Although he and his brother were strangers, they shared blood and history he didn’t have with anyone else. His family hadn’t been close—even less so than other Progg. He’d never reached out to Grav before. To his shame, he hadn’t given him any thought until he needed him.
What if his brother felt the same way? When they were children, Grav had extended a few overtures of friendship, but stopped when Rok hadn’t reciprocated.They hadn’t seen each other or spoken in more than a decade.
What if Grav wasn’t at the Gillioz anymore? The sign could have been there a long time.
“What will I do if he’s not there?” he murmured.
“He’s left two messages; if he’s moved on, he probably left another one,” Chloe spoke.
He turned his head. “I thought you were sleeping.”
“Too much to think about. If Grav has moved on, so will we. We’ll keep following until we find him.”
“You’d do that with me?”
“Yes,” she said without pause.
“Why?”
Hesitation now. “We’re…friends. You need me.” Her face expressed conflicted emotions. She probably had no idea he could see so well in the dark.
He did need her, but he yearned for more than a reluctant friendship, more than friendship period. What he desired would have been deemed an abomination on Progg-Res. No one would contemplate, let alone engage in, an interspecies relationship. To do so would turn one into a criminal and a pariah.
He did not find Chloe repugnant in the least. She aroused him. Inspired him. Thrilled him. Exoticallybeautiful, she caused his body to hum with desire. If that made him a deviant—so be it. Prohibitions did not exist in this new paradigm. He was an alien in an alien land.
He almost hoped they didn’t find Grav to ensure she stayed with him longer. He assumed she’d go her separate way after they located his brother.
“I like you,” she whispered. “I haven’t fully reconciled that. Helping you should be wrong—but it feels right.”
He reached out and touched her arm. She grabbed his hand, but instead of pushing him away, she held it. A smile trembled on her lips, and his entire being lit up with happiness.
Hope buoyed his courage enough to ask, “What happens if we find Grav tomorrow?”
“We’ll decide what to do together.”
Together. He liked that.
They fell asleep holding hands.
* * * *
Rok awakened to bright sunlight. Chloe and Kevin were gone, but he smelled coffee and heard faint singing. As he ventured out, he heard Chloe in thecloset-sized bathroom and saw Kevin sitting on the sofa.
“Good morning,” he greeted the dog.
Kevin wagged his tail.
Although aromatic, coffee tasted nasty. He avoided it for a bottle of water and parked himself at the banquette where the Springfield map was spread out. Indecipherable squiggly lines went in every direction, but Chloe had circled two areas in red.
A towel wrapped around her head, she emerged from the bath closet in fresh bike shorts and a T-shirt. A few wet tendrils escaped from the turban.
Longing and desire buzzed, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.“We’re friends,” she’d whispered last night, and they’d fallen asleep holding hands. Although he hadn’t been awake for most of it, it had been the best moment of his life.
“How did you sleep?” she asked.
Deeply, soundly, dreamlessly. “Like I’d died.”
She looked alarmed for a moment, but then she chuckled. “Oh. We say we slept dead to the world—me, too, actually.” She leaned over the table and tapped a red circle. “This is the hospital where we are.” She tapped the other circle. “This is the theater.”
