Page 59 of Crashed

“Excellent. You have the laptop I got you for school. Go get to work. Prove me wrong. I want five authentic sources and a couple of paragraphs summarizing your findings. Go on inside and get to work.Ican find sources for everything I just told you. If you’re so certain I’m wrong, though, prove it.”

He blinked.

She smiled. “What are you waiting for? Research. But ... ” She let her smile widen. “The information has to come fromlegitimatewebsites—medical websites. Scientific journals with verified sources. You think you can handle that?”

“I ... ” He snapped his jaw shut, still glaring at her. “What’s the point? You’ll argue nothing I show you is real anyway.”

“Why don’t you just give it a shot? I expect the data to come from colleges and schools of medicine, research studies ... but if you don’t think you can...”

“Did I say I couldn’t?” He jerked a shoulder. “I know how to research shit. I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t figure you were. When you fail to prove me wrong, you will apologize to Aaron. And regardless, you’re on kitchen duty for the next three nights on your own—you don’t get cause people hurt in my house and get away with it.”

His mouth folded into mutinous lines.

She had a feeling he wouldn’t be doing those chores.

It wouldn’t be the first time one of the kids in the house refused.

That was fine.

She’d waged these wars before.

“Go on inside.” She held his hard, angry glare. “Into your room. You should get to work—you’ve got to prove me wrong, right?”

He curled his lip and stormed off, not saying another word.

Travis waited until the door slammed shut before he spoke. “When did you develop such an interest in genetics?”

“Not long after Aaron moved in,” she said, sliding a look at him from the corner of her eyes. “His mom had supervised visits for a little while. Nothing shuts up a religious fanatic quicker than calmly pointing out the scientific flaws in their arguments. She kept trying to argue he was acting against God’s design and I pointed out that only God knows Aaron’sdesign, and onlyGodand Aaron know what’s going on in Aaron’s head and body so maybe she should shut up and mind her own, then I went on to tell her about some of the info I just laid on before Jacob. I think her brain was melting by the time I was done.”

He prowled a little closer, all long, lazy movements that had her heart fluttering in a rhythm she recognized all too well. He’d done this to her before, back when they were teenagers. Only he’d become more potent.

That deep brown hair, so dark it was nearly black, fell into his eyes and he absently brushed it back as he stopped just a foot away, so close she could smell the warm, masculine scent of him, the salt of the sea, something woodsy and fresh ... either his soap or shampoo, and under that, the musky scent that was him.

Her mouth was watering, and her hands itched to touch.

She shoved them into her pockets. “I’m sorry about Brooklyn ... earlier. She’s too damn smart for her own good.”

“It’s okay. She’s a cute kid.” He reached up.

She stiffened.

He hesitated, then, slowly, as if giving her a chance to back up, he brushed his thumb over her cheek, gently, a soothing touch. “Something’s made you sad, Iz. Is it me?”

Her throat went tight and she thought about telling him yes, telling him she’d changed her mind, that she wanted him to go.

But her heart raged in refusal. No. He couldn’t go.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“We’ve never lied to each other,” he murmured.

“Didn’t we?” She caught his wrist, clinging to it. She’d meant to push him away—at least, that was what she’d told herself. But she didn’t do anything of the sort. She held on, staring into eyes of a blue-green so intense, it was hard to believe they were real. “There were a hundred little things I never told you. There are things you’re not telling me now ... things I haven’t told you.”

“Lies of omission.” He shrugged. “Not exactly the same thing.”

With a ragged sigh, she broke away and turned her back. Putting a few feet between them, she said, “Okay, yeah. But I’m not ready to talk about it. Not with you. I don’t know if I ever will be.”

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