Children of Evolution (The Gateway Series Book 2) by Toby Minton Page A

transformed his plain face, like always. It also made Nikki want to hug him, despite how much she imagined it would hurt right now. He had that effect on her. He had since the first time they’d met.
    As she struggled to get her breathing back under control, Nikki moved closer to Sam so she could see up the alley. Aside from the harmless trash and whatnots, it was empty and dead silent.
    Sam’s smile was gone. He was all business again as he scanned the alley. “What happened?”
    Nikki opened her mouth but ended up closing it again after a wordless pause. She had no idea where to start. She couldn’t exactly tell him what she’d been doing or why. She was fairly sure he’d like her plan even less than Michael had, if such a thing was possible.  
    But that wasn't the real reason she wasn't blurting out what had happened. Staring into the empty alley, Nikki saw nothing but the doubt that had become way too common for her over the past few months. Having her dead brother in her head had her questioning more than just her emotions. It had her questioning reality itself. The line between delusion and reality was more than a little blurred for her these days. Believing she'd just seen Gideon tearing apart a Runner, when Gideon had been gone for months, was more than a bit of a stretch.  
    Sam holstered his pistol and looked over at her. He didn’t have the most expressive face in the world when he wasn’t smiling, but he knew she was wavering on a lie, that much she could tell.
    “I picked a fight with Runners.” She opted for simple and true. Lying to Sam made her feel like crap, probably because he was always upfront with her. Instead of saying things like, “this is nothing” or “you’ll be fine,” he came right out with “internal bleeding,” “concussion,” and “you’re going to die.” They had a fun past.
    “How many Runners?” he asked, looking her over, probably for obvious injuries.
    She shrugged. “How many are there?”
    He smiled a little, but when he met her gaze, all she saw was concern. “Are you hurt?”
    “I’ll live. This is worst of it, I think.” She held out her busted left hand, which didn’t look nearly as bad as it felt. Her knuckles were just a little swollen and red behind her middle two fingers.
    After a nod and eyebrow raise to ask for permission, Sam took her hand in both of his and started probing around with his strong fingers, which was fine for the most part, but when he got to those two knuckles she had to choke down a mouthful of curses. “Can you squeeze it?” he asked when he finally let go.
    “Um, yeah, but you just did, so—”
    He laughed quietly and shook his head. “I mean make a fist with it.”
    Unlike most people, he got her jokes. What’s more, he thought they were funny. It was one of his best qualities. In fact, there’d been a time when she’d considered breaking every dating rule she had for Sam. There’d been a time when they could have become more than friends.
    Turned out she could make a fist. It just hurt like crazy. “Son of a—dammit!”
    “Good,” he said with a nod.
    “Good? Do you know what 'dammit' means?”
    “It’s not broken,” he said, that small smile lighting his dark face again. “Just a bone bruise, maybe a small crack—”
    “You’re a small crack,” she mumbled.
    “—Nothing that won’t heal on its own,” he finished, his lingering grin telling her he hadn’t missed her jab. “I agree. You’ll live.”
    She was looking in his eyes when he said the last part, so she saw the shift. Even though he broke eye contact to look around the area, she saw his smile crumble. Whatever they might have been once upon a time, they weren't in the here and now. Something had changed between them.
    “Let’s get back to base so you can ice that hand,” he said, already moving toward the skimmer he had parked nearby. He didn’t look at her again. He just straddled the skimmer and started checking its systems while