Dates from Hell, page 11
Pausing, he glanced in the direction of her parking spot, a small frown playing about his lips, then he shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be driving just now. In fact, I don’t want you to be alone. I was planning on taking you home with me so I could keep an eye on you for at least tonight, preferably the weekend. But if nothing happens and you continue to seem fine, I’ll bring you by to pick up your car tomorrow morning.”
When she nodded her agreement, Kyle added, “Fortunately, it’s Friday, so you’ll have the weekend to recover before we have to decide what—if anything—to tell Dr. Cohen about this.”
“I thought we didn’t want him to know?” Claire asked with a frown. “I mean, if nothing has happened…”
“I don’t want John to get away with this,” Kyle said solemnly. “We could tell Dr. Cohen that he tried to turn the destabilizer on you and I arrived as he did it and knocked him out. That you managed to throw yourself out of the way when you heard it power up.”
Claire blinked with a sudden realization.
“What is it?” Kyle asked.
“I didn’t hear it power up,” she said slowly, perplexed by the fact. Usually the soft hum started while she strapped down the animal, then built to a high-pitched whine as she left the room.
“He must have powered it up before you went in,” Kyle said thoughtfully, and his expression became even more forbidding. “The bastard must have planned to try this all along. He was just waiting for a time when I was out of the lab.” Kyle cursed. “I never should have—”
Claire placed her hand over his on the steering wheel and patted him soothingly. “You couldn’t know. It’s fine. Let’s just go.”
Blowing his breath out, Kyle nodded and shifted the car into gear, then backed out of his parking spot.
“You’re okay with staying over tonight?” Kyle asked once they were out of the parking garage.
“Yes.” Claire nodded. “To tell you the truth, if something’s going to happen, I’d rather not be alone.”
Kyle gave a nod, and fell silent, leaving Claire to worry over what might result from the experiment. Nothing much had appeared to happen yet to the animals they’d tested it on. If put in front of a white background, some of them lightened in color, like a chameleon taking on its surroundings, but it didn’t happen to all the animals and it didn’t happen regularly. This didn’t seem to bother Kyle. Claire supposed he was just happy it happened at all. As John had pointed out, the animals didn’t understand what was done to them so simply might not be using their full abilities. She did understand, however, and supposed that was why John had broken all the rules and exposed her to the destabilizer.
Claire peered down at her hands, the only part of her body that wasn’t covered by clothing and that she could see at the moment. She stared at where they rested in her lap, but they looked the same as always to her. Her skin wasn’t suddenly lightening to match the white smock she wore. For a moment, she considered trying to make them lighten, but then changed her mind. She was almost afraid to find her exposure had had some effect.
“Here we are.”
Claire glanced up and felt herself relax. They were pulling into the driveway of the home Kyle shared with his twin sister, Jill. It was an old Victorian house on the edge of the city, their childhood home. Kyle and Jill had inherited it jointly when their parents died in a car accident some years back. The twins got along well enough that they’d decided to live there together until one of them married. At which point, they’d either sell the house and split the profits, or one of them would buy the other out.
Claire had been in the charming old house many times over the years. She and Jill had been best friends since grade school. Claire had slept over countless times as a teenager and still did. It was a second home to her, and she wasn’t surprised to feel relief ease through her as Kyle parked the car in the drive.
“Jill’s home early,” Kyle commented with a frown. “I wonder what’s up.”
Claire shook her head, her eyebrows drawing together with concern. After the accident that had taken their parents’ lives, Kyle had taken his half of their parents’ insurance money and invested it. Jill had used her half to purchase a little clothing store downtown. It was doing well, mostly because Jill was a very dedicated store owner, willing to put in long hours to make it work. She usually started early and worked late. Her being home in the middle of the day was unusual.
Kyle slid out of the car and started around to her side, but Claire opened the door and stepped out before he could get there to open it for her. She smiled faintly as he took her arm to walk her to the door, noting the worry still visible in his eyes as he peered her way. His concern was sweet…and encouraging to Claire. She’d had a crush on him all through high school. It had blossomed into something more since she’d started working with him. Unfortunately, despite Jill’s assertions to the contrary, Claire suspected he thought of her as nothing more than a buddy and coworker. She wished it was otherwise.
“Jill?” Kyle called out as they entered the house.
“Kyle?” Jill’s voice came from the living room. Her tone suggested she was just as surprised at his arrival home in the middle of the day as they had been to know she was here.
“Yeah. Are you okay?” Kyle led Claire up the hall. “You aren’t sick or something, are you?”
“Or something.”
Claire frowned at the weariness evident in Jill’s voice. As they entered the living room, she stepped around Kyle and peered at her friend. Jill sat balled up in a corner of the couch, her shoulders slumped and posture dejected. She was pale, her eyes red-rimmed, and she held a freshly opened container of ice cream…always a bad sign.
“What’s wrong?” Claire asked with concern as she moved to sit beside her on the couch.
“What are you doing here?” Jill asked with surprise.
“Never mind that,” Claire said. “Tell us what’s wrong.”
“Nothing,” Jill said, then sighed and admitted, “Actually, I just got dumped.”
“What?” Claire asked with amazement. Jill had been seeing a store owner named Ted Leacock for the last six months. Claire knew her friend had thought it was “the real deal.” That she’d found the man she would marry and raise babies with.
“Yeah.” Jill held up the container of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. “So I came home for lunch.”
“Oh, honey.” Claire hugged her with sympathy.
Jill shrugged. “Plenty of good men out there, and right now Ben and Jerry are being very sympathetic.”
Kyle shifted and Claire glanced his way to see a myriad of emotions cross his face, anger for his sister, a frown of concern, then discomfort.
“Well,” he said finally. “You can’t just eat ice cream, Jill. I’ll see about lunch.”
Claire watched him leave the room, then glanced back to Jill as the blond slid a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Jill,” she said quietly.
Jill shrugged. “Better now than later.”
“You’re too good for him anyway.”
“I thought you liked him?” Jill asked with a frown.
“I did. He seemed nice,” Claire said quickly. “Though he obviously had bad taste if he broke up with you…and you deserve a guy with good taste. A super guy.”
“Super guy, huh?” Jill smiled briefly, then sighed. “He wasn’t as nice as we thought, anyway. It seems I wasn’t the only woman he was dating.”
“What?” Claire asked with surprise, then understanding crossed her face. “All those late nights working?”
“Yeah. It seems he was working on a couple of other girls. Trying to decide who would be the winner in the ‘Ted’s wife lotto.’ I apparently made it to the final two, but the other finalist won out.”
“What?” Claire repeated with amazement.
Jill grimaced. “It was apparently close. So close, in fact, that he couldn’t bring himself to break the news to me until now. A week before the wedding to the winner.”
Claire opened her mouth, but Jill forestalled her with “Please don’t say what again.”
Claire closed her mouth, frowned, then shook her head. “But you two went away last weekend.”
“Yes. And have been sleeping together for the last four of the six months we’ve been dating.” Jill grimaced. “I guess I should be glad I wasn’t the winner. Who needs a jerk like that for a husband?”
Claire nodded. “He’ll never be faithful. Oh, honey. I am sorry.” She gave her another hug.
“I guess I’ll have to go to the grocery store,” Kyle announced coming back into the living room. “We’ll need lunch and supper.”
“I thought you two were going to the school reunion tonight?” Claire reminded him, peering over Jill’s shoulder. She had decided not to go herself, but the twins had planned to attend, and Claire was sure that getting out would be the best thing for her friend.
Jill snorted at the idea. “Like I’m going to the reunion without a man on my arm? You have got to be kidding. Magda would spend the entire night insulting me…the bitch,” she added on a sniff.
“And I’d rather not leave you alone,” Kyle said. He was speaking to Claire, but his concerned gaze was bouncing between her and his sister. “I need to keep an eye on you for at least twenty-four hours, though the whole weekend would be better.”
Jill stiffened in Claire’s arms, then pulled back to peer at her.
“Why? What’s happened?”
Claire merely grimaced, while Kyle said, “John zapped her with the destabilizer.”
“What?!” Claire winced at the shriek as Jill peered from her to Kyle and asked, “How? Was it an accident?”
“No,” Kyle said grimly.
“You’re kidding?” Jill looked outraged. She was one of the very few people privy to their experiments and what they entailed. “How?”
Sighing, Claire shook her head. “I had strapped in the bunny and started out of the room, but he sent me back to check on the camera. He said it was offline and told me how to move the table so I could kneel under it and check the camera alignment. Once I was there, zap,” she finished with a shrug.
“So that’s how he did it,” Kyle murmured, and she realized he hadn’t known how John had got her under the camera and therefore under the beam.
“The toad!” Jill said with disgust, tossing the ice cream carton on the coffee table.
“Yeah.” Claire sighed. Really, it was unconscionable. She could have been killed and was just lucky Kyle had got her out before any damage was done.
“Dangerous toad,” Kyle said grimly. “He was tired of running trials and decided to speed the experiment along.”
Ben & Jerry—and even Ted—briefly forgotten, Jill caught Claire by the arms and looked her over as if expecting to find her glowing green and falling to pieces. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Claire assured her firmly. “Really. I don’t feel bad at all.”
“Well, you aren’t suddenly turning the same color as the couch or anything,” Jill murmured, eyes narrowed.
Claire glanced toward the paisley couch and muttered, “Thank God.”
“Still, Kyle’s right, we can’t leave you alone this weekend,” Jill said firmly.
Claire shrugged, uncomfortable with all the concern.
“Although I’m not going to be any fun tonight,” Jill added with a grimace, then brightened, her expression that of someone who’s just had an idea. “You two could go to the reunion together, though. That way Kyle could go and still keep an eye on you.”
Claire flushed, knowing Jill was playing matchmaker. Her friend had known about Claire’s crush on Kyle for years and thought they would be perfect together. As far as Jill was concerned, the only thing keeping them apart was their own shyness. Claire didn’t doubt for a minute that Jill was trying to push them together, and while she appreciated it, one glance at Kyle’s reluctant expression told her it wasn’t working.
“Well, I’m not certain it’s a good idea to take Claire anywhere until we’re sure she’s okay,” Kyle said slowly. Turning, he moved back up the hall toward the front door, saying, “Keep an eye on her while I go to the grocery store. Okay, Jill?”
“I won’t take my eyes off her,” Jill promised.
2
“He is so not interested in me,” Claire bemoaned as the door closed behind Kyle.
“Yes, he is,” Jill said with exasperation. “I’ve been telling you that since we were all twelve. He’s crazy about you, Claire.”
“Yeah right,” she snorted. “That’s why he jumped at the chance to go to the reunion with me tonight.”
Jill tsked with disgust and snapped the lid back on the container of Ben & Jerry’s. “You two are so pathetic. Honestly. You’ve adored him for years, and he’s been following you with calf eyes just as long, yet neither of you has the balls to do anything about it. When he comes back, you should just follow him into his room, jump his bones, and get it over with. I bet the two of you wouldn’t surface until Monday…if then.”
Claire imagined what would happen if she followed Jill’s advice. She imagined Kyle coming home, putting away the groceries in the kitchen, then going to his room for something. She would follow, close the door, then…then…
Then what? Did she throw off her clothes and wait for him to do something? The only problem was, he’d likely assume her behavior was a result of being subjected to the destabilizer. Then he’d start checking her pulse and such.
What if she just walked in, closed the door, then kissed him? Claire bit her lip at the idea. He’d probably blame that on the destabilizer, too. He’d think her brain had been destabilized by the exposure. Blowing her breath out on a sigh, she shook her head. “If he were interested, he’d have done something about it.”
“Like you have?” Jill asked archly, taking the ice cream with her as she stood up. “What makes you think he’s any less shy than you are? Besides, he’s in a much more delicate spot than you. He’s your supervisor at the lab. Asking you out could be considered sexual harassment.”
Claire frowned over that as Jill carried the ice cream out to the kitchen. She’d appreciated Kyle getting her the job at the lab. While he’d gotten his bachelor of science and continued on for his master’s and doctorate, Claire—to avoid costing her parents too much money—had stopped with her bachelor’s. Since then, she’d taken courses toward her own master’s at night, while bouncing from contract position to contract position during the day to support herself and her further education. Then, last year, Kyle had gotten her a job in the lab where he was interning under Dr. Cohen. At the end of this year, she would have her master’s and Kyle his doctorate. Now, Jill’s comment made Claire wonder if she should have taken the position in the lab after all.
“The mail’s here. God, they deliver later and later all the time.”
Claire glanced toward Jill as she returned to the living room carrying a stack of mail.
“Bill, bill, bill,” Jill muttered, leafing through the envelopes. She paused at a magazine, stared at the cover, then heaved a depressed sigh. “I bet Ted would have picked me for his wife if I looked like her.”
“You’re better off without him,” Claire murmured.
“Yeah, but if I looked like her, I probably would have been the dumper rather than the dumpee,” she pointed out, dropping the magazine on the coffee table. “It’s always better to be the dumper.”
Claire peered down at the magazine, noting who was on the cover. Brooke Jordan, one of the world’s most popular—not to mention successful—models. Tall, leggy, slim, and gorgeous, the woman exuded both beauty and sex appeal in megawatts. Men all over the world would kill to be with her, and women all over the world would kill to be her. Apparently, that included Jill.
And me, Claire acknowledged to herself, then said aloud, “Well, I wish we both looked like her. Then you could dump Ted and maybe I could get Kyle. I bet he wouldn’t be so shy if I looked like her.”
Jill made a clucking sound and propped her hands on her hips as she glared down at her. “He likes you just the way you—”
Claire glanced up in question at the way Jill suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence. The blond appeared frozen, her mouth still open, and eyes wide with shock. Claire felt herself go stiff in reaction as concern welled up within her. “What is it?”
“Oh…my…God!” The words were drawn out and spaced apart for emphasis.
“What?” Claire asked, getting to her feet. She peered down at herself in a panic, afraid she’d suddenly taken on the paisley pattern of the couch, but her hands were still her hands. She peered back to Jill. “What?”
“You look like…her,” Jill said faintly.
“What?” Claire asked, her heart beating wildly in her chest. “I look like who her?”
“Like what’s-her-name. You look like that model, that—” Jill snatched up the magazine off the coffee table and shoved it in her face. “Her!”
Claire peered down and found herself staring at the photograph of Brooke Jordan. She shook her head slowly with disbelief. “I can’t—I don’t—”
“The hell you don’t!” Jill grabbed Claire by the arm with her free hand to drag her across the living room. She was muttering the whole way. “I can’t believe this. I just can’t believe it. Oh my God, this is incredible. Do you realize how incredible this is?”
Claire just stumbled along behind her, anxiety and confusion rife in her head. She couldn’t look like the model. It was impossible. Jill was playing a joke on her. That thought gave her some relief from the welter of emotions whirling through her head. Of course! That was it! Jill was playing a joke.
“Here!” Jill slammed through the bathroom door. She tossed the magazine on the counter, then shoved Claire in front of the mirror.
Claire stared at herself. And stared. Jill wasn’t playing a joke. Claire was staring into the mirror, but the stunned face looking back was Brooke Jordan’s. She tentatively touched her face. It felt normal, both in that her fingers felt like they were touching skin and her skin felt the fingers touching them, but it wasn’t her face she was looking at and those gorgeous chestnut waves were not her hair, either. Claire was a natural redhead.
