Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1 (2 page)

She caught sight of Jake near the back of the bar and relief washed over her, calming her racing pulse. She walked toward him, undeterred by the fact that he was surrounded by mostly-naked women. He hated it when she intruded on his private space, and he was not going to be happy to see her, especially when she told him why she was here. She couldn’t care less. She’d given him ample opportunity to meet her on her turf. He should have answered his damn cell phone.

She squared her shoulders, gearing up to scatter his harem, but her effort was wasted. Jake saw her coming and waved his hand. She stopped in front of him, amused by the petulant looks on the girls’ faces. One of them shot her a venomous glare as she left. Audrey arched an eyebrow in response and wondered if her brother would make the girl pay for that later. Probably. She didn’t understand the satisfaction Jake garnered from this scene—well, other than that, obviously. She understood sexual satisfaction. It was all of the paraphernalia she didn’t get, but whatever.

“Jake.”

“Aud.” She couldn’t see his eyes behind his shades, but the curve of his mouth held laughter. “Dressing down for us, I see.”

“I don’t want to give your friends any ideas.”

“Good thinking. I won’t have to hurt them for touching you.”

She rolled her eyes. “No chance of that.”

He leaned up to kiss her on the cheek. “Can I make you a drink?” he asked, drawing her down the bar to a quieter spot.

She made herself comfortable on a bar stool and waited until he sat beside her. “I’m not here to drink, Jake. Did you read it?”

As she had expected, he shook his head. “Can’t find it.”

“I brought you another copy.” She pulled the letter out of her purse.

He bared his teeth. “It’s not a good idea, Audrey. Can’t you just let it go?”

“I want to meet him, Jake. He wants to meet us. I’m going to go with or without you, but I’d rather have you there.” Playing on his protectiveness all but guaranteed he would give her what she wanted, but it also drove a wedge between them—it was leverage she hadn’t wanted to use. She reached out to tug his shades down so she could see his eyes. “You must want to know.”

He looked at her with irritation. His gaze sharpened, intensified.

She stuck her tongue out at him and jammed the glasses back up on his nose. His mental whammy never worked on her and he knew it. “Don’t you want to know if he can do it too?”

He tucked the paper into his pocket. “When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“That’s fast.”

“No, it’s not. You’ve been ignoring my calls and texts. I can’t believe you forced me to come down to your den of iniquity just to talk to you.” She stood up. “I’m meeting him at one for lunch.”

“Where?”

“Bonfire.” She gave him the warehouse district address.

“I’ll be there.”

Gratitude surged through her. She knew next to nothing about the father who had left when they were children, but history was important. Sometimes she wondered if her interest in genetics had sprung from the fact that she had so little information about her own DNA. Since their mother had been institutionalized shortly after their father disappeared, she had grown up in a vacuum, jealous of friends who could say, “I look just like my grandma,” or “I went into medicine because my father’s a doctor.”

Their foster parents had been wonderful, but she was curious about what characteristics she might share with blood relatives. Hair color? Eye color? An explanation for Jake’s talent? She was trying not to get her hopes up, but it was impossible not to wonder if there might be something special about her, too, something that might manifest later. After all, she had the same chromosomal anomaly Jake carried, just no corresponding talent. Would their father know anything about that?

She looked at her watch. Maybe she would stop by the lab on the way home and see if there were any baby mice yet. She glanced at the door.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Jake said.

“No need for that. No one in this neighborhood gives me a second glance when I’m dressed like this. I fit right in. And if they do…” She shrugged. “I’ll make them sorry.”

“A black belt is no substitute for the ability to—”

She interrupted him. “And you never let me forget it. Seriously, Jake, I got in here just fine. I’ll get back to my car okay too. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She threw her arms around her brother’s massive shoulders and gave him a grateful squeeze. “Thanks, Jake. I owe you.”

Cal watched the woman with the white-blond ponytail hug the owner of the Lair. He’d felt a pleasant jolt when she caught his eye on the way in. Velvet. Her eyes reminded him of black velvet.
What’s an all-American girl like that doing in a place like this?

“Any possibilities?” Truman asked, drawing his attention away from the blonde.

Cal sighed. “I don’t have the energy for a new sub tonight.”

“And that’s saying a lot, considering.”

Cal shot him a glare, which only made Tru grin.

“As a public service, I’ll help you sort through the horde.” Truman looked around the crowded room. “Otherwise some lucky lady will miss out on your Super Dom action, and I can’t let that happen. It would be criminal.”

“You know I hate it when you call me that.”

“But the leather fits you so well, my friend.”

Cal took a sip of the Evian in his glass to keep from reaching across the table and setting fire to Truman’s mop of orange hair. With all the styling products he had used to spike it tonight, it would go up like a torch, but rising to the bait would only encourage him. Cal decided to humor him instead. “What on earth are you casting for?” he asked. “You can’t detect synaptic insulation or conductive immunity, can you? Have you been holding out on me?”

“Nope, but I know you like a challenge, so I’m using my built-in lie detector to see who might provide an interesting distraction for you tonight.”

“Don’t bother. You can keep your psychic pimp action to yourself. I’m not in the mood.”

“So you say.” Tru rolled his eyes. “If you were any more in the mood, Jake wouldn’t need to pay his electricity bill. You are glowing, my friend.”

“Shit.” Cal slowed the swirling electrons inside him. “I guess I’ll have to work tonight after all.”

“Not necessarily. Don’t you always have a good session with a fresh sub?”

“I don’t need your help, Tru.”

“Nonsense. If you had to depend on your sparkling personality, you’d never get laid.”

“Keep talking and I will zap you. Right here, right now.”

Truman gave him a long, lazy look. “Anytime you want to walk on my side of the fence, all you have to do is ask.”

Cal crossed his arms. “You don’t have a fence. You’d have sex with a hermaphrodite.”

“And have,” Truman said cheerfully. “You shouldn’t be so picky.” He stopped scanning the room and winked at Cal. “But if you ever do decide to come to Truman, promise me you’ll wear Spandex, okay? I would love to see you rock out in some superhero gear. It’ll be like our secret sex signal.”

Cal shut his eyes and counted aloud to ten. When he opened them, Truman was looking around the room again, as if he hadn’t just propositioned his best friend in the most bizarre way possible. “Like fish in a barrel, huh?” Cal asked, trying to act normal too. “It’s almost too easy for you, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s easy. After the initial attraction wears off, I can always tell when they’re bored.”

“As if that ever happens.”

“You’d be surprised. Even I have the occasional off night.”

The blonde with the cute ponytail sailed past them again, heading for the door.

“That one,” Truman said decisively.

Cal chuckled. “Nice try. I don’t need that much of a challenge. She screams normal. I bet she just asked Jake for directions to the nearest grocery store and gave him a little hug because she was so grateful.”

Truman shook his head. “That’s what you think. Maybe even what she thinks. But it’s a lie, my friend. That little blonde, with her horrid clothes and even worse taste in shoes, likes what she sees when she looks around the room.”

“Huh.” Cal watched her walk back up the aisle, willing her to look at him again. Was that all Truman saw when he looked at her? A fashion
faux pas
that offended his metrosensibilities? Cal had only noticed the way the flickering light of the club made her white hair glow and felt the sucker punch of her ebony eyes. Was Truman telling him what he wanted to hear? Another one of his elaborate jokes?

Cal strove to appear relaxed, even as he counted her paces to the door. In ten steps, he’d lose his opportunity. Energy rose from his core to his surface. “I hate it when you do this, you know.”

“I just saved you an hour of small talk and electric blue balls. No need to thank me.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.” Cal slid out of the booth and stood up. “Why am I doing this?”

“Because I’m always right.” Truman’s lips twisted into a grimace. “It’s a curse.”

For a second, Cal was tempted to sit back down. Truman was rarely anything but relentlessly lighthearted. It was nearly impossible to get past his surface, so if he wanted to talk…

Truman pointed at the door. “Go.”

Chapter Three

Audrey hurried forward, nodding thanks to the bouncer who opened the door for her. She couldn’t resist glancing over her shoulder as her foot hit the sidewalk. The man with the incredible blue eyes was standing. She got an impression of broad, elegant shoulders encased in a black leather coat that fell straight to the floor. Really? She didn’t think that style existed outside
The Matrix.

She was definitely going back to the lab. She’d find a nice geek in a short, white lab coat and forget all about Matrix man… Maybe Jake knew his name.

No, she didn’t care about his name. Lab, now. Work.

She walked quickly down the street. She’d only been in the bar for ten minutes, tops. How had the street gotten scary so quickly? It had felt deserted and safe twenty minutes ago, but now she sensed unwelcome company lurking in the alleys. She should have taken Jake up on his offer of an escort. She could take care of herself, but it was better not to have to fight.

She glanced over her shoulder as she rooted in her purse for her pepper spray. A young man was closing the distance between them on the sidewalk. He was small, but he was definitely giving off a mugger vibe. Her fingers closed on the spray. She stopped walking. She was only halfway to the parking lot, and if she was going to have to fight, she’d rather do it in plain sight on the street.

He stopped too, eyeing her purse.

She held up her spray. “I’m not afraid to use this,” she said.

He grabbed her arm. She sprayed him in the face. He blinked but didn’t let go of her.

“Hey!” she said, twisting.

His fingers locked on her arm and he dragged her toward an alley. “No fucking way. Get off!” She threw her weight to the side, abruptly shifted and jabbed an elbow into his solar plexus, immediately following up with a punch to his jaw. She heard his teeth snap together, but he didn’t lose his grip on her arm.

She needed to create some space between them so she could use her favorite neck-breaking hook kick. “You better hope somebody sees us and calls the cops because I’m going to break every fucking bone in your body, asshole.”

He said nothing.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She focused her strength and aimed a punch at the nerve plexus in his shoulder, expecting his arm to go numb. Nothing happened. He dragged her in short bursts toward the alley.

She heard her purse hit the sidewalk with a thud. The jangle of keys. As soon as she got one hand free, she was going to break his fucking nose. She purposely went limp in his arms, making him take her full body weight. He shifted his grip.

Perfect. She faced him now, chin tucked. She lowered her arm to give her more momentum for the strike. She let him drag her another three feet while she got her feet firmly on the ground, bent her knees, jumped and hit…

Air.

Her target fell away from her as Matrix man from the bar grabbed him by the hair and lifted him off the ground. She reeled, off-balance.

Matrix man held the mugger by the throat.

“Hey, he’s mine!” Audrey reached to knock his arm aside. “Call the cops if you want to do something useful. He might be alive when they get here.”

Matrix man flinched and stepped away from her, hauling the mugger with him. The mugger wasn’t moving. He seemed frozen in place. That pissed her off even more. Now he got all cooperative? “Let him go!”

Matrix man glanced down at her with his electrifying eyes. “No.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the creep reach into his pocket. She darted forward.

Cal held the lowlife scum by the throat, sending just enough current down his arm to stun him. It was cute that the blonde wanted to finish the fight, but she hadn’t exactly been winning when he’d entered the fray. Another ten feet and she’d have been in the alley. He wouldn’t even have seen her on the street.