Inheritance

The memory of him dragged her away from Amber with a jolt. She jerked away from Amber’s hand and scrambled to her feet to put distance between them.

Amber looked shocked by the sudden cessation of contact. “What’s wrong?”

Reese was horrified at herself. How could she be pulled right back in like that? “I can’t be with you,” she said, her words sounding all choked up. “I can’t.”

Hurt, plain and simple, came over Amber’s face, and Reese wanted to go to her and hug her, but she didn’t allow herself to move.

“Because of David,” Amber said, her voice so low that Reese almost didn’t hear it.

“Yes.” Reese felt sick at what she had almost done.

Amber stood as well, but she didn’t close the space between them. She looked nervous as she opened her mouth to speak, but Reese interrupted her.

“Don’t say anything, please.” Reese didn’t think she could resist any more of Amber’s persuasion. “I have to go back. I can’t—I can’t be with you. That’s all.”

She turned away and started to head back up the path toward the ship. She heard Amber call her name, but she ignored it and kept walking, her legs trembling with each step. All she knew was that she had to put distance between the two of them, as much distance as possible, because she certainly didn’t trust herself.

CHAPTER 24

Reese didn’t go back to the ship. She couldn’t face David right now, not with Amber’s words still echoing in her mind. She wound up walking all the way back to the ferry, passing several armed National Guard troops on the way. She heard their walkie-talkies scratch to life behind her as they reported her whereabouts to whoever was in charge. At the harbor, two soldiers paced back and forth in front of the dock. She ignored them and sat on the bench outside the closed information booth, staring at the harbor. She kept remembering the look on Amber’s face when she said she wasn’t sorry she had fallen in love with Reese. The word love was so big, so grand. Reese didn’t know if she should believe Amber. On the one hand, it would be easier if she didn’t. Then she could ignore the L word and concentrate on being angry. On the other hand, part of Reese did want to believe her. Amber had said everything Reese had ever secretly wanted to hear, and even if the word love frightened Reese, she couldn’t deny its allure.

But what about David? Thinking about him made a new, awful ache grow inside her, one she had never felt before. She had liked him long before she had ever met Amber. She trusted him. The way he made her feel was so different from the way Amber made her feel. With David, there was a warmth and solidity and clarity that there wasn’t with Amber. David made her feel safe and respected and happy. Amber made her feel tormented and hungry. There shouldn’t be any competition. But there was.

Half an hour later, an SUV drove up to the ferry landing and David and her father climbed out. Her dad came toward her, looking upset. “Are you all right? Why didn’t you tell us where you were going? You can’t just run off like that.”

“I needed some space,” she answered, avoiding David’s gaze.

“Reese, you need to tell me where you’re going,” her dad admonished her.

“It’s not like nobody knew. I’ve been watched by the National Guard the whole time.”

Her dad sat beside her, shaking his head. “That’s not the point.”

Reese surreptitiously watched David as he turned away from them to look at the harbor. “Fine. I’m sorry,” she said. Her dad sighed, but he didn’t chide her further.

On the ferry, Reese climbed the steep steps to the deck, hoping to continue avoiding David, but he followed her up. She leaned against the railing as the boat motored away from the slip, watching as the island receded.

“Reese.”

She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. He was standing a foot away, and she noticed that he hadn’t attempted to touch her. She didn’t know what she would do if he did. She knew she could shut him out, but even the idea of it felt like a betrayal.

“Dr. Brand invited us to go with them to the UN in New York,” he said.

“She did?”

“Yeah. They want us to travel with them. They’re taking the ship.”

Somehow the invitation didn’t surprise her. “Do you want to go?”

“Yeah, I do. I think it’s our chance to speak to both sides. They need us.”

She didn’t answer. She knew she should say something, but all she could do was think to herself: You’re about to fuck this up, aren’t you? There was a strained silence. In the distance Reese heard the sound of a motorboat zipping across the water.

Finally David came to stand beside her. “Are you going to tell me what happened with Amber?”

Reese lowered her gaze to stare at the water coursing past the ferry. “We just… talked.”

“Then why are you acting so guilty?”

Her face burned. “She’s hard to deal with, okay?” Reese straightened up, shoving her hands into her pockets as she looked at him.

He studied her for a long moment. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

The intonation behind his words was clear. He didn’t believe her. She swallowed.

“Look,” he said. “I can’t help it. I don’t trust her. I think she’s trying to get back with you and—”

“Don’t you trust me?” Reese interrupted. She heard the accusation in her voice and she flinched. She had no right to make David shoulder the blame, and now she was accelerating straight toward disaster.

The vein in his temple throbbed. “Yeah, I do trust you. Are you telling me I shouldn’t?”

The wind blew her hair into her face and she reached up with shaking fingers to drag it away. “No. Nothing happened. She apologized again for lying to me, that’s all.”

“Do you forgive her?”

She had never heard him speak like this before, his voice low and controlled—too controlled. Her stomach lurched as the ferry crested a wave. She grabbed on to the railing. “I don’t know,” she said finally.

His expression was hard as a mask. “She came to Eres Tilhar’s room to tell us you weren’t coming back.”

“She did?”

“She looked pretty upset.”

“Did she say why?”

Frustration flashed across David’s face. “No. She and Eres had a moment. They did some kind of consciousness-sharing crap and I watched her look depressed and scared, and then everybody freaked out because they had no idea where you were. And then she left. It was very dramatic. And I was scared too, because I didn’t know if you’d gone somewhere on your own or if someone had taken you. And then when we find you, you won’t say anything about what happened. I keep hoping you’ll tell me the truth, but you don’t seem to be able to talk.”

Reese wanted to shrink into nothing. She wished she could melt into the deck of the ferry and become the wood. Anything would be better than seeing David look at her as if he didn’t recognize who she was anymore.

“I know you had feelings for her, and she obviously still has feelings for you.” His eyes were shadowed with something between anger and sadness. “I just want you to be honest with me.”

Reese didn’t know what to say. A thousand words were jumbled up in her head and she couldn’t form a sentence out of any of them.

Gritting his teeth, David turned and headed back across the deck toward the stairs.

“David, wait!” She went after him, determined not to mess this up, not like this, and she grabbed his hand. Jealousy jolted through her, fierce and bitter, and she nearly dropped his hand in shock.

He jerked away from her. “What?”

“You’re not like that,” she said, desperation rising in her. “You’re not like this.”