Both she and Bryce rushed to the window where they saw Jackson and the facilities chef, Jean Auber, struggling to right an overturned dinner cart. All around them were stainless steel bowls of what appeared to be rotting vegetables. From all appearances, it looked as if Jean had been taking peels and trimmings to the compost bin when a gust of stiff wind flipped the cart over.
“Gross.” Bryce wrinkled his nose and took another sip of soda.
Carla ignored his comment. “I need to change clothes, Bryce, so could you step outside, please? Maybe go and see if you could lend Jackson a hand? After all, he gave you a room for the night after you showed up out of the blue.”
“Which wouldn’t have been necessary if you’d just come with me to New Orleans like I planned instead of holing me up in this viper pit.” His face scrunched into a nasty sneer. “I’ll wait for you in the hallway.”
His arrogance was too much. Her temper exploded. “You conceited, self-indulgent jerk! You’ve got some nerve coming here without an invitation, imposing on people you’ve never met, and on top of it
all acting like a spoiled brat.”
His mouth fell open like a trap door. He narrowed his eyes and his voice grew low. “What did you say?”
“You heard me. I’m not happy you’re here and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.” She stood up from the bed and pointed toward her door. “I want you to leave. Get out of my room and get away from this facility.” When he didn’t budge, she added, “Now.”
The two bright red spots of color on his cheeks were evidence she was getting to him. Bryce became angry. Very angry. The flush spread over to his ears and down his neck. His fingers crunched the soda can as he took a step toward her, eyes flashing. “You’re out of line, Carla. No one talks to me that way, especially not you.”
“Get out!”
“You’re going to regret this.”
“Now!” she snarled. “I’m not telling you again. Go make arrangements for getting back to New York.”
“You bitch!” he spat. “This isn’t the end of this.” He grit his teeth and stormed toward the door, slamming it behind him as he stalked out.
She sank down on the bed, giving her legs a minute to stop shaking. She’d never had a conversation like that before with Bryce or actually, with anyone she could recall. Sure, she lost her temper now and again, but she’d always put a lid of control over it. A satisfied grin slipped across her lips. Letting loose felt pretty damn good. Still…
She glanced at the door as a cloud of unease cast a shadow over her triumph. She’d better go see where Bryce went. Like it or not, as long as he was here he was her responsibility, and she was nervous he would do something to screw up her results on the fear assignment.
After a five minute power shower and another five to sweep on light make-up and get dressed, she was out the door. Bryce was nowhere in sight.
When she reached the back of the house where the cart had overturned, the only evidence it had even happened was a meager scattering of compost vegetables here and there. Otherwise, no Jean, no cart, no Jackson. And no Bryce. Had he actually left, or was he stalking around the property?
Her hair whipped across her face from the wind. As she eyed the sky she could see black thunderclouds gathering in the distance. Looked like the storm Jackson had predicted was about to come down hard.
She wondered where she should go to look for him when she heard someone calling her name. It was Lisa, running toward her from the direction of the cafeteria.
“I’m glad I found you,” she said when she was close enough for Carla to hear. “There’s someone looking for you in the caf.”
Shit. Not gone yet. “Thanks for letting me know,” Carla replied, nearly shouting to be heard above the blowing wind. She looked up at the sky. “That storm looks close.”
Lisa glanced in the same direction. “Sometimes we get these scary looking black clouds and it blows for a while and then nothing else happens. But I’d bet money we’re going to get dumped on this time. Come on.” She nodded in the direction of the caf. “Better go get your friend.”
Carla reluctantly followed behind, still fuming at Bryce. The sooner he left the better she’d feel, but she supposed it wasn’t smart to send him out in this storm. Damn. She may have to wait until it blew over.
They reached the caf just as breakfast was winding down, although Bryce had a full plate of food in front of him and tucked into a mountain of scrambled eggs.
He looked up through black, slitted eyes as Carla approached. The anger in the room was palpable.
Although Lisa said nothing, Carla could sense her discomfort. She decided to do what she could to patch things over. She and Bryce could settle their differences in private.
She turned to her friend. “Lisa Martin, meet Bryce Betts. Bryce is visiting from New York, although he’s leaving today.”
His jaw tensed when she said that, but to Bryce’s credit he held his tongue in front of Lisa.
“Nice to meet you,” he mumbled.
“Likewise.” Lisa turned to Carla. “I’ve got to get to the lab,” she said. “Nice to meet you, Bryce.”
Before he could even respond, she was off.
“Friendly,” Bryce said, the sarcasm unmistakable.
“She actually is,” Carla defended, “but you made her uncomfortable with your rudeness.”
“Me?” He looked up from his plate and scowled. “You’re the rude one, Carla, with the way you’ve treated me.”
Carla sighed; she’d lost her appetite for fighting with a spoiled brat. Time to set him straight, once and for all. She’d wanted to talk to her mother first, but what did they say about the best laid plans? Another saying took precedence now — seize the moment. She took a seat across the table from him.
“Listen to me, Bryce. I never invited you here in the first place and I don’t want you here now. You’re jeopardizing my performance on the fear assignment.
As much as it may surprise you, I actually like it here.”
His hoot of laughter was so sudden he spewed a chunk of eggs onto his plate. Carla sat back, disgusted.
“You’re kidding me? You like a snake farm? You, who are more afraid of snakes than a mouse is of a cat? You’re actually trying to convince me you like it here?” An edge of disbelief coated his laughter. “Don’t lie to me. Your parents would be so disappointed.”
How like Bryce to pretend he was a stand-in for her parents, sent here as some sort of ambassador to check up on her. Her voice grew steely. “I don’t need you to tell me how to deal with my parents so leave them out of this. Just finish your breakfast and be on the next flight to New York. We’re not going to New Orleans or anywhere else together. Not now; not ever.”
The crestfallen expression on his face was so potent that if she didn’t know better she’d think it was real. But his manufactured disappointment was nothing but a joke. Bryce was a manipulative, using, petulant narcissist, motivated solely by greed, and she needed him gone.
She caught a flash of lightning in the corner of her eye from a nearby window, and seconds later the rumble of thunder. Leaves and other bits of debris swirled in the air as the trees bent from the wind’s growing force. The storm approached.
“I’m not your girlfriend, and I never was,” she continued. “I think it’s time you accepted it.”
His lips tightened into a thin stubborn slash across his face. “That’s not what I was led to believe.”
“If you think otherwise then the fault is yours. I’ve never done anything to lead you on.”
“You’ve never done anything to steer me away.” She sighed. He wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Fine. Point taken. Then let me be perfectly clear. We’re never going to be a couple. It’s not meant to be.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” he argued. “You can’t see the future, Carla.”
“I—” He was right on that point. She couldn’t see the future, but she could feel it. In her heart. “It’s true I don’t know what the future will bring. But I do have an idea of what I want. And it doesn’t include you. I’m sorry, Bryce.”
Her softened tone seemed to have no effect on his mood. His face remained as dark as the approaching thunderclouds and she knew his anger had not abated. “It’s that guy with all the awards, isn’t it? The one I met last night. Jackson?”
Her eyes flashed to the floor as she remembered Jackson making love to her while she wore one of those very same awards, the heavy gold medal bouncing between her breasts as he ground against her, thrusting over and over. Heat rushed to her cheeks.
“I knew I sensed something when I saw you two together,” Bryce snarled, voice laced with contempt. He set down his fork and rose from the chair. “We’ll talk about this in New York. But this isn’t the end, Carla. You don’t know what’s best for you, but I do. And I need to be a part of your life.”
Needed to be a part of her parents’ life. That was what he meant. As much as Bryce tried to pretend he was brokenhearted over not having her as a girlfriend, Carla knew what galled him the most was losing out on the exciting lifestyle her parents provided. Their interesting friends, fascinating trips. The house, the cars. The money. That’s what this was really all about. The malevolent power behind Bryce’s ambition was impossible to overstate. He would let nothing and no one stand in the way of him getting what he wanted. Including her.
“You’ll see clearly again once you get out of here,” he continued. “I don’t think this place is having a positive effect on you. You’re…” He looked at her, shaking his head as he speared her with his stare, as if trying to discern where the old Carla had gone. “You’ve become different.”
“Different how?”
“More…assertive, I guess. More stubborn.”
She straightened, lifted her chin. “More confident?”
He shrugged and set his napkin atop his plate of unfinished food. “Call it what you want. All I know is in the time you’ve been here you’ve changed, and not for the better. You need to get out of here.”
“When I’m finished, and not before. But you’ve got to leave today, Bryce. As soon as this storm is over.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He walked away without another word. Carla breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a difficult conversation, one she should have had months ago. She knew she hadn’t led him on but maybe he had a point. Not wanting to disappoint her family, and especially her mother, she hadn’t done enough to discourage him, either.
A half hour later, the storm’s fury broke wide open. Lightning crackled and lit up the sky, followed by explosive roars of thunder threatening to rip the world apart. The rain came down in sheets, falling so hard and fast the ground had no time to soak it up. In minutes the dirt tracks around the facility turned into raging rivers. Carla experienced it all while sitting with Lisa and Quinn in the data lab, saying little, waiting out the storm. The relentless roar of the wind made it difficult to concentrate on anything else.
When it was finally over they went outside to survey the damage. To everyone’s dismay, it was extensive. There’d been hail with the storm, the size of golf balls, and they’d done their work. Dented rooftops on cars, broken windows in several buildings, downed trees, branches and leaves everywhere. In many places where large tree branches had fallen they were blocking the road, making entering or leaving the compound impossible.
No one, however, paid any attention to the material damage until they could confirm the cobras were okay. Jackson had had the facility built with Louisiana weather in mind. A native of the area made him all too aware of the destructive force of the storms the state was prone to. No one’s nerves would be calmed until they’d checked on the cobras. Once they could finally leave the data lab, Carla, Lisa, and Quinn raced over to building eight.
They were not alone. Half the staff had already arrived and the rest were on their way. As soon as Carla entered she spotted Jackson already at the monitors, frowning at a sea of black screens. She rushed over to where he stood.
“What happened? Did we lose power?”
“Yeah.” Jackson kept punching various buttons on the console. “There’s a back-up generator installed for that very reason. If we lose juice from our main power source, the generator kicks in.” He frowned, stabbed at a couple more buttons. “At least that’s what’s supposed to happen. But I’m not getting a thing.”
He stood and asked one of the researchers to help him as he raced over to the main circuit room. As Carla’s eyes followed him, she noticed Bryce standing in the back of the room, a smug sneer plastered across his face.
“Looks like you won’t be able to get rid of me as fast as you wanted, Carla,” he said when she’d walked back to him.
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What do you mean? The storm’s over.”
“Have you seen the roads? There’s no coming or going out of this place for probably several days. There are downed trees everywhere blocking the way.” He flashed her a self-satisfied smile. “Guess you’ll just have to put up with me a little bit longer.”
She clamped down on her teeth, waiting for the rush of anger to pass and praying for strength not to strangle him.
“Then you’ll have to do some work around here,” she said tightly. “Jean can always use help in the kitchen. Maybe you could cut up some vegetables or even wash dishes. Something to make yourself useful. This isn’t a free hotel you know.”
“Have you gone insane? It’ll be a cold day in hell before I start washing dishes.”
Her blood pressure rocketed as she balled her hands into fists, a hair’s breath away from socking him. “You arrogant, son-of-a—”
“What’s going on?”
Both Bryce and Carla turned at the sound of the female voice. Of all the people she least wanted to see, aside from Bryce, here was the other one.