Read Online Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley - Free Book Online Page A

What exactly are we doing here on this bed? Seth with his shirt off. Me willing to please. He slides his hands up my leg, and then rolls me over, crushing me with his weight. “Should I stop?”
    “Whatever it takes,” Cal told me. “ Hook him. Keep Seth coming back for more.”
    So I say it, because I have to say it. Because I’ve gone Geisha.
    “No. I want you to keep going.”
    And the sick thing is part of me does want him to keep going. The part of me that’s one human being attracted to another, higher morals be damned. The part of me I could never let the Vestals see in a million years.
    Seth stares into my eyes with his crazily tattooed face. He knows I’m telling the truth, but he doesn’t know all of it.
    “Blanca,” Seth whispers hoarsely. “Blanca, I—”
    But I don’t get to hear what he was planning on saying next. Right then his fingers twitch. I can feel them on my thigh. They vibrate so hard it hurts.
    “Sorry, but I need a minute,” Seth says. “An important message came through. I’ll be right back.”
    I watch him head through the door to the bathroom, hungry for tech.
    That fluttering feeling evaporates like steam. There’s something twisted about a guy who would leave me lying here in bed to go look at stuff online.
     
     

     
     
    My white silk catsuit fits like a glove. I climb out of bed and slip on my boots. I bend over and shake out my brown hair. Then I run my fingers along my scalp to lift the roots.
    Seth is still in the bathroom, and I knock gently on the door. “Are you decent?”
    “Sure thing,” he answers.
    I swing the door open and find Seth sitting on the edge of the bathtub. The lion-headed snake hovers on the visual, floating right in front of the toilet. Seth types away at the air, a blur of fingers.
    “What are you doing?” I ask, leaning against the sink.
    “Nothing about you. Don’t worry. Although, man, every other tabloid out there is talking about you. Whoever sold that picture from last night made a whole lot of money.”
    “We’re like pandas,” I explain.
    “What?”
    “Vestals are like pandas. That’s what the teachers at Tabula Rasa used to say. Vestals are like pandas, movie stars, and Amish people all rolled into one. We’re so rare that everyone wants to take our picture. That’s why we have to be so careful.”
    “Pandas, huh?” Seth says. “I guess you are kind of cute. But I don’t think that’s why they took your picture last night.”
    “Why, then?” My heart pounds hard. Did Seth find out about Alan?
    “There’s a bounty on your head,” Seth answers. “The other Viruses are totally pissed that I scooped them with that first shot. They’re desperate to get some more.”
    A flicker of fright crosses over me before I can fight it. I pull my face to neutral but not before Seth sees the fear.
    “Don’t worry, Blanca. You’re safe here.” Seth reaches for me, and I sit down next to him on the bathtub. “My dad may be a huge jackass, but I’m pretty sure you’re safe at McNeal Manor.”
    I rest my head on Seth’s shoulder. “So why are you here in the bathroom?”
    “I had to do some updates on Veritas Rex .”
    “About what?”
    “Some tips about other things came in while we were … ” Seth raises his eyebrows at me. “I’m blogging them in.”
    But I’m already pulling away. “You couldn’t go one hour.” I’m unable to keep the edge from my voice. “Not one.”
    “I could! Give me a sec, and I’ll be right back.”
    “No!” I stand, and my heels slam the tile floor. “You couldn’t spend one morning with me without sneaking off to the Internet. I don’t know what I was thinking. A Virus like you could never understand what’s important to me. I can’t believe I’ve been falling for a tech-addict! This was definitely a mistake.”
    I’m gone before Seth pulls down his screen.
     
     

     
     
    A mistake is right. Seth is every bit as selfish and disloyal as my textbooks said. A Vestal like me