Out of the Box 7 - Sea Change Read Online Free

realize what he was doing when he yelled out, “KAT!” at the top of his lungs, booming and heavy enough to jar her out of her artificially posed walk. She missed a step in surprise and looked at him through giant sunglasses that covered her below her cheekbones. Her forehead looked … puffier? What the hell …? Did she Botox? She’s a meta … we don’t age like normal people … what the …?
    She whispered in the ear of another man who came up to her side, loud enough he could almost hear her even over the crowd of paparazzi, loud enough that he realized she was playing to the boom microphone that had been swung over her head like a branch with mistletoe at Christmas.
    Kat made her way through the crowd and the paparazzi moved aside for her two mountainous bodyguards. They cut a path through at the behest of the guy who she’d been talking to. He locked eyes with the older man and caught a surprisingly buoyant smile from the fellow, who followed a few paces behind Kat with another woman in his wake. Scott took in the little entourage with a glance and landed back on that guy again. He looked … amused? Pleased? Something uncomfortable that was causing some smile lines to crease up the side of his acne-scarred face.
    “Scott,” Kat said as her two bodyguards shoved a photographer out of the way to make room for her to stand about a foot from him. The boom mic that followed her swung down perilously, so close that Scott wondered if he needed to duck his head. A man with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed his way up to film them, perfectly positioned about ten feet away, putting them in the middle of the frame. Scott gave him a look, a very distinct What the f—? sort of look of combined horror and disgust. “What are you doing here?” she asked, sounding like she was a little horrified herself.
    “Uhm, I had a meeting over there,” Scott said, pointing his finger over his shoulder. He looked for Buchanan Brock, figured maybe the man would back up his story, but he was gone, probably back into his office and out of the damned dry heat.
    “Really,” Kat said, making clear she was not exactly convinced.
    “It’s been a while,” Scott said, feeling more than a little on-the-spot and painfully aware that the camera and microphone combo were recording this awkward and uncomfortable interaction for broadcast to … well, the entire world, really. All eyes on you and the only thing you can come up with is that? He stopped short of smacking himself in the forehead.
    “It has,” Kat said, looking more than a little tense. “I’m a little surprised to see you in LA.”
    He frowned. “Because?”
    “It’s not really your sort of scene,” she said airily, still hiding behind those dark glasses. Her voice sounded strange, more stilted than he could recall it ever being before.
    “Well, I’m only in town for a couple days—the meeting, maybe some lounging by the seashore,” Scott said, feeling his discomfort rising but trying desperately to get it under control. Remember, she doesn’t recall any of our history. Not a thing . Yep, this was just as uncomfortable as he’d recalled it being every other time he’d tried to talk with her before the war had ended. “I’ll be gone before you know it,” he said, wishing that moment were here now.
    “I heard you and Sienna were hanging out again,” Kat said, a little softer.
    Scott let out a slow breath. “I helped her and Reed a couple months ago, yeah.” His mind flitted through possibilities associated with that question.
    “Are you two dating?” Kat asked, coolly.
    “What?” Scott stifled a laugh. “No. We didn’t—”
    “Uh huh,” Kat said, making a face that played directly to the camera without her once looking at it. What the …? Scott thought for the dozenth time in the last few minutes.
    “Need to wrap this up,” the sun-glazed guy lurking behind her said quietly enough that Scott barely heard it over the crowd noise. The flashes of