Ed Sheeran – South of the Border (feat. Camila Cabello)
Taylor tapped her key against the hotel door and pushed it open. Even though she knew she was imagining it, Connor was a pulsing presence behind her. She was hyper aware of his every movement, her senses pulled taut. Slipping her bag from her shoulder, she dropped it on the bed and turned to face him. Her heart jumped in her throat. Connor had followed just behind and was standing over her, looking expectantly into her face.
"Jesus, Connor." He tilted his head and her lips quirked into a smile despite herself. "One day I'm going to teach you about personal space."
He glanced down, hesitated, and took a step away. Taking a steadying breath in her nose, she fumbled with the buttons on her coat, her fingers clumsy. Connor took the jacket from her hands to hang for her when she managed to get it off. Left with nothing else to do, she lowered herself to sit on the bed, twisting her fingers together in her lap.
She watched him turn back, his brown eyes focusing on her blue. He came over and sat beside her on the bed, making her eyes drop back down to her hands.
"You said there was something else you wanted to talk about," he began, his curiosity not letting him stay quiet for long.
"You know, I didn't want you to agree to help me just so you could act as a bodyguard." She turned her head to the side, looking up at him through her lashes.
"Markus needed a logical reason to agree." Connor said reasonably. "That doesn't change what I said to you. Are you changing the subject?"
"No." She chewed on her lip. "I wanted to clear the air with you." Taylor lifted her head finally, squaring her shoulders. "Because it seems like everyone else has already decided that we're a couple."
His eyes widened a fraction, but she pushed through, even with the heat already starting to creep up her neck. His LED was pulsing a gentle amber. "I care about you. A lot. I just don't know how I feel past that. I know that I tried to kiss you—"
"You're stress levels are very high." Connor said quietly, interrupting. He placed his fingers hesitantly over hers. She realized her heart was quivering in her chest. Gently squeezing her hand, he considered her for a moment in silence before he said, "You said you would help me figure out what my emotions meant."
Her brows furrowed. He took her hand and placed it against his chest. As they both went still, she could feel the vibration of his thirium pump under the palm of her hand. Swallowing, she said, "Yeah."
"Right now," he said, his fingers sliding along her arm. "There's a warm feeling." He reached his other hand up, brushing his thumb featherlight against her jaw. His brown eyes, intent, scanned her face. "Whenever we're together, I feel compelled to touch you."
He leaned closer, his knee pressing into hers. Taylor felt her breaths coming as rapid, shallow gasps. She could picture the words she had said just moments ago, the ones she meant to say next, like wisps of smoke, dissipating. Every part of her in contact with Connor was a firebrand, heat spreading under her skin.
"I wanted to kiss you last night, when you tried to kiss me. But you were drunk." His eyes flickered to her lips. "I want to kiss you now." His voice was a low, deep rumble in her ears, sending a shiver through her. The hand touching her face slid back into her hair, his fingers curling against her scalp. "What do you think it is that I'm feeling?"
The anticipation ripping through her like a cyclone had superseded every other thought in her head. She forgot what the conversation had been about, just wanted him to close that little bit of space and press his mouth over hers. However, those perfect cupid's bow lips were twitching into a smirk.
"W-Well." She tried to refocus past his hand still twisting strands of hair around his finger, tickling against the side of her neck. "Humans might call that attraction."
His fingers stilled against the curve of her neck. He dipped his head closer and she leaned in to meet him. When their lips touched, this time, the world went quiet. She could hear the frantic beat of her heart pounding in her ears, drowning out every other noise.
Connor moved his hand from her arm, his fingers teasing along her waist and pressing into the small of her back, pulling her closer still. She slid her arms around his neck, scooting against him.
The brush of his fingertips against the skin of her spine made her gasp, and he slipped his tongue past her lips, exploring her mouth. His fingers traced up the line of her back, raising goosebumps along her skin.
A knock on the door made Taylor jerk away. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. She stared into his eyes, their faces still just inches apart. When the knock sounded a second time, she unwrapped her arms from his neck and pulled out of his hold.
She opened the door, blinking at the grinning face that greeted her. "Raj?"
"Hey, Blondie." They stared at each other for a beat, before he said, "You going to invite me in or what?"
"Oh. Yes, come in." She moved to let him inside. "How did you know I was here?"
"It's my job to know things." He glanced around the room as he walked in, then made his way straight for the chair in front of the vanity, nodding at Connor as he passed. "This is cozy. Aren't you usually in the Presidential Suite or whatever?"
"I figured it was a waste of space." She shrugged and came back over to sit next to Connor on the bed, carefully avoiding his gaze. "Is something wrong?"
"Not exactly." Raj glanced between the two of them, his dark eyes squinted with a smile. "Was I interrupting something?"
"Mind your own business and tell me why you came." Taylor rolled her eyes at him, keeping her face carefully blank.
"That may as well be a yes," he said, laughing. "We're practically old friends now, can't I just come by to catch up?"
"In your case, I would have to say no." She huffed. "You only come by when you need something."
"Now that's just rude." Raj placed a hand over his mechanical heart. "I have heard a lot about what's been happening to you out here." He paused, the smile fading from his face. "I'm sorry, Taylor."
"For what?" She couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice as her poker face faltered.
"When I asked you to come out here, I knew that things were tense, but I didn't suspect how dangerous it was. I would never have put your life at risk if I had known." The earnestness in which he spoke gave her pause. She didn't know him to ever be serious.
"I know that. I volunteered, remember?" She gave him an easy smile, hoping he would crack a joke again or tease her. His eyes had drifted away from her face, focused on her bruises. "You aren't responsible for my stepfather, either."
His gaze jumped back to hers. He frowned, another thing she wasn't accustomed to seeing, but didn't comment further. Instead, he changed the subject, "Why did you agree to become the ambassador for Markus?"
The question hung there for a moment. Taylor processed it, uncertain, before she finally asked, "What do you mean?"
"It's not a trick question." Raj shrugged, impassive. "I mean it exactly like it sounds."
"I agreed to help you, didn't I?" She said, still hesitant, waiting for the punch line. "Why are you asking me this?"
"I don't think you should do it." He said.
"Why not?" She blinked, surprised. Raj glanced past her shoulder at Connor, so brief she could have missed it had she not been watching him so closely, before he regarded her again.
"Fact is," he began, "while I did come to you and petition you for help, barring the misjudgment I made in asking you to come to Detroit, I tried my best to keep you away from danger. I never asked you to drive a bus of deviants across the border for me."
"No, but Markus isn't asking me to do anything dangerous either," she protested. He frowned again and her fingers twitched in her lap.
"Listen, I'm on board with this movement. I want Markus to succeed. That's why I'm still here trying to help. However," he leaned forward, "I'm not blind to the reality. Markus led this revolution, and so he has become a symbol. Symbols have power."
"I'm not following." She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, trying to work out what he was getting at.
"I know more than anyone, and so should you, that there is a large amount of people in this country that do not want deviants to have rights. Nothing about this is going to be easy. Makes the idea of a human shield really attractive."
"That's absurd."
"Oh, don't get me wrong," Raj held up his hands, placating as she bristled. "It's not intentional. Markus is noble. I don't think he would deliberately jeopardize your safety either. But it isn't safe to put your symbol at risk, and he will rationalize it the same way I did. You are human, and therefore safe."
"Raj, you sound insane. Markus is almost as neurotic about my safety as Alex." Unconsciously, she started tapping her fingers against her knee. A black curl fell into his face and he pushed it away impatiently, sitting up straight once more.
"If that were true, he would have told you to go back to California." He gave her an imploring look. "What was Alex's response when you told him about this?"
She thought about how many times Alex had asked her to come home and pressed her lips together, staying quiet. He took that silence for assent to his point and continued, "Listen, Blondie, you've done enough."
"I've done enough," she repeated quietly, her eyes flickering away. "Thanks. I suppose I can rest easy now."
"Taylor—"
"Is this all you came to say?" She turned back, her eyes returning to his. Her face was a smooth mask of indifference, devoid of inflection. When he didn't immediately respond, she said, "I'll take it into consideration."
"Don't be that way, Blondie." Raj's jaw was clenched, and his hands clenched into fists in accord. "I'm trying to look out for you."
"There are not very many people that I would allow to tell me 'don't', Raj, and you are certainly not one of them." Taylor's voice dropped an octave, though her face still remained perfectly still. "Thank you for your concern. Are there any other warnings you would like to pass along?"
His mahogany eyes jumped to Connor for just a second. A grimace twitched at his lips. "No, I believe I've said enough."
He rose to his feet and Taylor did the same, trailing him to the door. Before he could put his hand on the knob, she stopped him. "Did you need anything else from me? Things have to be tight with more deviants coming forward. Is there anything I can do?"
"No." He shook his head, reaching for the knob again, turning his back to her. "Don't worry about that now."
He slipped out of the room before she could say anything else. She stared at the closed door for a second before she turned and leaned against it, letting out a sigh. When she turned her eyes back to Connor, she found him looking at her curiously, his head tilted.
"Your friends seem to spend a lot of time worrying about you," he observed impassively. She swallowed.
"Raj isn't normally like that," she said softly. "I'm not exactly sure he's my friend."
"Your interactions up until this point and the fact that he calls you by a nickname implies friendship," Connor retorted in that matter-of-fact voice.
"Ah, well. I'm glad you cleared that up for me." Her lips curved into a smirk as his brow furrowed, processing her sarcasm.
"Will you consider what he said?" He asked after a moment, his face smoothing again. Taylor blinked.
"About Markus supposedly using me as a human shield? Absolutely not." She paused, her lips pulling down into a frown, taking deliberate steps toward him. "Don't tell me that you're considering it?"
"I must admit," he said reluctantly, "that what he said does contain a certain logic. I was eager to make up for my past transgressions against my people and perhaps didn't consider what other reasons Markus may have had for asking you to do this."
"That's not fair." Her hands clenched at her side. She had crossed the minute distance and now stood over him. "Markus is a good person. He led a completely nonviolent revolution and you think that now he would be so cavalier as to cower behind me and let me draw fire."
"That isn't what I'm saying," Connor backtracked, almost stumbling over his words, his usual flawless composure fraying.
"That's exactly what Raj is saying and you're implying that you agree with him." Taylor shot back, placing her fists on her hips. "Look, maybe there's some truth in there. If I walk into a room full of politicians and soldiers, there's a pretty fair chance that they won't just kill me to end the android uprising. Not only am I human, but I'm quite well-known, I can't just disappear. But implying that Markus asked me to do it because of that is just bullshit."
He stared up at her, eyes wide. His mouth opened, then closed again, uncertainty in his eyes. His LED pulsed a soft yellow. Then, tentatively, he reached his hand up to touch her arm. He slid his fingers down her wrist, over the closed ball of her fist, and pulled her hand closer.
"I don't want you to get hurt again." Taylor felt her fingers relax as Connor pressed his lips against the inside of her wrist. His long lashes fluttered against the skin of her forearm as he lowered his head and kissed her open palm.
"I thought you told Markus you were coming to protect me," she challenged, her heart rate rising as his lips brushed against her skin. He raised his eyes to hers again, looking at her through his eyelashes.
"You should think about yourself more. Your safety is also important, and even I cannot always guarantee it."
"I don't think Markus is going to ask me to do anything dangerous." Her lips quirked into a smile. "I've already proven I don't do very well in a fight."
He wasn't amused. His eyes grazed over the bruise on her forehead, when she had headbutted the concrete back at Eden Club. It had faded to a soft yellow with tinges of blue and purple, the nick still visible along her hairline, but in reminding him she had probably only proven his point.
The trill of her phone broke their staring contest. Taylor reached past him for her bag to answer it, pulling gently out of his grasp. Alex's name was flashing across the screen when she answered it. "You're right across the hallway, did you have to call?"
"I wasn't sure what I might be interrupting," Alex's voice was full of his usual cheerful teasing. Her cheeks warmed as she realized that she had leaned over Connor's shoulder to get to her phone and was still hovering quite close to him. "Anyway, I'm not at the hotel."
"Oh?" Straightening, she turned and retreated to the vanity, feeling Connor's eyes still following her movements.
"No. I knew if I left without making arrangements for you that you would end up staying in that hotel forever. Or end up back in that house again." He sounded more amused that she hadn't risen to the bait.
"Arrangements?" She repeated. "Are you buying me a house, or...?"
"Renting. You'll be pretty close to Jake, actually. If you insist on staying here. I'll have some of your things shipped. On the bright side, real estate value plummeted overnight thanks to the android occupation of the city." He still sounded oddly chipper as he said all of this. She was starting to be concerned about what changed his mood so drastically.
"Guess I should wait to sell the house then, huh?"
"You want to sell it?" That had drained some of the mirth from his voice.
"Well, I'd like to burn it down. Do you think I could play it off as collateral damage to the android uprising?"
"Please don't set anything on fire," he choked back on a laugh. She smiled into the receiver. "Also, we're having dinner at Hank's tonight."
"Oh, really? Hank agreed to that?" She turned back around to find that Connor was indeed looking at her. He had perked up at the mention of the lieutenant.
"Yes, well, I wanted to thank him in person for letting me stay with him when I showed up out of the blue to look for you. I figured an offer of free food wouldn't hurt." For a moment, she imagined Hank and Alex alone together, waiting on word from her or Connor. The image made her chest tighten.
"Alcohol wouldn't hurt if you're really trying to butter him up." She said to distract herself.
"Yeah, whatever, I'll meet you there. Bring your android boyfriend." She groaned, glancing away from Connor's attentive, curious expression.
"This is the real reason I don't answer your calls," she huffed. "Connor lives with Hank."
"Does he? I couldn't tell." As soon as the words were out, she knew he'd set her up for it. The following sound of his laughter was confirmation.
"I hate you so much. I'll meet you there."