Read Online Listen (Muted Trilogy Book 2) by Nikita Spoke - Free Book Online Page A

keeping him seated while Jemma’s pulled her from her chair. His eyes narrowed at her guard’s grip.
    “It didn’t hurt,” she sent, along with a small smile to say goodbye. “They’re usually pretty careful with me.”
    “Usually?”
    He’d caught her qualifier easily. “They didn’t like it when I wouldn’t leave a couple weeks ago, at your window.”
    Their connection was open, but it was devoid of any emotion as Jemma walked to the door, her guard behind her. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she sent.
    “Be careful,” she got in return, and she sent the mental equivalent of a nod.
    She left the room, focusing on keeping the connection open, blinking away tears of frustration when it dampened just ten steps along the hallway.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    EIGHT
    Undone
     
    “I could tell, you know,” typed Josh the next morning as Jemma got settled in her chair. When she blinked at him, he grinned, attached her to the monitor, and continued once his hands were free. “I watched you and Mr. Himmel in the cafeteria, and I saw it.”
    Jemma raised an eyebrow in question, reminding herself not to panic.
    “All those looks.” Josh was still smiling. “You two were shy, but not awkward, even without a way to communicate. I could tell that you haven’t been together long, but you’re close.”
    “Why does our relationship interest you?” typed Jemma.
    “It helps in calibrating some of the levels of familiarity involved in Talking. It also tells me I probably don’t have a chance with you once this is over, do I?”
    Jemma felt her jaw drop, and Josh winked and turned his attention toward his tablet. He thought she wouldn’t want to date him only because of Jack. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with a lack of attraction or that his morals were seriously warped or that he’d helped hold her in a testing facility against her will.
    The man must have some sort of mental instability. It was the only explanation Jemma could come up with.
    He seemed displeased at their session, frowning at the monitor repeatedly. After he unhooked her, he typed, “I’d like to see more progress tomorrow, Jemma. This should keep rising. We want it at about double the levels we were seeing last week.”
    “Does it show effort?” Jemma typed.
    “Not exactly. Not directly. It shows how much telepathic ability you are sending. We can’t do anything with it, though, unless it reaches high enough levels, with the restrictions, to reach others. We’re guessing that’s around here.” He pointed at a spot on the recordings, much higher than her spikes of activity were reaching.
    She felt, again, the surge of worry about what would happen if she didn’t perform up to their expectations. She nodded, not quite ready to thank him for the explanation but not wanting to upset him further. His frown smoothed, and he reached for her phone.
    “Have a good lunch!” he typed as she left the room.
    ***
    Jemma’s look of relief when she entered the cafeteria would, she hoped, be attributed to her being able to see Jack, not to the feeling of having their connection reestablished. She was greeted with a mental caress, and she chose a sandwich at random before sitting across from him.
    “So, Talking once we get too far apart is a bust.” He sounded almost amused, and his eyes were brighter than they’d been the day before.
    “It seems so, yes.” She felt her lips pull upward, and she looked down at her sandwich.
    “What are our plans, then, aside from watching and waiting?” He started eating.
    “As much as I dislike it, you should probably keep playing dumb and I should keep playing nice.” Jemma paused at his agreement. There was more to it than just acceptance of her proposal. “You’re relieved at that?”
    Their connection stayed open, but it was quiet for several seconds before he responded. “I didn’t like seeing him grab you like that, yesterday. It’s hard to keep my temper in here,