Inception - Ascension Paradox, Book 1
Copyright© 2023 by L.R. Thornton
Chapter 17
This is what I get for hanging around a bunch of eggheads.
Ray pulled the hoodie further over his face, wondering if he drew too much attention to himself, yet he was unwilling to risk being recognized. His nerves were as a taut as a rubber band pulled to its breaking point. He did his best to keep a lid over the panic which hovered underneath the surface of his outwardly calm appearance.
Would the robot come here? This was a robotics competition. If the robot was anywhere, it was logical to think it would come here.
His eyes landed on the woman Amy was introducing them to. The woman with strawberry pink curls who looked to be about ten years younger than his own thirty-five years.
Staring at the color of her hair, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Jessie again. A couple of years ago, she gone all out and wore a strawberry red wig which made her look surprisingly good even though he hadn’t known what to think when he had come home from work that day.
His phone rang and he glanced down to see Dylan’s name pop up. Confused, he answered the phone. “Dylan?”
“Dad, when are you going to come pick me up?”
Ray walked away from the egg head group who were all still chatting about whatever egg heads chatted about. “What are you talking about, son?”
“You said you were going to pick me this weekend. Where are you?”
His forehead scrunched. “What?”
Dylan’s voice carried a note of frustration as he groaned, “Dad, check your phone. Remember? You put it in there two weeks ago that you were going to pick me up this weekend so we could go to the VEX conference together.”
“Hold on.” He did as Dylan asked, glancing at the calendar. He was supposed to have picked up his son today for the weekend. He put the phone back to his ear and apologized. “I’ll have to come up there next week sometime and—”
“Yeah Ma!” Dylan had tugged the phone away from his ear. “He forgot.”
He heard Jessie’s distant groan coming from the background. “Ramone Dominque Sanchez, you’d lose your head if it wasn’t attached. Look, I’ll bring him down today so he can still spend the weekend with you.
A cold knot of fear clogged the center of his throat. What if the robot was still there? He couldn’t risk his family’s lives. The robot had killed Terrance Park. It wouldn’t hesitate to go after his ex-wife and son. “No, don’t go to the house, Jessie,” he choked out past the knot.
“Dad, why not? Don’t you want to hang out with me?”
Ray swallowed. He couldn’t tell them the real reason why. It would only cause more problems. “Of course, I do, Dylan. It’s just that we’ll have to pick another day.”
“Ray.” Jessie had taken the phone from Dylan. “I can bring Dylan. It’s not a problem.”
“Jessie—”
“I miss you, papi.” Her voice had dropped an octave.
A frisson of heat went down his spine even as fear for his family drove his heart to pound against his ribcage. Why did she have to do that right now? “What are you saying?”
“I miss you,” she purred again. “I been doing a lot of thinking, Ray. We had something good, papi.”
“It wasn’t good enough for you to stay.” The bitterness crept in despite his best efforts to hide it.
“At the time, no it wasn’t.”
Ray shook his head in admiration. That was Jessie. Honest even when it hurt.
“We’ve been apart for almost a year. A couple of my girlfriends say I should move on. But...”
“Of course, they did,” he mumbled, seeing some of their faces in his mind.
“But I can’t move on, Ray. God knows I’ve tried. But I can’t seem to. In all the time we were married, I never looked anywhere else. Except for Idris Elba. If Idris came and took me, I’m sorry, I’d drop you like a bad habit.”
Ray gave a reluctant laugh. It was an old joke between them. “Oh, Jessie.”
“But seriously, papi. I’ve missed you. I miss what we had and I want it back.”
His eyes closed in anguish. How could Jessie do this to him now? Words he’d long to hear, sounding like sweet music to his ears. Jessie wanting to try again? Jessie, flirting with him like she used to? Last week, it would have been heaven to hear her say all this.
Now it was hell. Hell, because he couldn’t risk their lives.