Trevor grabbed her by the wrist. “Stop.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out.”
“Oh, so is that why you kissed my boyfriend in the middle of the dance floor? Because you didn’t want me to find out?”
“Stephanie, I am not your boyfriend. You know that.”
“You might as well have been. I hate you both.”
About this time, Duke sauntered up to our threesome. Soothe her, I pushed into Duke’s mind.
“I thought you didn’t like false emotion,” he said to me.
Stephanie turned on her heel and marched away.
“You should go after her. Talk to her,” I told Trevor.
“Are you sure?” He eyed Duke.
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.” That message seemed to be more for Duke than me. And the kiss before he left was definitely more for Duke, but it still made my heart flutter.
“Why are you here?” I asked, when Trevor was gone.
“I’m not the type to just step aside. I still have feelings for you.”
“Duke, I’ve made my choice. Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”
“So you want me to make it easy?”
“You should go,” I said. “How did you even get in here? You’re not a student.”
He raised his eyebrows, like he was surprised I had to ask the question. Oh yeah, he probably charmed his way in. He had no problem getting whatever he wanted with his ability.
“We need to talk. I’m worried about you. I don’t believe you told Trevor everything.”
I looked around and then put my finger to my lips, telling him to shut his mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “Trevor is clueless.” We had worked too hard to keep this a secret for Duke to come in and ruin it all.
“Well, I know that, but I’m talking about the Compound. Why did you tell him?”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. If he insisted on saying things like that out loud, with Norms around, we should at least be in the middle of a crowd, where the music and voices could mask our conversation.
“You want to dance?” he asked, pulling me into his arms. It irritated me that when his hands touched my back, warmth spread through my body. I hated his ability so much.
“Listen, you can’t just say stuff like that here.” If the CC heard us talking about the Compound with Norms around, I’d be back to square one.
“Where then? Where can we talk? Because this is serious, Addie. You shouldn’t have told him. He’s not one of us.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Maybe I’ve made it my business.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Just tell me what you told him.”
“I told him nothing.”
He gave a frustrated growl and leveled his gaze on me. His blue eyes were intense with emotion. “Just come outside with me. We can talk in my car.”
“No.”
“Where then?”
“Nowhere, Duke. This is over.”
“If you don’t talk to me, I’m going to report you to the Containment Committee.”
My mouth dropped open, and I pushed out of his hold. “Why would you do that?”
“Because maybe I want them to wipe him from your memory.”
“So it sounds like you’re going to talk to them either way.”
“No. If you explain to me why, what’s going on in your head, I won’t do it.”
Did he really think he was endearing himself to me with this awful display of jealousy and control? “Fine. But I’m waiting for Trevor, so meet me outside in an hour.”
“An hour?”
“I’m sure you can find something to do for an hour. Dance with some girls or something.”
He sighed and wandered over to the food table. I went looking for Rowan.
Over an hour later, Trevor still hadn’t reappeared. Duke caught my eye across the dance floor and nodded toward the exit. I shrugged and mouthed, Meet me outside. Then I walked out the door Trevor had left through earlier, hoping to find him. Searching the halls, I came up empty. The four of us had driven in one car, and that car—Stephanie’s dad’s Jaguar—was missing from the parking lot. Great. Trevor had gone home with her? What was I’ll be right back about that? I reached for my phone and remembered, as my hand brushed over the silky material of my dress, that I had left it in the glove box of Stephanie’s car.
Back inside, I found Rowan. “Steph and Trevor left.”
“What? Why? My stuff is in her car.”
“It might have something to do with Trevor and me kissing.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah.” A sense of panic welled up inside me. “Hey, I have to run.” I gave him a hug. “Sorry to ditch you. I had fun tonight.”
I ran back out to the parking lot. I wasn’t sure what car Duke was driving, considering he couldn’t bring a Compound car here. I scanned the lot for the biggest, flashiest one and saw a yellow Hummer parked on the edge.
I walked to the passenger side and knocked on the window. The doors unlocked with a clunk. I slid inside.
“Can I borrow your phone?” I asked.
Duke pulled it out of his pocket. I dialed Trevor, but no one answered. Either Stephanie was yelling so loud he couldn’t hear, or he didn’t want to be rude by answering the phone in the middle of a serious talk. I left a message. “Hey, Trevor. I’m still here. Will you call me when you’re . . . uh . . . done?” I hung up the phone.
I stared at the lifeless screen, then handed it back to Duke. It would be really weird to show up at Stephanie’s at this point. Trevor would remember to grab my phone for me.
“So?” he said. “Let’s talk.”
I ran my hands along the interior of his car. Even though the CC couldn’t have possibly known Duke would come talk to me today, I still wanted to make sure his car was clean. Maybe they bugged all the rental cars.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking for bugs.” I crawled into the backseat, my knees slipping along the material of my dress while I did. Once in the back, I continued searching.
“Addie, you’re being paranoid.”
“I am not.” When I didn’t find anything, I settled against the bench seat in the back.
He looked over his shoulder. “Aren’t you going to come up here?”
“I’m good.”
He tilted his head a little and then climbed into the backseat next to me with a smirk on his face. Like he thought this was romantic or something. I just wanted to slap him. He sent a surge of happiness through my body and I backed up, the armrest digging into my back.
“Sorry,” he said. “Sometimes how I’m feeling just comes out.”
“Why are you so happy? I’m here to convince you that you need to leave me alone.”
“So why did you tell Trevor, and why do you think I should keep this to myself?”
“Because I love him. I knew him from a life I Searched, and if you care about me at all, you will respect that.”
“So you admit that you told him?”
“Why is it so important to you that I admit that? Of course I told him. He knows everything. He doesn’t care about powers and the Compound. He cares about me.”
He got this really satisfied smile then. Like me telling him Trevor liked me was the best thing I had ever told him. “And Laila restored his memories after the Containment Committee had Erased them.”
“You know the answer to that.”
“But I had no idea what you guys were doing.”
“Okay. What’s your point?”
“My point is you did it.”
“So?”
He nodded. “Good.”
I was confused. “So are we good then? Will you leave me alone?”
“Yes. I’ll leave.”
I gripped the door handle, ready to exit, but then stopped myself. I didn’t want to go back inside alone. “Will you take me home?” I’d call Trevor from there.
Duke nodded, and we drove the whole way in silence. I wondered if that was a record for him. When I got out, he pulled me into a hug. “Addie, it doesn’t have to be this way. We’re right for each other. Trevor will never be what you need. He’s a Norm.”
“Duke. Stop. Please.” I pushed away from him.
He sighed, then ran his hand down his sleeve. “Well, thanks for telling me. This will make everything how it’s supposed to be.”
CHAPTER 38
Laila: How do you say “screwed” in Norm?
The sound of tires bumping over rough road startled me awake. My eyes popped open, and for a moment I forgot where I was. But then I remembered trying not to fall asleep, my head doing the embarrassing fall-forward-then-jerk-back-to-upright motion. No matter how many Alert mind patterns I scanned through, I could not stay awake. My lack of sleep over the last few days had caught up with me. So Connor had patted his leg and I’d gladly lain down, falling asleep immediately.
“It’s just a section of the road. I’m good.” Connor ran his hand along my cheek.
I sat up and stretched. “You sure you’re not tired? I can drive.” I stifled a yawn. “What time is it?”
“Not even eleven.” He pointed at a road sign as we passed. It said twelve miles to Dallas. I glanced in the backseat. Eli was out, his music still blaring.
“You drove fast.” I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. “Did my phone ring?” I asked, even though I could see no new missed calls on the screen.
“No. She probably just didn’t take it to the dance. We’ll be fine.” He obviously knew I was worried and was trying to pretend like her not answering the phone didn’t mean that Duke succeeded in his mission and the Containment Committee was now wiping her of everything that mattered to her; or worse, hauling her back to the Compound to take her place as Bobby’s neighbor. Duke was such an idiot.
Duke. I dialed his number again. It shocked me when he actually picked up.
“Hey. What?”
“Hey what, yourself. You better not be doing what I think you’re doing.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re in Dallas. Have you seen Addie?”
“As a matter of fact, I took her home a while ago.” Why did he sound so happy about that?
“What did you do to her?”
I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “I’m doing my duty as a citizen of the Compound.”
“I’m about to do my duty to your face. What did you do?”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be happier this way.”
“She will or you will?”
“Both.”
“You have no idea what you just did. This is more serious than you can possibly imagine. Not only do they know that she blatantly disregarded the laws of the Compound, they also know that she had Trevor’s memories restored.” They really were going to do exactly what Addie’s mom feared—wipe a section of her mind to ensure her mental stability.
