Defect by Jessica Gilliland

Author:Jessica Gilliland [Gilliland, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jessica Gilliland
Published: 2019-02-13T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

"Hard night?" Mars' voice pulled me back to consciousness.

I was exactly as I had been the night before, on the bathroom floor, throbbing headache still intact. I peeled my eyes open and look down at my arms. They weren't red anymore and the shaking had stopped, but left my body feeling sore, like I'd demolished a building with my bare hands.

"Wake up, the beach is crawling with people and cameras. We should check it out and see if anyone from ACT is out there," Mars said.

"Yeah." I winced. "I'll be out in a minute. Let me grab a shower." I smelled like dried sweat and firewood.

Mars laughed at me. "Did you and Mia hit the bar last night?"

"No." I gave him a stern look.

Mars went back into the room and came back with a bottle of painkillers. He tossed them to me and said, "take two and call me in the morning." He turned, and then faced me again as if he'd forgotten something. "Better make that three. You look like shit, mate."

I thanked him and pulled myself up, leaning heavily on the porcelain sink.

The entire beach was littered with tourists. In the direct sunlight, the glass was almost blinding. The sun glinted off of it, casting a rainbow of colors through the throngs of people meandering around the edge of the beach.

"Nice job, Mia," Lexa said, taking a long sip from an orange slushy. There were food vendors and character artists milling about, taking advantage of the crowd.

“Devereaux can't ignore this,” Mars added, nodding with approval.

Mia's pride beamed outward, slamming me from all directions.

It was still too early to count on Devereaux being at the beach, if he showed at all. He was most likely out of state and would need to fly out. We didn't see any undercover types from the facility checking out the beach, so we decided to grab some lunch and get our bearings. The last few days had been hell. We needed some time to recoup.

The four of us made our way to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Mars and Lexa wanted to go to the arcade and hit the candy store. Mia and I wanted to get some actual food. We walked along the pier and wandered through the shops on our way to the fish market. When we lived at the lighthouse, we'd often come out here and grab shrimp cocktails and cotton candy. We'd take the kids to ride the Giant Dipper and end the day with a bonfire on the beach.

Being there and reliving those memories was bitter sweet. Those were, without a doubt, the happiest times of my life. But knowing those times were gone and never going to be repeated left me feeling empty.

The usually touristy parts of the boardwalk were practically empty due to the glass beach sucking up all the attention. Mia and I grabbed a couple of clam chowder bread bowls and calamari. We ate overlooking the water then sat on the edge of

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