Sean didn’t really argue that. Metahumans had a faster metabolism than everyone else, a byproduct of their powers. It took a lot of energy and a lot of food to keep them functioning. The MDF subsidized their food costs, which washelpful.
“I’ll eatathome.”
“Can pick something up or makeforyou.”
“I’m not allowed to drive, that doesn’t mean I can’t cook,” Seanretorted.
Alexei ignored him, humming along to the current song. Sean had forgotten how stubborn he could be. Alexei hadn’t left him alone at the beginning of their mission while in London for reasons Sean figured out later concerned Kyle and Jamie. It seemed he was repeating that method here, only for differentreasons.
His comms going off with an incoming call jerked Sean out of his internal musings. He looked down at his left arm, seeing the newly implanted bioware flash his mother’s name through hisunmarkedskin.
“Shit,” Sean muttered before answering, rubbing carefully at his eyes. “Hi, Mom. I’m working late on a project and can’t talk forverylong.”
“Here I thought I’d have to leave another message,” Dr. Naomi Delaney said, sounding a littleirritated.
Sean didn’t know if that was because he’d picked up the call or if she was at the tail end of her twelve-hour shift as a trauma surgeon at New Seattle General. He’d grown up with both his parents working long hours, but his mother always seemed to be the busiest ofthetwo.
He ignored the questioning look Alexei shot him and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. “Haven’t gotten to the one youleftme.”
“Your brothers are taking a two-week break before they head to Europe for the last leg of their tour. They’ll be in town for your father’s birthday next week. Will you be joining us for his birthday dinnerforonce?”
Sean pinched the bridge of his nose, resisting the urge to swear. One of the notifications on his tablet was probably about his father’s birthday. Greg Delaney, a United States District Court judge, was turning fifty-nine this year, and Sean had missed his father’s last four birthdays duetowork.
“I may be traveling for business, but we’ll see,” Sean hedged. “I’ll letyouknow.”
His mother sighed in exasperation. “Typical.”
“You know how my job as a bank auditor is. Ican’tjust—”
“I’ve heard it all before, Sean,” she cut in. “Frankly, that excuse got old years ago. I need to go. One of my nurses is callingforme.”
His mother cut the line, the comms clicking off in his ear. Sean angrily chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few seconds, trying to ignore the twinge of guilt that always accompanied any conversation with his family. Lying to them had become habit years ago; that didn’t mean it was easy. Sean had pretended to drop out of college to shore up his background. His well-educated parents hadn’t much cared for that lie and his brothers hadn’t reacted any better when he lefttheband.
It was safe to say Sean’s relationship with his family was a mess, one that wouldn’t be fixedanytimesoon.
“Bank auditor?” Alexei asked a minute or solater.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Seanmuttered.
“Family not know you MDFagent?”
“I thought you were going to feed me, notinterrogateme?”
Alexei didn’t respond. Sean would feel bad about snapping at him if he wasn’t so tired and stressed out. He ignored Alexei, staring blankly out the window, not really seeing the streets of D.C. passing by, too lost in thought to pay attention. He only roused when Alexei pulled into the subterranean parking garage beneath Sean’s residential apartmentbuilding.
“You could’ve just dropped me off,”Seansaid.
Alexei rolled his eyes. “Think I not make sure you make itupokay?”
Sean sighed, not in the mood to argue. He gave Alexei the code to open the gate and directed him to the guest parking spots. Luckily, one was open. They parked, and Sean kept his mouth shut when Alexei also got out ofthecar.
Alexei stuck close on the walk to the elevator and the ride up. Sean’s apartment was on a lower midlevel, a small one-bedroom with an open floor plan between the kitchen and living room. He’d bought new furniture last year when he’d changed up the layout of everything after years of the same old design. His brothers’ band posters took up pride of place over the couch, one being the cover of Atomic Grace’s first album and the other one a stage picture. Nestled between the two framed posters were holopics of his family, because despite the distance between Sean and them, he stilllovedthem.
The apartment faced the street and the polarized windows were shaded dark against the early evening fading sunlight. He’d left them dark before leaving for New Miamiyesterday.
“Computer, security check,” Sean called out as he moved farther into theapartment.
“Apartment is secured,” the attendant computerreplied.
