“Dan…” I inhaled, determined not to lose my temper. “Didn’t she mean anything to you?”
His eyes narrowed and he frowned at me.
“Graham, she means a lot to all of us but we knew from the start that she wasn’t going to stay. You can’t fall into a pit of despair over this. Shit, I should have known you were going to do this!”
I tensed, my jaw locking.
“I’m not doing anything,” I mumbled, rising from the desk. “I was just thinking that maybe we were all on the same page.”
He studied me pensively.
“Graham…”
“Never mind,” I snapped, whirling to leave. “Clearly she was just a pastime for you guys.”
“Graham!”
I paused in the doorway and turned to him, my eyes flashing.
“What?”
“Don’t do anything stupid. She’s not a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. We made it clear that she’s welcome here and she knows where to find us. You need to accept that she’s not coming back.”
“You’ve accepted that without issue,” I spat.
“Because I know that’s what Sasha wants. You can’t force her to be with us.”
“I’m not suggesting—”
“You don’t even know what you’re suggesting!” Dan interjected. “You’re only thinking with your heart.”
I had no answer for him, mostly because I knew he was telling the truth.
Instead, I stormed out of the office and headed into the kitchen, yanking open the fridge to stare inside.
I wasn’t hungry, not with the weight of Bash’s rock meatloaf in my stomach but I wanted to be closer to Sasha somehow and being in the kitchen reminded me of her.
In my mind’s eye, I saw her bouncing around the room, humming softly to herself, despite the pain in her leg, happiest in her element.
Her element was taking care of us and ours was taking care of her. We fit together. How can Dan not see that?
But I knew it wasn’t that he was blind to it. No, he was probably in just as much pain as me, even if he hid it behind the guise of work.
I slammed the fridge door shut and sank into a stool around the kitchen bar, drumming my fingers against the countertop. I could see her sprawled on her back, the seven of us on her, tasting her skin, our mouths on her as her cries bounced off the kitchen walls.
What are you doing right now, Sasha? Are you missing me as much as I miss you?
Oddly, I felt like she should answer me, like she could somehow reach out psychically and give me an answer.
I sat up then.
She wasn’t far away, not really.
Maybe I could pop by and see how she was doing.
A quick glance at the clock on the stove told me it was after midnight and such an excursion was out of the question but maybe in the morning?
I knew what the others, particularly Dan would have to say about that but did I really care?
I just wanted to make sure she was happy, safe, and comfortable.
Ah, who was I kidding? I wanted to see if she’d changed her mind and was missing us.
We’d shared something that none of us had ever shared with another woman, not even Collette. Collette had toyed with our emotions, broken our hearts but Sasha, she’d done her best to unite us and she’d succeeded—even with me who made it the most difficult.
It couldn’t be over yet. I just couldn’t accept that.
20
Sasha
The pain in my leg woke me and I instantly looked around for one of the boys but it took me a full minute to remember where I was.
Disappointment filled me, adding to the nausea in my gut as I sat up and looked toward Queenie’s bed but she wasn’t in it.
Not that I expected she would help me if I’d asked.
Not that I wanted her to help me in any way. I could take care of myself. I would just rather have someone else do it.
My brow knit with pain. It hadn’t been that bad last night or the night before but I remembered what I’d teasingly told Dan about endorphins and sex.
Looks like I’m back to old fashion pain killers now, I thought grimly, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and padding across the cracked linoleum floor toward the door. I didn’t even know what we had for pain there but I seemed to remember there was a medical kit of sorts in the bathroom. I hoped I wouldn’t have to hear sex noises from Frick and Frack when I went out there.
At least I’ll only have to listen for two minutes, I thought wryly, shaking my head as I made my way into the common area.
It was dark but I saw the glow of a computer screen in the labs. Instinctively, I paused when I realized Queenie was up and speaking to someone via video conference. She hadn’t seen me and for some inexplicable reason, I didn’t want her to either.
I hung back in the doorway of our shared room, wincing at the weight on my leg and shifted against the doorframe to take the pressure off.
I strained my ears to listen, wondering who she was talking to at that hour but it occurred to me that it was five hours later in New York.
“…doesn’t apply to us,” Queenie was saying as I eavesdropped. “No one needs to know, Silva.”
Andrea Silva was Queenie’s superior at Mirror, Mirror.
Her voice piped through the computer.
“The EPA is on my ass,” Silva insisted. “You’ve got to do better about hiding your findings. Are you sure your team is under control? What about Snow? If she gets wind of this—”
“Don’t worry about Sasha,” Queenie said with a confidence that made a chill rush through my body. “She might be lucky but it can’t last forever.”
“What does that mean?”
Queenie chuckled and shook her head.
“She doesn’t know anything about our methods yet.”
“Yet?”
“Silva, you need to trust me. Just handle the EPA and I’ll deal with Snow.”
“Is something happening over there that I need to know about?” There was a deep suspicion in Silva’s voice.
“Nope,” Queenie lied. “Everything’s great. Sasha doesn’t know what’s happening with the prototype. As far as she’s concerned, we’re here collecting samples for her useless model. I mean, how naïve does someone have to be to believe that eco-fuel is the wave of the future?”
Both women laughed and I felt my breaths growing short.
What the hell was this? If we weren’t working on my prototype, what were we doing?
“Stupid liberals,” Silva agreed. “They don’t look at the big picture.”
I could almost hear Queenie’s eyeroll from across the room.
“We’re away from civilization so no one knows about the testing. There should be a minimal affect to the wildlife if the water gets polluted but even if some minks die, no one will be the wiser and we’ll have a new chemical fuel.”
“That’s why we sent you out there, Amanda. I knew you’d do Mirror, Mirror proud. Just make sure your team is none the wiser.”
“I’ve got Hunter under control,” she smirked. “Don’t worry about Snow.”
I sank back into our room, trying to make sense of what I’d learned but what had I really learned?
I chewed on my lower lip, my heart racing. If the Environmental Protection Agency was onto us, Mirror, Mirror was doing something to harm the environment, not protect it as I had always believed.
Poisoning the water? Chemical fuel?
Bile rose in my throat and I struggled to control my emotions. I needed to do something but what could I do?
My resources were limited in the middle of nowhere but I had one resource, which was invaluable.
Alex.
With trembling hands, I pushed my way out of the bedroom, but Queenie had already logged off her video call.
“What are you doing up?” she demanded, guilt coloring her face. I forced a nonchalant look onto my face and shrugged.
“I didn’t know I needed to check in on you when I needed to pee,” I retorted, sauntering toward the bathroom.
Queenie scoffed at me but she turned her attention back to the computer and I sank inside the bathroom, my phone in my hand.
First, I dug out the medical kit and found a Vicodin which I downed without water before sinking onto the toilet lid and dialing Alex’s number.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Alex demanded without preamble. I lowered my voice to a whisper.
“I need you to do me a favor,” I breathed into the phone. I doubted that Queenie could hear me beyond the door but I didn’t want to risk it.
“What? Do you need to come home?” I could hear the stress rising in her tone.
“Not yet,” I mumbled. “But I changed my mind. I need you to start looking into Mirror, Mirror after all.”
I heard Alex inhale sharply.
“Look in how?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied slowly, keeping my words quiet. “But I think they’re poisoning the environment under the guise of doing eco-friendly research. They may even be taking government grants for this. I don’t know. That’s why I need you.”
“Sash…even if you’re right about this, I’m going to need more than just suspicions. I’m going to need proof.”
“I know that,” I sighed. “But my hands are a little tied at the moment, Al.”
“Where is this coming from? Did something happen over there?”
“I’m not sure,” I answered evasively. “I’m going to see what I can find out from my end and you see what you can do from yours, all right?”