Freaks in the City (2 page)

She stifled a sigh. Given his parents’
reaction, she wasn’t looking forward to confessing the truth to
Tyler’s sister. Friends didn’t fake their own deaths and then
conceal their identities. Caro was going to be hurt and angry when
she found out. And now her parents knew the truth, Jay guessed it
would not be long before Caro became privy to the information. She
wouldn’t blame Caro for never speaking to her again.

“Can I offer you refreshments?”

“I’d kill for a beer,” Mike said.

“I don’t keep alcohol on the premises,” Jay
told him. “Tyler’s underage and alcohol has little effect on me.”
Although she could appreciate a fine wine as much as any avid
connoisseur.

“Oh. Right. Of course.”

“Where
is
Tyler?” Marissa’s question
came at the exact time as Michael said, “Your hair is
different.”

“Yes. I’m told the color is chestnut.” She’d
grown in the new color gradually, subtly threading the new shade
through the black. The entire change had taken six weeks. She’d
also adjusted the melanin levels of her dermis to better suit her
new hair color. Her lips curved upward, recalling Tyler telling her
she looked “sun-kissed”… and following up with a real kiss that had
left her as breathless as it was possible for a cyborg to be.

“Suits you,” Michael said. “I like it.”

“Thank you, Mr. Davidson. Tyler likes it,
too.”

Because it would be impolite not to respond,
Jay addressed Marissa’s question. “I estimate Tyler will make an
appearance in approximately eight minutes.” She added the
“approximately” because although she could extrapolate the time he
would take based on previous data, habitual human behaviors were
not immutable. Today Tyler might decide on a whim to change his
habits.

To cover the awkward silence that had fallen
she headed for the fridge to grab three sodas. She offered Michael
a cola and Marissa a cream soda, before taking the kitty-corner
easy chair and popping the lid on her own cola.

Tyler’s mother glanced at the canned drink.
“How do you know I like—?” She pressed her lips together and then
after a pause muttered, “Never mind.”

Michael read the ingredients list on his
soda can.

Marissa twisted her wedding ring around and
around on her finger.

Jay took another sip of her cola. Her
enhanced hearing informed her the exact moment Tyler exited the
bathroom. His bare feet made soft slaps on the floorboards as he
headed toward the bedroom. She debated calling out to warn him, but
some perverse, almost humanlike part of her decided to hold her
tongue. What was that human saying again? Oh yes: Tyler had made
his bed, now he’d have to lie in it.

Marissa broke the silence. “We thought you
were dead. You could have gone anywhere in the world. Why here,
Jay?”

Jay cocked her head as she analyzed
Marissa’s body language and expressions for clues that would inform
her how best to respond. In the end she opted for the stark truth.
“I couldn’t stay away from him. I tried, but I couldn’t.”

“You should have tried harder.”

“Perhaps.”

“He was getting over you. He’d moved
on.”

Michael shifted in his seat and carefully
placed his soda on the coffee table. Jay appreciated him using the
coaster. Otherwise she might have been compelled to blot the
condensation with the hem of her t-shirt and polish away any mark
left on the wood.

“That’s not entirely true, Riss,” Michael
said. “You only needed to hear that song he wrote to know he wasn’t
getting over her any time soon.”

Jay’s hand crept to the thumb drive she wore
on a silver chain around her neck.

Michael’s sharp gaze intercepted the
movement. And from the almost imperceptible widening of his eyes,
Jay deduced he understood its significance.

Tyler had recorded a song he’d written for
her on this thumb drive, and hidden it before he and his family had
fled Snapperton in the wake of Jay’s supposed death. By removing
the thumb drive from its hiding place, Jay had attempted to send a
clear message to Tyler that he shouldn’t lose all hope, that she
had somehow survived—despite all evidence to the contrary. And that
she might one day come back to him.

“Rubbish.” Marissa’s tone vibrated with
poorly concealed fury at Michael refusing to back her up. “It was a
crush. All kids his age have them.”

Jay decided it was time to tender an apology
to defuse the situation. “I wanted to tell you that I’d faked my
death but I couldn’t risk it until I’d ensured your safety. And
then Tyler asked me not to. I’m sorry if you feel betrayed.”

“Does Caro know?” Marissa asked, her
expression promising dire consequences if her daughter had been in
on the secret.

“No,” Jay said.

“Good. Keep it that way. She doesn’t need to
be drawn into this mess.” Marissa’s face twisted into an expression
that combined worry and anger. “If you’re so concerned about our
safety you should have stayed away from Tyler. You should have left
him to live a normal life, with a normal girl. You should never
have come back.”

Michael leaned over to squeeze his wife’s
wrist. “That’s hardly fair, Riss. You could say the same about me.
Would you have preferred me to stay away and never come near you or
our kids again?”

She shook off his hand. “That’s different
and you know it, Mike! You were forced to leave to keep us safe.
You had no choice.”

“Neither did I,” Jay murmured, and Michael
shot her a sympathetic glance.

They both knew how it was to feel helpless
when the people you loved were threatened. And they both knew how
easy it was to be compelled to act in ways that ran contrary to
your core beliefs. Michael had been forced to work for a ruthless,
amoral man in order to keep his family safe. And Jay had been
compelled to kill her creator to keep his secrets from falling into
the hands of that very same ruthless, amoral man. Such actions were
beyond Marissa’s sphere of comprehension. She should be grateful
for that.

Marissa seemed to sense the empathy oozing
from Michael and she didn’t appreciate it one iota. “Don’t give me
that. It’s bullshit.”

Jay knew Marissa didn’t approve of swearing,
so her choice of words only highlighted her extreme agitation.

“You’re a cyborg, Jay—a superhuman machine.
You can do what the hell you want.”

Enough. Even cyborgs had their limits. “Mrs.
Davidson, that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Marissa bristled, her hazel eyes sparking
fury. “What makes you say that?” she bit out.

“Because only God gets to do what the hell
he wants. The rest of us mere mortals must live with our
limitations.”

Michael made a choking sound that he turned
into a cough.

Marissa’s lips curved in a triumphant smile.
“But you’re not a mere mortal, are you Jay?”

Tyler chose that moment to jog downstairs
and burst into the living room wearing only a towel wrapped around
his hips. “Have you seen my—?” He stopped dead, his hands shooting
to his waist to ensure the towel was firmly secured. His gaze
skimmed over his mom, to his father, then back to Jay. “Uh,
hi.”

“You left your robe at your apartment again,
didn’t you,” Jay said. “You can borrow mine if you like.”

The heightened color of Marissa’s cheeks had
drained away, leaving her milk-pale. She raised a shaking hand to
press it against her lips. “How can you be in a relationship with
something like
her
? It’s unnatural. It’s… it’s… disgusting.
She’s a thing, for God’s sake!”

“Marissa, that’s enough.” Michael’s voice
cracked out, whip-like. He slanted Jay an apologetic glance.

It didn’t bother Jay to be called a thing.
But to hear her relationship with Tyler—a relationship she
treasured and nurtured to the best of her ability—labeled
disgusting and unnatural…. That was more difficult to tolerate. She
knew Marissa was lashing out from worry that Tyler would get hurt.
But Jay would never intentionally hurt Tyler. Surely Marissa could
see that
she
was only the one hurting him right now?

The impulse to protect Tyler pricked Jay’s
nervous system and flooded her body with adrenaline. She clamped
down on the desire, locking her muscles and keeping herself very
still. She knew from past experience that when her underdeveloped
emotions overwhelmed logic she reacted in unpredictable ways. She
could not afford to “lose it” with Marissa. Not now. Any loss of
control would only give Marissa more cause to poison Jay’s
relationship with her son.

“Yes, Mom,” Tyler said, his voice sounding
as cold and hard and inhuman as Jay knew her own voice could be.
“That’s enough.”

“Stop thinking with your hormones and start
using your brain,” Marissa raged at him. She, too, seemed to find
it difficult to stay still, for she pushed up from her seat to
confront Jay, bristling and wild-eyed. A mother defending her
young. “You’re doing something to him, aren’t you? Something to
make him infatuated with you.”

“If you mean secreting a specific mix of
pheromones that will make your son desire me sexually, then the
answer is no.”

Marissa rocked back on her heels. The edge
of the seat hit her in the back of the knees and she collapsed onto
the couch. “God,” she said, the word sounding strangled. “You can
do
that?”

“Yes. I can also manipulate the chemicals
manufactured by my body to produce a number of useful substances
that I can excrete through the pores of my skin. Flea-repellent,
for instance. Fifi benefitted greatly from this ability.”

“Fifi?”

“Your elderly neighbor’s dog.”

Michael rubbed a hand over his face and
appeared to be at a loss for words. Jay suspected he’d reached his
limit for drama.

“Please tell me you’re not sleeping with
him.” Although Marissa’s words were barely above a whisper, Jay had
no trouble hearing her.

“I can’t speak for your son, but I am what
you would medically term a virgin,” she informed Tyler’s
mother.

“Not that it’s any fucking business of
yours.” Each carefully enunciated word sounded like it’d been
ripped from Tyler’s throat. Jay didn’t need to examine his set
features and clenched teeth to know how angry he was right now.

Marissa gasped.

A groan issued from Michael’s direction.

Jay felt a twinge in her chest and
recognized it as sympathy. Poor Michael. Despite claiming
otherwise, Marissa had not forgiven him for walking out on his
family and vanishing without trace for five whole years. But Jay
was in a unique position to understand Michael’s actions and
reactions. If she’d been able to bring the man she’d called
“Father” back to life, she’d have spent a lifetime trying to make
up for what she’d done to him, too. Guilt was a powerful emotion,
and Marissa was using Mike’s to her full advantage.

Marissa sagged back against the padded back
of the seat, her entire body radiating relief. “So it’s not serious
then. You’re just hanging out here because your apartment is a dump
and your roommates are pigs.”

Tyler raked a hand through his damp hair.
After a tense moment he finally said, “Jay’s my girlfriend. For me
it doesn’t get more serious than that. Get used to it, Mom.”

Marissa’s face crumpled and her lower lip
wobbled. Jay watched her fighting back tears and felt…. Nothing at
all. She rose to her feet and calmly invited Tyler’s parents to
stay for dinner.

Marissa, of course, declined on Michael’s
behalf. And when Michael protested, his wife struggled to her feet
and cut him short with a sharp gesture.“I’ll wait for you in the
car while you talk some sense into your son.”

“Marissa—”

But Marissa was heading for the door,
leaving Michael with the unenviable task of choosing between his
wife and his son.

“You should go,” Jay told him. “She needs
you. She’s not herself at the moment.”

Marissa whirled to glare at Jay from the
doorway of the living room. “You don’t know me. Sure, you can
analyze a bunch of data like some… some… glorified
calculator
, but you don’t know
me
. You don’t know
what’s going on inside me.”

Jay arched her brows. If what she suspected
were true it might explain Marissa’s volatile temper. She could not
be one hundred percent certain given the available data at this
stage so she did not dispute Marissa’s claim.

“And you don’t know Tyler, either,” Marissa
was saying. “How can a cyborg, a machine, possibly understand what
it is to be human?” Her bitter laugh infected the room. “You’re
lying to yourself—and him—if you try to pretend otherwise. If you
claim to care for him then prove it. Walk away and let him find a
human girl he can make a real life with.”

“God, Mom. When did you turn into such a
bitch?”

Marissa flinched as though Tyler had somehow
reached across the room and slapped her. Then she pivoted on her
heel and vanished into the hallway. Silence reigned until they all
heard the front door slam.

“You might want to consider apologizing to
your mother,” Jay said.

Tyler’s lips compressed to a thin,
unrepentant line. He slanted a challenging gaze at his father.
“Well, it’s true.”

Jay knew it was a waste of breath to try and
convince Tyler to change his mind. She focused on his father. “I’m
sorry, Mr. Davidson. I wish this encounter could have gone
differently.”

Michael managed a tired smile as he stood.
“Me, too, Jay. I never got the chance to thank you for what you
did. Whatever you said to convince that bastard Caine to let me
walk, gave me back my family, my life. I can never repay you for
that. And for what it’s worth, despite what you are and all the
problems that presents, if you make Tyler happy—”

“She does, Dad,” Tyler was quick to say.

“Then that’s good enough for me.” Michael
patted Jay’s shoulder before venturing over to give his son a quick
hug. Tyler submitted to the embrace, but held himself stiffly. He
wasn’t going to let his father off easy. Michael was between a rock
and a hard place. Little wonder he’d done his best to stay out of
it.