Page 44 of A Brother At My Back

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Zeb…

I made love to her for a couple of hours, our bodies entwined under the covers; warm despite the chill in my flat from the fire going out. We’d gotten decent sleep. Her nightmare at least allowed for that, hitting her close to when we needed to be up anyways.

I was so wrapped up in her that I didn’t hear my phone buzzing across the floor by the bed until the second time it went off. I swore and slipped out of her, reaching for it as she covered her mouth with her hands, eyes sparkling with the smile that she hid.

“What is it, bro? I’m kind of busy,” is how I answered.

“Yeah, and we’re out here freezing our nuts off, wondering where the fuck you’re at. Or did you forget we were supposed to be teaching your charge how to shoot today?” Trigger sounded irritated and I felt a bit sheepish.

“Ah, yeah, nah, Bro, I didn’t forget. Just got a bit distracted is all.”

“Distracted, right, that’s great. Will you hurry your ass up and get out here? We ain’t got all day, and it’s fuckin’ cold as shit out here.”

“Point Nowhere, yeah?”

“Yeah, ain’t got no goddamn heat, so move it, would ya?”

“On our way, sorry again.”

I looked down at Tiffany who was smiling at me, her hands moved from her mouth and to my shoulders.

“I take it we missed our appointment?” she said, and I bent my head to kiss her again.

“Yeah, but they’re waiting. Bundle up, it’s going to be a cold ride and there’s no heat where we’re going.”

“Lovely,” she said rolling her eyes and I could tell she was about as done as I was when it came to the cold outside.

“Gives me an excuse to warm you up when we get home,” I pointed out.

“You don’t need an excuse,” she said, and I smiled at her and moved off of her. She sat up and sighed, a contented sound.

We got cleaned up as best we could without taking a shower and got dressed. She layered up and so did I. Winters in this area were no joke and the bitter cold made me miss home and the summertime there.

“Ready?” I asked her and she looked longingly back to the bed for a minute.

“As I’ll ever be,” she declared and followed me out into the blistering cold.

I’d never wished for a cage as much as I did then. We couldn’t get the bike up the long track into point nowhere, so we’d parked it on the side of the road and Reaver had driven his truck down to the bottom to pick us up.

Tiffany sat stiffly between us as he drove us back to the top where Trigger waited by an old oil drum, hands outstretched to the fire he and Reaver had going in it.

“About fuckin’ time you got here,” he mumbled around a cigarette. A real one, which told me just how irritated he was.

“Sorry, bro,” I said, and he raised an eyebrow and nodded.

Tiffany slid out of the truck behind me and I shut the door. Trigger got a good look at her and his eyebrows went up.

“All’s forgiven,” he said and gave a nod. Yeah, I figured he’d understand it when he saw her.

“I’m Trigger,” he said and took a final drag off the cigarette he shouldn’t have been smoking and flicked the butt into the flames licking at the edge of the barrel.

“Tiffany, most people just call me Tiff.”

“Nice to meet you, Tiff. That there is Reaver. You ready to learn how to shoot?”

She shifted from foot to foot in the white powder at the top of the drive and let her gaze wander over the sheet metal building and snow-covered hulks of cars scattered at its base.

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