The Mech Who Loved Me(116)

"Oh, we're just... we're-"

He slid a hand over the small of Ava's back. "We're negotiating where we are in this relationship," he told them, "but we haven't had much of a chance to sit down and discuss it yet."

All three of them blinked at him. Then Xander arched a brow. "No wedding bells then?"

Yet.

Ava choked on something, and Kincaid shot her a look. She looked horrified, but not at the notion, he thought. More the idea of even mentioning it when things between them were so unsettled.

Maggie slapped the back of Xander's head. "Why did I marry you again?"

"What did I do?" Xander protested.

"Maggie, want to see if you can boil a pot of tea for Ava?" Kincaid suggested, gritting his teeth. "We've been running all over London today, and I haven't taken very good care of her."

"Tea?" Maggie looked momentarily stumped, though she was clever enough to realize when he wanted to talk to Xander alone.

"Ava doesn't drink blood," he replied. "She's working on a formula to sustain herself, and she prefers tea."

"That's not technically true," Ava said, meeting his eyes. "I had... a little blood in my tea the other day."

He looked at her sharply.

"Someone once asked me how I could expect him to accept me, when I couldn't even accept myself," she told him a little proudly, and it felt like she kicked him in the ballocks.

He'd driven her to that? He felt a little ill.

"Well, I'm not going to lie to your friends," Ava pointed out, noticing the uneasy looks they gave her. "Or you."

Maggie arched a brow, but nodded. "I can do tea. If you want blood you'll have to go elsewhere."

"Oh, no, I really don't prefer it-" Ava babbled as she scurried after Maggie.

And then he was alone with Xander, still feeling like Ava had pulled the rug from under his feet.

"Bloody hell," Xander said, sitting on a barstool and crossing his arms over his chest. "I honestly don't know what to say."



       
         
       
        

"All I'm going to do is suggest you treat Ava as you'd expect me to treat Maggie." There was a hint of growl in his voice. She'd defended him against Byrnes this morning, after all.

Which was a hell of a thought.

Xander held his hands up. "I'm not saying I dislike her. She's... not what I imagined, is all. She's your complete opposite in every way." He looked disgusted all of a sudden. "She looks like she'd faint at the sight of blood."

"She's a crime scene investigator for the Nighthawks, and sometimes performs their autopsies. She won't faint, but she'd probably screw her nose up." He drummed his mech fingers on the bar. This wasn't an easy question to ask. Before he started working with COR, he'd not have flinched. These were his people; his friends. But he suddenly felt the distance between them, as though he was no longer that man.

What would he do if Xander knew something about what the humanists were up to and wouldn't tell him?

Or worse, lied to him?

"Spit it out," Xander said. "You've clearly got something on your mind."

"What would you do," he asked Xander, "if you saw Maggie almost dying in front of you, and there wasn't a damned thing you could do about it?"

Xander flinched. "I don't know. Jaysus, K. That's a brutal thought."

"Because I do know what that feels like. A couple of days ago, I watched Ava come so close to dying it was a thin line. And it tore me to pieces. I can't let that happen ever again, do you understand?"

Xander nodded.

Kincaid rested his elbows on the bar, swallowing hard. "I hinted at a weapon that could destroy blue bloods the other night. Someone used it on Ava. And I'm wondering if I can trust you with information that could get the woman I love killed. I need to know you've got my back on this."

There was a long moment of silence. "You're starting to worry me. Why does it feel like you want answers from me I might not want to tell you?"

"Because I do. I need to know what's going on in the humanist circles these days. I know you and Maggie are in the inner circles still. She mentioned the riots, and I warned her to stay out of them."

"What's this got to do with your weapon?"

"Because I think the people who have their hands on the weapon are using humanists to stir a war."

"I might have heard something...." Xander swore under his breath. "But you're asking me to betray my men to the blue bloods, K. Jaysus. I don't know if I can do that."

Since when have we been on opposite sides?