Page 86 of Distortion
‘See for yourself.’
He hands me the papers he’s carrying and I scan them. Red corrections mar at least two of the equations on each page. My brows rise. ‘So many errors? No wonder we weren’t getting the results we were expecting. Good job finding all these.’
‘This isn’t my copy.’ He looks pointedly at Daisy. ‘It’s hers, Blake.’
‘That’s impossible,’ I breathe. ‘She couldn’t have faked?—?’
‘Faked what?’ Mav hisses. ‘Being smart as hell?’
He paces the room. ‘She got a few that I missed while I was doing the exact same thing in the other lab, too. I don’t know what Shade’s issue is with her, what his dad’s issue is with her, but there’s no problem with her IQ. She did these in half the time it took me. Applegate was right. She’ll be an asset to us and the project if she keeps it up.’
I nod, but my mind is reeling. I really bought intoeverything Shade said about Daisy and because of that, we’ve lost a lot of ground with a potential resource. How can I turn this to our advantage? Daisy cuddles closer to me in her sleep and I try to hide my sudden grin from Mav.
‘I don’t like that look,’ Mav mutters, his sharp eyes noticing it anyway.
I roll my eyes at him, surveying the results he gave me.
‘Who did the original formulas?’ I ask, annoyance welling up in me. ‘The fucker has delayed us by two weeks at least.’
‘Marcus.’
‘Thought so. Boot him off the roster. I’m sick of his shit. He’s done in our lab.’
‘Already spoke to Applegate about it. His father owns half of Main Street, gave some cash to the program. Might be a problem to get rid of him completely.’
I make a sound of discontent. ‘Fucking rich assholes.’
The irony isn’t lost on me that Shade is the same ... Daisy too. After all, John Novelle is footing the bill for our extracurricular lab activities, though he doesn’t know it. But the difference is Shade, and I guess Daisy, are both hella smart and can do the work. Marcus is clearly useless, and always has been if I’m honest, but we didn’t have anyone else before this who was a part of the frat, and they need to be. We need the loyalty if they figure out what we’re doing, as we found out last year.
The plan I had for Daisy that I’d dismissed before rises from the ashes of Shade’s idiocy. But now I have a new goal. Well, two goals. Getting her into bed and gaining her allegiance. It won’t go as quickly as I’d originally planned, and we’ll have to make sure she doesn’t find out too much too soon. But I’ll have what I need. Time. Daisy will be mine sooner or later, and she’ll remain that way until we don’t need her anymore.
I focus back on Mav. ‘We’ll just have to make sure everything Marcus does is checked. Daisy can do it.’
Mav’s frown as he looks down at Daisy is thoughtful. ‘Who is this girl?’
I smirk. ‘I have a better question. Which one of us is gonna tell Shade his sister is going fucking nowhere?’
‘I vote one of the pledges,’ Mav snorts and turns to leave.
‘You going to put her in her room?’ he asks, looking back with more than a little suspicion in his expression.
‘When I’m ready.’
‘You shouldn’t get involved with her,’ he mutters. ‘You have a knack for pissing girls off and she could really fuck us over if she has access to the lab and decides she’s angry.’
I give him a grin. ‘You heard her before. She wants to be here. She wants a chance.’
‘So?’
‘So I’m thinking she doesn’t want to go back to that clinic, right? Maybe we don’t tell her that she’s as important as she is. Maybe if she’s under the impression that she can be sent back at any moment, she’ll do what she’s told without question.’
I look down at her and decide to tell Mav the rest. ‘The problem is that we need her loyalty, too.’
‘And how do you propose we get that?’ Mav asks.
I grin darkly. ‘Easy. We fosterfeelingsin her. If she cares about us, she’ll do whatever we want.’
Mav shakes his head a little. ‘You’re a sick fuck, Blake.’
