GRAY
It’s late when I leave the lab, and the weight of it is heavy on my shoulders.There’s a reason for everything I’m doing, but I can’t tell anyone.It’s my burden to carry and my problem to fix.My dad left me a mess to clean up, but I’ll do it because I owe him that much.
As I walk out to my car, the lights underneath it light up, and so do the interior ones.Just as I go to touch the handle, my fingers stop a few inches away.A scent lingers, and my head snaps up as I try to locate it.I inhale deeply, desperate to find the direction, and I take a step away from my car.I’ve smelled this once before, and it was on Elsy Harbor.She said it was a friend’s, and it’s been driving me crazy since.
When the sweet fragrance disappears, I turn back to my car and narrow my eyes.The scent is unlike anything I know, and I can’t describe it.All I know is that I have to get to the source.I walk toward the front of the car and it lessens, so I walk around to the rear of the car.It’s the strongest here, so I bend down and inhale what has to be the scent of a siren.
My eyes widen and then I hear something in the trunk and realize that this friend of Elsy’s has somehow broken into my car.I reach into my wallet and take out the security card.This is supposed to be impenetrable, yet I canfeelher in there.
All of my enhanced abilities are sharpening as the need to get to the scent builds.This is why I’m alone and keep people at arm's length.My father experimented with a drug that he and his best friend Nash Lone were creating.It was supposed to be their next great invention until they took it too far.
My father was exposed to the drug too soon in its testing stage, and the components were too volatile.I tried to do what I could to save him, even doing my own testing on myself.It was a last-ditch effort to save him, but I failed.Now I’m left with the residual effects of the drug they called Formula X.It’s more than just being stronger and faster—the drug brings out different things with each test I run.Now there are more things that make me different than there are that make me human.
With all of my heightened senses and strength and speed, I could pull this person out of my car and demand answers.The problem is that revealing my powers is something I can’t do.The information could get into the wrong hands, and that’s something I won’t risk.I don’t know why she’s in there, but it occurs to me that I’ve got more than one way to find out.
Walking back to the driver's side, I get in my car, and it turns on.
“House,” I say, and the car begins to back up and steer.I smile as I hear what sounds like someone rolling over and cursing before hitting the wall of the trunk.The voice is soft and sweet, just like her smell.
“Take the bridge,” I tell the car, and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing as the car turns and begins to go over the old wooden bridge.
The bridge has been restored, but there’s no getting around those heavy bumps that jostle the car.There’s another curse word and then I hear something that sounds like a foot kicking out.
“Use the roundabout,” I say, and once we exit the bridge, the car makes the turn.“Again,” I command the car, and once again we go around the loop.
After one more turn, I’ve decided I’ve had enough fun and let the car make the rest of the journey to my house at the edge of the city.I’ve got a building downtown I can stay in when I’m working late, but there are too many exits for that to work, and right now I want privacy.
“You have arrived athouse,” the car says, and then my driver's door opens for me.
Without teasing or preamble, I walk to the rear of the car and bark out, “Trunk.”
What I don’t expect is when the lid of the trunk pops open for a small dark-haired beauty to come out swinging.
“You did that on purpose!”she shouts as her hands try to connect with my face.
Before she can make contact, I wrap my arms around her torso and hold her to me.While she’s letting out a string of profanities, I take the opportunity to close my eyes and inhale the scent that’s been driving me mad.It makes my mouth water, and I lean closer until my nose and mouth are pressed against her neck.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Be still,” I say and breathe what feels like my first breath in forever.It soothes my insides and calms muscles that I didn’t even know were tense.I inhale over and over until my nose burns with it and I’m lightheaded.
At some point, my hands move down her back and I press her body flush to mine.It’s soft curves and delicate edges that are nothing like me.
“I took a shower, I just sweat when I get nervous, okay?”she says and tries to shrug.“I feel like nervous sweat is way stinkier than normal workout sweat.Not that I work out, I’m just saying in the event I was being chased and I had to run, I would smell differently.Probably not as stinky.Although if I was being chased by something, I would probably be scared, so that cancels out that theory.”
She’s rambling, and I feel her hands tremble as she tries to calm herself down.That’s when I notice that I’ve somehow pressed her against my car and engulfed her body with mine.I release her and back away as the horror of what I’ve done falls between us.God, did I just maul a perfect stranger?Me, Gray Malice, who can’t stand to be touched?I reached for her and then tried to put every inch of my body against her.
“I’m sorry,” I say as I look at her eyes that are wide with shock, but not fear.
“It’s okay.I think I needed a hug.”
That’s when I remember why I’m here at the house and not at my apartment downtown.“How did you break into my car?”I cross my arms over my chest and fight the urge to reach for her.I’m still breathing in as deeply as I can because the scent of her is like a drug.
“Oh, this old thing?”She points her thumb over her shoulder.“Just a quick shimmy with a screwdriver and she’s all mine.”Her laughter is nervous as she looks around like an answer will pop up out of nowhere.
“It was that easy?”When she pushes her glasses up her nose, I wonder what kind of vision she has.
“Yeah, everybody knows about it.So is this your place?”she asks, trying to change the subject.