”

I sighed. “I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere.”

“Do you promise?” Her black eyes were fixed on mine.

“Really? You need me to promise?”

“Yes. You said you were a man of your word. I need you to promise you won't sneak out while I'm asleep because you're mad at me.”

“Okay, I promise.” I shook my head. Smitten again. Such an idiot. I grabbed a shirt and pulled it on while I followed her downstairs.

She paused at her door before going inside. “Dillon? Would you sit with me until I fall asleep?”

“Sure.” I followed her inside and checked over her curtains while she got in bed. She was wearing shorts and a very thin T-shirt.

“If you're still here when I get up you'll get a reward,” she teased.

“I don't need a reward, Em. I'd just like you to stop trying to scare me off.”

“Okay. I'll stop trying to scare you off
and
you'll get a reward.” She took a deep breath and fidgeted with her blanket uneasily.

“Are you scared?” I asked, wondering why she would need me to stay in here with her.

“Kind of.”

I went over to the chair by her bed and sat down. She reached for my hand.

“In case you're lying, and you're not here when I get up. I just wanted to see you for as long as I—”

She was sleeping.

I brushed her hair back from her face.

“Why do you do this to me?” I asked her. I didn't know what there was between us, if anything, but I did know I wished she'd let me in.

I sighed and got up from my seat. I would be sitting there again when she woke.

“Have good dreams, Emery,” I wished her, knowing it wasn't possible for her to dream at all. I typed in the code to lock the door.

Chapter Twelve

I was sitting by her bed when she woke.

Emery blinked a few times and then smiled.

“I'm not a liar,” I said.

She took a breath and relaxed again.

“Thank you, Dillon. I'm sorry for the things I said. Really.”

“I know.”

She said nothing.

“I'm not him, Em. I'm me. I've seen the worst this brings out in people, infected or not, and believe me you're not even close to that. I can handle this.”

“I know. I think that scares me more than anything.” She frowned and then changed the subject. “So are you ready for your surprise?”

“I told you, I don't need a reward. I'm just doing my job.”

“It's not your job to put up with my bitchiness. I really want to show you this. I think it will make things better.” She put her clasped hands in front of her like she was going to beg.

I nodded and motioned toward the door. “Fine, surprise me! Do your worst.”

She clapped and led me to the living room. After digging around in the entertainment center for a few minutes she stood up with a VCR tape.

“Oh jeez!” I fretted. I hadn't seen one of those for years.

She popped it in the recorder and picked up the remote.

“Okay, so before I start this I want you to know that I've never showed this to anyone, not even Trevor. You're the first person outside of family I'm showing it to.”

“All right,” I hedged and looked at the screen.

A commercial started first. A caring mother with blonde hair was soothing her adorable blonde daughter. The little girl was pouting because she had a cold, but didn't like the taste of the medicine.

I stared at the little girl and then looked at Emery.

“That's you!” I recognized her green eyes from the photos. Even the pout was similar.

I looked back at the screen to see the mother coax the little girl to try the medicine and when she did she let out a theatrical “Yum!”

A moment later she was gone and the logo for Grapessence Cough Remedy came up across the screen.

Emery looked embarrassed. “It's even worse than I remembered.”

“You're an actress!” I teased.

“No. I'm not.” She shook her head laughing. “It was for Mitchell Pharmaceuticals, my dad wanted me to be in it. It doesn't count.”

“Play it again.”

“No!”

“Come on! It's my reward, remember?”

She sighed and ran the tape back to replay it. “Fine.”

“Hey! I think I remember this commercial.” It had been on during Saturday morning cartoons for a while.

“No one knows it's me.”

“That's really neat, Em.” I wondered why she had never shown it to the fiancé. It didn't matter. She had showed me. “Thanks for sharing that.”

“It's not something I would share with hired help. It's something I would share with a friend.” She watched my face to make sure I understood.

“Can you share it with your friend just one more time?”

She indulgently ran the tape back. “I'm hiding this afterwards.” She laughed when we were done.

“Keep it handy for the next time you're bitchy. I'm sure it will happen again at any moment.”

“Very funny,” she said with a playful glare.

I made some coffee while she went to clean up and change.

When she came out in a new T-shirt and sweatpants she sat on the sofa and tucked her feet under her.

I was surprised she wasn't going into the lab or the other white room.

“What's on?” she looked at the TV.

“I was going to watch a baseball game but we can watch something else.”

“No that's fine. I like baseball. Who's playing?” she inquired as she took the bag of blood I handed her.

“You like baseball?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Who's your favorite team?”

“It had been the Angels when I lived in California. Then I switched to the Yankees when I moved to New York. I guess I'm back to the Angels.” She shrugged.

“Hmph,” I snorted. “No loyalty there.”

“What about you?”

“Astros,” I answered, being from Houston. “Always the Astros.”

“Hmph,” she mimicked me. “No taste there.”

We settled in and it wasn't long before she shared her dislike with some of the umpire's calls. Loudly. During a commercial I went to get a beer.

“Can I ask you something, Em?”

“Sure.”

“What are you doing?”

“I'm watching a baseball game.” She pointed at the TV as I walked back into the living room.

“Yes. Maybe I should have asked why?”

“Are you sure the question isn't, ‘Why are you hanging out watching a baseball game instead of in the lab working?'” She raised her brow.

“Yes, that's the real question, but if I asked it like that I'm pretty sure you would have gotten pissed at me again.”

“It's a valid question. I guess my answer would be I'm working up to it.”

“Are you scared?” I could read it on her face.

She kept her eyes on the TV. “Terrified. Overwhelmed.”

I reached out and took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. I tried to let go, but she entwined her fingers through mine, clutching my hand against her chest.

When the game was over we watched a rerun of SNL that I had seen before but she hadn't. I enjoyed watching her laugh.

At some point she lay down on the sofa and rested her head on my leg.

“Can I ask you something?” She turned to look up at me. Her head still resting on my legs. I resisted the urge to play with her hair.

“Sure.”

“My father told me you found a queen in Ohio. You saw it. It could have killed you.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah.”

“Why didn't you ever mention it? Even when I was telling you my hard luck story you didn't say, ‘That's nothing, I was chased by a queen just last week.' Why?”

I bit my bottom lip. “I didn't want my story to make light of what happened to you. I escaped and you wouldn't have been able to escape that night. I dunno. It seemed rude to bring it up.”

“Were you scared when you saw her?”

“Yes.” Though “scared” didn't really encompass the terror accurately.

“At the hospital when I believed I was going to die I thought about how I'd never gone ice skating at Rockefeller Center at Christmas. Isn't that dumb? Of all the things to think about…”

“I think it's normal to have regrets of the things you've done or haven't done when you're facing death,” I allowed.

“Were you thinking about something you'd never got the chance to do when you saw the queen?”

“Yes.”

“What was it?” she pressed.

I sighed and told her the truth. “Meet you.”

Her mouth parted in surprise and her eyes widened.

I tried to cover for how corny that sounded. “I was already hired by your dad. I'd been briefed about you, seen your picture, told how important you were. I thought you were going to give us all a real chance, and there I was facing something bigger than any of my nightmares, and all I could think was how I'd failed you. Which is stupid since you didn't even know me yet.”

For a long moment we were locked in each other's gaze. She swallowed loudly and I realized this moment was getting more awkward, not less.

“Should we watch a movie?” I suggested.

“Sure.” She sat up.

I let her pick a movie which proved to be a bad decision. She chose a sappy romance that made her emotional and made my eyes roll.

“I'm going to bed,” she announced when it was over.

“Already? You still have about an hour.”

“Yeah. I have some calls to make first.”

“Oh, sure. Good night.”

“Thanks. You too, Dillon. I—I'm glad you were there when I woke up.” She turned and went down the hall.

“Tell your dad I said hi,” I shouted after her, guessing she was going to be calling him.

Of course, she had said she had
some
calls to make. Who else would she be calling?

None of your business,
I thought quickly.

The fiancé?

Not my concern.

She'd said she didn't know where they stood. Did she want to find out?

Let it go!

I went for a run on the treadmill to clear my head before trying to go to sleep. It didn't work.

I could only think of her blonde hair across my lap. Her hand in mine. Her smile when she woke up.

This girl was quickly becoming too important to me. I already knew I was going to be in for a world of hurt when it was time to leave.

At some point while I stared at the ceiling, looking for an answer, I must have drifted off to sleep.

I was awakened by the house alarm. The three steady beeps were alerting me of someone coming up the driveway. I pulled on a shirt and jeans and checked my gun while I cursed whoever it was.

I got to the front door just as the brown clad delivery person was reaching for the doorbell.

“Delivery for Mitchell,” he said as he held out his scanning device which I signed illegibly. It was nearly impossible to write on those damn things.

“Thank you.” I took the three boxes from him. They were stacked biggest to smallest and I was barely able to see over the top.

I carried them back to the lab and set them on the counter, noticing the smallest box had a warning that the contents needed to be refrigerated. I carried it back out to the kitchen and made space on one of the shelves. It wouldn't fit in the small refrigerator in the lab.

Now that I was awake, it wasn't going to be easy to fall asleep again.

I made some breakfast and watched some talk shows. Talk shows usually put me out like a light, but the topic this morning was being honest about your feelings. I had a lot of feelings I wasn't dealing with. They were all crammed down to the pit of my stomach.

Unfortunately, I had to push new feelings down there too. I wondered how long until I would no longer be able to eat because my stomach was at maximum capacity.

At some point I did fall asleep. I woke to the alarm on my watch. Emery would be waking in about ten minutes. I usually didn't sleep this long.

I went down the hall and pushed the keypad to unlock her door. Then I went upstairs to shower and change.

When I came back down I went to the lab to greet Emery with a “good morning” but she wasn't there. The boxes on the counter had been opened and rummaged through. The only thing left was some packing paper and those clear bags filled with air.

I went to the kitchen to start my real breakfast, deciding what I had earlier had been
pre
-breakfast.

I was finishing some sausage when Emery came out. I glanced up at her.

“Good morn—” my head spun to look at her more closely. “—ning.”

Emery was one of those naturally beautiful women. Even with the black eyes, dark veins and lackluster hair, she had something about her that made you take notice. Her body was slim, but curved in all the right places. Her legs were long and toned. All of this I had noticed in small bursts of observation so I wouldn't get caught.

This morning, however, I couldn't help but gawk. I wasn't sure if my mouth was hanging open or not. All my brainpower was being used at the moment to study Emery.

Instead of the usual shirt and sweatpants, or scrubs she wore around the lab, she was wearing jeans and a tight fitted knit top that was cut into a deep V in the front. The jeans were dark washed and from what I had learned on TV were considered “skinny” jeans. To a guy that translates into: tight in that way you love—until the moment you're trying to get them off.

Her hair was brushed straight to below her shoulder blades and she was wearing makeup for once. Not a lot, just some mascara and eyeliner. Her lips were shiny with a deep pink gloss.

I swallowed and closed my mouth which I realized was indeed open.

“Are…are you going somewhere?” I stuttered while trying to keep my eyes from wandering from her face.

She shook her head. “No.”

“Is someone coming here?”

“No. I'm not expecting anyone.”

I blinked and looked at the floor. Had she done this for
my
benefit? No. She was careful to keep this arrangement from becoming romantic. Except she had laid her head on my leg last night. Was that a signal?

With a normal girl it would have been safe to assume so. But with Emery? I'd misread her before. More like constantly. She was an enigma. A beautiful, sexy, frustrating puzzle I wasn't smart enough to solve.

“Okay. I have to say—at the risk of being called a perv—you look very, very nice.”

“Thank you,” she said with a big smile. She went to sit at the table across from me while I set my breakfast at my usual spot. She was sitting with me.

I pointed toward the refrigerator. “Can I get you something?”

“No, thank you. Not now.”

I stole glances at her while she read the paper. Every once in a while she would catch me and smile.

“You know…I don't think it's the new clothes or the other stuff,” I meant the makeup. “It's your smile that makes you so beautiful. I've never seen you smile like that.”

She smiled involuntarily in response to my compliment and turned her head away. Then she said, “Thanks.”

I finished my breakfast while thinking I'd never wanted to kiss someone so badly before. It didn't help that I had already kissed her once, and knew how wonderful it was.

She smiled again when she caught me staring.

When I put the butter in the refrigerator I saw the box I'd stored there.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. You have another package here.” I pulled it out as she got up. She was still smiling as she took the box out of my hands.

“Thanks. I can't wear this one.” She laughed. “See you later.” She carried the box down the hall. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. Her jeans were perfect.