Page 50 of The Pale Rider
“Tell you what. I like you, and this drawing is good. If your man gets back here with news the gate is secure, and we don’t have to worry about the Brotherhood anymore, I’ll give both of you a beer on the house.”
“Deal. You got a name? Everyone calls me Speedy. We might be here a while.”
“Jeff. You’re welcome to stay here. Are you hungry? On the house since your man is off fighting the wall.”
“He’s not my man. He’s just someone I’m traveling with.”
“Does he know that? He went out of his way to get you out of danger.”
“I could have fought. It’s like he’s saying he doesn’t trust me to take care of myself.”
“Or maybe he cares too much to risk your life in a hostile takeover.”
“I guess.”
I hadn’t thought about it like that. I knew Aeron cared. I felt it when he used to hold me when we slept. We stopped doing that after my apartment because things just got weird. I missed it. I missed sleeping in his arms, and I hated that niggling feeling in my gut about Aeron.
He’d done nothing but protect me so far, and Miss Mabel trusted him. He took me back to my apartment, knowing those paintings were on my walls. He could have destroyed them, but he cleaned my apartment and left it the way it was for me.
Still, it didn’t sit right with me that he didn’t want Miss Mabel to tell me why I painted the things I did or that I had some weird gift when I put pen to paper. Sure, he helped after the cat was out of the bag, but if it were up to him, I’d still be in the dark. It was getting to the point that Aeron keeping secrets from me was starting to outweigh the feelings I was developing for him.
I would have thought a hostile takeover at the gate would have taken a lot longer to quash, and Aeron would have to locate where Meremoth deposited me. Still, I had only just finished the sandwich Jeff gave me when he came strolling in without a drop of blood on him. His hair looked windblown in a sexy way, not like he fought a battle.
“We can leave now.”
I grabbed the drawing off the bar and shoved it in his face.
“Care to explain this one?”
Aeron just shrugged.
“I had an idea, and we won.”
Jeff popped open two beers and slid them across the bar.
“I promised Speedy beers for both of you if you came back and said the gate was secure. If it was your idea that kept the Brotherhood out, then I’d like to offer to feed you too. Are you hungry?”
“The sandwiches are excellent, and it will be our last hot meal for a while,” I pointed out.
Aeron smacked his hand on the bar.
“Battles are best celebrated with ale, food, and wenches. I’ll take a sandwich.”
“Yeah, well, this wench is pissed off you sent me away.”
“I had to, Ariel. You might not believe this, but I care about you more than the fact that to end all this, we need your blood. I’ll protect you with my life, and if it means pissing you off, then so be it. As long as you don’t get hurt, I will keep pissing you off.”
Well, that was probably the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. Honestly, I couldn’t remember the sweetest thing anyone could have possibly said to me, but for now, that was it. I guess I could forgive Aeron. I kept forgetting that it was my stupid mutant blood that caused all this, and I needed to stop being a dumbass and risking shit because my blood was somehow the key to stopping it.
“I’m sorry I got pissed, Aeron. I get it. Get the grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. It’s fucking amazing. I get why you are protecting me, but no more secrets, okay?”
Jeff started preparing the food. He handed a plate and a bowl to Aeron, who dug in.
“Care you regale us with tales of battle, brother? What was your big idea that saved the gate?”
“Divide and conquer, my brother. There was more than one gang out there, so there was more than one gang leader. Pit them against each other, and they do the work for you.”
Something didn’t seem right about that. They seemed well organized, like they spent a lot of time trying to plan how to get through those gates. I heard someone say they made a shield wall out of car doors. What did I know? I’d never fought in any type of battle before. I slept through World War III. Maybe that worked.
