The Mind Readers (29 page)

“They’ll be back, you know,”
Maddox had to chime in from behind me, his voice arrogantly sure.

Why couldn’t he just shut up? I
started to turn in order to tell him so, when Lewis appeared at the end of the
hall like some sort of wonderful nightmare. I froze. I didn’t even move when I
felt Maddox’s hard body run into my back, shifting me off balance.

Although Lewis’ face was
passive, there was something in his eyes that made me think he was surprised to
see me and maybe…could it be? No, it couldn’t. Lewis did not look disappointed
to see me.
 

Aaron latched onto my arm,
jerking me forward and back into reality. “I told you, Cameron, you don’t have
to worry about your safety here. It’s outside these walls you have to fear.”

Lewis started toward me, his
steps unwavering, sure. I didn’t want to see him, I didn’t want to feel him
near, I sure as hell didn’t want him to touch me for if he did, I might start
crying. Yet, here he was, reaching out and latching onto my arm like I was a
kid playing hooky and he was forcing me back to school.
          

He was a stranger to me now, his
touch no longer warm and comforting. His gaze was brittle; his eyes held no
compassion. Where had the guy gone who I’d fallen in love with? The man who’d
wanted to protect me no matter what? He’d thrown me over for his mission. In a
few minutes he’d see me tortured, my memory of him erased and all without
batting an eyelash. It was obvious he felt nothing for me now. He’d hardened
his heart. It was over, done.

The situation overwhelmed me and
I stumbled. Lewis caught me, pulling me close to keep me upright. As much as I
didn’t want his touch, my legs didn’t seem strong enough to hold me any longer.
The rest of the group walked by, Maddox sliding me a knowing look, as if he
realized my heart belonged to the enemy and wasn’t sure how much he could trust
me.
 

I didn’t know why Lewis and I
didn’t follow. Maybe he had some compassion left after all and was giving me
time to compose myself. Hell, I should’ve just started blubbering like a baby
and hoped it made him feel guilty. I was well on my way to sobbing anyway.

I dared to look up at him
through my blurry gaze. Did he feel anything for me? Anything at all? “He’ll
erase my mind now?”

Lewis swallowed hard and nodded.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered. Then, shockingly, he cupped the sides of my face and
brushed the tears away with his thumbs. And it hurt even more, knowing that he
cared, but not enough.

I jerked backward. “Don’t touch
me.”

He closed his eyes, as if my
words caused him pain. Well, too damn bad. “I’m sorry, Lewis. I’m sorry I
couldn’t be the person you wanted me to be. I’m sorry I couldn’t believe what
you believe.” And I was sorry, but obviously not enough or I wouldn’t be
willing to go through this ordeal in order to be free of them. I knew it and he
knew it.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t
apologize.”

For one long moment we just
stared at each other. And I wanted to hate him, and I wanted to walk away, but
I couldn’t, knowing this would probably be the last time we would be alone. “I
don’t want to forget you.”

He was silent for one long
moment, but his eyes, Lord, his eyes showed his emotions. “Deep down, you won’t
forget. I know it.”

He stepped closer and slid his
finger under my chin, tilting my head back. I saw the longing there, in his
gaze, a longing that tore at my heart. When he lowered his head and pressed his
lips to mine in a soft, gentle kiss—our last kiss—I didn’t push him away, I
didn’t slap him like I should have. The other’s had disappeared into Aaron’s
study. We were alone. For this brief moment I could pretend everything was
normal.

All too soon Lewis pulled back
and I forced myself to let him go. But mostly, I forced myself not to beg him
to help me. I would be brave.

“I have to believe you won’t
forget,” he said.

And I wanted to believe as well,
but I didn’t have such grandiose hopes. And I couldn’t, in good conscience,
even pretend that I believed all would be well.

“Lewis,” Aaron called out, his
voice sounding oddly compassionate. But no, it must have been wishful thinking.
Aaron was nothing but a monster. A monster who was ending our last moment
together.

I didn’t bother to look at the
man who would steal my memories. Instead, I kept my gaze pinned to Lewis, even as
he stepped away from me, his face shifting once more into that hard,
emotionless man I didn’t know. It was over. Our moment gone. Lewis gripped my
arm, his attention forward as he marched me to Aaron’s study.

With its warm colors, the room
was just as comfortable as I remembered. Leather chairs next to a large desk.
Book shelves and a large fireplace. And I remembered my first night here—the
dreams that I thought were being fulfilled—and I felt like such an idiot for
believing.

Everything in this room was the
same, except for the large wooden chair in the middle of the floor. A chair
much like the chair Maddox had been tied to. Even though there was nothing
particularly scary about that chair, it had me sweating.

“Pay attention,” Aaron said, his
gaze pinned to Maddox. “Because you’ll be next.”

Maddox didn’t look concerned as
two guards pushed him into the sofa, and then trained their guns at his head.
The man merely growled low in his throat. I wished I could be as defiant.
Instead, I was shaking as I was pushed gently into the chair.

“Tie her up,” Aaron demanded.

“No!” I shot from the chair,
desperately seeking Lewis.

Strong hands gripped my upper
arms, drawing me to a stop. Lewis averted his gaze, his face flushed red.
Lewis, the man who supposedly loved me, didn’t protest as two guards roughly
jerked me back into the chair. He didn’t protest when I cried out, twisting and
turning in a lame attempt to break their hold. And he sure as hell didn’t
protest as one guard held my arms while the other tied my legs to the chair.

“No!” I screamed, throwing a fit
Emily would have been proud of. “You get off tying up a helpless girl?”

The two goons didn’t reply,
merely backed up a space, transferring their attention to Maddox, who had gone
slightly pale, perhaps remembering his own time locked away and realizing he
would be next. I met his gaze, hoping…heck, I didn’t know what I was hoping. He
was as helpless as I was.
 

“Sorry, Sweetheart,” he said
softly and I knew he was apologizing for not being able to help. I wouldn’t cry
in front of them.

“It’s for your own protection,”
Aaron said. “I need you to keep as still as possible.”

I narrowed my eyes into a glare.
Vaguely, I was aware of the door opening, of Deborah stepping inside with a
small case in hand, but I had eyes only for Aaron. I seethed hatred and hoped
he felt it. I wouldn’t let him know that nausea churned in my stomach, bile
rising in my throat.

“Is this what my father would
have wanted?” I asked.

Was it my imagination or did he
actually flinch?

Hope swelled within me, tempting
and sweet. I’d found a weakness. I shifted, the binding around my wrists
burning the skin. “My father trusted you—”

“Your father would have wanted
me to do what was best for everyone.”

His words hurt to the core,
worse than Aaron, or even Lewis’ betrayal. He was implying that my father would
have given me up if it was for the good of the whole. I couldn’t believe that;
I wouldn’t. They could do what they wanted with me, but they would not take
away the belief that my father had been a good man. I closed my eyes and
lowered my head. In the struggle, my hair had fallen from its ponytail and hung
in a protective curtain around my face. I wouldn’t look at Aaron. I couldn’t,
or I’d get sick all over him. And I refused to look at Lewis.

“Do it then,” I whispered.

There was a moment’s silence as
if I’d stunned them all. With a wave of Aaron’s hand, the entire world shifted
back into focus, everything oddly brilliant. Deborah swept forward walking like
she was on a runway, that small metal case dangling from her manicured
fingertips. Aaron scooted a chair closer, sitting directly in front of me, the
spicy scent of his cologne adding to my unease.

“I’m sorry. I’m not going to
enjoy this, Cameron. It’s necessary.” As I looked into his blue eyes, so close
that I could see the black flecks around the irises, I almost believed he was
sincere in his apology. Or maybe it was Lewis, standing across the room and
making me think I was calm, but an odd sense of ease swept through my body as
if I was no longer there, but watching a play.

“Try to relax. Open your mind and
it will be less painful.”

Painful.
The word brought me back into cold reality. I jerked
forward, my wrists and ankles pulling at my bindings; it was an automatic
response. Instinct forced me to try to escape. But the bindings just rubbed
against my wrists, burning my skin. I was pathetic. I was trapped.
  

Oh God, I couldn’t prevent it
from happening.
 

“Deborah.” Aaron nodded.

Confused, I glanced at the
beautiful woman as she stopped beside me. She tapped a needle like some crazy
scientist out to do an experiment on a rat. A needle. A needle.

“Relax,” Aaron said softly,
leaning forward so that I could only focus on him. He was staring hard at me,
peering into my eyes, attempting to delve into my brain. Vaguely I was aware of
the slight sting of a needle piercing my arm, but I couldn’t seem to look away
from Aaron, mesmerized by the odd glow of his eyes. I felt the slightest nudge
on my mind and I knew it was Aaron invading but I couldn’t seem to care.
Someone, or something, was holding me captive.

Fight back.
The words whispered through my mind, a message from
God, or the universe, I wasn’t sure. It could have been a message from the
fairies for all I cared, but the words were enough to make me regain control of
my mind…if only a little.

My body hardened and my
attention refocused. I remembered why they’d brought me here in the first
place, because according to them, I was the most powerful Mind Reader they’d
met. A glimmer of hope had me reeling.

Fight back.
 

The words came again. Lewis? No,
surely it wasn’t Lewis. I was imagining his voice because I so badly wanted it
to be him. I didn’t spend time thinking about the ramifications. Instead, I let
instinct take over. I closed my eyes, and I waited…waited for him to attack.

I felt that gentle nudge again,
like someone had pressed their finger into my brain, testing its ripeness like
a piece of fruit. I forced myself to think of Lewis, the hurt of his betrayal
so Aaron wouldn’t know the direction of my true thoughts. A prickle of pins
tapped against my skull like a thousand needles in a pincushion. He’d broken in
easily enough. I cringed, gritting my teeth, forcing myself not to react…not
yet…

“Relax,” Aaron murmured.

Screw you.

I threw the thought out right
before I slammed up my mental wall. I vaguely heard Aaron’s gasp of surprise,
but I didn’t dwell on it. No, I knew he’d come back full force. I dared to open
my eyes. Our gazes locked, our minds at war. As I’d done with Maddox, I fell
immediately, swimming in the sea of his gaze. I was in his mind before he’d
even realized I had turned on him. I didn’t have time to gloat.

Full colored memories suddenly
flashed through my mind.

“Aaron, we do not speak while adults are speaking.”
A beautiful
woman was glaring down a long table at me. Aaron’s mother. I felt immediate
shame and embarrassment as the other adults watched on. I’d only wanted to
prove my intelligence but had been reprimanded.

Another memory came to mind.
“I don’t want to go to England!”
I
screamed, or Aaron screamed. He was ten, being sent to boarding school.
 

And then the memories came more
quickly…
girls, sports, classes.
So
quickly, so many memories, that I had a hard time truly seeing them. Vaguely, I
heard someone shouting, the voice odd, as if coming from outside my mind.
Lewis, I realized with a start. I started to slip, my walls crumbling.
 

Suddenly my father flashed
before my mind.
“It’s not right, Aaron,”
he said, his face flushed furious.

“The vaccine isn’t working!”
Deborah called out, her voice mingling with the memories so I wasn’t sure if
she was real or not. I ignored the woman and slammed that wall back up,
reaching out to Aaron’s mind and grasping onto the memory of my dad.

My father paced back and forth
in Aaron’s study.
“What you’re doing
isn’t right and I want no part…”

The memory shifted. A woman
twirling in a white sundress, her back to me. She stopped, her laughter somehow
familiar.

Slowly, she turned.

My mother...

Bam!

A thousand fists seemed to hit
my body. I gasped, my head jerking back at the impact. My eyes opened, my body
straining against my bonds. The sudden light from the lamp above entered my
pupils and momentarily blinded me. The pain faded slowly, torturously, tearing
the air from my lungs and leaving me gasping. I noticed Lewis first…pale,
trembling as he stood only feet from me, closer, but still not close enough to
help. The entire room had grown still and I would’ve thought nothing had
happened, but for their faces…surprised faces full of shock and some worry.
They knew I’d done something.
 

My gaze jerked toward Aaron who
was still sitting across from me, but now he was glaring at me with a mixture
of anger and awe. Sweat dripped down the sides of his handsome face; his
nostrils flared as he gasped for air. I’d done that to him, broken into his
private thoughts. I had a feeling it hadn’t happened to him often and I
couldn’t prevent the sick sense of accomplishment from coursing through me. I
wanted to laugh. I wanted to gloat, even knowing that more pain would arrive
and I’d most likely come out the loser.