Lust (4 page)

Pa-tchoo!

The pack on Ed's chest made a
wee-wee-wee
noise and Ed was completely disabled. Kai could walk up to him and shoot his bull's-eye as much as she wanted, which was what she did. Knowing their ten minutes in the laser room were almost up, he let his arms flop to his sides and just surrendered. Right on cue, the buzzer signaled the end of the session.

“You got me,” he admitted. “You win. But next time, no fair enlisting munchkins to help you.”

“I'm not a munchkin,” the kid said.

“No, you're my hero,” Kai told him, and ruffled his hair. The kid gave Ed the finger and raced off to find his parents.

“What the—” Ed pulled off his laser backpack and strolled with Kai to the front entrance. “These kids today—I'm telling you, they've got no respect.”

“Yeah,” Kai responded.

“Want to go get some really cheap Chinese food? There's a place on Ninth Avenue that's got the biggest combination plate you ever saw.”

“Sure! That's cool!”

Sure! That's cool!
Ed savored the words as they danced around in his head. No sarcastic comments, no pointed references, no distractions or family emergencies or mysterious chokings. Just Kai. Ed reached over and took her hand, and she squeezed his back enthusiastically.

“So that was fun when we went to Chelsea Piers to go rock-climbing,” he said.

“Totally!”

“And I didn't realize that crazy boat ride at the South Street Seaport was so high-octane.”

“I know!”

“So what are we going to do next?”

“I've got a plan in the works. A friend of my dad's
works at a construction site, and I think he'll let us go up in one of his cranes.”

“Agh!” Ed yelped. “Do you really want to do that?”

“Why not?” Kai shrugged. “If all those construction guys can do it, I'm sure we can. You're not scared of heights, are you?

No, but . . . oh what the hell
, Ed thought. Kai was such a breath of fresh air, he'd pretty much follow her into the gates of hell at this point. After all the petty bitchery of Heather, the frustration of Gaia, the multiple-personality disorder of Tatiana, he was having the time of his life. And Kai seemed seriously into him.

Finally, he had figured out what he wanted from a woman. Fun, fun, and a complete lack of drama.

You hear that, Gaia? A complete lack of drama!

A Good Anecdote

GAIA DIDN'T WANT TO GO HOME
after all. Her run-in with Sam had rattled her, and her mistake in the park hadn't helped. Instead, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Oliver's number.

“Gaia,” he said, startling her.

“I hate that you have caller ID,”
she told him, laughing a little. “I've got to remember to block my number so you can't do that to me.”

“Sorry. I'll play dumb when you call.”

She was struck silent for a moment. A week ago she'd been wishing Oliver dead-now she was bantering over cell phone etiquette with him.

“I suppose you would have called if any of the deliveries had arrived,” she said.

“That's true.”

“So there's been no change?”

“I'm sorry, Gaia, there's been no change. I'm working on it.”

“I know.” She kicked the concrete curb. “Do you know when?

“It could be in an hour, it could be next week,” he said. “The wheels are in motion, and I'm keeping in contact with everyone. But it's a touchy situation. I don't have many friends left, it seems.”

“It'll be okay,” Gaia told him, then hung up the phone. Just as she had so many times these last few days, she found herself feeling sorry for the old psycho-killer.

This was frustrating. She had to stay off Oliver's back and let him do his job. But she was bored. School was out for the day, she'd already been to Jake's, and . . . well, she didn't have any other friends, not anymore. The afternoon and evening stretched out in front of
her like . . . like a really long afternoon and evening. She was so bored, even clever metaphors escaped her.

Saved by the bell
, she thought as her phone chirped. It was Jake. Gaia hated to admit how glad she was.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“I'm bored,” he said.

“I thought you were tired.”

“I
was
tired. Of working out. Now I'm bored and I'm going to go to the comic book store. You coming?”

“Yeah, but it might take a while. I have to take a roundabout route to the east side.”

“What? Why?”

“Long, long story. I beat up the wrong person.” Jake laughed long and hard in her ear. Gaia grimaced.

“Do you mind?” she asked. “It's not that funny.”

“Actually, it is,” he told her. “See you when we get there.”

Gaia hung up. This was humiliating. But when she thought about it, she realized that maybe it was sort of funny. Some day Attack of the Killer Kiss-Monster would make a good anecdote.

Was
that a bad idea? I'm supposed to play it cool with girls, not spend all my time with them when they pique my interest. But I
am
bored, and even though she just left my apartment, I want to see Gaia again. I'm not going to play some stupid keep-my-distance game just to prove something to my testicles. Besides, she's about to leave town to go on some mysterious mission. If I stick to the Cool Rule, I might not see her at all before she goes. Then I'd feel like a total idiot.

What the hell.

Anyway, Gaia's not a girl per se. I mean, she is, but not like any girl I've met before. She's not into shopping, she's not into gossip, but she's also not so punk rock that she hates all girlie things just to make a statement. She seems to be above it all—I mean, just outside of everything that most kids in high school think is dementedly important. It's like she's lived more
than she's supposed to already. She's seen more of the world than she has a right to at her age. And something about that—I just want to be near it. I want to soak it up.

So she won't be my prom date. I can't picture her in a dress, anyway. But girls like that are a dime a dozen. Gaia's mysterious. She's got so much going on. She's on a whole different level.

I had no idea, when I found out I was switching schools, that I'd find such a prize. It's like I'm getting a taste of the real world. And I just want more.

Feeling of Foreboding

“TRY IT ON.”

“I'm not trying it on.”

“Come on, just the hood.”

“The hood is the worst part.”

“The cape, then.”

“Jake, you're going to have to fulfill your fantasies some other way. I am not putting on that ridiculous getup.”

“I'm going to have to ask you to put that down,” the salesclerk said. Gaia was quick to oblige. Jake, on the other hand, was clearly offended by the clerk's request.

“Let's get out of here—I want to get some dinner, anyway,” Gaia said, defusing any potential “situation.” “C'mon, I'll buy you some rice and beans.”

“That's a whole dollar fifty,” Jake called after her as she strode out of the store. “I can't let you do that.”

They went to Burritoville around the corner and ordered. But just as they were digging into their Mexican concoctions, Gaia's phone bleated.

“This has to be good news,” she said. “Unless it's a wrong number.”

But it wasn't a wrong number. It was Oliver. Gaia made a few grunts of agreement, then snapped her phone shut. Her eyes were shining as she turned back to Jake.

“I've got to go.”

“But your food,” Jake said, knowing it sounded
lame, but not quite ready to watch her walk away for a week—or for the rest of his life.

“I'm not hungry anymore. I gotta go.”

“Let me come with you.”

Gaia turned to him, her forehead wrinkling. “What, are you kidding me?”

“You may as well let me. I'm just going to follow you, anyway.”

“Yeah, right. I could lose you in half a second.”

Jake gave a frustrated sigh. “Just let me come with you.”

“Jake, this has nothing to do with you!”

“I've got bullet holes in my arm that beg to differ.” The veins in Jake's forehead were bulging. “I mean, the least you could do to show your gratitude is to condescend to let me follow you.”

That shut Gaia right up. Her eyes narrowed. “I guess it's okay,” she said, shrugging. “But we have to go all the way out to Brooklyn.”

“That's cool.”

“Just . . . be careful, okay?”

Jake followed Gaia up Third Avenue, toward the L train. Oliver lived on that line, past the hipster part of Williamsburg and deep in the no-man's-land of Greenpoint.

But as soon as they got on the train, Jake sensed something was wrong. He looked at Gaia, but she was hard to read. She seemed deep in concentration. He
supposed he was just imagining things. Still, his uneasy feelings hovered like a cloud over his head as they passed stop after stop. The other people on the train seemed innocent enough. So why this feeling of foreboding?

Finally Gaia stirred as they pulled into a station. “Come on,” she said in a low voice. “Stay close to me. Someone's been casing us.”

“I knew it,” Jake muttered. “Who?”

“The cop. He's not a real cop. The badge is fake.”

Jake was astounded. He hadn't noticed that. The cop would have been the last person he'd have suspected. Sure enough, when they got off the train, the police officer followed them. He didn't say a word, just tailed them up the steps to the street, where the sky was darkening and the air was purple with dusk. Three other men stepped out of the shadows and stood around them, ranged like numbers on a clock face.

They came closer. Alarms went off in Jake's head.

It was go time.

He'd known better than to expect St. John's or Montego Bay to have any place on Gaia Moore's travel itinerary.

Fake Cop

GAIA STEPPED BACK A PACE, AND
Jake instinctively turned his back to her. If they were going to be surrounded, they could at least guard their perimeter completely. He crouched slightly, ready to fight. Then he listened, tuning to Gaia, letting her take the lead.

The moment Jake was in a fighting stance, Gaia struck. One of their attackers came too close and caught a foot in his gut. At the same time, she sent whirling fists to the other guy on her side, and Jake did his best to keep up his end of the fight. The pain in his shoulder felt like a tearing of muscle from bone, but he couldn't worry about that. Running on pure adrenaline, he mustered up all his fighting skills, combining every martial art he'd ever studied to confront the fists coming his way. He pulled the first guy toward him, using his momentum to yank him to the ground and stomp him with a kick to the head. That took care of him for the moment, anyway.

He couldn't see Gaia anymore; things were happening too fast. The “cop” was next, and to Jake's horror—especially since he now knew what a bullet wound felt like—he saw him draw the NYPD-issue pistol from its holster. He thought of Indiana Jones shooting the sword-fighter and threw himself headlong at the guy's waist, hoping he'd get there before the gun could be cocked and fired.

Somehow, he did. The guy had the flabby paunch of a cop, that was for sure—that was probably why he'd been so convincing—and Jake hit it full force, causing the guy to stumble backward. He heard the gun drop to the ground and kicked it, soccer-style, halfway down the block.

He turned and saw an amazing sight: Gaia was fully whipping the other
three
guys, all at the same time. It was like something out of a movie. Every time one got up, another seemed to fall so that she could keep fighting. He tried to join in, but wasn't sure where he'd fit. The fake cop stood up and Jake flattened him with a two-fisted punch that knocked his head against the hard wall of a brownstone. It was a lucky shot. Gaia kicked another assailant down the subway steps and turned to him.

“This is the best we're going to be able to do for now,” she said. “Can you run?”

“If I have to,” he told her. “I'd rather finish these guys off.”

“No way. No time. This is good enough for now. Come on,” she said in a hoarse staccato, and took off.

Jake had never seen anything like this. She ran like a wild animal, like she was in fast motion; it was all he could do to keep her in sight. Their attackers didn't seem to be behind him—he heard them start to give chase, but they soon stopped. Just to be safe, Gaia led them around a few extra turns, taking a long route to Oliver's
brownstone. When they arrived, she buzzed frantically, leaning on the door till it opened; Jake followed and they both dropped to the floor in the foyer, waiting.

Nothing. No pounding footsteps following them up the steps. No smash as the glass of the door was broken. No innocent-sounding buzz from their assailants, hoping to gain access without attracting attention. There was nothing.

“Who the hell were they?” Jake wanted to know.

“Some men who don't want me to—,” Gaia answered. But her voice dropped off. Jake turned, his face grazing the grimy black-and-white tiles of the floor, to see Gaia's eyes rolling back in her head as she blacked out.

“Gaia?” he said. “Did something happen? Did you get hit? Gaia!”

A door at the top of the stairway opened and Oliver came out.

“Something happened to Gaia,” Jake said, frantic now. “She passed out or something. These guys attacked us, and—”

“It's all right,” Oliver said, moving quickly but calmly down the stairs. “Come on, help me get her inside. This is what happens to her after a fight. Using all that strength saps her energy.”