He appreciated his handiwork with a wicked grin. His pretty little prize would never be able to control him.
“Not a chance. Clean yourself up. The last thing we need is someone noticing you covered in my blood, not that I dislike the idea.” He moved to the exit, already setting his skin to molt off to allow his cells to rebuild it.
“Where are you going? You can’t leave me in here!” she yelled, banging at the stall door.
“I’m going to fucking finish packing. There’s a group of people closing in on my ship. It’s time we leave.” He turned to leave, inhaling a breath, already sending out a dozen orders to his android crew. “Oh, and Janet.” Zeph stopped and looked back at her. “Next time I tell you to leave me alone during an episode, do it. Consider this your punishment. The next time, I really will fuck you.”
16
The Elyrian landscape zipped past in a blur of dust and sand. Lily sat beside Janet in the back of the hovercraft--gazing out of the shielded window with her mouth parted--her breaths short and excited. Zeph was in the front with Mr. Heartface, navigating a world she’d never expected to see.
She twirled the damp tendrils of her hair and tried to stay mad at Zeph, but her attention kept getting stolen by the world in front of her. A synthesized musical beat played on the radio that seemed to emphasize the vast cityscape outside.
She clutched Lily’s small hand as the hovercraft left a deserted city sector, moved between an endless row of skyscrapers that disappeared into the clouds above, and entered another. Her neck strained as she looked up, trying to see the tops of the buildings when she caught the sight of neon-green eyes watching her in the glass reflection of the vehicle’s window.
“I can’t even enjoy the view without you ruining it.” Janet stuck out her tongue.
Zeph snorted. “Don’t you mean I’m elevating it? I have it on record that most people find me wildly attractive.”
“Wildly annoying more like,” she muttered, choosing to ignore his reflection. The bright glow of his gaze remained within it, watching her, and no matter how hard she worked to avoid them, she couldn’t help but be affected by them.You won’t always win.She was still furious about being trapped in the shower stall. He’d left her there for nearly an hour before an android came to set her free.
“What’s that say?” Lily piped up, pointing outward.
A giant sign flashed brilliant colors across a chrome and glass building, switching between greens, reds, and yellows. The more she studied it, the more hues appeared with advertisements blasting in the air around it showing off numerous people swaying and moving about.
“Paradise begins here, Mistress Lily,” Mr. Heartface announced.
“What’s paradise?” Lily asked.
Janet twisted to keep watching the giant hologram people as they sped past. “A perfect place.” When she turned back, she met Zeph’s eyes again in the glass. “Like home.”
He cocked his brow, and she went back to looking out at the landscape. It was safer to do so. She wiped her palms over her pants.
There hadn’t been a time where she’d been any less in control than now, sitting in a vehicle, billions of miles away from everything she knew, with a dangerous Cyborg who wanted to use her. She stopped herself from looking back at him again; part of her worried it was becoming an addiction.
Is he still looking at me?
She pressed her legs together and focused on the view, squeezing Lily’s hand.
Zeph had barely spoken to her since they left his ship, and she kept remembering the blood that had been seeping from him just hours before, right after he’d let her communicate with her family.Da looked so haunted. Rylie so terrified.Even though they worried, the stress of the last week had miraculously lifted when she’d heard their voices, and there had been a lightness she hadn’t felt in weeks. Everything had been so heavy, so messed up, since the Cyborg showed up in her life.
He’d been a constant fixture in her thoughts: the twinkle in his eyes, the mischievous lift of his lips, the tousled hair that always made him look like he’d just had rough, crazy, chaotic sex. Obviously not with her, which made her stupidly jealous for no reason at all.
Janet tried to hide her response to him, tried to hate him for his impulsiveness, but the hate never stuck.When he smiles, I want to smile.She sank back into her seat with a sigh.
Lily wiggled her hand out from hers, and she let it go. Janet missed the connection with her sister immediately and stuffed her hand under her leg to relieve the sensation of loss.
She’s taking everything so well.Her sister’s childlike innocence made her envious, and she’d be damned if she let her baby sister see this whole situation as anything but a grand adventure.
The hovercraft slowed down in front of a marble building with huge, towering windows that were tinted with privacy screens. Glittering black statues of men and women lined the corners, each cast in a spotlight of bright white light.
Zeph landed the craft and turned around. “Stay here. I’m going to check us in.” His gaze hardened between her and Lily. “Do not try and leave the vehicle or attempt to start it while I’m gone. I’ll be controlling it from afar, and Janet,” he faced her, “I’ll know if you do.”
“What do you think I’ll do? Try and escape?” she grouched, annoyed.Now that he mentioned it…“Even I know how futile that would be.”
“Never hurts to verbally remind your captive.”
“Seriously?”
