Page 6 of Goodbye Paradise
Immediately, I rolled onto my side, away from him. Not only did this make room on the mattress, but it pointed my traitorous dick as far away from him as possible.God have mercy on me, I inwardly begged. My friend caught me stroking myself while I was thinking of him.
Hell was waiting for me. No question.
Caleb cupped one of his big hands over my ear, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hide my reaction. “How can you jerk at a time like this?” he asked, while my heart spasmed. “We need a plan. Like, yesterday.”
“Sorry,” I mouthed, stupidly. I wished the mattress would roll up and swallow me whole.
Caleb gave me a little punch to the shoulder, like he always did. But then he put his hand on my bicep and squeezed. He was always touching me. Caleb was a toucher. That was just his way. It made me crazy half the time, because I wanted those touches tomeansomething. (They never did.)
“I’m worried,” he said into my ear. “This isn’t good.”
That snapped me out of my own head, and quickly. Because Caleb wasn’t a worrier. In fact, I craned my neck to see just how serious he was.
The most familiar set of eyes blinked back at me from inches away. He beckoned to me, and I put my ear up against his mouth again. “Tomorrow, I need you to be prepared. Just in case. Can you do a few things for me?”
I gave him a little nod.
“Okay, listen. I need you to put on your newest clothes in the morning,” he breathed. “Anything valuable you have, put it in your pockets.”
A chill snaked down my spine. “Really?” I mouthed.
He gave a sad sigh, his warm breath sweeping sweetly down my neck. “Maybe I’m being paranoid. But I’m afraid they’re going to…” he didn’t finish the sentence. Caleb couldn’t stand to say it.Throw you out.
I shivered.
With another sigh, he put his hand on my chest, right in the center. “Donotpanic. Maybe it won’t happen tomorrow. But Joshy, it’s coming. And I need you to listen to my instructions.”
Nobody had called me Joshy since we were seven, and eating cookies in his mom’s kitchen. And now my throat was tight.
It’s coming, he’d said. Not only was this terrifying, it meant that I was just as pathetic as I’d always feared. Caleb knew I was useless. Hesaw.
“Sh sh sh sh sh,” he said into my ear. His hand closed over mine. “Are you listening? This is important.”
I squeezed his hand to tell him that I was.
“I’m not sure where they’d take you. If I had to guess, I’d say the bus station in Casper. They’d pick somewhere far enough away that you wouldn’t try to walk back and steal anything. If it wasn’t Casper, it would be Riverton. Either way, you and I are going to meet up inCasper. Whether this happens tomorrow, or any other time, I need you to get to Casper. Hitchhike if you have to.”
My heart skipped an actual beat, and I spent the next few seconds trying to figure out if I’d heard him right. Slowly, I turned my head on the pillow so that I could see Caleb’s eyes.
We?I mouthed.
Slowly, he nodded. Then he pushed my chin aside so that he could get to my ear again. “We’re going together. But if they toss you one morning and I don’t see it happen, I have to know where to find you.”
All my insides did a nauseous, crazy dance. It was the maddest thing I’d ever heard, and I really did not trust that I’d understood him. I whipped my head to the side again.WHY?I mouthed.
He put his lips so close to my ear that I could feel them tickling my skin. “I have to get out of here. There’s no life for me here. I’ve been saving money, but I don’t have enough yet. I could really use a little more time.”
I’d never been so surprised. Caleb was set up to do very well in Paradise. He would someday be married and have his own house. Everyone liked him, except the jealous ones. And he’d managed to steer clear of trouble even from them. And…
There was one question that I had to ask. I pushed an elbow into the bed and rose up to get near his ear. “What about Miriam?”
Caleb flinched. He whispered to me again. “Elder Asher wants her.”
Oh no!I mouthed.
He gave me a sad nod.
I felt a stab of pain in my chest for Miriam. Asher was not a nice man. At sixty-something years old, he had five wives already. And two others had died, while one had run away. In fact, it was Miriam’s own sister who had escaped from him. One morning she was just gone. Nobody knew where she went.
