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"Lesbos," MGtoward the … enzyh Group showers Sure, you could remain fully clothed in an enzyme stall, and the dry mist would even clean your shoes, but Noelle preferred to strip and sing in private

At hoely expensive, but she didn’t care There was soainst porcelain, the spray of hot water against skin, the enveloping, invigorating stealed closer "What else?"

"Plus," Noelle continued as if there’d never been a lag in the conversation, "I thought it’d be prudent to lower Hector and Dallas’s expectations You know, start at the botto it easier to prove the to prove yourself already? Tsk, tsk

AIR wasn’t a potential boyfriend She could make an allowance, but only this once And only because Ava wanted this so badly

"Norree with your methods," Ava said, "but we kinda need their support if we’re going to pass this thing"

"Oh, we’ll ers sht We’re too awesoood old-fashioned lust on our side I think Dallas was i your body twined around his like a pretzel Hence his asinine question about pretzels and Jaxon’s swift retaliation"

"Nah, Dally was just showing off in front of his friends Which is why I ith Oh, ht he ht it down a notch and said OMG"

The corners of Ava’s mouth twitched with her amusement "Would have been priceless, and I would have broken a few ribs fro As it was, I just peed a little"

"And the other guys? How’d they react?" Not too obvious, not too eager "I was too entrenched in my role to notice"

"Jaxon was e"

No disappointment You knew they felt that way

Had Jaxon told Hector e stories about her before her arrival? she wondered suddenly Was that why Hector had frowned at her the moment she’d stepped off the bus?

Her cheeks heated as she iined exactly what Jaxon could have shared The time she’d interrupted a dinner party her parents had throalking through the dining rooent a heart attack All because earlier that day her father had said, "You want better grades, buy them You don’t have what it takes to earn the embarrassed by your lackluster performance," and she’d hoped to punish him

Or the time she’d filmed a bit part as a murdered waitress in Chucky’s Evil Twin, just to embarrass her elitist mother Another punishment The week before, Madam Tremain, as Ava sometimes liked to call her, had asked all her friends to send their single sons Noelle’s way so that she’d stop "digging through the trash for her dates"

"My math could be off here," Ava went on, "but I’ht you’d been dropped on your head one hundred and seven tiave another chuckle, a coonna , "halfway tolerable"

Three

AIR Training Camp

Day Five

NOELLE HAD LIVED THROUGH orientation

She also had lived through the first round of drills And the second … third … and fourth--no thanks to her instructor Hector Dean had it out for her, for real, dehter than anyone else

Whenever he felt she wasn’t giving so her all, which was all the da pissed her off and sent her spiraling--either with anger or frustration, causing her to act out Instead, she truly found herself running faster, cli to prove herself to him--and not just for Ava’s benefit either For her own Just like she’d done with her parents and Corban And yet, this time around, the experiences filled her with a weird blend of happiness and sadness Happiness because she was succeeding, sadness because Hector didn’t seeh?

Well, whatever She wasn’t going to ponder thatthink about AIR or Hector Wasn’t going to consider how good he always soing to relittered like amber when so tattoos on his ar the thick e way her blood heated every tie, and not an insatiable urge to fling herself against hiue into his mouth Ava had called dibs, after all Not that Ava had done anything about it There’d been no time for flirtation, and at the end of each day, everyone was too exhausted to do anything but collapse into bed

Not Noelle, though Not tonight She deserved a break Frohts Plus, Ava wanted those butterscotch candies and Noelle hadn’t yet found a way to have theh stolen cough) the week’s schedule, she knew the agents planned to let the recruits sleep the entire night A first--and a one-ti a caet practice Go Ava! The little tyrant had hit her le she’d stood, and even when they’d blindfolded her

That’s irl So, while Noelle’s peers snoozed and snored, and while the agents zoned out in front of a plasma screen, she snuck out of camp

Midweek, she’d found an escape hatch on preovernht her that Plan B’s were a necessity So, while it was so if otherworlders attacked, they should have hidden it better than underneath the back porch of the trainee bunk, with only a thin layer of dirt covering the lid

Why not just hang a sign overhead that flashed the words Party Through Here

Noelle had to shi her bare ar a ranules, but … Worth it No one had used the thing in years, as proven by the rusty hinges The air inside was , narrow tunnel had everlasting bulbs posted on the rounded ceiling, providing a well-lit path for anyone alked Or … drove? Hells yeah! There were three so-carts lined up and ready to shoot into action

I one to heaven Noelle climbed into the car at the head of the line Voice activation and thuents who careatly So all she had to do was turn the key already resting in the ignition

The engine roared to life loudly, e and pray no one inside the overhead bunk heard She waited aso, she pressed the gas, and boo, turning, the blasts of air lifting her hair froether

Take that, Hector Dean Not that she was thinking about hih her blood She’d so needed this, every fiber of her being crying out for soer for ht off Ava had to see this

Even better, Ava had to race her