Oleander: One of Us Series

by Faulks, Kim

Tex shot me a look, confused and concerned. I grabbed her hand and wrapped it around the handle of the bucket. “Hold onto that, I’ll be right back.”

  Shadow was already burning a trail along the hallway toward the kitchen by the time I caught his arm. “Hey, what’s going on?”

  There was a shake of his head, but he never met my gaze.

  This was important…important to him. He glanced toward the hallway and stilled. His chorded muscles shuddered under my hand as he finally broke. “They did that to her, man. They strapped her down and forced those drugs into her.” He lifted his head, dark eyes searching for something. “My brother works for them, Sixth. He makes them money…makes them powerful enough to do something like that.”

  I understood now, understood where all this was coming from. “Listen to me. You are not your brother. His choices are his own to make, the same as yours is all yours to stuff up anyway you chose.”

  The corner of his lips curled. Still I could see he wrestled those demons.

  “You’re a good guy, I’ve known plenty who aren’t, but that isn’t you. We all step out of our family’s shadow at some time. Mine just came a little earlier, that’s all.”

  He lifted his head as the words settled deep. “Thank you. It means a lot.” He glanced toward the hallway, and the sounds of retching coming from the room. “Take care of her, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  And then he was gone, turning to stride from the kitchen and out the back door. I waited there until the growl of the Mustang’s engine revved outside.

  Bonds were broken and new ones made. No matter how hard we wanted to be the same as everyone else in this world, we just weren’t.

  We were made different.

  We were mutated.

  There was a line in the sand, them…and us.

  The sound of the Mustang cut through the air, before headlights flared through the window, and then he was gone, slipping away through the night, leaving three of us behind.

  “Are you sure?” The words floated to me along the hall. I scanned the kitchen and then made for the room.

  Tex sat sideways on the bed. Holding her steady with one hand while he peeled off the filthy shirt with the other. Pale skin trembled under his touch. He jerked his head to me as I stepped through. “Said she needed a bath. You want to…”

  “No…you.” Oleander grasped his hand. “Please…”

  He looked to me, waiting as though somehow I’d become the leader of this strange group of rebels.

  I gave him a nod. “I’ll grab you some clothes. Might be a little big, but they’ll do until we find something else.”

  Tex dropped the shirt on the bed and then moved to her jeans as I made for my pack. All I had was Marine issued, but right now, none of that mattered.

  “You ready,” Tex murmured, soft and gentle.

  They moved behind me. Her holding onto his hand as he led her toward the bathroom. He was good with her, kind and gentle, easing her into the bathroom.

  A tiny splash of water, and then I could hear her sink lower. A moan tore through, but this time it was of pleasure. I pulled a clean t-shirt and pants from my pack and then rose from the floor.

  Tex’s deep southern drawl filtered through the doorway, drawing me closer. She lay chin deep in the water, white cotton bra sticking to her skin. Her panties were still in place, giving her as much modesty as possible.

  As strange as this was, it felt right, like we knew each other—like we were comfortable together.

  I wanted to look away as Tex talked to her about his farm back home, and his cow, Lucie, but she lifted her head, and that rush of power cut through me as she met my gaze.

  She lay like that, listening to Tex as he grabbed a cake of soap and a wash cloth and lathered. He told her about everything, the farm, his parents, and then me.

  “I just knew,” he murmured. “Knew as soon as I heard the car. Knew this was where I needed to be. I could feel you, you know, through Sixth. I could feel you calling me. I think it was the same for Shadow.”

  She tore her gaze from me to him. “Shadow, that’s his name…the mist around the bulb, makes sense now.”

  Tex ran the cloth along the side of her neck to her shoulder as he dipped his other hand into the water to grasp her hand. My gaze drifted to her wrists, and the red, raw mess left from the straps.

  But the Texan never missed a beat, running the cloth along her arm and gently pressed against her wounds. He leaned forward, turned over her hand and kissed her palm.

  The movement was so natural, as though I’d seen this a thousand times before, and instead a pang of jealously, I felt the heady rush of desire. It was all about her, every word, to make her feel at ease, every kiss to let her know she was wanted.

  “Is that okay?” he murmured. “I just…”

  “No, it’s fine,” she whispered staring at her palm, and then to the numbers tattooed on the inside of her wrist…five seven six three…

  “Two nine zero one,” I murmured and lifted my hand.

  “Two eight seven eight,” Tex followed and held up his hand.

  She was mesmerized, lifting her hand to trace the numbers on the inside of his wrist and then she turned to me. I stepped closer and sank to my knees at the edge of the bath.

  I’d touched her before, carrying her from that goddamn place and then inside from the car, but as she trailed her finger over the meat of my palm and then to the numbers—this felt different.

  “I dreamed of you,” she whispered. “All of you when I was in that place, with them. There was grass all around us...”

  I flinched. “The field, you saw that?”

  I’d seen that place twice before, once when another woman stood at the other side while lightning crashed down all around her. I turned my hand and grasped her fingers, leaning close.

  Lips met her knuckles, and then her palm, slow and tender. If this was all she gave us for the rest of my life I’d be happy.

  “What am I?” Pain etched her words as she stared into my gaze. “A monster…a beast.”

  It was the second time she’d said the word, and it hit me just as hard now as it did then. “If you’re a beast, then we’re all beasts.”

  That sixth sight burned through my mind. I could hear it all…all the whispers someone said behind her back…the names…the cruel, ugly fucking names…

  He fucking left you there! Don’t you get that? He left you in that shithole of a place to die. I thought I finally had a chance to have a kid. But you weren’t any kid. You were a fucking animal…

  Fucking animal.

  Fucking beast.

  Hungry…so hungry.

  Teeth like a wolf.

  Claws like a bear.

  “Beautiful.” The word slipped free as I stared into her eyes. “Perfect, vulnerable, special…pure, fragile…needed…that’s what you are. Do you hear me? That’s what you are. Why do you think we’re here? What brought us together, brought us closer…what gave us the strength to fight?”

  The tiny shake of her head was a knife to my chest. Pale lips parted, and a tiny, tortured sound escaped.

  “That’s all we see,” Tex answered. “That’s all I see.”

  He reached up, brushing the dark purple strands stuck at the side of her face.

  “I’ve done things,” she answered and dropped her gaze. “Killed a man.”

  Fuck you’re pretty. The grunt of a man tore through my head, followed by the tiny cry of a girl…Please no.

  I swallowed the rise of acid in the back of my throat and clenched my fists, smothering the need to tear this place apart.

  “And I’ve killed hundreds. Does that make me a beast? I don’t think so. He hurt you, and you protected yourself, nothing anyone else wouldn’t do if they were capable. If anything, you’re stronger than anyone I know, and I’m not talking about that power inside you. I’m talking about you, as a person.”

  I lifted her hand once more and this time kissed where the straps had bit. “You never gav
e in…you held on…you held on for us.”

  “If that’s not strength then I don’t know what is,” Tex broke in and ran the washcloth along the nape of her neck.

  She leaned forward, letting him dip the cloth into the warm water and then over her back once more. His hand moved in slow circles, making her close her eyes.

  She drew her knees upwards, against her chest as a tremor broke free. Teeth chattered as he pressed the washcloth against her hair.

  Bit by bit he wet her hair, cupping his hand to her forehead to stop the water running into her eyes. She needed him…just as much as she needed me. Soap lathered in her hair, until the strands squeaked clean.

  “Here you go.” Tex held out the lathered cloth and then rose. “We’ll give you a little privacy. Just…ah, call out when you’re done and we’ll get you nice and dry.”

  I glanced at the wet bra and then rose. “Let me see what they’ve got in this place for food. You never said…the key…you never really said how you got it.”

  “Maddox,” she murmured. “He gave it to me right before he…right before he…”

  The words slipped from my lips. “Before he turned you in…”

  She gave a nod and clutched her knees tighter. Jesus, no wonder she was breaking down. Everyone she ever cared about had betrayed her. “Not us, Oleander…not us.”

  I turned then, saving her from the burning rage that blazed in my eyes. I strode from the bathroom with the feel of her skin on my lips and made for the kitchen.

  “What do we do now?” Tex asked behind me.

  “Nothing, not until she’s strong enough to move, and then…hell, I don’t know. We’ve got Gready on our ass, and now this goddamn Pryor. They’ll find us soon enough, and we want to be long gone from this damn city when they do.”

  Water splashed in the bathroom, followed by the sounds of retching. She was sick, more than I could understand. “We wait for Shadow, wait until she’s strong enough to run if it comes to that and then…”

  And then…

  “We try to figure all this shit out…” Tex answered for me as I yanked open a cupboard and searched the contents.

  There were tins of food and packets of dehydrated potatoes and soup. I pulled everything down and laid it out on the counter as Oleander coughed and groaned.

  Tex lifted his head toward the bathroom as I did, and then I turned from the food. I turned from everything. I’d stay by her side, waiting and watching until I knew she was okay. I was lost…we were all lost.

  The sound of her whimpers eased. Tex made for the bathroom once more while I stared at the empty house and waited.

  Waited for her to be okay.

  Waited for Shadow to return.

  Waited for all this to make goddamn sense.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sixth

  Tex lifted his head and stared at me as I stood in the doorway. He held her hair while she hugged the toilet and heaved. Her thin body bowing before her stomach slowed.

  “I’m okay,” she whispered. I wasn’t sure if it was to us, or to herself.

  She never even made it back to the bedroom, stepping from the bath and into Tex’s arms as he wrapped a towel around her. The same towel that wiped her face and wet hair.

  “She can’t go on like this for much longer,” he growled as he placed a hand against her back, like somehow he could transfer his strength to her.

  Skin stretched over protruding bones along her spine as she shuddered and bent over the toilet.

  “Please,” she whimpered. “You have to get me something…I’ll die…I’ll die.”

  Torture echoed in Tex’s gaze as he looked at me. I shook my head. There was nothing we could do, nothing we could give her. Her body had to heal, and rid itself of the need.

  I closed my eyes and felt agony spear deep before I turned from the bathroom. I paced the hallway back and forth…back and forth until the four walls around me felt like a prison.

  And still there was no sign of Shadow…

  Water ran in the bathroom and the low murmur of Tex drifted along the hall. He was so good to her, never once complaining, never once turning away. He rubbed her back when she wanted it, and left her alone when she snarled.

  I grabbed the bag of weapons and laid them out on the table. The rifle, four pistols and boxes of ammunition. My heart thundered as I looked up at the first faint rays of sunlight through the front of the windows.

  “Something’s happened. He should’ve been back by now,” Tex voiced the words I couldn’t.

  I stepped forward, grabbed a pistol and slid it into the waistband at the small of my back and two spare magazines as headlights splashed through the room and a car nosed into the driveway and pulled up close to the house.

  Tex strode forward before I growled. “Easy, let me go first.”

  I pulled the pistol up high and moved fast, stepping to the rear door and then down the stairs. The pathway cut alongside the house to the front. A door opened from the car as I moved closer, staring through the tinted windows as Shadow stepped out.

  “Jesus,” I snarled and lowered the weapon. “What the fuck took you so long?”

  The Nissan was older, navy blue. I checked for defects, anything that would bring us scrutiny by the authorities as I followed him around to the rear of the car.

  “Nice to see you too honey,” he jibbed. “I come home after working all day and all I get is nag…nag…nag…” He heaved a paper bag of groceries and shoved it toward me.

  “You scared the shit out of us,” Tex broke in, striding toward the open boot of the car.

  Shadow filled his arms with bag after bag, grabbing three more before he juggled with the boot. I stepped forward, lifting one from his arms and then made for the house.

  “Got some things she’s gonna need. I wasn’t sure what size clothes and there wasn’t a whole lot open at this time of the night, so I just grabbed what I could. I got you guys clothes too, the last thing we need is someone looking for a guy in Marine greens, a freakishly tall Texan, and a good looking brother like myself.”

  White teeth shone as he grinned. I could only shake my head and step into the house. Bags were placed on the counter as Tex made for the bathroom.

  I could hear him talking, telling her about Shadow and the clothes as I emptied a bag filled with milk, creamer and the biggest tin of coffee I’d ever seen. Steak was next, thicker than my damn fist, and instant rice, the necessities in a house with three hungry dudes and a malnourished woman.

  “How is she?” Shadow murmured as he placed items in the fridge and closed the door.

  “She’s…holding on.”

  “She begging yet? They always beg, that’s the hardest to hear…” He turned away, voice filled with experience.

  “Who…who was it?”

  He stilled, and then answered, “My Mom, she’d been four times in and out of rehab centers until she just gave up and stopped trying. I see her every now and then, but she don’t see me…not anymore.”

  I stepped closer and gripped his shoulder. He gave a nod and kept on talking. “I never understood why after all he’s seen Nico would still sell the shit.”

  “Simple, I guess. Money,” I answered him.

  Everything always came back to that. Money is power, power is money—a vicious cycle. A whimper cut through the hallway from the bathroom. But they were all wrong.

  Money wasn’t power…power was power…and we were a whole new breed to shake up the world.

  Shadow grabbed a packet of straws, dragged one free and shoved a bottle of electrolytes toward me. “She’s going to need this.”

  I grabbed the drink and made for the bathroom, finding Tex sitting with his back against the wall, watching her. She was quiet, curled tight in a fetal position on the cold bathroom floor. Fresh sweat gleamed on her skin, but she slept.

  “I’m too afraid to move her,” he murmured and glanced to me.

  I dropped to the floor beside him, watching her as she twitched and whimpere
d. Sounds of movement came from the kitchen and a while later Shadow stepped into the doorway, took one look at her and motioned us with his head. “Food’s ready. We’ll take shifts watching her. Tex, you’re up brother.”

  There was a second of hesitation, and we all knew why. The need to protect, to comfort and save her raged deep inside. She pulled us closer to her like gravity.

  And we were falling, helplessly…for her.

  Tex shoved up from the floor and went with Shadow, leaving me sitting here, watching and waiting.

  She opened her eyes and then drew them closed, as though somehow she knew I was here. Her hand snaked out, fingers crawling along the tiny square tiles toward me. I shifted closer, grasping her hand and drew her in.

  Her breaths eased, tremors slowed. She slept like that, arm curled around my waist, her cheek cold against the tiles, until Shadow appeared at the doorway. I motioned down beside me and then gently lifted her arm.

  He slipped into place, settling as she tightened her grip around his waist. All three of us took turns holding her while she drank, and picked at the food, until slowly she became more focussed, sitting up, and then gripped the basin while she finally stood.

  “I look like Hell.” She stared at herself in the mirror.

  “Do you?” I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Want to try for a shower?”

  She glanced at the glass stall and nodded. “Yeah, I think I do.”

  I made for the kitchen and grabbed the pile of clothes Shadow bought with the food. Heavy snores came from the lounge room. Both Shadow and Tex were asleep, Shadow on the lounge, and Tex sprawled on the floor.

  Sleep had never come easy for me, even before Afghanistan, even when I was a child. I’d become used to it, spending the time dreaming about her instead—the woman inside my head…I guess I didn’t need to dream anymore.

  I walked back into the bathroom and placed the clothes on the counter as she slid one bra strap down and then the other.

  The soft cotton cup slipped, brushing across the swell of her breast to stop at her nipple. I stilled, heart hammering, and then glanced away. “I’ll be right out there…yeah, just…ah. Just call out if you need.”