Page 16 of Code Word
The thing about these cabins was that they were built for us to unwind, to escape the constant barrage of media, and to just be ourselves without the outside world.
But that also meant no TV, no internet. We could use phones in the barn—only for Wes’s benefit with the baby—but there was nothing else but us and silence.
And that silence was starting to get a little loud.
There was no escapingus.
There was nowhere to hide from the gaping hole between us. Nothing to fill the void.
Just us. Luke and me and a whopping big fucking elephant in the room neither one of us could look in the eye.
That easiness between us was gone.
And I didn’t know what scared me the most: that he was the one letting go or that I didn’t know how to stop him.
It was an awful, horrible, no-good feeling.
“Hey,” Luke said from the bedroom door, startling me. He pointed his thumb to the bed. “I’m gonna crash. I’m really fucking beat.”
“Okay,” I said, standing up. “Lemme just fix the fire.”
He seemed confused by this for a split second, until he realized that I meant I’d join him. “Oh, you don’t... I mean, you can stay out here, I didn’t mean you had to...”
I showed him the book I wasn’t even reading. “I can read in there; it’s fine.”
He blinked and I could have sworn he frowned before heturned and disappeared into the bedroom. “You still sleep on the left, right?”
“Yep.”
“Good.”
I fixed the fire and turned the lights off, and then I stubbed my toe on the bed frame. “Ow. Motherfucker.”
Luke’s quiet chuckle kinda made it worth it. I sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing my poor little toe. “It’s not broken. Thanks for the sympathy though.”
He snorted quietly. “You’re welcome.”
I switched on the lamp on the side table, making him groan in protest as he pulled his pillow over his face.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, propping up my pillow at my back and opening the book.
Luke sighed and resettled his pillow. “Well, if you’re gonna keep me awake, you may as well read it out loud to me.”
I froze, because what the fuck? “You want me to read to you?”
“Mm.” He closed his eyes. “Start at page one.”
Okay then.
I opened the book to page one.
“What’s it about, anyway?” he asked quietly.
“Some government agency spy shit at some Arctic base.”
“Oh, good. Some government agency spy shit at some Arctic base is my favorite genre.”
I snorted and began reading.
