Chapter Three

I didn’t think a body could go so pale. It was actually pretty funny. Yeah, right, like I would mace Jon Bon Jovi for putting his hands on me. More likely, I would mace him for keeping them to himself. But still, I was seriously going to crash the cab if he didn’t keep his hands off me.

I relaxed and pulled my hand out. “That’s more like it. Now, be a good boy, and sit back and let me do my job.”

Jon smiled. “What do I get for a reward if I’m a good boy?”

I laughed outright. “I’ll answer your question when we reach our destination. Where are we going exactly?” I asked him.

He looked at me like since I recognized him, I should know. “East Hampton,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “All the way up island?” I joked. “That is going to be one hell of a fare.”

“It’s not a problem. . .” Jon leaned forward to read the hack’s license. “How do you pronounce your first name?”

I just smiled. “Take a guess,” she said.

Jon thought a minute, and said, “’See-etta’.”

“Close, but no banana,” I answered. “It’s ‘Seeta’. I’m from Holland.”

“Ahh, Jon said. “That’s the accent. I couldn’t place it. What brings you to New York, Sieta?”

“School,” I said, nearly coming at the very sound of my name on his lips. Jon just raised an eyebrow, and I knew he wanted more details. Self-consciously, I squirmed in my seat a bit before I continued. “I’m working at my PhD in Applied Robotics and Computer Technology at NYU. I’ve got one year left.”

Jon whistled. “That’s way beyond my brain-pan capacity,” he said self-deprecatingly. “What are you, uh, working on?”

“It’s an automated zero-gravity propulsion system.” I love talking about my work. I went on to describe the system in high-level terms, and talked about the vehicle my partner and I were working on to test out the system. “I’m hopeful to catch NASA’s attention with my research. There has been some sniffing around, but nothing yet.” I saw Jon’s expression in the rearview mirror, and had to laugh. He was in no way paying attention anymore. “OK, RockStar, when exactly did you tune out?”

Jon smiled, unashamed. “Somewhere around zero-gravity,” he said, chuckling. “So you do shit with computers; can you fix mine so it stops beeping at me all the time?”

I had to laugh at him. “Man, you are too much. Yeah, I can do that, but I’m sure you can figure that one out on your own.”

“Perhaps,” Jon said. “But this way, I could get you into my house,”

My heart rate picked up speed. Holy shit. “And just why would you want me in your house?”

“That’s where the bed is,” Jon said simply.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Smooth,” I said.

“I do my best,” Jon answered.

The tension in the car was palpable. I could feel Jon’s gaze on me, settling like a blanket in the already sweltering car. I opened the windows wider, and the road noise made conversation all but impossible. That was fine by me. I was having trouble concentrating as it was.