Dangerous Games

Things seemed to be correcting themselves. Coming home and finding Alexis waiting to kick my ass was a step in the right direction. Natalie was coming home at a reasonable time and seemed to be avoiding the bars. Something had happened between the two. Their noise seemed… synced. I couldn’t quite describe how, but it was there. The effect only lasted a few days, but it had been eerie not being able to identify one from the other via their noise. Even after, their noise had shifted. Nothing I could point to, but there was something different about them.

My relationship with Chloe was steadily improving. I was learning more about her every day. Even when we sat in silence on the roof, her presence alone was enough. I was getting more sensitive to her noise as well. No matter how large a crowd we were in, I could always pick it out among the wall of noise. Chloe was changing as well. There were times when negative emotions still took hold, but she seemed happier now. Beyond the euphoria that was a fixture of her noise, certain things didn’t cause the negative feedback they once did. She seemed more willing to accept my compliments. Maybe she even believed them now. Little by little, I was helping her rebuild her self-image.

I only wish she could see herself as I saw her.

“Your meals are improving.” That earned a smile as pride and jubilant feelings radiated through her noise.

“Been practicing.”

I took another bite of the sub she had made as I listened to her talk about school. Going over things with her after school was paying off. She was following along in class and understanding what the teacher was talking about. I watched her noise as she spoke, taking comfort in what was there. When lunch was almost over, it was like the sky turned overcast. She sought out my hand as we sat in silence, her head resting against my arm. I lost myself in her noise, letting it surround me. It prevented me from detecting the interloper until the door opened.

Adam swaggered out onto the roof, hands in his pockets. He had a friendly smile on his face. Alarm spiked in Chloe’s noise as she scooted away from me, releasing my hand.

“Well if it isn’t the two lovebirds.” His Gift probed my defenses. I could see the subtle shift in Chloe’s noise, her body relaxing slightly. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything important.”

“What do you want, Adam?” Her voice seemed resigned. The irritation that was there before had been smoothed out by his Gift.

“Just here about today’s appointment.” He looked at me as he finished, trying to get a reaction out of me. My face remained as passive as ever, though I noticed I had grabbed her hand again sometime since she released it.

Worry flared in Chloe’s noise as she glanced my way. “After school—”

“I have to take Hailey out after school, so I won’t have time.” The name conjured a vague face in my mind. One of the popular girls at school and his current girlfriend, I think.

Beside me, she frowned as he stood towering over both of us. “Then reschedule—”

“I have time now.” His Gift hit me hard. This was stronger than it had been last time we talked. It still shattered against my mental defenses, but Chloe—

“Now is…” She glanced at me. Her noise was fluctuating as Adam’s Gift wormed its way into her mind, smoothing out the negative emotions and making her more amendable to his words.

“A bad time,” I said, standing. He took a step back and from his reaction, it was clear that he hadn’t intended to. I felt my fist was clenched. Another **** reaction on my part. I released it, keeping my eyes on Adam. I could see the unsettling emotions ripple through his noise. Considering his Gift, this was probably a rare case of someone standing against him.

On the outside, he recovered with a smooth gesture of running a hand through his golden hair. “I get it. No one wants a third wheel.” His attention shifted to Chloe. “One grand for the inconvenience.” Again, his Gift slammed against my mind. At the same time, he pulled a roll of cash out of his pocket. He was grinning as if it was a done deal.

I opened my mouth to chase him off when Chloe beat me to it.

“Twelve-hundred.”

My head turned to her. Her eyes were fixed on the money with fanatical interest. Greed danced through her noise, amplified by her lowered defenses. It wasn’t just greed, but I also saw sexual desire and excitement infest her noise, growing stronger as Adam waved the money in front of her. I watched the way his Gift interacted with her noise. The negative emotions she felt towards him were pinched out of existence. Those too strong to remove were twisted and bent, warping into something else. It was fascinating to watch, though any interest in what was happening was outweighed by the noise being Chloe’s.

The sight of his noise intermingling with hers—

“Deal,” he said in a firm voice.

“Chloe—”

She cut me off. “Lunch is about over anyway.” Her eyes stared up at me. This was wrong. Chloe was wrong. Her noise was polluted with another Gift. It touched the euphoria lingering there and had shattered it, spreading it throughout her noise. Her body was reacting accordingly, her sexual desire increasing by the moment—trained to associate the euphoric bliss with sex. Her hand reached for mine and she gave me a smile. “See you after school?”

I almost said yes. It was Adam’s noise that caused me to hesitate. He was enjoying this. I could only assume this was what he intended. A misguided attempt to hurt me by making Chloe choose him instead of me. He didn’t care about the sex or even her Gift. This was him showing me the power he wielded.

“He can reschedule like everyone else.” My hand closed around hers. For a moment, she hesitated. A confused look washed over her face as she looked down at my hand.

“There a problem?”

“No,” she said with a step back from me, the confusion vanishing as his Gift hit her. As she stepped away, her hand went with her. Her attention was on Adam now. “No problem.” The smile she gave him told me his Gift had finally battered down the last of her defenses.

He was smiling too, but he wasn’t looking at her. “Good to hear.”

I studied him, not saying anything. He looked tired, sweat beading on his forehead as he did his best to hide his exhaustion. The effort he put into this was considerable considering when we first met, his Gift wasn’t nearly this powerful. Chloe though… her noise was all twisted up. The last time I had seen them together, he had only managed to get her to a negative leaning view. Today, it was somewhere in the positives.

I picked my next words carefully. “Chl—”

“Ah, that’s right,” Adam said, cutting me off as he turned to her. There was a quiver in his hand as he focused his Gift on her. Her eyes went to him, ignoring me completely. “About that disagreement last week. I’ll toss an extra three hundred if we do the usual.” Her noise quivered as his Gift weaved itself through her. “For old time’s sake…”

He made a show of peeling off three extra bills. Her eyes were wide, fixed on the wad of cash he held. His smile was weak and his skin clammy, but he held it in place as he offered her the money.

I turned to her. “You don’t need to—”

“For a loyal patron like you? Sure!” She snatched up the wad of cash, stuffing it down the front of her uniform. “Jake, some privacy?” She didn’t even look at me, her eyes never moving from Adam. The excitement running through her was unmistakable. Her noise was rapidly filling with desire.

“Chloe, he’s—”

She finally turned toward me, irritation flashing in her noise. Irritation that was directed at me. “I’m working right now.”

“But—”

Irritation heated to anger. “You said you would support whatever decision I made. Well, I made it.” Her expression shifted as she took on an accusing tone. “Unless you were only saying that.”

There was no winning this. Arguing with her here was only playing into Adam’s game. He had pushed his Gift to the limit, exhausting himself in the process but he got what he wanted. I stared at him. His noise was full of amusement as he enjoyed the chaos he created. His only motive here was to punish Chloe because she dared go against his wishes. What better way to punish her but by driving a wedge between her and the guy who cared about her?

“Jake.” Her voice was firm as she pressed her lips tightly together. My eyes left Adam to look over at her. Seeing her noise twisted like it was…physically revolting. Not to mention the anger she was directing toward me. Pushing her here would only make it worse for her later. If she said something in the heat of the moment now, she would have to deal with the guilt of saying it later.

With one last look at the smirking Adam, I turned and headed for the door.