Page 102 of Maverick

Ransom cups my shoulder and yanks me to his chest and a loud thump and a groan echoes behind me. Looking back I see Kade on the ground, kicking at Micah's shins. Micah dodges them and full body slams Kade.

Ransom seems completely unfazed, tugging me toward a corner, and out of the middle of the chaos. Of course I scan for Nan, a little worried about her in the middle of all those bodies, but relax when I spot her standing with Holly, Janey and Maya, making faces at Holly's baby.

"I knew someone once," Ransom tells me, eyes on the women. "She was barely older than I was, but she walked in the world with absolute certainty. Like she was the star of the show, and the rest of the world would bend and cater to her."

"Like a movie star?"

"No. Shit. I'm not explaining it well. Have you ever met one of those people who just knew themselves right to the core? They were unshakable, and nothing ever seemed to faze them? To the point where it seemed like everything always went their way?"

"Yeah. You," I say flatly, making him laugh. "And me, before grandpa died." Ransom makes a low sound, and briefly cups my shoulder. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to. He understands loss just as well as I do. Probably better. And we're both past the need for platitudes. I'll take someone standing in the pain with me over hollow words of sympathy any day.

"I'd never met anyone like that before," he says, gazing sightlessly across the room. "All I saw growing up was struggle. Grinding it out day to day to barely make ends meet. Then my life… blew up, and everything was different."

Something about the way he says 'blew up' sends a shiver down my spine. There's a gravity, a pain to the words that leaves me with so many questions.

"Then what happened? You lost your family, just like all of them did. Where did you go?"

"I was about thirty blocks from here for a few months, but shit wasn't going well. But I guess I was lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. There was someone who cared about me, and what happened to me. And he pulled some strings and sent me to a…family that could 'handle my shit' as he put it. I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be anywhere. But then things changed."

"And that's where you met…her?" I'm jumping to conclusions, but apparently, it’s the right one.

"Yeah, that's where I met her."

"How long were you there?"

"Three years. Those years changed everything. I walked out of there a different person. A stronger person. A—" He clampshis mouth shut and shakes his head. "What is it about you Cadence, that makes people talk?"

"I've been told I live in the land of non-judgement, so it makes it easy to tell me things."

"The land of non-judgement. What's it like living there?

"Lots of puppies."

His startled laugh makes a few heads look in our direction. "That sounds pretty fucking nice."

"It is nice. I've learned that walking around the world, assuming people are good, is a better way to live. Less stress, less frustration, less anger."

"Maybe I should give that a try."

"As opposed to?"

"Being suspicious of every new person. Always assuming they're out to get us until they prove differently."

"That sounds exhausting."

"It is."

Suddenly we're surrounded by a mass of bodies. "Pie." Someone says urgently.

"Pie." Someone else repeats.

"What is happening?" I ask, kind of feeling like I've been surrounded by a horde of zombies.

"Pie," Maverick says, like that should be all the answer I need.

I look up at Ransom. "What is going on?"

"Pie," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

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