Page 80 of Unrest
You would have thought from his blatant staring that I was in a skirt and heels. Or naked again. I swallowed hard and slowly made my way over to him. His dimmed eyes rose to mine.
“Sit with me ‘till breakfast?” he asked. But I swear his deep voice rumbled something more like,“Straddle my lap ‘till breakfast?”and I blushed as I quickly sat.
“What’d you learn about that guy?” His abrupt change of tone and subject left me reeling and cooling.
“Um, he’s a pilot.”
His eyebrows rose and fell. “What else?”
“Nothing, really, except that he was under the DRI, and he’s . . . I don’t know. He has a lot of guilt about working for them. He escaped. I think he’s for real.”
“Let’s hope,” Rylen said.
Yes. It was terrifying to imagine what would happen if this compound were infiltrated.
“How many of us do you think are left?” I asked. “Humans? Do you think there are other places like this?”
“There are,” he assured me, but he didn’t expound. I resisted the urge to ask how many, and if we were in contact with them. He was privy to more information than most of us, and I knew the reasons. If I were captured and tortured, the information wouldn’t be safe.
“We have a chance to beat them,” Rylen whispered. “It’s just a matter of timing, and the element of surprise. It all has to line up perfectly.”
I swallowed hard, wondering what kind of crazy planning was going on behind the scenes. How could we possibly beat them? The thought of what we were up against, and the state of the world, had me scooting closer to Rylen’s strong body. He took my hand in his and twined his fingers through mine. We both looked down at our hands, and the sight made my lungs flutter with a shaky breath of disbelief.
“Is it weird to you?” he asked.
I felt suddenly shy. “Yeah. I really never thought it would happen.”
We continued to watch our hands. His thumb trailed up and down my skin, and his voice was low.
“When I used to get your letters, I fully expected you to tell me about some boyfriend, or say you were engaged. I thought some smart, lucky guy would snatch you up. Or maybe some asshole that Tater and I would have to get rid of.” I snorted at this. His low rumble softened further. “I never thought there was a chance for me.”
“I told you in one of those letters that you were the only guy for me.” I looked at him now. “You havenoidea how much nerve that took. And then you blew it off.”
His eyes were wide with disbelief. “I swear, I thought you were fucking with me.”
I smiled wryly and shook my head.
“My mom would be happy, you know.” I glanced down at our joined fingers. “She always hoped for this. She was one of the only people who knew how I felt.”
His gaze turned wistful. “I loved her. Your mom . . .” He shook his head, like there were no words. “Both your parents. They were the ones who made me believe I could be somebody.”
I swallowed hard and looked in his gray eyes. “You always were somebody.”
He looked away. Still, all these years later, this grown man clearly didn’t quite believe his own worth. I wished he could see what I saw when I looked at him.
The door to the tunnel opened, and the breakfast rush began making their way in. I tried to pull my hand away, but Rylen’s fingers tightened on mine. I met his gaze, his locked jaw of stubbornness.
“You don’t want people to know?” he asked.
“It’s not that.” I hated how private I was—how any little bit of PDA made me self-conscious—even holding hands. Especially with so many of the people in this compound being lonely and single, missing their loved ones.
“After seeing every one of these men watching you dance,” Rylen said, “I’d like them to keep their distance.”
Though his voice was full of jest, his eyes darkened with a jealous seriousness. Rylen Fite wanted to publicly claim me. And I could feel eyes on us as people passed.
J.D. gasped and hit Sean’s arm. They both smiled at us.
I sensed other’s voices quieting as they took in the way we held hands, facing one another, sitting closely. Like a couple.
