Invaded (31 page)

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I really tried.”

Aelyx wanted to speak, but his tongue lay dead. He knew how hard she’d fought. Her
frustration was his own—he’d felt it.

“Nothing’s changed.” She cupped his cheek. “I still want this. I want my first time
to be with you. Let’s have our perfect night and figure it out in the morning,
okay?” Softly, she stroked the edge of his jaw and rose up to kiss his lips. “Please?”

His mind was swimming. Drowning. He had to gain some distance and think.

Rolling to the side, he pressed both palms to his eyes and tried to force the blood
flow back to his brain. His body pleaded with him to give Cara what she wanted—he’d
waited so long
for this—but she would take a piece of him if they went any further, and as much as
he loved her, he’d never get it back. If he walked away now, he’d spend the rest of
the night
with a leaden cramp in his belly, but that would hurt far less than a lifetime replaying
the memory of joining himself with the only girl he’d ever loved.

“We’ll make it work,” Cara insisted. “We’ll find a way to see each other.”

Aelyx finally found his voice. “How often? Once every few years?” Their relationship
would never survive the distance. The slow passage of time would drive them apart—and
eventually into another pair of arms. Young as they were, it was as natural and inevitable
as the rising of the sun.

“I don’t know, but at least
I’m
willing to try,” she snapped.

He pushed onto one elbow. She made it sound like he’d put no effort into their relationship.
“What is that supposed to mean?”

Another tear spilled down Cara’s cheek as she jerked the blanket to cover her body.
“It means I’ve practically turned myself inside out to make a life on your planet,
but you
won’t even consider staying on mine. There’s no compromise.”

“I can’t believe you think that.” He’d gladly stay on Earth if humans would stop trying
to kill him all the damned time. But that was beyond his control. “The
colony is supposed to be the compromise.”

“But it’s not. The Way isn’t giving humans an inch.”

“You’ve only been on the council a month. The charter isn’t even written yet.” Aelyx
couldn’t believe she’d accused
him
of quitting too easily.
“Maybe if you—”

“If I what?” she interrupted. “Work harder?”

“Yes!” He hadn’t meant to shout, but panic rushed through his veins.

“Why don’t
you
work harder?” she yelled back.

“What do you think I’ve been doing all these months?” Traveling from one city to the
next, going to bed without knowing where he was. Dodging assassination attempts. Missing
her like crazy. “I’ve been fighting nonstop for this alliance.”

“Only because you’re the reason it failed to begin with!”

The words stung, real as any slap. Not a day had passed since Eron’s death that Aelyx
didn’t regret his role in sabotaging the alliance. “You think I’ve forgotten that
I
helped get my best friend killed?”

Cara bit her lip while her breath hitched, and Aelyx pinched the bridge of his nose
to try and calm down. He didn’t want to do this. They were fighting dirty and getting
nowhere.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “That wasn’t fair.”

Nothing about this was fair. “Is there a chance you might change your mind?”

“Is there a chance you might change
yours
?”

When he didn’t answer, she broke into fresh tears.

Slowly, and with great deliberation, Aelyx stood from the bed and picked through the
trail of clothing on the floor until he’d dressed. Cara sobbed the whole time, causing
his head to ache
in unison with his feverish body. He couldn’t stay with her, not without breaking
down. He had to escape as far as this luxury high-rise prison would allow.

“You can sleep here,” he told Cara, facing away because he couldn’t bear to watch
her cry. “I’ll take the guest room.”

“Aelyx, please…” Her voice was thick with tears, threatening to break his slippery
grasp on control. “Don’t go. Not yet. Let’s talk about this.”

He moved toward the door, though every cell in his body weighed him down and fought
against it. “I’m not angry with you.” He paused with one hand squeezing the doorknob.
“And I hope we can still be friends.”

Friend
, the Irish translation of her name. How horribly, painfully prophetic.

C
ara dragged a crumpled tissue beneath her nose and padded into the kitchen, where
Mom was unloading the dishwasher while Dad pressed against her
from behind. He lifted the dark curls from Mom’s neck and replaced them with nibbles
and kisses.

“Nice to see nothing’s changed since I’ve been gone.” Cara dropped onto the nearest
chair, too exhausted to stand after the walk from her bedroom. The simple act of
pulling on her bathrobe had drained her.

“Oh, honey.” Mom abandoned the dishwashing to wrap Cara in a warm hug. “Are you ready
to talk yet?”

Cara shook her head. She’d told Mom about the breakup, but she didn’t want to rehash
it. Thinking about Aelyx made her heart pinch.

“I hate seeing you like this.” Mom smoothed a palm over Cara’s loose hair in a comforting
sweep. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Yesterday, I think.” Cara had nearly gagged on her Reese’s. As if to prove she was
still human, she’d choked down both peanut butter cups, but her body had punished
her
for it. She’d felt sluggish and queasy ever since.

“Want me to make your favorite breakfast?” Mom asked. “It’ll only take a minute.”

Hell must have frozen over, because the idea of Mom’s triple-chocolate-chip pancakes
sent Cara’s stomach into a somersault. “No, thanks.”

“Sweetheart, why don’t you call Tori? She always makes you feel better.”

“I did.” The inside of Cara’s nose tingled, and she grabbed a fresh Kleenex from her
pocket in time for a vicious
ker-choo
. Groaning, she dabbed beneath her raw nose
while sliding a glare at the empty doggie bed in the corner. Mom had boarded Linus
at the kennel, but the fluffball had left behind plenty of pet dander. “She’s taking
me to the mall
for a girls’ day.”

Mom arched a stern brow. “Not without your brother.”

Cara huffed a sigh, but secretly she was glad to have Troy home. Colonel Rutter had
done them a huge favor by assigning Troy to her security detail. This was the first
time in three years their
entire family had slept under the same roof, and it reminded Cara of simpler days
when her biggest problems were acne and frizzy hair.

“Fine,” she said. “He can come, too.”

“And I want you to eat something,” Mom said. “What’s it going to be?”

Cara scanned the open pantry for her options: Captain Crunch, coffee cakes, fudge
Pop-Tarts, Nutri-Grain bars, and sweetened oatmeal. None of it appealed to her. Maybe
her nutrition counselor
had been right when he’d likened sugar to a toxic drug.

“I guess I could eat some eggs,” Cara said.

Mom squeezed Cara’s shoulders. “Coming right up.”

By the time Mom finished making breakfast, the back door swung open and Troy bounded
inside from his daily jog, the pits of his
SEMPER FI
T-shirt soaked with sweat. Cara
noticed he’d tried to maintain the bulk he added on L’eihr, but he’d begun to thin
at the shoulders. He tugged his earbuds free and nodded at the frying pan. “Got
extra?”

“That depends,” Mom said. “Do you feel like tagging along to the mall with your sister
and Tori?”

He made a sour face, which Mom took as a
yes
.

“Good. Then I’ve got plenty to spare.” Mom dished out two plates and set them on the
table in front of Cara and Troy.

They ate in silence until Cara remembered something. She glanced over her shoulder
to make sure Mom and Dad were out of earshot. “Elle told me to say hi and that she
misses having you as a
roommate.”

Troy paused with a bite of scrambled egg suspended an inch from his mouth. “For real?”

“Mmm-hmm. She said taking off her shirt feels anti-climactic now.”

His focus softened and he shook his head in wonderment. “What a pair.”

“You’re such a pig.”

Shrugging a shoulder, he crammed in the rest of his eggs and spoke with one cheek
full. “Yeah, well, if this pig’s gonna spend his last day of vacation following around
your skinny
ass, he’s getting a free lunch out of it.”

Cara smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever. “You think my ass is skinny?”

He rolled his eyes so hard he probably glimpsed his own brain.

“Thanks for coming to the mall,” she told him. “I’ve missed you.”

Troy watched her for a long moment before ruffling her hair. “You’re welcome. Dorkus.”

The inside of Tori’s car smelled the same as Cara remembered—a mixture of leather,
fruity hair products, and Cool Ranch Doritos. It wasn’t a scent she would
describe as pleasant, but it evoked happy memories of away games and summer. After
giving her best friend a long-overdue hug, Cara strapped into the passenger seat and
used the rearview mirror to
ensure no orange strands were peeking out from beneath her blond pageboy wig. Her
disguise would work if nobody looked too closely at her auburn brows or the freckles
dotting her cheeks.

“Here.” Tori handed her a pair of oversize sunglasses, then slung a bronze wrist atop
the steering wheel, narrowing her kohl-lined eyes at Cara’s sweatpants and matching
gray
hoodie. “If you’re going for the whole ‘burned-out soccer mom’ look, you nailed it,
babe. Nobody will recognize you like this.”

Cara frowned and glanced again at her reflection. Maybe she should have worn a little
makeup, at least to conceal the redness beneath her nose. After her shower, she’d
plucked her favorite
cosmetics from her bag, but then the whole ritual seemed kind of pointless. Who decided
freckles needed to be covered up? Who said eyelashes had to be thick and black and
unnaturally long? Cara
thought she looked fine without her cheeks dusted or her lips painted. Nobody wore
makeup on L’eihr.

But you’re not on L’eihr now.

“Hey,” she said to Tori. “Lend me some gloss, will you?” When Tori produced
Gritty in Pink
, Cara smoothed on a heavy coat. Her lips shimmered in the sunlight,
but they felt sticky and unkissable. Not that she had anyone to kiss.

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Tori said. “Now let’s find an outfit to show
off that hot new body of yours.”

“Can we not talk about my sister’s body?” Troy asked from the backseat. “A trip to
the mall is torture enough.”

“So put in your earbuds,” Tori said.

He followed her advice, then rolled down the rear passenger window and signaled to
the unmarked SUV behind them that they were ready to go. The driver flashed his lights
twice, and Tori pulled
onto the street.

“E can’t make it,” Tori said over the hum of the engine. “But he says hi and he hopes
you change your mind about living among the L’osers.”

Cara ignored the argument bait, relieved that Eric couldn’t join them. She didn’t
harbor any residual feelings for her ex, but it was still awkward seeing him with
her best friend.
“Tell him I said hey.”

“Tell him yourself tonight at Jared Lee’s kegger.”

Cara slid her best friend a skeptical look.

“Come on,” Tori pressed. “We’ll say you’re staying with me, and we’ll crash in Jared’s
basement. That way nobody has to drive.”

In other words, they could get wasted. The prospect of chugging warm, watered-down
beer to the point of sloppy-drunken oblivion had never appealed to Cara. What was
the point? To feel buzzed for
a few hours until the hangover set in? “I’ll pass. It would be a security nightmare,
anyway.”

“Talk to me.” Tori delivered a light nudge. “You sounded like death when you called,
and now you’re saying no to a party. What’s wrong?”

Cara blew out a breath and hoped she could hold the tears inside. She didn’t even
know if Tori would understand.

“It’s the A-licker, right?” Tori pointed at Cara’s sweatpants and ratty garden clogs.
“This has ‘broken heart’ written all over it.”

“We had a fight.”

“Everyone fights. It’s a good thing. It means you’ve got fire.”

Cara shook her head. “Not that kind of fight. I don’t think we can come back from
this. It’s too—” Her throat swelled with grief until it choked her next words. All
she could manage was a whisper. “It’s over.”

She expected Tori to say “good riddance” in her own colorful way, but that’s not what
happened. Instead, Tori took one hand off the wheel to clasp Cara’s palm. She gave
it a tight squeeze and promised, “You’ll feel better after a new pair of jeans and
a triple fudge meltdown. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll watch
Magic
Mike
.”

Cara laughed as tears welled in her eyes. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“How about some trashy gossip?” Tori said. “You’ll feel like a million bucks compared
to the train wrecks at Midtown High.”

As they made their way onto the interstate, Tori filled in Cara on what she’d missed
since last winter: Brandi Greene got caught drinking Boone’s Farm at a school dance
and was thus
banned from prom. Murphy Finn was banging four freshmen, but none of the girls knew
about one another because they attended different schools. Principal Ferguson busted
the band teacher smoking
weed in the back of a school bus. The stories kept coming, but Cara didn’t feel like
five bucks, let alone a million. If anything, the gossip added to the heaviness inside
her, though she
couldn’t figure out why.

They pulled into the mall parking lot, and Troy explained how the security detail
would operate. He’d stay by Cara’s side at all times, except in the dressing rooms,
and the
plain-clothes soldiers would scout each store before she was allowed to enter. If
anyone recognized her, the group would have to leave right away because the unit wasn’t
large enough to
handle a mob. Fortunately, Cara had kept her arrival date vague, so nobody knew she
was here.