Page 29 of The Hardest Hit

“I like anywhere that isn’t here. I’ve always wanted to travel abroad but never had the chance.”

“Never?” His eyebrows flew upwards in surprise.

“Well, I could have gone with some friends when I was in college, but my grandparents disapproved and, since they were the ones paying for college, that was that.”

“Mm,” he nodded his understanding.

“And then Clark said he’d go with me to Mexico.”

“Clark?”

“Cheater. I got my passport and everything, but it turned out he lied about that like he lied about everything else.”

“I don’t like Clark,” he said.

“That makes two of us,” she said, smiling at him. “I think the thing that pisses me off the worst is that I knew I didn’t… I didn’t like him. I let myself love him, but I didn’t actually like him very much, and then I found out that he cheated on me and I felt so stupid. I should have dumped his ass a year before. I shouldn’t have wasted my time on someone that wanted me to…”

“Wanted you to what?”

She floundered, realizing that she’d wandered into a thorny topic.

“He never liked my Dark Phoenix costume and never wanted me to go ComicCon. And he didn’t want me to use my title.”

Evan was frowning at her. “Why not?”

“He said I wasn’t a real doctor, like a medical doctor, so I shouldn’t use my title in social situations.”

“Clark doesn’t live here, does he?” asked Evan.

“No. That was one of the attractive things about moving.”

“That’s probably good. I probably shouldn’t go around punching people I don’t know.”

Olivia laughed. “I wouldn’t mind. Anyway, my point is, that when I moved here, I promised myself that I was going to do as the wise one, Snoop Dogg, once advised: I’m gonna be me at all times.”

“Unless you’re Dark Phoenix,” said Evan with a grin.

“Well, I figure that’s like being a unicorn. Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn, then you should be a unicorn.”

Evan chuckled. “I’ve never been to a ComicCon,” he said. “I’ve never had the courage. My family is much more on the Clark side. They would not approve if they found out.”

“That is why you go in costume,” said Olivia. “No one has to know.”

Her phone burbled and she went to finally pick up her purse from the floor where she’d dropped it earlier. She put it on the table and pulled out her phone, happily aware that Evan had checked out her ass when she’d bent over.

Automated alert: refrigeration unit 246 has failed.

“Fuck!” She looked up at Evan in panic. “Fuck! The refrigeration unit failed!”

“I don’t what that means,” he said calmly.

“It means that if I don’t get my samples moved in the next hour I’m going to lose six months’ worth of research!”

“Go get dressed,” he said. “I’ll drive you to work.”

“Dressed! Right!” She started to run for the stairs, realized she was still carrying a wine glass, and ran back to set it on the table.

Twenty minutes later, Evan wove through traffic, driving through three red lights before pulling up in front of her building with a jerk.