“Not to the plants,” Teddy commented.
“I’d take the daily injections to be able to snuggle a cat,” Caleb remarked.
“We should eat,” Seth said, taking my arm.
I flinched, ripping away.
“Vince?” he asked.
Forcing a smile, I slipped my arm around his and leaned into him, closing my eyes and breathing in his citrus scent. My Seth. Everything would be better with him beside me.
“I want french fries so bad,” Caleb said, moving toward the dispenser. “But with my drakcol tastebuds, they probably wouldn’t be as good anymore.”
“Why don’t you try?” I asked.
“Because there’s not a fast food drive-thru,” he replied with a laugh.
I shook my head. “You all really lack imagination. NAID, do you have a recipe for french fries?”
“Yes,” it replied.
“Can you make them with the closest substitutes?”
“Yes.”
French fries appeared in the dispenser. I took one and ate it. The fry didn’t taste quite right, but fuck, it was heaven. I faced the other humans and smirked at their shocked faces. “You’re really lucky I’m here.”
“Mine,” Caleb squealed, taking a handful. Teddy and Seth weren’t far behind him, making me chuckle, but I pulled away, hugging my middle. We shouldn’t be as desperate for french fries as we were. None of us should be here. None of this should’ve happened.
Time might not be able to be unwritten, but maybe I could just forget it all. That’s what going home meant, right?
Chapter 8
A bonding experience.
“Why are we doing this?” I asked, my voice almost at a whine, as Seth put what looked like a vest with wires and nodes and techno shit on me. He tightened it, and I shivered from the slight touches of his fingers. It wasn’t all fear or disgust either; it was need, want, attraction. Also, just bone-deep longing. It had been far too long since someone had touched me pleasantly, and I was starved for it. For Seth especially.
How did he not understand what he did to me?
Seth grunted, tightening the straps. “Because I love experiences. It’s a kind of immersive shooter game that Kal and I play. It’ll be fun for all of us. Team Human, I guess.”
“Aren’t all the humans on Team Human? That’s what Caleb says.” He’d inducted Camden and Brad into Team Human almost instantly, because they’d decided to stay. I hadn’t. I was waffling. Leave or stay? Seth and Teddy or unwriting the past? Nightmares or peace?
“Fine. Because I want you and Kal to get along,” Seth said, his hands slipping into his hoodie pockets. When I opened my mouth to lie, he said, “Don’t pretend. I noticed. It was fairly obvious.”
Thathe noticed. Fuck Kal.
“He’s not Travis, Vince. I promise. Kal has never hurt me and he won’t. Not ever. I know you’re worried. You wouldn’t be you if you weren’t worried, but he’s not him.”
“I’m trying to protect you. He has a temper.”
“He does,” Seth said. “So do you, if I remember correctly.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“Neither will Kal.” Seth tugged me into a hug, and after the initial flinch, I settled into his embrace, burying my face against his shoulder to inhale his citrus scent.
I rubbed my cheek on the soft hoodie, so unbelievably pleased he was wearing one. At the height of Travis being the ass that he was, he’d controlled everything Seth wore, which meant no hoodies. Seth had reclaimed that part of himself, and I was so damn proud.
