Haunt (Regenerate #5)

Chapter 22

Several weeks go by. Quiet weeks. No new missions. No training, even.

Anthony is healing fine. Lorna says that he's going stir crazy. He hates being away from the team, from the gym, from his lab. Lorna brings him gadgets that he can play with from bed, but apparently he's still bored.

Lorna tries, both subtly and not so subtly, to convince me to visit him. I stop by for a few minutes, and only while Lorna's there as well.

I know I should see him. But I can't convince myself to. I'm not sure what I'd say.

Hey, when I was stuck with Nightmare, I saw you die multiple times and I really hated it.

Yeah. That's a stupid way to start a conversation.

Instead of going to see Anthony, I spend my time with Cole. He tells me a few things about our home planet, which mostly sound awful.

He teaches me a few tricks too. Like how to mimic somebody's appearance so thoroughly that you can replicate their fingerprints. Or how to lie really convincingly.

Sometimes we spar as well. Cole's style of fighting is completely different than Anthony's. Everything Anthony does is calculated. He thinks five moves ahead. Everything Cole does is spontaneous, constantly adapting to his environment.

They're both good, but Anthony's better.

I've just finished pinning Cole when I roll off of him. He grins.

"What?" I ask.

"What do you mean, what?"

"Just that you're awfully smiley for a guy who just got his trash kicked."

"Sorry," he says. "It's just that sometimes you do something that reminds me of who you were."

I must look confused, because Cole continues. "You're not the same person as you were before you lost your memories. But there are some things about you that just haven't changed."

"How did we know each other back on Kildar?" I've been meaning to ask for awhile now.

Cole's smile drops. "We were close."

"Like... romantically?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

He taps my foot with his. "Don't worry about it."

"Isn't it sort of weird, though?" I ask.

He stares at the ceiling. "I guess. But like I said, you're pretty different now. You're not the same person I fell for. So don't worry about it."

"I'm sorry, though," I say.

"Speaking of which," he says, "what's going on with you and that guy I threw my shoe at?"

"His name is Mark," I say.

"I know," Cole says. "But the shoe thing was funny. So what is going on with you two?"

"Are we gossip buddies now?"

Cole smirks. "You're avoiding the question."

I roll my eyes. "Fine. Mark and I aren't anything official."

"But that doesn't mean you aren't anything," Cole says. "Just be careful."

I frown. "Careful?"

"About getting attached," Cole says.

"Wouldn't that sort of be the objective of dating him? If I did decide to date him that is."

Cole considers. "It's just that he's human. They're fragile."