It felt like hours had ticked by before Danny and Bronx reemerged. Danny stopped in front of Nina and Milo and gestured at the stairs.
“I can show you to the bedroom,” Danny said.
“No,” I said shaking my head. “The one down here. The guest room.” I cleared my throat when I realized everyone was staring at me. “Nick will probably want the one upstairs when he gets back.”
There were three bedrooms upstairs, and I wanted us together. It was going to take time for me to adjust having Nina and Milo around. I felt terrible I wasn’t more accepting of others in need of help, but hell, with everything that had happened to us, they were lucky I was even letting them stay in the house.
“Right,” Danny said gesturing toward the short hallway.
Nina put her hands on Milo’s shoulders and held him close as they followed Danny. Milo was dragging his feet looking as though he was terribly exhausted.
Bronx walked over to me, watching them until the door closed. “Danny wanted them to stay in the barn.”
“I want them to stay in the barn,” I muttered.
“What? Really?” Bronx said cocking his head to the side.
I closed my eyes and exhaled. “Sorry, it’s fine. It’s going to be hard to trust them.”
“Nick would have never allowed them to join us if he had concerns,” Bronx said crossing his arms.
“Please,” I said barely trying to stop my eyes from rolling. “Do I need to mention Shannon and Monica?”
Bronx chuckled. “He’s not going to let that happen again.”
“We can’t and shouldn’t trust anyone,” I said.
“He’s just a boy,” Bronx said.
“I know… I’m sorry,” I said, placing my hand on my forehead.
Bronx placed his hand on my shoulder, and my whole body jerked to the side. My hand slid down to cover my mouth apologetically.
“Hey,” he said in a silky voice, “it’s going to be okay.”
I wanted to scream at him that it already wasn’t okay and that it would never be okay, but instead, I nodded.
Bronx looked over his shoulder. “If they do anything, anything, you don’t like, I won’t hesitate to kick them to the curb.”
I pressed my lips together attempting to form a smile, but whatever shape my mouth had formed, probably looked nothing like a smile.
“I’m sorry about Jamie,” Bronx said lowering his voice.
It felt like sandpaper had been glued to the insides of my eyelids when I blinked. I was trying hard not to cry.
I managed a small nod before turning toward the noise coming down the hallway. Danny was alone.
He exhaled as he rested back against the wall at the end of the hall. “They’re going to rest.”
“That boy’s tough, but he’s exhausted,” Bronx said.
Danny looked back and forth between Bronx and I. He probably noticed both the glassiness and the redness of my eyes.
When he opened his mouth, I thought he was going to ask if I was okay but he didn’t. Danny looked down at his feet and pushed himself away from the wall. “I’ll go start dinner.”
Chapter 4
Bronx and I were on the second floor, and the distance from the others felt good. Being around Nina and Milo was stressful even though it probably didn’t need to be.
I showed Bronx Nick’s old room, the one Danny and I had been staying in, and then the one I’d used when I was a kid. Bronx didn’t say much as he looked around the tidy rooms.
He stepped into my childhood room and nodded. The walls were still the same pale shade of pink, and the bed looked tinier than I remembered. My grandma hadn’t changed a thing.
“Sorry,” I said almost chuckling at the thought of Bronx curling up in the small bed with the pink polka-dot bedspread.
“Looks comfy,” Bronx said.
“Yeah, if I remembered correctly, it was.” I smiled but kept my eyes on the bed. I still didn’t feel ready to look into his eyes. If I did, I knew he’d see the internal pain I was going through, and I didn’t want to see him feeling sorry for me.
Bronx shrugged. “I’m sure it beats the rocky, half-wet ground outside.”
“No doubt about that.”
Bronx crossed his arms. “If you want, I can stay with Danny. You can have your room.”
“It’s fine,” I said with a shrug. I was used to being with Danny.
“He told me it’s been really rough for you.”
I shrugged again keeping my mouth closed.
“Is there anything I can do? I hate seeing you like this.”
My eyes narrowed. Had I really been acting all that differently? He’d only been back for a short time, and I thought, for the most part, I’ve been mostly myself. Since Bronx had been back, I thought I was doing far better hiding my pain.
“I’m fine,” I said pulling my shoulders back.
“It’s okay not to be.”
Bronx took a step closer. He looked down toward his feet for a long moment before his eyes shifted upward.
“I wish I would have been there,” he said.
“There wouldn’t have been anything you could have done to change the outcome. That cloud poisoned him.” My head was moving side to side trying to shake the images from my mind. I still wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I ever would.
My heart pounded inside my chest with an ache that made it painful to breathe. I shuddered when Bronx wrapped his arms around me and held me against his body.
“If there’s anything I can do for you,” Bronx whispered into my hair near my ear, “please, let me know.”
I wanted to tell him there wasn’t anything he could do or say to make the pain go away. It wasn’t like he could make me feel better, I wouldn’t forget. There wasn’t anything that could erase what had happened, but instead of telling him as much, I offered him a small nod.
Bronx leaned back slightly, and I could feel his eyes on me. He was trying to look into my eyes, but there was no way I could let that happen. If I did, I wouldn’t stop crying for days. It was bad enough I couldn’t stop the nightly dreams where I had to relive what happened. At least during the day, I could force myself to think about other things. Well, at least try to think about other things.
“Dinner’s ready,” Danny called from the bottom of the stairs. “Come and get it while it’s hot… er warm.”
Bronx gave my shoulder a small squeeze as I turned away from him toward the door. He wasn’t going to force me to talk, but he wanted me to know he was there for me if I changed my mind. If I needed him. But I didn’t even know what I needed.
I walked down the stairs to the living room with Bronx following just behind me. Nina and Milo stepped out of the guest room just as I placed my foot on the last step.
They both looked up at Bronx and me for a moment, but neither of them smiled. Milo’s eyes were round circles filled with a strange, frightened uncertainty. There was no doubt he was trying to comprehend this new way of life. He looked scared and miserable at the same time. No video games. No TV. Poor kid.
I wanted to tell them they didn’t need to worry about us, but it wasn’t like they’d take my word for it anyway. Especially if they had also been held captive by Tom and his men.
Danny had already set out the food. Small streaks of steam wafted out of the bowls of flavored rice up toward the ceiling.
It was a quiet dinner. At first, Danny had tried to get the conversation going by asking Nina questions about her time before meeting up with Bronx and the others, but she kept her answers short. Nina was making it clear that she didn’t want to talk about it based on her quick glances at Milo who mostly stared at his food.
“Go on, eat,” she said encouraging him with a smile as she took a big bite. “It’s good.”
Danny smiled taking it as a compliment.
“He’s a rice cooking master,” I said softly.
“Making it twice a day for the last however many days helps.” Dann
y grinned. “It wasn’t that good at first. Hard, chewy grains.” He scrunched up his nose and shook his head.
Milo looked up and Danny and allowed a small smile to pop onto his face for a moment. Nina tapped the table next to his bowl, and he took a small spoonful.
After that, they ate quickly, and when they were finished, Nina stood taking Milo’s hand into hers, excusing them back to their room for the night. She explained that Milo needed more sleep, but that if she was needed to take a shift keeping watch not to hesitate to knock.
Bronx told her she should take the night off. Get some rest, and the woman bobbed her head once as she turned away.
“Oh,” she said looking over her shoulder. She flashed Danny a tight-lipped smile. “Thank you so much for the food.”
“Of course,” Danny said smiling back at her.
“Sleep well,” Bronx called after them as they walked out of the kitchen.
Seconds later, we heard the door lock behind them. Nina didn’t trust us any more than I trusted her. It was surprising that they actually were brave enough to eat our food.
“You trust her, right?” I asked Bronx keeping my voice low.
“Enough.” I could feel him looking at me. “Or I wouldn’t have brought them here.”
“Had she been with you for a while?” I asked shooting him a quick glance to verify he was looking at me before turning back to my nearly empty bowl. “Shouldn’t she be more trusting of us?”
“Would you trust someone just because you were told to?” Bronx asked. “I know I wouldn’t.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said.
“Give her a little time,” Bronx said sending his metal spoon in the bowl with a clank. “Who knows, maybe you two will be the best of friends.”
I snorted. “Somehow I doubt that.”
After we finished eating, the three of us went into the living room. Danny was at the window alternating between sitting and standing every few minutes. Bronx was on the opposite end of the sofa trying to make it look like he wasn’t worried about me.
I had my book open, but I wasn’t reading, and it was getting harder to stare at the words on the page. We were losing sunlight faster than normal.
Danny walked across the floor and lit the black cherry-scented votive on the small table next to me. He jerked his chin toward the window when he saw me watching him.
“It’s quite cloudy. Thought you could use the light,” Danny said.
“Thanks,” I said with a small nod. He probably already knew I wasn’t actually reading the book, but at least he was being helpful in case I was.
Danny sat down and leaned toward the window resting his chin on his fist as he stared out of the window. I stared at him over the top edge of my book. One day I hoped I could repay him for everything he’d done for me after what had happened. If it hadn’t been from him, I wouldn’t have made it back to my grandma’s.
Of course, Danny already considered us even. He said that if it hadn’t been for me, he would probably be dead. I didn’t think he gave himself enough credit. He was far stronger than he believed. Maybe one day I’d get to that point too.
“You guys have this all set up pretty nice here,” Bronx said. “Hell, if you keep the curtains closed and don’t go outside you’d never even know the world had ended.”
“It was all like this when we got here. Danny just did a little reorganizing,” I said with a shrug.
Bronx chuckled. “Your grandma was prepared.”
“Her grandma has so much packed in the cellar you wouldn’t even believe it. We’ll never have to leave,” Danny said. “Heck, if we can find some wild pigs or something, I can probably get this farm going again.”
Bronx narrowed an eye at Danny. “Wild pigs? What do you know about farming?”
“I worked on my dad’s farm my whole life. Well right up until he had us leave to go into the city when the sky turned red.” Danny looked around the living room as if he were seeing something different, perhaps he was thinking of his own home. “We probably would have been better off staying at our farm.”
“Probably,” Bronx said.
“My family would probably still be alive,” Danny said lightly touching the curtain as he peered out between them. “Well, anyway.”
No one spoke for quite some time. I figured Danny was lost in his thoughts about his family and Bronx was probably back to secretly looking at me when he thought I wouldn’t notice.
I didn’t know what he was searching for, but whatever it was, I didn’t want him to find it. But I wished I knew what it was so I could bury it down deep never to be found again.
“Well,” I said tossing the book onto the coffee table, “I’m going to bed.”
The sky had quickly turned dark, and the candle was making shadows dance on the wall that reminded me of when we’d been trapped inside Tom’s camp. I wanted to ask Danny to come upstairs with me, but I didn’t want Bronx to know how bad things really were with me.
“I’ll be up soon,” Danny said getting to his feet. His eyes darted over to Bronx. “Unless you’d rather I—”
“No, everything is good,” I said answering quickly. Possibly too quickly.
Bronx was staring at his fingers as they twisted against one another pretending he didn’t know what we were discussing. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to share a room with Bronx, but… wait, no, I didn’t.
I didn’t have anything against Bronx. Far from it. I cared about him just as much as any of the others, but because of our brief history, things were different. Not to mention I didn’t want to talk about what happened at the camp.
“Oh crap,” Danny said letting his hand drop away from the curtain. His eyes were narrowed, and I could tell he was staring at something in the distance.
“What is it?” Bronx asked getting to his feet. The floorboards creaked as he made his way closer to Danny.
I swallowed hard and quickly walked over to the smaller window on the other side of the room. I tried to see what Danny was looking at but all I saw was darkness.
“What did you see?” I asked at the exact moment it happened again.
Bronx slapped his hand against the wall, and I jumped. “Dammit!”
Chapter 5
I gasped at took as I took a step back. My heart felt as though it had stopped.
It happened so quickly I wasn’t even sure of what I’d seen. In the distance there had been a light so bright it seemed to illuminate the entire world as if it were the brightest, hottest, summer day. It seemed as though I could see for miles, but it had only lasted a second.
“I don’t like this,” Bronx said hitting the wall again.
The door in the hallway creaked, and I could see Nina sticking her head out. Her eyes glowed hauntingly in the dark hallway.
“Is everything okay?” she whispered.
I didn’t know how to answer her because I had no idea. My eyes shot over to Bronx and Danny who were both staring out of the window. I wasn’t even sure if they’d heard her.
“There was a light in the sky,” I said turning back to my window.
“A light?” she asked stepping up next to me hugging herself.
I glanced at her for a moment. It felt awkward having the woman I didn’t know in my space.
“A flash of light.”
“Like lightning?” she asked.
“Kind of, but brighter. It only lasted a second.”
Her hands moved up and down her arms. “Should I wake up Milo?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Bronx said. “At least not yet.”
“Maybe it was just heat lightning,” Danny said shaking his head. “No, it wasn’t heat lightning.”
“Shit,” Bronx said running his fingers through his hair.
Nina took several steps back toward the hall. “Maybe we should leave.”
“Whatever it is, we’re probably better staying inside,” Bronx said holding up his hand. “This can’t be happening. Not now.”
Bronx placed his hand on Danny’s shoulder and moved him to the side. He opened the curtains and placed both palms on the glass.
I turned my head and saw the look on Bronx’s face in the barely lit room. It was easy to see he wasn’t thinking about us inside the house, he was thinking about Nick and Blair.
After fifteen minutes or so, Bronx broke the eerie silence that filled the air. “Go back to bed, Nina. I’ll wake you if anything changes.”
There hadn’t been any more flashes of light, but we weren’t going to stop watching for them any time soon.
“You too, Gwen,” Bronx said without looking away. “Go on get some sleep.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I’ll be able to get any.”
Bronx looked at me over his shoulder. “You need your rest.” He turned back to the window. “We don’t know what this is.”
“I’ll go up with you,” Danny said after taking a look at me. He must have been able to tell I wasn’t going to go up the stairs alone.
I nodded and followed him up the stairs. We were almost to the top when Bronx called out a quiet goodnight.
I bent down and looked at him over the railing. “Don’t forget to get sleep.”
“I won’t.”
Danny grabbed my arm and gently yanked me up the final steps. “He’ll be fine.”
I followed Danny down the hall. “Why are we doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Going to sleep.”
Danny closed the door behind us. “What can we do? There hasn’t been any more flashes.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s over.” I threw my hands up. “We don’t even know what it was.”
“Maybe whatever it is will stay far, far away.”
“It’s too much to ask that it was nothing, right?” I asked.
Danny let out a long heavy sigh. “Probably.”
I sat down on the bed and wrapped my arms around my middle. “I want to go back.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. I knew if I blinked they were going to leak out the corners and roll down my cheeks.
The Red Sky Series Box Set Page 33