Page 27 of The Genius
Shelly closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them there was a pained expression on her face. My lungs felt like someone was squeezing them in a fist. Whatever she was about to tell me, it wasn’t good news.
“Marco, I…”
I stopped breathing, afraid of her next words. Something was not right; I could see it in her eyes.
“The thing is…”
“Shelly… Marco, did you see it? My drone won.” Tristan’s voice sounded from somewhere behind me. More than a little frustrated, I turned around to meet the proud drone engineer. It was tempting to ask him to give us a few minutes, but he came jogging up with such an infectious smile that I couldn’t help but congratulate him. The moment between Shelly and me had passed and she was looking right past me to Tristan now, with a smile on her face that looked a lot like relief.
“Did you find the rest room?” Tristan asked her.
“No, we got caught up in talking about our shared past,” Shelly replied and hid her shaking hands behind her back. “I was just reminding Marco about the time he reminded me to stay out of other people’s private affairs.” She gave a small laugh. “You know how I always asked the most obscene questions back then.”
“You still do.” Tristan grinned.
“Of course, Marco was right. Privacy is important.”
This was just like the old days when Shelly would talk to someone else and make sure I was close enough to get a message that was really for me. I smiled a little, intrigued by her unique way of communicating.
“And I was just reminding Shelly that she forgot an important detail in what I was teaching her back then. There are some situations where the concern of friends takes priority over privacy,” I said in a casual tone, as if this was just a theoretical conversation.
With a happy bounce in his steps Tristan began to leave, waving for us to follow. “Come on, we’re going backstage to celebrate.”
Shelly didn’t look at me when she took a few steps toward him and stopped. “I would love to go and celebrate with you, but I don’t feel well.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. My brain was still trying to understand that this beautiful woman was the adult version of the quirky teenager I had once known. It made no sense that a person could transform this much. She was half a head taller, had filled out in the right places, and there was no trace of her bushy eyebrows or major scars from her acne.
This Shelly looked like she spent a lot of time on her looks, while the Shelly I’d known couldn’t care less about that sort of thing.
Brushing her shiny shoulder-length brown hair back, she addressed Tristan again. “Would you mind walking me to your drone? I promise to send it back to you after I get home.”
Tristan’s face fell. “You’re not staying?”
“Sorry, but I’ve got a major headache.”
“But…” He turned his head toward the VIP area and back to her. “How about we stay for half an hour and then I’ll take you home? I won’t let you go home by yourself.”
“That’s nice of you, but I can manage. I’ll be fine.”
“Please, Shelly, give me ten minutes. Hunter is waiting for me by the VIP entrance. He’s going to be disappointed if I don’t get him in.”
Shelly reached up on her toes and kissed Tristan on the cheek. It attracted attention from men passing by, and envious comments were heard from a few of them.
“You go meet Hunter and Storm. I’ll make sure she gets home safely,” I offered.
Tristan looked torn. “No, Marco, it’s okay, I’ll take Shelly home myself.”
“Hey, I was going home anyway. You might as well stay and have fun.”
Shelly had already begun walking, not waiting for us to decide. I had a strong feeling that she was hoping she could get away alone, so I clapped Tristan on the back. “Go! I’ve got Shelly.” I didn’t wait for him to agree but hurried to catch up to Shelly, who was speed walking away from us. I didn’t care if she started to run, I’d fucking catch her and get my answers.
CHAPTER 7
Answers
Shelly
I was walking as fast as I could without running. Maybe the universe would take pity on me and let me get away before Marco caught up with me.
