29
Nathaniel
Istare as the woman of my dreams is escorted away by the monster of my nightmares.
“Well. Let’s hope we can put all this behind us now,” Ken says.
I turn slowly to him. I imagine my face is twisted with rage based on his flinch.
“Julia had nothing to do with any of this,” I say.But she might blame herself.She was already convinced she was an affliction. I could easily see her twisting the facts to assign herself the guilt. We had made so much progress and yet in one fell swoop my father has shaken her confidence.
“We know, man,” Jared says.
I turn to him. “What?”
“I can’t speak for everyone, but I was skeptical the moment that guy walked in that room. William Moore isn’t even associated with our contract. Then he just walks in to drop this bomb?”
“Sounds like BS,” Dylan says. “We know Julia. She wouldn’t do any of this.”
I collapse to the chair in relief. I didn’t realize how badly I needed to hear this.
“Will threatened us to get you to do his bidding. Tried to pit us against you. But even if we were kicked off the base and lost our clearances, it wouldn’t have mattered.” Jared’s left leg bounces and he stares at me with gravity. “It was never about the tech or the glory or the contract.”
“It’s always been about you, Nathaniel. Where you go, we will follow,” Kate says.
The others murmur agreement.
“You give us space to grow,” Dylan says.
“You support us,” Febin adds.
“You bring us doughnuts.” Jared grins.
I rub a hand through my hair. The emotion in the room tightens my throat. I feel more loved than I ever thought possible. How did I earn the love of this team? Of Julia? Despite all that my father has ever said, I know that means something. I am worthy of being loved. I swallow as I realize even more how he has played me, knowing exactly how to cut me.
“Julia is one of us now. You trust her and so do we. I was really about to lose my cool when he accused her of attacking some guy probably twice her size. Come on,” Jared says.
“Heh. Yeah.” I scratch the back of my neck. “Julia would never do anything to screw up this project.”
“Duh,” Dylan says. They still have their knees tucked to their chin, picking at the rip in the knees.
“We know what this is all about.” Jared crosses his arms. “Don’t forget we know all about Julia’s illness.” He holds my gaze, sending a look of understanding.
I look to each of my teammates. Their shared looks tell me I’ve grossly underestimated their observation skills, and greatly overestimated my own sneakiness.
“We just didn’t want to say anything else in front of William. We don’t trust him,” Kate said. “I just wish that Julia knew we trust her. And we don’t care about her … illness.”
“We’re all a little odd in this group and she’s always accepted us as we are.” Febin shrugs his thin shoulder. Then his head tilts in thought. “I don’t understand the point of all this,” Febin says. His mustache twitches side to side. “What could Will get out of any of this?”
“Have her take the fall,” Kate says. “He must have been sabotaging the tests somehow.”
I shake my head. “No. He wouldn’t get his hands dirty.” I think of the thugs that he sent after Julia. “Not his style.”
“Are you all quite done?” Ken’s forehead is shiny with sweat as he tosses out an arm. I had honestly forgotten that he was even here. My full focus on him as he speaks causes him to flinch back. “She just admitted to it. She really did a number on you all.”
Kate crosses her arms and tilts her head at Ken. “You’re really eager to let her take the blame when you never even worked with her.”
Ken doesn’t miss a beat. “I just haven’t been fooled. I can see her for what she is. She herself admitted she was dangerous. She brought a bat to bash the laser. She has mental issues. She needs help.”
