Duality: Vol 2, Euphoria (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (12 page)

She nodded.  “Yeah, I get it.”

“It’s like, my whole life, I’ve been invisible.  I’ve worked every day at not being noticed, and now all this shit is flying at me, and I’m in the center of it with you.”

“It’s my fault.”

I put my arm around her and squeezed.  “No, it’s not.  Maybe it’s your father’s fault or some company’s fault or something like that.  But we were born this way, and we can’t help it.  It’s not our fault that we do what we do.”

“You’re strong, Malcolm.  Stronger than me.  You’ve somehow come to terms with who you are.  I wish I could be more like you.”  She dropped her chin to her chest.

I used my finger under her chin to lift her face.  “No, I’m not strong.  At least not any stronger than you.  But I had a really bad experience like you did, and I decided after that happened that I just had to focus all my attention on getting away, being separate.  That’s why I’m having such a hard time convincing myself that you actually want to be with me.”

I couldn’t believe I’d just admitted that crap to her.  My face got hot with embarrassment.  Something about Rae always made me talk without thinking first.

“Do you want to talk about it?  What happened?” she asked.

“No.  Not really.”  I’d tell her if she really wanted me to.  She’d told her awful secret; it was only fair.

“Maybe someday you will,” she said, letting me off the hook.  And I wasn’t strong enough to put myself back on it and confess.  Her dimple came out with her smile.  “When we’re living in a cabin in Canada, you can tell me all your secrets.”

I grinned back.  “Or in a mud hut in New Mexico.”

“Where do you think they’re going to take us?” she asked, going serious again, picking up the pen and twirling it in her fingers.

“I have no idea.  But as long as you’re with me, I won’t care.”  I leaned in, putting my forehead against hers, whispering my innermost thoughts out loud.  “I hope I’m not a Rainbow.  I want this stuff to be real.”  My chest spasmed inside.

“You’re not a Rainbow, I promise.  I can spot them a mile away.  This is real.  It has to be.”  She was whispering too, and being this close to her, talking this intimately, made me go all warm.  My jeans started to get too tight in the crotch.

I kissed her gently on the lips.  “I want to be with you when no one else is around.”  All I could think about was seeing her skin.  Feeling it.  Lying down next to her in a bed somewhere, where no one would find us or bother us anymore.

She pushed towards me, licking my mouth with her moist tongue and kissing me back.  “Me too,” she whispered, reaching up to put her hand on my face.  Her fingers were cool.  Small.  The delicate touch of a girl, something I’d never felt before.  Not like this.

“Hey, sorry to break up the love fest, but your ride is going to be here in like five minutes and my mom wants that note,” said Jasmine.  She dropped a duffle bag on the floor.

Rae pulled away, her face going a cute pink color as she leaned back in her chair.  I stayed put, hoping I could calm myself down a little before I stood up and embarrassed myself.

“What’s that?” Rae asked, looking at the bag.

“Some clothes, make-up, and soap and stuff.  Hopefully where you’re going they’ll have those things, but just in case…”

Rae stood up and grabbed Jasmine in a big hug.  “Thank you so much, Jazzy Butts.  I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me.”

Jasmine patted her on the back.  “It’s not like you’re going forever.  I’ll see you again.  But you’re welcome.”  She looked at me over Rae’s shoulder.  “Sorry, dude.  I don’t have any guy clothes.  But Kootch is supposed to try and find you some of his stuff.”

“He doesn’t have to do that.  I’m good,” I said, finally standing.  I kept my hands in front of me to block the view of my pants.  Things hadn’t completely calmed down there yet.

Rae sat back down and quickly wrote out a note.  I only saw part of it; she was telling them she was fine and not to look for her.  Just as she was finishing, voices I didn’t recognize came from the side of the house near the garage.  They were as effective as a cold shower.  Thoughts of Rae and me together without clothes on disappeared in an instant.  I bent down to grab the duffle bag, carrying it for Rae as she and Jasmine finished their goodbyes.

“Come on.  Let’s go meet your ride,” said Jasmine, leaving us to follow her through the kitchen.

Chapter Fifteen: Rae

WE WALKED THROUGH THE HOUSE, but not to the front door like I’d been expecting.  Instead, we headed toward the interior garage door where two people were standing in the entrance.  A blonde woman and a guy with jet black longish hair wearing a hat stood waiting, staring at us with serious expressions that made me nervous.

“Change-up,” said Mr. Butts.  “Girls in the bathroom, men in the guest room around the corner.”

The woman walked over and gestured in my direction.  “Follow me.”

I looked at Malcolm, but he just shrugged.  I went with the stranger into the bathroom, more than a little worried about what was going to happen, but trusting that the Butts family was trying to help me.  The woman shut the door behind us.

“Hi, I’m Jennifer.”  She smiled as she reached up to the top of her head.  I nearly had a heart attack when she pulled her hair off.

“Oh my god … it’s a wig.”  I breathed out a sigh of relief. 
Good news - no alien invasion today.

“Yes.  It’s a wig for you, actually.  Take your clothes off.”

Time to faint again.  “What?”

“We’re doing a change-up.  You’ll be leaving here as me, I’ll be staying here as you.  This is how it works.  Hurry up while we have no one on our tail.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but I didn’t want to argue and make something bad happen.  Jennifer was quickly taking her clothes off, and in less than a minute was standing in front of me in a bra and underwear.  Hers were much prettier than mine.

“Here,” she said, handing me her blouse.

“I’m sorry … mine are dirty,” I said as she put on the t-shirt I wore to the party.

“Don’t worry about it.  I’m just going to go be seen around town and then I’ll take them off.”  She pulled on my khaki pants.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m going to be you and try and attract your parents’ attention or the police or someone who might recognize you in these clothes, so they’ll have a nice false lead to follow while you’re headed out of town.”

I put on her jeans and then stepped back into my own shoes.  “Do you know where we’re going?”

“No idea.  It’s need to know basis, and I don’t need to know.”  She took out the ponytail she’d been wearing and settled her hair into my plain style, combing her fingers through it.  It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t completely far off either.  We even had a similar shade of brown.

“Put your hair up in this,” she said, handing me her elastic.  “Then put the wig on.  I’ll help you adjust it once it’s on your head.”

I’d never worn a wig before but had always wanted to.  Somehow I’d never pictured myself wearing one to hide from my parents.

I put my hair up into a bun at the nape of my neck and then flipped the wig upside down, pulling all the hair out of the cap part of it.  Leaning over a little, I put it on my head, flicking it all back when I stood straight again.  It looked like I was wearing a Lhasa Apso puppy on my head.  “If I were hiding in a pack of dogs, I might be able to blend.  Maybe not so much as a person, though.”

“Let me help you,” said Jennifer, reaching up to move the hair around and get it to hang straight.  “There.  That’s better.  Here, put this on.”  She reached into her bag and pulled out some lipstick.  Bright red.

“I look terrible in lipstick that color.”

“No, you don’t.  Because you’re not you, you’re me, and I look fabulous in red.”  She spared me a quick smile, before going back to her bag.  “Last but not least.”  She handed me some sunglasses.

I put the lipstick and the sunglasses on, checking myself out in the mirror when I was done, posing with some pouty lip action.  “I look so Hollywood right now.”

“That’s the idea.  You are as far from teen nerd as you could possibly be.”  She took a makeup wipe out of her bag and scrubbed at her lips, removing all traces of the red that had been glaring out at the world.

“Hey, that’s not nice, calling me a nerd.”  I gave her my best scolding look.  Most of it was hidden behind the sunglasses.

She lifted an eyebrow at me.  “Exhibit one.  Here’s you.”  She gestured to herself, waiting for the image to sink in.  Then she moved to stand next to me in the mirror.  “Exhibit two.  Look at the before and after.”

It was hard to deny the huge difference.  She’d erased about ten years off her appearance, and I’d gone from wallflower to starlet.  All it took was a wig, sunglasses, and some lipstick.  I smiled, thinking about how in this disguise and Malcolm with me, I could actually go shopping in a mall and buy and wear a stylish outfit.  Yes, it was a shallow thought, but it was also a huge dream I’d had since I was a little girl.  All I’d ever wanted was the freedom to be who I really am, who I
could
be, but all I’d ever been able to do was disappear.  So now I’d be disappearing one more time, but then afterwards maybe I could be normal for the first time in my life.  When I was far, far away from here.  I hoped their plan was to bring us to another country.

Chapter Sixteen: Malcolm

“CHANGE-UP, MAN.  TAKE OFF your shirt.”  The guy in front of me started unbuttoning the black shirt he was wearing.  “My name’s Bud, by the way.”

I backed up a few paces.  “Uh … no thanks.”  I wasn’t sure what he was about to do, but whatever it was, I wasn’t interested.

He pulled the shirt down his arms, stopping just to undo the buttons at his wrists before taking it off all the way.  “We don’t have a lot of time.  Take your shirt off and put this one on.”

I was relieved to know there wasn’t going to be any attempted man-touching going on.  “You want me to take my shirt off?  And put yours on?”

He stopped in mid strip.  “Are you hard of hearing or just retarded?”

“Not cool, man.  I have no idea what the hell is going on here.”

The guy paused for a moment.  “They didn’t give you the plan?”

“No.  I wasn’t even aware there
was
a plan.”

He sighed.  “Okay, sorry for harshing on you.  You’re leaving as me.  I’m staying as you.  Jen and I will go out after you’re long gone and be seen around town so we can keep the cops thinking you’re still here.  Get it?”  He reached up and pulled the top of his head off.

“That’s a wig,” I said, a little out of breath.  Part of me actually thought he was going to remove the top of his skull and show me that he’s some kind of go-go gadget robo cop.

“Yeah, it’s a wig.  You think I’d walk around with fucked up hair like this for real?”

I laughed in relief.  “I was kind of wondering.”

The guy smiled kind of evil-like.  “Yeah, well, glad you liked it so much, because it’s yours now.”  He threw it at me.

The black tangle bounced off my chest and landed on the floor.  I made no move to pick it up.

“Take your shirt off,” he urged.  “Hurry up.  I don’t want Jen giving us shit about taking too long.”

“Who’s Jen?”

“She’s my sometime partner and all-the-time pain in my ass.  That woman you saw out there with the red lips.”

“Oh.”  I lifted up the edge of my shirt, still not excited about the idea of wearing some stranger’s clothes.  He yanked the shirt away from me before it was completely off my arm.

I took his shirt from the ground and slid my arms into it, glad to find that it was freshly laundered.  It made me feel a little guilty to know he was going to be wallowing in my stale sweat.  That shirt had been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours.

“Get the hair on.  Come on.  We gotta beat feet.”

I picked up the black mess from the floor.  “This thing is so eighties.”

“You like the ponytail?  That was my add.”  He smiled, his expression telling me he was torturing me on purpose.

“Mmmm, not so much.”  I moved the hair around a little, trying to find out where I was supposed to put my head.

“Give it to me,” he said snatching it from my hands.  He shook it out, shoved some hair first to one side and then the other, and then slapped it onto the top of my head.  “Use the mirror.  Get it straight.”

I walked over to the small armoire and used the mirror on the front of it to adjust my new hair.  “No way does this look natural,” I said, frowning at my ugly self.  “I look like a drugged-out eighties rhythm guitarist in a shitty band.”

“Here, add this to your look.”  He handed me some sunglasses and a baseball hat.

“Oh, yeah,” I said, putting them on, “this looks sooo much better.”

He stood behind me, hands on hips, his aggravation reflected in the mirror.  “Do you or do you not want to get out of here undetected with your girlfriend?”

I didn’t argue the girlfriend part.  “Yeah.  I guess.”

“No, it’s either yes or no, man.  Don’t waste our time.  Every second counts.  Every second costs money and possibly lives.  You have to know what you want and then go after it.  This ain’t high school anymore.”

He was dead serious, I could tell by the hardcore expression on his face.  Even wearing my shirt, he was intimidating as hell.

“Lives?”  Of everything he’d said, that was the part that had really stuck. 
Crazy.  No one’s risking lives, right?  Whose life would it be, anyway?  Mine?  Rae’s?

“Yeah.  Lives.  You get what we’re all about, right?”

“You’re like … commandos or something.”

“No, we’re not commandos.  We’re military contractors.  Independent security specialists.  We get paid the big bucks because we take big risks.  And right now a bunch of people are taking risks for your ass, and the least you could do is make it easier to not get someone jacked up or killed.”