The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

Chapter Sixty-Two - Real Dream

RILEY

LUC AND I CLIMBED IN THE ROVER and beat the others to the cabin. I was able to understand what happened before I saw Raymond at school. Turns out he obtained NIO's research on external trackers through him. Even if it wasn't successful, they had been close, which gave Raymond a considerable advantage. Now, the boys were supposed to meet home and monitor the device's journey before sending the results. That is, if they were conclusive.

Luc shut down the motor and leaned his head on the cushion, eyes closed.

"I asked you to stay away," he said.

"You should have just let me punch that girl. And the guy."

"And make a run for it because agents will fire at you if you try that?" he reasoned, frowning. "That's not a reaction I was expecting of you. I thought it was too stupid for it to be you."

I slouched into the seat and stared at the woods. Any other day, I would have rocked the car after an insult like that.

But as much as I hated it, he was right. It made no sense. Even if agents didn't fire, the entire campus would have witnessed me going off on a foreigner. For no reason. Rhea had pushed my buttons with unsettling ease. Maybe the fever left me with some permanent brain damage.

I glanced back at Luc, and he was staring directly at me with his trademark sly grin.

"What?" I grumbled, hand creeping up the door handle.

"You got jealous, didn't you?"

I scoffed, but my cheeks were betraying me. Goddamnit, he'll never drop this. "In your twisted dreams, dickhead."

"No, Sunshine," he said playfully. He leaned closer, and I could inhale that maddening citrus and soap fragrance. "I didn't dream that."

His stare was piercing with devilry. 

When I was sick and out of my mind, he's seen more of me than Adam probably ever had. He must have gotten quite the eyeful, this bastard. The realization burned into my conscience. I tugged the handle to jump, but it was blocked. I glared at him. "Let me out."

"Just answer my question."

"Luc!" My voice sounded shrill inside the car, irritating my own ears. "Are you serious?"

He tilted his head, eyes lowered to my lips with that wicked look. "I'm dead serious."

I tried to gather my wits. I shouldn't let him get to me so easily. "I don't know, would you be jealous if a guy hit on me?"

"Yeah." He shrugged one shoulder.

"What? Are you saying I can't meet guys and—"

"That's not what I said," he cut in. "You can go off with some moron and pretend there's nothing between us again. That's fine. I won't like it, but I know you want the same thing I do."

I tipped my chin up. "Oh, yeah? And what is that?"

Luc twisted and invaded the space. He took up my whole vision field, not grinning anymore. There was no preventing my line of sight zeroing on his mouth. A powerful throb pulsed in the pit of my stomach, and I couldn't move. We only did it once at the hospital. He hadn't been able to explain why he started it, and I've been wondering since but no answer. Starting again recklessly might be a mistake. But I didn't know if I wanted him to go for it or refrain. 

I was fighting myself already, because all I felt was an urge to touch him. 

His eyes were breathtaking, like diving into a pool of emerald so deep, deeper than anything I've ever delved in. It reminded me of troubled waters, shimmering in the daylight.