Summon (48 page)

Sitting cross-legged in her neon plastic seat, Kali
munched on a dumpling too tasty to be served in a place like this, which is why
it wasn’t. She inwardly cringed at the touch table’s menu of fresh LiquiNu
cocktails, nasty artificial stuff that was somehow gourmet. Cheeks hollowing as
she sucked her straw hard, she checked out the scoreboard. Icy pain bloomed
across her forehead, and she rubbed it to ease the brain freeze.

Max, being the enhanced sportsman he was, was in
the lead. She was second. Six consecutive hits dead centre couldn’t save Christabella.

A shadow fell on the console. Kali looked up as she
took another bite of her dinner. The delivery boy stood over her, head cocked,
his gloves held in fisted hands.

He really was built nicely; the lines of his shape
appealing to her eyes. She’d always noticed him, and took delight in pondering
the mystery of what was under all the dark rawhide. Wide shoulders cut an
imposing figure. His brawny torso and long arms looked strong in the armoured
leathers. Narrow hips had long, sturdy legs beneath.

Did he forget something? “Problem with the credit
transfer?”

He took off his helmet.

Startled, Kali fought not to have a reaction. She
failed. Mouth popping open, she gaped at him.

“I’m called Blue,” he said.

The rasp sent a frisson of pleasure across her
flesh. A voice had never done that before, made her tingle inside.

Kali put down her cup, and rubbed her hand on her
knee to get rid of the condensation from the cold drink. With an uncertain
smile, she offered it to him. “An introduction between us is overdue. I’m Kali.
You already know that, right? I would have pushed you for your name a long time
ago, but you seemed unsure of me, and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.
I hate when people force themselves on me.”

He took her hand, eager in his quickness then
unsure of what to do. She tried to gauge if he was going to kiss it, or shake
it, but he just held on. She sat patiently waiting for him to shorten up.

Kali used the time to enjoy his touch.

Blue’s fingers were long and dry. His palms were
work roughened, calloused under his fingers and on the pad of his thumb. The
skin on the back of his hand was smooth, dusted with bleach blonde hair. His
nails were nice, filed and the palest pink. His wrist was solid, not spindly as
she expected, and sliding towards his muscled forearm was a plait of red and
gray string. On his thumb circled a silver band, an OmniLock, the small dots of
black code printed on the surface that was tarnished from use.

Hands told Kali much about a person, and she liked
the story of Blue’s.

He crouched, eyes roving across her features. He
was owed that since she gawped at him when he revealed his face.

Recovered from the helmet removal, Kali turned her
attention to his appearance. Avoiding the obvious, she focused on the normal
parts. Good jaw, smooth, high forehead, and two normal shaped eyes with dense
light-coloured eyelashes hidden behind black-rimmed opticals. His straight nose
and full mouth were well balanced, and milky fair skin contrasted peculiarly
with a shock of short white hair, the locks thick, and half curled. His
eyebrows were white too. The effect was angelic. Kali focused on his mouth,
looked past the unusually pale lips, and saw the pointed rows of teeth. Her
gaze lifted to his and she watched as his irises morphed from icy blue to deep
green.

The enhancements were odd, but nothing she couldn’t
handle.

“Can I have my hand back, Blue?”

He released her hand as if she’d electrocuted him.
Kali bit her lip to hide a smile as he jerked up onto his feet. “I wanted … my
name … I apologize–”

“Would you sit with me?” She slapped a palm on the
plastic beside her three times to signal him to take a load off, and got back
to her meal.

The best way to deal with jittery people was to
ignore the nerves until they went away. He needed a nanosecond to catch his
breath, and she could give him that. He was nervous, but that was standard,
she’d wait for him.

Kali heard snickering, and turned to glare at
Christian who eyed her from across the range, surrounded by his bevy of HiCaste
sycophants.

After months of him bothering her, she’d gone on a
date with him the year before. Kali explained the insanity of her decision by
reminding herself Christian was her age and of a similar social standing. A
match with him would have been advantageous for her family and expected. It was
a shame he turned out to be a narcissistic genetic purist. She barely
acknowledged his existence since that disastrous evening, yet he still acted
like he owned her. Even when Max’s fist had declared otherwise after Christian
said one too many things about her virtue within earshot.

He cocked his head at her in question and jerked
his dimpled chin towards Blue.

She gave him her back, but couldn’t help the ugly
glower contorting her face. Tension thinned her lips as she held back from
screaming an insult across the range. That was not how a female of her Caste
behaved, and it would go down as inappropriate on her part, no matter how
steadfastly it was argued that he’d acted ungentlemanly and goaded her into
rage. She’d learnt that after the first time when she threw LiquiNu in his
face, hot on the heels of a slur about her ‘lack’ of genetic purity.

“You’re not happy,” Blue blurted. When he saw the
knee-jerk smile, and the defensive set of her shoulders, he pulled back the
intensity, but quietly urged, “Don’t lie.”

Kali didn’t know how to respond. She took another
bite of dumpling. “That’s an interesting observation,” she replied finally.

“Answer, please.”

A simplistic charm Blue didn’t know he possessed
had Kali relaxing. Since he asked so specifically, she gave the answer a fair
bit of thought. “Why wouldn’t I be happy? Am I happy all the time? No, but I am
for most of it. I have two wonderful fathers; a best friend while somewhat
man-whorish would do anything for me. I’ve lived in a beautiful domicile my
whole life, and I’ve had the best education available. Everything I want, I
get, and what I get is always the best. Unless my uncle has an heir before he
passes on, I’m set to inherit an unmentionable sum of credits through the Loklear
name. The Cosmic Virgin blessed me.” She studied him, and was captivated. “I’m
happy as can be, Blue. Thank you for caring.”

Introverted yet pleasant to be around, his deep
consideration of her response tickled her. People with Blue’s candid personality
tended to scare people with their forthrightness, but she found it refreshingly
honest and endearing.

The fluttering sensation tightening her chest when
he spoke or their eyes met didn’t hurt either.

“You believe in an omnipotent higher being?” he asked
after a lengthy pause. “That it’s female?”

“The cosmos is too pretty to be an accident or
designed by a male.” Kali was intrigued by the abrupt change in his train of
thought and what he had chosen to focus on from all she had said. She went with
it. “Males tend to be more about efficiency than looks.”

His face lit up, the shadows cast by his features
lightening until he glowed with pleasure. “The universe is beautiful.”

Cautiously, he sat beside her. His posture was
perfect, and after a beat, he leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees.
It was so controlled and contrived he looked about as casual as a newly
licensed adult outside a RecRom.

Kali’s smile died when she saw opposite them, a few
lanes down, sat a man in the same position.

The precise sameness was eerie.

She did a mental back flip as her heart thumped
harder.

He had the
same skill she had.

“Your pupils have dilated, and your breathing
changed,” noticed Blue. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Her eyes tore from the man down the alley, and back
to Blue’s face. He was observant and blunt; both were traits she was well
acquainted with.

She could be as blunt.

“Blue, have you heard of Implicit Muscle Memory?”

“No.”

“Why has your face gone stiff? You’re not being
honest, and that’s not fair when you asked me not to lie.”

“You surprise me. I never know what to say to you.
It’s interesting how your mind works.”

“I could say the same of you, Blue. Looks like I’m
up.”

Handing her half-eaten dumpling to him, and her
cup, Kali cocked her leg to land her boot in-between his parted legs. He had
well-built thighs, the long curve of muscle showing through his leathers. She
was pleased he appeared well fed and developed. LoCaste often had a gauntness
that screamed of malnutrition.

Blue sucked down air and slid back in the seat as
Kali leaned to redo the Velcro on her moon boots. The close proximity was
causing serious damage to his calm. Her ponytail tumbled over her shoulder, and
she flicked it back with a shake of the head, sending Kali-scented air his
direction, a fragrance that made him harden in the worst way.

Standing, she tucked loose hair behind ears that
were elf-like. Even those he found attractive.

“You’re okay to hold those for me, right?” She
pointed gun fingers at him. Kali pointed twice more to ensure she had a set of
three. “You haven’t got people waiting on you?”

“Yours was my last delivery of the night, and I’m
not expected anywhere.” He looked at the food in his hands. “I can hold these
for you.”

He seriously thought that was why she wanted him to
stay. Her lips twitched. “Do you shoot?” She jerked her head to the empty lane.
Her brow puckered as she tried to work out where Christabella and Max had
scurried. She’d been into her conversation with Blue and hadn’t been paying
attention to them.

“No. The recreation centre in my quadrant is a
dangerous place.”

“Bella and Max have run off to rec.” She sighed.
Christabella was a clinger; the weeks after Max dumped her were not going to be
fun. Never had Kali known someone who could boast a legion of stalkers like Max
could. “We’ll take their turns.”

“Max abandoned you for another?”

“Hmm?”

“He brought you here on a date then left you
alone.”

“You’ve misunderstood,” she laughed. “Max is on a
date with Christabella. I was the third wheel. An escape route if it went
badly.”

He felt immense relief, but Blue managed to keep it
out of his expression. He suspected some seeped into his voice though. “Escape
route?”

“If it went bad, and Max gave me the signal, I’d
accidentally-on-purpose toss a drink over Christabella, or get sick, and we’d
leave.”

His mouth popped open. “
Mean
.”

Kali’s nose wrinkled. “It’s an act of kindness. Max
is an ass when it comes to girls. He looses interest fast, and it’s better this
way.”

“Why?”

“He’s got the normal urges. He won’t intend to
maintain a relationship with a girl moon mad for him, but still rec. HiCaste
avoid having loads of RecRom encounters logged. It’s frowned upon and makes you
less desirable to suitors.”

Blue’s cheeks reddened. “I see. You do this to save
them heartache.”

“You make me sound noble. I do it because I care
about Max. One day, he’ll meet a keeper, someone he loves and respects. I don’t
want him to lose her because he’s known as a womanizer who’ll screw anything.”

“He
is
a
womanizer who’ll screw anything.”

“Yes, but he’ll grow out of that. Let’s shoot.”

Blue uncoiled from his seat. “Do you use Max the
same way?”

Now she coloured a little. “Once, but it was awful.
He kept trying to drag me into a RecRom when I clearly wasn’t interested.” She
glared in Christian’s direction.

Blue tapped his foot, agitated. “What did Max do?”

Kali blushed harder. “Punched him in the face.”

“I see.”

“Do you? People assume Max and I are secretly
solar-hot for each other when we’re not. He’s a brother to me, and I know that
for a certainty.”

“How?”

“He was my first.” She shuddered. “It was awkward
and I have nightmares about it. It freaks him out too. What’s between us is
affection. We take care of each other until we meet our soul mates.”
Embarrassed she’d over shared, Kali tugged at the hem of her tunic, enormously
aware of why she felt the need to make it clear she and Max weren’t a couple.
“Got it?”

Reserving judgment, Blue looked away. “Don’t know
how to shoot.”

Silently frustrated, Kali took the drink from him
and slurped until it was gone. She offered Blue a sip halfway, but he declined
as he unzipped his jacket. Kali got flustered watching him tug it off, and
looked away to chuck the dumpling in the waste unit. Now she’d realised she
liked him, she was fidgety. She had gone to the range annoyed Max was on a
date, and irritated the delays courtship rituals brought to the game. Now she
wanted to abandon the whole thing and focus on her conversation with Blue.