Beyond These Walls (10 page)

Glancing down at my attire, I shrugged. This would have to do. I turned to Ivan, who was still recovering from my revelation about Mikey’s ‘kidnapping’. In a sick kind of way, it was funny to watch Ivan’s face go from stark, to disbelief, and finally, total and complete rage. It reminded me of the old days. Days when Quinn and I would pull some stupid prank and Ivan would be there with bail money.

“You didn’t leave me much of a choice,” I said after a particularly nasty bit of swearing. “You have to stop treating me like a kid. I’m not a child.” Damn, next I’d be stomping my foot and throwing a full-on tantrum. I took a deep breath. “Listen, Ivan. I’m sorry. It was a stupid idea.” And it was. And a part of me felt bad too…

“So Jake’s going to smuggle you through the wall, huh?” Ivan said, offering an olive branch. My stomach settled a little bit. Without Nobody Ivan was the only other mutant on the planet who loved me. Well, besides Mikey, but he loved everybody so he really didn’t count.

“Yeah.” I paused, staring into Ivan’s grey eyes and taking his borrowed hands in mine. They fit, but barely. His rented skin suit sagged at the fingertips, reminding me of Quinn’s David West skin suit. “I’m sorry, Ivan.” I swallowed. “For whatever happens.”

In my heart of hearts, I knew that when this was over Ivan would be burying his son. If only I’d known how true that was things might’ve ended differently.

******

“If this is your idea of slutty I fear your version of frigid.” Jake raised a fuzzy blond eyebrow and winked. We stood on the mutant side of the wall waiting in line to cross over. The line wasn’t long since it was three in the morning and only three guards protected the gate. Better odds for us if something went wrong. I fingered the forged DNA chip Jake had handed me a few moments earlier and hoped like hell that nothing went wrong.

Jake’s eyes raked over me again, shaking his big, dumb, blond head. “The skullcap’s gotta go. Makes you look like a boy.” He tugged the cap from my head, and my hair tumbled around my face. I brushed it away and glared at him. Yeah, like he was the freaking height of fashion in his black jeans, black shirt, and black jacket. The only accent to his wardrobe was a silver nine-millimeter. What could I say? The guy had taste in guns.

“Better,” he whispered, leaning close enough I could smell his scent. Irish Spring and muscle bound jerk. Not a bad combination. I closed the distance between us, my chin tilting upward, channeling my inner slut. He bent closer, his lips inches from mine. “You’ll do, Shirley.”

“What did you call me!” I shoved away from his intoxicating scent, stepping back to put plenty of distance between us. After all, I didn’t want to kill him before he located Nobody for me.

“What’s wrong with you.” He glanced around, confusion and passion in his narrowing blue eyes. “It was a joke. With all those curls, you look like that child actress. You know the one. Sang that animal cracker song.”

“Don’t ever call me that again!” I ground out the words through clenched teeth. For the first time in three fucking years I’d felt something sexual, and the idiot ruins it with a quip. Son-of-a-bitch.

The mutant in front of us passed through the gate, and the guard waved us forward. Tucking my hands across my chest I listed all the reasons why men suck. The top two had something to do with their ability to speak and their inability to know when to shut the fuck up.

Jake looked down at me and stepped toward the guard while mumbling about my bunched panties. Like he’d ever find out what condition my panties were in.

The guard asked for our identification and DNA scans. Jake smiled and handed him twin leather clad IDs. They looked official enough, and for a moment, I wondered just who the hell Jake McClain really was.

The guard barely glanced at either passport, but a trickle of sweat slid down my back. If we couldn’t get pass the gate Nobody would die, if he wasn’t a corpse already. The thought curdled my blood. He couldn’t be dead. I wouldn’t let him.

“Miss.” The guard waved his hand in front of my face. “Your arm please.” He pointed to the DNA scanner. I swallowed and shoved my arm toward him.

Bleep.

The guard’s eyes flew to my face. But before he reached for his sidearm Jake slammed his fist into the guard’s nose, sending blood and mucus flying.

“Run.” Jake shoved me from the ensuing chaos. I didn’t need to be asked twice as gunshots and shouts exploded around us. As fast as my mutated feet would carry me, I ran through the gate and into the human world. A siren screamed from behind me, but still I ran. I ran until my legs gave out, followed by my lungs, and eventually my will to live. Sucking in gasps of breath, I ducked into an alleyway a few blocks from Quinn’s loft, and puked.

Bracing my body against the brick wall I contemplated my next move. If I went to Quinn’s and Nobody wasn’t there, could I convince Quinn to take me to him? Worse, what if Nobody was there, and he was no longer himself? I needed McClain, whether I wanted him was another story. Damn, damn, damn. I slapped the edge of my fists against the brick bruising the skin underneath.

“Missed me that much, huh, sugar?” Jake stood at the entrance of the alley, his black jacket gleaming in the streetlight. He looked good enough not to punch.

“Nope.” I straightened from the brick and grinned at him. “I broke a nail. Nothing pisses me off more.”

“Yeah, nail care is very important.” He reached for my hand examining my fingertips. I waited for some smart-assed comment but he said nothing. My eyes met his, and for a few seconds the screams of sirens and the horror of what might lay ahead faded, leaving just us. A man and a woman. Two mutants alone in a human world.

“Indeara, I—”

I threw my body against his cutting off whatever stupid thing he was about to say to ruin the moment. My lips raked over his, hot and urgent, crushing my thoughts and fears underneath the warmth and wonderful feel of his skin.

Jake responded to my assault by lifting me up and pressing my back against the brick, all without breaking contact. His tongue plundered mine, stroking and sucking, until a moan ripped low and deep from my throat. His kiss was familiar somehow, as if I’d been waiting for all my life for just such an intimate embrace.

Rough hands caressed the sensitive skin of my stomach, lifting the fabric of my tank top inch by tortuous inch. I wanted to feel his hands on my breasts, feel his thumbs against my nipples, tempting me to lose my carefully maintained control.

“Jesus.” Jake pushed himself away and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced at me, took a step closer, and then seemed to remember himself, and took a few steps back. “We can’t do this. Not here.”

I rubbed my swollen lips. Thankfully, the darkness covered my blush of embarrassment. I’d practically jumped him, and for the life of me, I didn’t understand why. I mean, sure, he was great looking in that rugged gunslinger way. But I’d never been one to fall for a pretty mutant face.

No man, other than Quinn, had revved my engine quite as Jake had. And I was pretty damn sure I didn’t like Jake as a person. So why the intense desire to see him naked and on all fours? Was Nobody right? Did I just need to get laid?

Oh God. Nobody. In my temporary insanity, I’d forgotten about the horrors being inflicted on my best friend.

“…a motel a block up…,” Jake was saying.

“Dream on.” I straightened from the wall, glad my legs had stopped quivering, and pushed past Jake. “I brought you to find Nobody, not to slobber all over me. Now do your job.” I admit I’d been the one to make the first move, but if I admitted that to Jake, I’d soon find myself naked on a motel room bed. And from the look of our current surroundings it probably wasn’t a Hyatt. More like Motel-No-Tell where you paid by the hour and risked an STD infection.

Before I reached the street Jake grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. I struggled in his steel like grip. “Part of my job is to keep you safe,” he said, his jaw clenched tight. “So if we’re going to find your friend, alive, you’re going to do what I say.”

The fight suddenly left me. Oh God, I couldn’t lose Nobody. He was all I had left. I stopped struggling and nodded. “Tell me what to do.”

He nodded and released me, his fingers brushing my cheek. It was comforting and sensual. Best not to think about it. “It’s best if we split up. You go to Quinn’s, keep him occupied while I do some reconnaissance. Maybe find your friend.”

Keep Quinn occupied? How the hell was I supposed to do that? Should we exchange recipes? Discuss the state of Mutant politics? Or maybe dissect where it all had gone wrong for Brad and Jen?

I closed my eyes. Whatever it took I would do it.

“Hey, don’t look so sad.” Jake lifted my chin with his finger. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, or your friend.”

I wanted to trust him, but I’d been burned by half-assed promises before, especially promises spoken in the heat of the moment. Words like I love you and forever meant little when said by a man with an erection and a gun.

Chapter 20

I knocked on Quinn’s door, ran a finger across my lips, and sent a silent prayer to my mutant maker:
Please let Nobody be all right
. The hallway of the building was quiet, almost too quiet. It gave me the creeps, but then again, I was used to the friendly sounds of sirens, drunken mutant arguments, and the buzz of bloodsucking Fey wings outside my apartment.

The door opened and in the harsh light of the hallway Quinn Daniels stood wearing David West’s skin like a suit. Even in West’s skin he stole my breath. My gut level reaction to him frightened me. Even after all he’d done, my traitorous body longed to feel his skin against mine.

That proved it. I really, really needed to get laid.

Quinn’s grey eyes flashed with passion, rage, or fear. I wasn’t sure which. Not that any emotion he had mattered. “What are you doing here?” His eyes scanned the hallway as he ushered me inside. Clinically he ran his hands along my body searching for weapons. I allowed his groping and for a second I might’ve even enjoyed it. It had been too long since I’d felt his strong tapered fingers caress my flesh.

All too soon, it was over, and I was down one M1911 and two twin dive knives. Not to worry, I thought smugly. I had a gun in my bra, and I damn well knew how to use it.

“Not that I’m not glad to see you, but I’m only going to ask one more time, why are you here?” Quinn shoved me, and I landed on his leather couch. Hovering over me like a mutant angel he smiled his most charming smile. “Did you change your mind about us?”

Not fucking likely, I thought.

He was saying “…being here, in this world, it’s like nothing you could imagine. Think of it. Freedom. No struggle to survive…”

Blah, blah, blah.

I quickly tuned out and repeated ‘
keep him busy, and don’t beat the snot out of his arrogant ass’
in my head like a mantra. Not yet at least. I licked my lips, swallowing my anger. “Nobody’s missing,” I said when I couldn’t take another second of his rationalizations. My eyes watched his stolen face for any small sign of guilt at my announcement. Not a flicker crossed it. He was good. I’d give him that.

“Guess that’s somebody’s problem.” He laughed at his own joke, and I tried a hundred times harder not to kick his face in. When he sobered he paced around the couch and headed into his kitchen. “Sorry. I know how much he means to you,” he said. Nobody had meant a lot to Quinn not too long ago too. I wondered if he remembered that or even cared?

When Quinn disappeared behind the kitchen door, I did a cursory search of his loft. No sign of 7 foot cyclops, but there was a picture of David West and a cute, almost familiar looking, blonde woman. Was it taken before Quinn had stole his skin, or later? Was it Quinn’s grin behind David West’s lips, the very same lips planted on the blonde woman’s cheek?

From the kitchen, the tinkle of bottles caught my attention, as did the spicy scent of lime and vodka. A minute later, Quinn returned with two glasses filled with ice and booze. He handed me one of the glasses.

For a half-a-second I worried about poison. Not a bad way to rid himself of a mutant ex-girlfriend who’d tried to kill him once already. Naw, it wasn’t Quinn’s style. He was more of the shoot’em and leave’em kind of monster. Taking the drink from his hand, I swallowed it in one gulp, enjoying the burn of alcohol and lime as it slid down my throat. I set the glass on the chrome coffee table in front of me, sans coaster. “Did you kidnap him?”

“No, but I’m not surprised somebody did.” The corner of David West’s face lifted in a totally Quinn-like move. “Nobody knows too much. He’s dangerous to the HOA. Dangerous to Resden and our way of life. Not to mention, your precious Resistance.”

Before his betrayal Quinn had shared my rebel dreams. Late at night, we’d lie in bed and talk about a life beyond the wall. A life freed by the Resistance. Stories of heroism, and bravery, of leaders and rebels willing to die for the cause flickered through our minds. Stories whispered to two desperate teens by a dying man. My father. Whatever the future held, I still believed in those stories, in Calvin. I wondered if Quinn did.

“But I didn’t snatch Nobody.” Quinn shook his head and finished off his own drink. “If I were you,” he paused searching my face, “I’d seek my enemies much closer to home.”

“How cryptic.”

“Okay,” he grinned, “I’ll spell it out for you.”

“Please do,” I ground out, “I never was any good at subtlety.”

Quinn laughed, and lifted one of my unbound curls, wrapping it around his finger. Every cell in my mutated body said to pull away, but I stupidly refused to listen. “What do you know about your new friend, Jake McClain?” he asked, settling on the couch next to me.

“Enough.” I straightened to glare into Quinn’s grey eyes. “Like the fact he’s never shot me three times and left me for dead.”

“Fair enough.” His head tilted, much like an inquisitive puppy in search of a milkbone. In this case, however, I feared the bone Quinn was after wouldn’t be easy to swallow. “And while we’re on the subject, left for dead is a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”