Page 42 of Unrest
“I can wait out here,” he whispered. I handed him my key instead, and he nodded, leaving us.
I went in and Tater turned his eyes toward me without getting up.
“If you’re here to yell at me—”
“I’m not,” I assured him. I climbed on the bed beside him, curling up and placing my head on his chest.
In half a second his chest heaved up and he pressed his palms to his face. My own eyes burned for the pain he felt. I pulled him up and his arm went around me. I held him around the waist as he cried.
“Tater—”
“We’re all going to die,” he said, pulling back and roughly rubbing his face.
“Well, no shit.” Usually my sarcasm could make him laugh, but not today.
“They’re going to kill you. And Remy. Rylen. Eventually, they’re going to—”
“Stop.” I grabbed his arm. “You can’t do that. You can’t think like that. It’s not healthy, Tater. They’ve taken too much already; don’t let them take your hope, too.”
“You really have hope?” he asked skeptically.
I chewed my lip. “I have you guys, and you all give me hope. This place, these people, that gives me hope. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
He shook his head. His face was so barren, like he’d fallen into a pit and I couldn’t reach him.
“When is your next shift?” I asked.
“The morning.”
I took his hand. “Promise me you’ll try to get some sleep.”
Without a word, he rolled to his side on the bed, staring across the room blankly. My heart ached inside my ribcage. I pulled off his shoes and peeled off his socks. He just . . . let me. Then I kissed his head and whispered, “I love you so much.”
He closed his eyes and said nothing.
I was still trembling inside when I got to my room. Ry sat on the edge of the bed. I gave him a sad shake of my head. “He’s laying down. He’s depressed.”
He watched as I yanked off my shoes and fell face first onto the bed.
“I’ll let you rest,” he whispered. I felt the bed move as he stood. Suddenly the room felt really empty. How long had it been since I was alone? The feeling sort of freaked me out. Ry had the door halfway closed behind himself when I sat up and called, “Wait.”
He stuck his head back in. “Yeah?”
“What are you doing now?” I asked.
“I was just going to read.”
“Oh.”Don’t be needy. You’ll be fine in here alone.“Okay.”
“Do you . . . want me to stay?”
“If you want. I mean, I’m just going to lay down, but if you’re just going to be sitting and reading anyway—”
“All right,” he said gently. “Let me grab my book and check on Tater.”
A flutter of happiness shot through my nervous system. Rylen was back minutes later with a huge hardback missing a cover. Something about airplane mechanics was written on the spine.
“Do you think Tater’s okay to be by himself?” I asked, suddenly feeling bad for taking him away.
