Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley Read Free Book Online Page B

my back and under my butt cheeks. Our lips part, and our tongues intertwine. I tell myself I don’t enjoy any of it.
    When we finally come up for air, I put my cuff on his chest, the position for the tightest blessing. “Seth, you’ve had a hard road. In so many ways it’s difficult being you. But I know that you can do it . You have everything you need to achieve happiness.”
    “You think so?”
    “I know so,” I answer. The blessing always works.
    Tell people what they want to hear.
    “Blanca, you’re different than I thought you would be.” This time when Seth smiles at me, it’s for real. And when he kisses me again, I can tell he means it.
    Exactly like Cal wanted.
     
     

     
     
    “You don’t have to go back,” Seth says later, his arms swathed around me as we sit on the bench. “Come home with me instead.”
    “Why would I do that?” I stare out at the city lights.
    “Because he’s old. Because he’s bad news, and because you deserve better.”
    “He is not bad news,” I say. “He’s your dad.”
    “What’s he doing with you, then?”
    “I told you. Cal’s lonely. He wants a daughter.” I try to sound certain, but I can’t quite keep the edge from my voice. The lonely part is right, but Cal doesn’t want a daughter. He only wants Seth.
    Seth pulls me onto his lap. “You shouldn’t trust him.” He flexes his arms and I have the weird sensation of feeling safe. Protected. “Come home with me instead.”
    I look into Seth’s eyes, unsure if he’s being sincere or not. Nobody outside Tabula Rasa is truthful. Everyone is jealous of Vestals.
    “What do you want?” I ask.
    “To keep you safe.”
    “I am safe.”
    “Not from him, you’re not.”
    I smile, trying to lighten the mood. “You’re the one I need to be careful of. If I listened to you, I couldn’t be a Vestal anymore.”
    “So give it up,” Seth says. “Be your own person. Own your own life.”
    “I have a contract. Remember? A thirty-two-million-dollar deal.”
    “That’s exactly why it’s dangerous for you! My dad thinks he owns you.”
    “No,” I say. “That’s how come I know he’ll protect me. Cal won’t let anything happen to me, not when I cost him so much.”
    “You don’t know him.”
    “Maybe you don’t. When’s the last time you and your dad talked?”
    “No idea. I try to avoid him at all costs.”
    “So how are you going to see me again?” I pause. “Or do you not want to?”
    Seth looks at me, right in the eyes. “Of course I want to. Don’t be ridiculous.”
    I tuck my head on his shoulder and fake a sigh.
    Fatima would have played this scene differently. But I’m not Fatima. I’ll never be the seductress, but my girl-next-door tricks work pretty well too.
     
     

     
     
    All the McNeal Solar Enterprises board members have left by the time Seth and I return home. It’s way past midnight. Cal waits on the threshold, pacing back and forth underneath the columns.
    Seth rides the motorcycle all the way up the drive and then revs the engine before he cuts it right in front of his dad.
    I haven’t taken my helmet all the way off, and Cal is already yelling.
    “Where were you, Blanca? I was so worried!”
    I’d think, “Nice touch,” but Cal’s a horrible faker. This rage is for real.
    “I’m sorry, Cal. I was with Seth.”
    “And you couldn’t leave a note?”
    A note? The concept honestly never occurred to me. It’s not like I’ve ever left someplace before.
    “And you,” Cal says, turning his anger to Seth. “How could you? You know privacy means everything to a Vestal like Blanca.”
    Seth’s about to say something, but I don’t give him the chance. Ugliness isn’t going to help. So I physically place myself between the two of them and try to broker peace.
    “Nobody saw us,” I say. “Seth wouldn’t do that to me.”
    “Think again.” Cal taps his wrist and pulls up a video screen.
    And there I am, plastered all over the Web again. I’m turning into a