First published in Great Britain in
2013 by
Simon and Schuster UK Ltd
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Sarah Alderson 2013
This book is copyright under the
Berne Convention.
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identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by her in
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78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988.
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CONTENTS
Tormenting Lila
Three days later
Meet Ren, Tyler, Parker and
Jesse this summer in The
Sound, out August 1st.
Prologue
1
My eyes flew open.
Alex’s lips stilled instantly
against my neck. ‘What?’ he
murmured, his hand reaching
automatically for his gun,
which was lying on the
nightstand.
I shook my head.
‘Nothing,’ I said, forcing
myself to smile at him, all
the while trying to throw off
a gnawing sense of disquiet.
Alex paused for a moment,
studying me. I turned away
from his scrutinizing gaze
and focused on the semi-
automatic he was gripping in
his hand. With a quick flick
of my eyes the gun went
skidding out of his palm and
tumbled into the drawer of
the nightstand. I slammed it
shut and turned my attention
back to Alex.
He raised an eyebrow at
me, his blue eyes sparking in
amusement.
I had tried arguing with
Alex about the need to carry
a gun. We were no longer
being hunted by the Unit
after all, and he was no
longer a Marine employed by
said Unit to hunt people like
me down and contain them.
Therefore, my reasoning
went, a gun was no longer a
necessary part of our lives.
But old habits died hard. And
Alex refused to be parted
from it. He kept it on him
night and day, and I’d caught
him several times lovingly
oiling the parts and checking
the firing mechanism when
he thought I wasn’t looking.
It had reached the point
where I was seriously
starting to envy the gun.
Although Alex hadn’t said
anything I was beginning to
wonder if his keeping the gun
to hand was less out of habit
and more about something
else. The thing was, I didn’t
want to contemplate what the
something else could be. The Unit was out of action as far
as I was concerned. Richard
Stirling, the man behind it,
was missing, hopefully
blown to smithereens along
with all his research. His
daughter was behind bars –
something which made me
smile from ear to ear and do
a little happy dance every
time I thought about it. The
world was full of rainbows
and unicorns and Alex loved
me. Why focus on the
negative?
Alex’s gaze fell to my lips.
I cut my eyes in the direction
of his hand, still resting on
the nightstand and tugged it
towards me, directing it to
Alex laughed under his
breath, pulling me closer
against his chest. ‘We’ve
talked about this, you don’t
need to force me to do
anything involving you,
Lila.’
I gave him a look. That
wasn’t strictly true and he
knew it. But I’d given up
trying to argue with him.
There was only so much
rejection my ego could take.
With Alex’s body warming
mine and his hands starting
to move of their own freewill
along the length of me, my
ego and every other part of
my body felt soothed. I gave
myself into his kisses, letting
them consume me.
It had been precisely
eighty three days since our
first kiss in that seedy motel
near Palm Springs, and the
feeling I got each time
Alex’s lips came near mine
(OK, when any part of his
anatomy came near mine)
still persisted. It felt like all
the air in the universe had
been switched for a
combination of helium and
laughing gas.
But then it was back . . .
just as I was starting to feel a
groan building in my throat
the niggling sensation
returned – a prickling of the
skin, a tightening of the scalp
– that served to distract me
from the very awesome
pleasure of running my
fingers along the hard slab of
muscle that was Alex’s
stomach.
With a sigh I rolled out
from underneath Alex and
glanced up at the ceiling.
‘He’s here. I know it.’
Alex groaned and rolled
onto his front, pressing his
face into a pillow.
I couldn’t help but smile
triumphantly at his back. It
was infinitely satisfying to
see Alex’s self-control
finally starting to erode. Up
until now his resolve had
been nuclear-bunker tight.
There was no chink in it
(believe me I’d searched).
After spending six weeks
sailing the Mexican gulf on a
super-yacht and trying to find
a way past it, I’d finally
resigned myself to the
situation. I was going to be a
virgin until I turned eighteen.
Alex had started off by
claiming it was to do with
California State
Law but
when that excuse had worn
thin (given we were in
international waters) he had
eventually admitted that Jack
might have had something to
do with it too.
Turned out my brother
held more sway than a
Supreme Court judge when it
came to laying down the law
on Alex laying a finger on
me. I pushed the thought of
Jack away. Dwelling on it
was risky. Last time I’d been
annoyed at Jack I’d almost
caused a tidal wave.
I hopped out of the four-
poster bed and crossed to the
window. ‘Let me just call and
check then I’m all yours,’ I
said to Alex, already dialling
Nate’s number.
Alex mumbled something
into the pillow, which
sounded like ‘You’re
paranoid.’
‘No. I just know Nate,’ I
answered ruefully as the
phone began ringing in my
ear. And I knew how far Nate
would go to get a sneak peek
at Alex naked. Almost as far
as I would. Being able to
astrally project out of his
body and fly anywhere in the
world unseen, however, gave
Nate an unfair advantage.
I pulled the curtain aside
and stared out at the blue
rippling expanse of the
Sound in the distance. It was
strange being on dry land
after six weeks at sea, and
even though I missed seeing
my mum and dad every day, I
had to concede it was nice to
finally have some alone time
with Alex. Whenever we had
together on the boat,
inevitably Jack would appear.
It had begun to feel like we
were lovers in a Victorian
novel, with Jack playing the
part of the interfering
chaperone. Now it wouldn’t
be long before the summer
was over and life went back
to normal – whatever that
meant – so I wanted to make
the most of the time we had
left. What luck, I thought,
admiring the four-poster bed
and the fluffy robes on the
back of the door, that Jack
was a thousand miles away,
playing Jack Sparrow in the
Gulf of Mexico.
There was no answer from
Nate, which made the alarm
buzzing in my head double in
volume. I hung up and
dialled Suki.
She answered on the third
ring.
‘Hello?’ she said
tentatively. In the
background I could hear
seagulls.
‘Suki? Where are you?’ I
asked.
Suki cleared her throat.
‘Atlanta,’ she said, though it
came out sounding more like
a question than an answer.
‘Where are you? ’ she asked.
I narrowed my eyes at the
horizon. Suki could read my
thoughts, even over the
phone, so there was no point
in lying. ‘I’m in Nantucket
with Alex.’
‘What are you doing
there?’ she asked lightly. The
sound of seagulls cawing in
the background grew louder.
‘We had to come to
Boston. Alex had an
interview at Harvard. So we
decided to spend a few days
in Nantucket before we fly
back to LA.’
‘I thought he was going to
accept the place at Berkeley.’
‘Still deciding,’ I said,
turning to look at Alex over
my shoulder. He had rolled
over and was watching me.
My gaze fell to his chest and
I almost lost my train of
thought. I turned back to the
window. ‘Listen, is Nate with
you?’ I asked Suki,
remembering why I was
calling in the first place.
There was a pregnant
pause on the line.
‘Err, yeah, he’s um . . .
he’s just . . . in the
bathroom.’
‘You sound like you’re
outdoors.’
‘Um, well, he’s peeing in a
bush. We went for a walk.’
‘You went for a walk?’ I
asked sceptically, an image
of Suki in her standard
uniform of six-inch heels and
figure-hugging couture
flashing before me.
‘Yes. Nate’s grandma was
driving us mad. I am tired of
being Nate’s beard.’
‘His what?’
‘His beard. It’s what they
call a girl who acts like the
girlfriend of a boy who likes
boys to hide the fact he
doesn’t like girls.’ She took a
deep breath. ‘I don’t want to
be a beard any more,’ she
said petulantly.
She had a point. Nate
clearly needed to come out
the closet to his grandmother.
‘He’s not in the closet.
He’s in the bathroom. I told
you,’ Suki complained.
‘I though he was peeing
behind a bush?’
‘Yes, that’s what I said,’
Suki said, her voice sounding
muffled.
‘OK, listen I have to go,’ I
said.
‘Say hi to lover boy,’ Suki
giggled. ‘Oh, and Lila, wear
the green dress tonight, that’s
his favourite. It might even
get you to fourth base. It had
better, because frankly Nate
and I are tired of waiting for
you guys to do the jiggy
jiggy.’
I pulled the phone away
from my ear and stared at it
speechless, wishing my
powers worked long distance
so I could throw something
heavy at her head.
‘Why am I friends with
you?’ I demanded.
‘Because you love me,’
answered Suki, sighing
happily, before hanging up
on me.
I turned back to Alex,
ready to jump back into bed,
but he was already standing
by the door, pulling on a T-
shirt. ‘Come on,’ he said.
‘Let’s go. We’re wasting this
beautiful day.’
My shoulders slumped.
Alex had obviously located
the chink in his armour while
my back had been turned and
cemented it closed.
‘Let’s rent some bikes and
hit the beach,’ he said,
throwing me my bikini.
Miller’s Bike & Boat Rental
was set a little way out of
town and by the time we got
there it was nearly midday.
Outside stood a row of bikes,
and several oars leaned
against the wall. We pushed
open the door, the bottom
half of which was boarded up
with a sheet of wood, and
wandered inside.
Behind the counter sat a
boy of about nineteen. The
first thing I noticed was that
he was reading American
Psycho, the second that a
heavy-looking wrench sat on
the counter right beside him.
‘Hi,’ Alex said.
The boy looked up from
his book, his shoulders
tensing and his hand
twitching straightaway
towards the wrench. Seeing
us though he relaxed, laid
down the book and hopped
off his stool.
‘Hey, what can I help you
with?’ he asked with a smile.
‘We’d like to rent some
bikes,’ Alex answered,
glancing around at the
display inside the store.
The boy immediately
crossed to the row of bikes
running down the centre of
the store and asked whether
we wanted hybrids or road
bikes, at which point I
switched off, not having a
clue what the difference was.
I was much more interested
in the pile of books I could
see on the counter so I left
Alex to it and edged over
towards the desk.
There was a pile of well-
thumbed novels stacked up
beside the till, including my
very favourite David
Mitchell and a few
biographies of musicians.
Behind the counter was a
door that stood propped open,
revealing a storeroom filled
with bike paraphernalia and
fishing equipment. A guitar
stood leaning up against a
crate. I glanced over my
shoulder at Alex and the boy,
who were now busy chatting
as they did something to the
handlebars of one of the
bikes.
Although generally I only
had eyes for Alex, I would
have to be blind to not notice
how good-looking the boy
was, with dark hair and light-
brown eyes and the kind of
lean but muscled body that
fitted white T-shirts were
made to show off. I could
just imagine him playing
guitar in a band, or posing on
the front of Rolling Stone. He was exactly the kind of guy
who Nate and Suki would
bust a gut lusting after. I said
a prayer of thanks that they
were in Atlanta, a thousand
miles away.
I turned back to the
counter and picked up a flyer
from a pile sitting beside the
books. It was advertising a
music night at a place called
The Ship.
‘Take it.’
I turned around. The boy
was standing behind me,
wiping his hands on a greasy
rag. ‘It’s tonight. Should be
good.’
‘Is it your band?’ I asked,
holding up the flyer.
He gave me a curious
smile, probably wondering