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‘Then what’s holding you back?’

His eyes looked haunted as they met mine. ‘What if she’s too different? What if Arthur Mercer was completely made up?’

I scoffed. ‘Stop it. You know that’s not true. She’s still the same person, just with tits and more confidence.’

‘But…’

I cut him off before he could continue. ‘I didn’t know Arty as well as you did, but I knew enough to see that the only thing Artemis really lied about was her anatomy. She doesn’t have to hide now, but I doubt it would feel good for her friend to be keeping his distance because he was suddenly afraid of her.’

‘I’m not keeping my distance,’ he argued. ‘And I’m not afraid of her.’

‘Then prove it. Stop hiding and go see for yourself that she’s exactly who you knew her to be. Just knock first, because you don’t want to walk in on a mind-fuck threesome like I did. That shit was just weird.’

He let out a laugh at that, the absurdity of the whole situation finally settling in with humour rather than disbelief.

‘She’s a lot more…openthan when she was undercover,’ he remarked.

‘She’s been through more trauma than any of us could possibly comprehend. Except perhaps you and Adara. And her friend Libby, of course. But I think she’s keeping a lot of it back to save us from that nightmare. She could use a friend who understands.’

He blew out a breath. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been kind of a bad friend, haven’t I?’

I blanched at his self-deprecating. ‘No, you’ve been processing. There’s nothing wrong with that.’

‘Do you think she even still wants to be friends?’

I smacked him upside the head in an attempt to dislodge his idiocy. ‘Of course she does, dumbass. She wouldn’t go through the trouble of saving your sorry ass if she didn’t.’

‘All right, all right. No need to get violent.’ He shoved me away, but his strength must have seriously grown because it sent me flying ass over head.

‘Oops… Sorry…’

I flopped to the ground and stared up at the ceiling. ‘Damn,’ I coughed out, my breath knocked out of my lungs.

It seemed I was going to need to watch out for more than just genetically altered super kids, but the adults, too.

CHAPTER 17

Reece

Istared at the closed door to the cockpit, anxiety and nerves making my palms sweat. I wiped them on my jumpsuit and took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm myself down. I didn’t know why I was so nervous, but standing here at the precipice seemed like taking a leap off the tallest cliff. Either I was going to fly or I was going to plummet into the rocks and die a painful, gruesome death.

‘Pull yourself together, man,’ I chastised myself under my breath. ‘Just knock.’

I raised my fist to do just that, but froze before my knuckles could make contact.

‘For fuck sake, Reece, just knock,’ I berated myself again.

With more effort than it should have taken, my knuckles rapped against the door. A tick later, it opened to reveal GC Stanson.

‘Mister Hastings? What can I do for you?’

My jaw worked as I tried to get words out of my mouth. Finally, I’m able to stammer out a sentence. ‘Um, is Arty… wait, no, Artemis, I mean… Is the captain available?’

‘Reece?’ Artemis’s voice drifted to me from somewhere inside the cockpit. She popped up behind the Yu’Rom pilot, her curiosity blending with concern. ‘Are you okay? What’s wrong?’

I wanted to hate the fact that she could tell I was struggling, but her actions were proof that she was more in tune with me than I’d dared to hope. She could still read me like an open book, and there was something reassuring about that, enough to help me relax.

‘Um, nothing’s wrong. I was just wondering if you had a click to talk?’