Page 30 of The Pale Rider
Aeron practically threw me on Meremoth and jumped on behind me. He spurred the horse, and we took off running. We didn’t stop until we got to a road sign covered in graffiti. Meremoth abruptly stopped, and Aeron jumped down. He practically yanked me out of the saddle and started examining me.
“Are you okay? Were you hurt at all?”
“Aeron, I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”
Aeron was holding my cheeks, and his gray eyes bored into mine. There was this look on his face like he didn’t know what to do next.
“Fuck it,” he growled.
Aeron pulled me to his chest and crushed his lips to mine. I didn’t fight it. It was weird. I kissed him back with just as much passion as he kissed me, and I loved every minute of it.
That’s when I remembered him. I hadn’t met Aeron in person before. I couldn’t remember what we talked about, but I knew Aeron from a chatroom. He was my friend, and we were close. I talked to his team too. Well, I talked to Leif. I couldn’t remember talking to the other two people on his team.
We were all friends. I liked them, and they liked me. But what the fuck did we talk about? Was I plotting to kill the president when someone kidnapped me and took me to that facility so they could wipe my memories?
I touched Aeron’s cheek.
“We met in a chatroom.”
Aeron beamed at me and kissed me so hard, my knees went weak.
“Yes! What else do you remember?”
I shook my head. I wanted to give him something, anything, that I remembered more about him than just a chatroom. I didn’t even know what we talked about.
“Just that we met there. There were three of us in the room. I knew your team before all this. I can’t remember your usernames, but I know you told me your real names at one point. I don’t know what we talked about. How did I meet you and Leif, but not the other two?”
Aeron kissed my forehead and stroked my hair.
“It’s a start. If I had known kissing you would have brought something back, I would have done it way before now. Keeping you at a distance was so hard. I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I could have lost you back there if my plan didn’t work.”
“Aeron, if we had some online thing before, why were you acting like a dick to me before those zombies almost ate us? You were acting like just touching me grossed you out.”
“Let’s get back on the road. It’s not safe to stay here, and we need to reach our next stop. I’ll explain, I promise.”
This time, when Aeron put me on the back of his horse, it was like I was breakable. He climbed up behind me, and it was a lot more intimate when he wrapped his arm around my waist and rested it on my thigh. I didn’t speak when we started moving. I didn’t want to ruin whatever this was.
“It was my fault you got taken, Speedy. We were all talking in the chatroom and planning. You were just supposed to disappear one day and meet us in Mexico. I was the one that didn’t want it to play out like that. I was the one that insisted on crossing the border to get you. I brought attention to you. You were supposed to meet me at your favorite restaurant. We would eat, and then I would take you back with me.
“When I got to the restaurant, your car was there, but you were nowhere to be found. I searched everywhere and tried calling you. Your cell phone had already been disconnected. I didn’t think you had changed your mind or your car wouldn’t have been there. I went to your apartment, and the door was ajar. Someone had gone through your apartment looking for anything you might have left behind on the way out.
“You didn’t meet Dice and Asher because they weren’t on the team yet. We really could have used their help to find you. You just disappeared the day we were supposed to meet, and there were no clues in your apartment. The day after you disappeared, the first signs of the rage mutation started showing up.”
“How does an artist and softball player factor into any of this shit?”
“I swear, when the time is right, I’ll explain everything. We’re making progress, Speedy. The more you remember, the more I can tell you.”
I smiled to myself.
“Since you’re in a sharing mood, Meremoth is not a normal horse, is he?”
Aeron chuckled.
“No, he’s not, but that’s a story for another time.”
I knew it.
Chapter 19
