“What’s wrong?” His brows furrowed as alarm showed all over his face.
“My fingers are caught in my hair and I can’t get the knots out.”
“Here, let me see if I can help.”
Court scooted behind me, releasing my fingers from the mess and took my hair in his hands. Using his fingers, he gently separated the strands until there were no more knots. He continued to run his fingers through my hair, combing it down my back. He pulled it up into one hand, placed his other on my shoulder, and kissed the nape of my neck, sending delightful shivers down my spine.
~~ Courtland ~~
Adela shivered when I kissed her neck. I hoped they were good shivers. I wanted to kiss her lips so badly right then, take her in my arms and run my hands over her soft skin. But I knew if I started, I might not stop. I was certain I’d lose that battle. I never imagined in the entire time I’d known Adela Castielle that I would be sitting here in front of a fireplace with her, kissing the back of her neck, not to mention what she had let me do earlier. I would remember that for the rest of my life.
“Are you cold?” I asked.
She turned to me, her face inches from mine and slid her tongue slowly over her lips. What was she doing?
“No.”
She leaned toward me and pressed her lips against mine. I couldn’t stop my reaction and I kissed her back. This was dangerous.
I was lost in her embrace. I wanted to keep kissing her. I wanted to stay in that cabin and make sweet love to her. Reluctantly, I pulled away from the kiss, stared into her brown eyes. “Are you feeling up to traveling?”
“I think so, as long as it doesn’t rain on us again.”
“I don’t think there’s much chance of that today. The sun is bright and there are very few clouds in the sky—a good thing, since we don’t have jackets anymore.”
We loaded up the backpack and doused the fire. I almost hated to leave this place. If we didn’t need to find Adela’s family, I would have suggested we stay, at least until someone discovered us. I didn’t really think we’d be in trouble for squatting, especially in a vacated house during a natural disaster, but I would have risked the time in jail if we did. An unrealistic dream I supposed, living in a house with Adela as my wife. I shook the thought from my head and gathered up the backpack, swinging it and the rolled-up sleeping bag tied to the bottom over my shoulder as we headed out.
~~ Adela ~~
The further into the woods we trekked, the thinner and brisker the air became. My breath huffed in little puffy clouds in front of my face. The bite of the cold stung clear down into my lungs with each inhalation. Court stopped and untied the sleeping bag from the pack. After draping the downy fabric over my shoulders and then his, we continued walking side by side.
Courtland looked at me every so often and asked if I was okay. I was barely keeping up, but I always said yes. Every so often, my legs seemed to have a mind of their own and took slow, small steps.
Birds chirped all around us. Court said it was a good sign; the more birds singing the less chance of rain and predators. I could go another hundred years without seeing another bear, that was for sure. I didn’t know if he made that up just to make me feel better or not, but it was another one of those little things Courtland Reese did that I loved.
After a while, the sky became more visible through fewer trees and I figured we would be coming out of the forest soon.
I only coughed once in a while now. My cold seemed to be disappearing almost as quickly as it came, but if we stayed out here much longer, I was sure it would come back.
We walked huddled together under the blanket; a little slower but warmer. Suddenly Court stopped walking. “What is that?” He pointed to a large bundle on the side of the trail by a tree.
I shrugged. “It looks like a body wrapped in a blanket.”
“Yeah, come on.”
“Wait! What if …”
“It’ll be fine. I can handle an old bum.”
We ran to the bundle and found a sleeping person with slick, sticky-looking, dirty hair.
“Hey, man. Are you okay?” Court said, shaking the shoulder of the person.
The guy grunted, moved a little, and Court shook him again. “Hey, buddy. You okay in there?”
He grunted again and turned his head toward us.
“What the …?” Court said.
“Max?” I said.
Max blinked, rubbed his fists in his eyes before opening them again and squinted up at us. In a low hoarse voice he said, “Help me.”
“He needs water,” Court said, reaching into the backpack and pulling the bottle we’d filled with tap water. He held the bottle up to Max’s lips and let him drink.
“Why are you sleeping out here in the cold? Where’s your jacket?” I asked, not sure why I was concerned with his missing jacket considering we didn’t have any.
Max shivered and shook his head. “Some jerks attacked me and stole it.” His hands and lips trembled as he spoke. “I couldn’t go any further. I ran out of water yesterday. How did you guys find me?”
“We’re heading to the next town, which shouldn’t be too much further. There should be people there,” I said trying to make my voice sound enthusiastic.
Max nodded. “Thanks for the water. Do you have any food?”
Court handed him a piece of the leftover rabbit. “Here, it’s the last of it.”
“Thanks,” Max said, taking a bite, never even inquiring what it was.
“Do you have enough strength to walk? You should come with us. I think the next town is about two miles ahead,” Courtland said.
Max nodded. “I think so, now that I’ve had some water and food.”
I was glad to see Max was okay. I was also glad to hear Courtland invite him to come along with us, considering. Now that I knew the real story about them, I admired Court’s ability to put the past behind him and help Max out even if he didn’t deserve it. Maybe because of what Court and I did that morning and him knowing that I loved him helped him see that Max was no longer any threat.
We finally reached the edge of the clearing and stepped onto a paved road. Court stood in the middle of the narrow street, looked up and closed his eyes, smiling. I did the same, soaking up the warm rays of sun.
“Come on. There has to be a town close by.” Court took my hand, pulling me along with Max following close behind.
We walked along the road for what felt like an hour when we saw the buildings. I wanted to run, but my legs had something else in mind. They just wouldn’t move fast enough.
As soon as we got closer to the town, we realized we were the only ones there. This had to be the tiniest town I’d ever seen, smaller than Pleasant Ridge and I’d always thought Pleasant Ridge was the smallest town in the world.
Everything was quiet. There wasn’t a soul around. A ghost town. We walked by a building and read the sign posted on the door.
“Museum – Hours: Monday through Saturday, Twelve noon to 5:00 pm, closed Sundays,” I read aloud and Court tried the door. It was locked.
We looked up and down the vacant street. The museum and one other building were the only two structures standing.
“This isn’t a town,” Max said, “at least not anymore.”
“What’s that other building?” I asked, pointing at the red brick and wood structure down the road.
“It looks like a little store and behind it is an old gold mine. Let’s go. Maybe the store has something in it,” Court said.
We approached the little market. The door was locked, of course. Court and Max peeked in the window. “There’s some stuff on the shelves, but not much,” Max said.
“It looks deserted,” Court said, then went to the door, took a couple of steps backwards, looked up at the roof, then at the ground. He bent down and picked up a large rock.
“Stand back,” he said and threw the rock at the window, shattering the glass. Using a stick, he cleared the shards of glass from the window frame and climbed in. Max followed him. I
walked up the wooden steps. The rickety wood planks on the porch creaked as I crossed over to the window. Court stood on the other side.
“There’s not much in here as far as food. It looks like the store has been deserted for some time. There is a bathroom if you want to take advantage of it. You’ll have to climb in through here.” He held out his hand to me. I took it as he helped me climb through the window. I sort of fell against Court’s chest when I entered, and he caught me around the waist to steady me in an embrace, our lips an inch away from each other’s. We smiled and I glanced over at Max who studied us curiously. I lowered my gaze, shoved gently against Court’s chest and walked to the bathroom, avoiding Max’s stare the entire way.
After I used the restroom, I came out and Max walked past me and said, “My turn.”
“I got a couple cans of pears and a jar of applesauce. They were stuck in the back corner of one of the shelves. That’s all there is as far as food. No water,” Court said.
I nodded. “Do you know what town this is? Or was?”
“I think this is Jonas Mill. It’s an old abandoned mine town,” Court said.
When Max walked out of the bathroom, Court looked over at him and then back at me. “I guess I’ll go and take advantage of it too. Be back in a minute.”
Max walked up to me. “So how long did the two of you wait in the cellar for me?”
I glared at him and walked away.
He followed me. “What is wrong with you?”
I turned toward him. “You left me there. You walked out and left me.”
“I was coming back, but I ran out of food and water. In fact, I almost died back there!”
“Court and I almost died, if Cooper hadn’t come to dig us out.”
“Dig you out? What happened?”
“The cellar caved in during one of the aftershocks. We were trapped down there for three days.”
“What did you guys do down there? I mean did you and Court … you seem a rather comfortable together. Did he try anything?”
Court must have come out of the bathroom without us hearing him because he came and stood next to me. “Why would you think that, Max? Do you think I’m anything like you? Watch what you say to her, or I’ll give you another black eye to match the one I gave you eight years ago.”
“I can say anything I want to her. She’s my best friend.”
“Best friend? I think we both know how you treat your best friends,” Court said. “Don’t you ever call her that again.”
“Why, you lousy son of a bitch. You’re the one who stole my dog.”
Court frowned and stood with his hands fisted at his sides. “Yeah, that would be the way you’d remember it. Come on, Adela. Let’s get out of here. The next real town shouldn’t be too much further from here.”
“Wait, Court,” I said.
He turned to look at me and raised his eyebrows.
“Maybe we should stay here for a little while. It’s getting late in the day. It’ll be dark soon and the temperature is starting to drop. We may not find another town before nightfall. We will be warmer in here.”
Court glanced at Max who sank down on the cold cement floor and put his head in his hands.
“You’re right. We’ll stay here for the night and head out in the morning. But let’s go see if we can get in the museum. I saw a chimney on the side of it, so there will at least be a fireplace for warmth and to cook something in.” He walked by Max and picked up his backpack, shrugged it over his shoulder before strolling over to the window and hopping out.
I glanced at Max, still on the floor with his head in his hands. I shook my head and followed Court.
“I don’t want to break any of the windows if we’re going to stay inside here tonight. The door looks kind of old. Maybe I can kick it in.” Court stood back and kicked at door, but it didn’t budge. I came up beside him and Court looked at me. “On three?”
He counted to three and we both kicked at the door, but it still didn’t open.
“One more time?” I said.
“Okay. One, two, three.” I kicked as hard as I could along with Court and the door swung open.
“Yay!” I said, turning to see Max slowly walk up behind us, dragging his heels. I knew he was spent. He said he hadn’t had anything to eat for two days and I wondered if he would have fought with Court back in the store if he hadn’t been so drained.
When we all went in, Court and Max headed straight to the fireplace while I looked around. There was nothing in the room except three empty display cases. It had to have been the smallest museum in the world. There were still signs hanging on the wall describing what was once on exhibit—mostly gold mining equipment and pictures. The entire museum was basically confined to one room. I glanced across the empty space and couldn’t believe my eyes. A vending machine stood against the wall. It didn’t seem to be that old and when I walked to it, my mouth salivated at the sight of bottled of water.
“Hey, look. Water,” I said, pointing at the machine.
Max hurried over and shook the machine but nothing happened.
“Stand back,” Courtland yelled and my eyes just about popped out of their sockets when I saw him standing there holding an ax in this hands. Max and I took several steps back as Court smashed the glass of the machine. We kicked the pieces away and grabbed the four bottles of mountain spring water.
Max took one, opened it and guzzled half before Courtland reminded him to take it easy.
“That’s all the water you might get for a while,” Court said.
Max took the bottle from his lips and glanced at me. “I thought you said the tap water was okay around here.”
“Yeah, but we don’t even know if there is any tap water in here,” I said, taking one of the bottles Courtland held out to me. I opened it, took a couple of sips and handed it to Court figuring he wouldn’t want to open the other bottle until we emptied one.
After Court took a drink, he handed it back to me. “I’ll go outside and see if I can find some firewood anywhere.”
Max looked at me then followed Court out. “Um … I guess I’ll come and help.”
Chapter 33
~~ Courtland ~~
When we stepped outside, Max surprised me with a hard shove at my back and I turned to face him, immediately feeling the heat directed at me from the rage smoldering behind his blue eyes. “You took advantage of her, didn’t you?” Max shouted and slammed his head against my stomach. I fell backwards, tripping over a pile of rocks. I leaped up, tackled Max to the ground, and punched him in the jaw. Max was weak from not eating, and too easy to take down so I let him go, got to my feet, shook off the anger surfacing and turned to walk away, but Max pounced on me again from behind.
“She never would have given you the time of day if she hadn’t been stuck with you,” he huffed and I wrestled him off.
“Lay off before I hurt you. You’re energy’s zapped from lack of nourishment, so I’m not going to fight you now.”
“You took advantage of her in the cellar. I’ve known her a long time. I can tell by the way she’s acting.”
I didn’t think it was any of Max’s business what Adela and I did or, more to the point didn’t do in the cellar, but I’d waited a long time to get back at him. “I never did anything to her that she didn’t want me to do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Whatever you want it to mean.”
Max charged me again. “You slime bag.”
Adela screamed and ran over shoving at Max. “Stop it. Stop it!” She gripped Max’s arm and he shrugged her off.
“How could you let that freak near you? You two belong together. You’re no better than he is.” He stormed past her and went back inside.
She stood in front of me. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing. Old shit, that’s all.” I walked away, gathering up some firewood from a pile of discarded boards and walked back into the museum. “Grab a couple of boards if you can.”
I entered the room and placed the wood on the hearth, knelt down and built the fire. When it was blazing, I sat back on my heels. Taking the knife out of my pants, I glanced over at Max sitting against the wall with his knees up and his arms over them with his forehead resting on his arms. I wanted to hurt him. What right, what damn right did Max have to act like he owned Adela? He took her away from me when we were kids. I’d be damned if I’d let him do it again.
Adela pulled things out of the backpack, placed them on the floor by the sleeping bag, and looked up at me, a ton of questions on her face. I didn’t have anything to tell her, so I headed toward the door. “I’ll be back. I’m going to see what I can find to eat. We’ll need more than a can of pears and a jar of applesauce. I’ll be back in a few.”
I needed to vent and needed the space by myself to do it. I walked a few hundred yards into the brush and found a cozy little niche to settle in and hide with plenty of bushes around to camouflage myself. The brooding time was well deserved I thought, considering I didn’t rearrange Max’s face. The solitude was nice, not that I needed it from Adela, but from Max. I didn’t hate Max, but the jerkwad sure made it difficult for me to like him.
~~ Adela ~~
Max stood with his arms across his chest, glaring at me. He shook his head as he walked over to the fire and sat next to me.
“Max, why didn’t you tell me the truth about what happened between you and Court?”
“I did.”
“No, you left out a whole bunch of stuff.”
“Oh, so I see. You believe him now? I’ve been your best friend half your life and you spend a couple of days with him and now I’m suddenly the liar?”
I stared straight ahead at the fire. “You left me.”
“I didn’t leave you. I told you I was coming back.” He picked up one of the thin boards and played with the fire.
“Coming back? We were trapped down there with no way out. You never came back. We would be dead right now if Cooper hadn’t come looking for us.”
ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK Page 24