Page 26 of Say We've Found Forever
Four men head right for them. Wyatt doesn’t like the looks of ‘em one bit. He wants to hope he’s only being judgmental. Addison thought he was trouble, too, and he didn’t do a thing to earn that, but he knows these fuckers are about to earn it. The blood splatters on their clothes are suspicious, and crimson dripping from a machete sends chills up his spine.
There’s nowhere to hide until he spots the attic.
He pulls the steps down and cuts the outside string off with his knife before they hurry up and into the darkness.
It’s cramped among boxes of holiday decorations. His first worry is that they’ll both erupt into a sneezing fit from all the dust. They’ve crunched in so close that he can feel her pressed to him, shoulder to thigh. Then the little bell jingles on the door, and he can feel her anxiety manifest in a ripple that jumps from her body straight into his bones.
“Heard a little bird out this way. I know I did.”
“Me too, she had a pretty voice. Might like to hear it saying other things…
“Like my name?”
“No, asshole, like my name, all breathy and high-pitched while I’m—”
“Shut the fuck up, can’t hear a damn thing with you two going on. If she’s in here, we’ll find her.”
Yeah, this is why Addison wanted to off him the first day without a second thought. Half the people left are like this. No rules anymore. That means all the demons are free to roam.
He wants to tell her that he won’t let anything happen to her, but who is he kidding? He couldn’t take on four of them alone, even if he tried.
She’s breathing as hard as she had been in the shed, only now he’s close enough to feel her shaking. If he knew her better, hemight take her hand or rub her back, anything to calm her down. At this rate, they’ll fall through the fucking floor if she trembles any harder. The boards under them creak the slightest bit, and her hand shoots out to cover his where it rests on his knee. Settles there like an anchor while she shuts her eyes and leans her head back against the wall.
Usually, he’d curse out anyone touching him, but he doesn’t mind it this time. If she needs to hold on to something, then it only makes sense. He isn’t one to judge anyone else’s coping mechanisms.
What doesn’t make sense is how his thumb flutters ever so slightly against the edge of her pinky finger. Once it’s over, it’s too late to take it back.
His face flames like he did something awful, but her gaze only softens.
She smells nice. Then he scolds himself for daring to let his mind wander.
Embarrassment for not showering this morning creeps up the back of his neck. He took one yesterday, grateful for even cold water when it flows freely from the well, but he may have sweated in his sleep. Now here he is shoved so close that she could sniff his armpits if she leaned forward a fraction.
She doesn’t seem especially put off. There’s no wrinkle in her nose, so he considers that a win.
Wyatt can’t look directly at her, though, or she might notice that he’s not completely averse to this sort of closeness. So, he averts his eyes every few seconds, careful to look at the rafters or the floor instead of the woman whose breath ghosts his collarbone.
It takes longer than it should for the men below to leave. When they finally do, he gives it an extra ten minutes to be sure.
“Are you good?” he asks as they emerge from the darkness.
“I’m fine. We don’t know which way they went.”
“Gonna have to take our chances and hope that—”
The moment he puts one foot outside, the cocking of a gun at his temple stops him cold.
There must be a blind spot out the window.
“You’re not a little bird,” one of them sneers before looking past him to Addison. “There she is.”
He heard exactly what they were planning when they were talking among themselves. It could be the most idiotic thing he’s done so far, but rather than wait and see what happens, he pulls a move he saw play out in the middle of the first wave up in Alaska, when one of the soldiers fought a looter. Wyatt leans away from the gun at the same time he shoves a knife into his opponent’s crotch. After that, all hell breaks loose.
He didn’t stop to think if she’d be able to defend herself, and he’s only one guy against four others. Three now, since the first is still on the ground, grabbing his balls as he bleeds out.
“Run!” he yells, trying to give Addison a chance even if he’ll pay for it.
Turns out he didn’t have to tell her because she’s already being chased.
