by Toby Neal
Cash looked at her for a long moment, his eyes narrowed, but he continued as she settled back into him, looking away down the calm river.
“Luca is my oldest brother. He was in Special Forces, but got injured and now works as a National Guard trainer in Texas. I’m not sure where he is but…” Cash chuckled. The sound traveled through his chest to Sunshine’s ear and she felt a spark of happiness. “Luca is gonna survive. I’m not sure he’ll meet us in Idaho, but he’s gonna make it. Then there’s JT. He’s the second oldest, and it’s his place we’re headed to. He’s got what my Moms calls the Sight. He gets glimpses, feelings about the future.”
Sunshine sat up and stared at him. Was he joking?
“You’re teasing me.”
Cash shook his head. “No, that’s what Mama believes, and I’m getting more on board with it.”
“Wait. So seeing the future is really a thing in your family?”
“I guess so.”
“Wow.” Sunshine settled back against him. Cash’s fingers traced the line of her neck down to her spine and gently circled her first vertebra. Pleasure and comfort emanated from his touch as he went on. “I’m the third oldest. Then there were the twins, Dolf and Nando.” His voice tightened on his brother Nando’s name. Sunshine looked up at him.
“That’s your brother who died?”
Cash nodded, his gaze focused on the river ahead as he reached back to adjust the rudder. “Yeah. Nando was a legal aid lawyer with a heart of gold. Dolf is his identical twin, but their personalities could not be more different. We call Dolf the Tin Man.”
“I’m sorry.”
Cash focused on the river again. “Dante is my youngest brother, a computer genius with Asperger disorder.”
“I know what that is.” Sunshine’s voice rose with excitement as a young girl’s face flashed before her eyes. A fifth grader, smart as a whip, but wouldn’t make eye contact. The memory made Sunshine feel comfortable and needed, like she was important. “I think I knew a little girl who had it.”
“You did? Try to picture her again. Where are you?”
Sunshine closed her eyes, the darkness tinged with red from the sunlight. “I think I’m in a classroom. Yes.” She stood behind a desk looking out into a room full of children. Handmade posters lined the walls, posters Sunshine had helped the kids make. “I’m a teacher.” She opened her eyes, smiling up at Cash.
Cash nodded. “I can see that. I bet you’d be a really good teacher.”
Sunshine liked the idea that she helped children. Her body agreed that children were her calling. “Go on. I enjoy hearing about your family. Dante is your youngest brother. So you have a sister, too?”
“That’s right. Lucy. She’s great. A real firecracker. We all treat her like our baby princess.” Cash quirked a smile. “Which she doesn’t mind except when we chase off her boyfriends.”
“I don’t think I’d mind having a brother who treated me like a princess.” Sunshine’s voice was bitter. She shut her eyes, hating the truth of her words and the tone of her words. She didn’t want to be bitter. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
“No, it’s okay. Seems like your brother is an abusive piece of shit.”
Tears burned Sunshine’s eyes. “I think you might be right. And he’s never going to stop coming after me.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “He thinks he owns me.” Cash squeezed her so tight that she could hardly breathe, and it felt wonderful. But she wasn’t the only one suffering. “I’m sorry that your brother, Nando, passed so young. What happened?”
Sunshine swiped the tears from her face, feeling stronger as she thought about someone else. She didn’t want to be this weepy woman, feeling sorry for herself. Concentrating on helping others would heal her.
Cash cleared his throat. “That’s the thing, Sunshine. The thing I mentioned last night that’s a big deal.”
A tremor of fear zipped through Sunshine. Cash kissed her forehead as he settled her against his chest again. She looked at the green of passing trees, the serene riverbanks sliding by. “Okay, tell me.”
“Nando died from a pandemic that’s sweeping the country. They’re calling it the Scorch Flu because of the fever, which is very high and deadly.”
Sunshine could barely process what he was saying.
A pandemic.
Cash kissed her forehead again, warm and soft, so comforting in spite of his terrifying words. “If the fever isn’t fatal, people succumb to the respiratory infection that follows.”
“I don’t understand. How many people have died?”
“I’m not sure. Only ten percent of the population is immune, and it’s almost a hundred percent fatal if you get it. So whatever life you had before is over.” Cash paused. “Whether you remember it or not.”
Sunshine’s brain stuttered over the numbers. It was impossible.
And yet, her body told her it was true.
She sat up to look at Cash. “Whatever life I had was pretty terrible, I know that much. But it led me here, to you, and I’m grateful for that.”
Cash brought his hand up and ran his thumb over Sunshine’s bottom lip, his blue eyes darkening. She shivered as the pad of his thumb sent tingles of desire through her, chasing away her fear and the haunting hidden memories.
“Can I kiss you again?” His voice came out as a hoarse whisper.
“Please. Yes.”
Cash bent his head. Sunshine sank into the beauty of the passing moments of their kiss, wishing it could last forever.
Chapter Nine
Dwight
Bobby Joe entered the lean-to. “We found her, Boss!”
Dwight stood up so fast that the folding chair he’d been sitting on tipped over. “Where is she?” He strode across the small space toward the exit, looking for her outside.
Bobby Joe’s eyes widened. “Well, see, the thing is…”
Dwight stopped right in front of Bobby Joe and leaned down, leaving only inches between their faces. The smaller man shrank from him.
“Where is she?” The leader kept his voice low. No point scaring the squirrel so badly that he lied.
“We found her but she…” Bobby Joe cleared his throat. “She got away.”
Dwight grabbed Bobby Joe, fisting his shirt and hauling him so close that the stench of the man’s nervous sweat filled his nostrils.
“She was with a guy and a big dog. They had a raft and got away on the river!” Bobby Joe’s voice went high and squeaky. Squirrel.
Dwight dropped him and stepped back. The glint of relief in Bobby Joe’s eyes was short-lived as Dwight pulled out a pistol. The smaller man’s eyes widened, but he did not raise his hands to defend himself as Dwight gripped the gun by the barrel and whacked him in the face. Bobby Joe’s nose exploded, blood gushing as he screamed and stumbled back. Dwight hit him from the other direction, clipping him on the jaw. Bobby Joe sprawled to the ground, unconscious, blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
“Get him out of my sight.” Dwight’s voice was calm and flat.
The explosion of violence had been a welcome release for his frustration. Two soldiers stepped forward and dragged Bobby Joe outside.
Dwight pulled his cigarettes from his vest pocket and lit one, the smoke quickly clouding the small lean-to. “Jackson!” His right-hand man appeared in the doorway. “Send out scouts. Let every man in our army know we’re looking for Jolene, what she looks like, and that she’s traveling with a man and a large dog.”
“Yes, sir.” Jackson’s hard, dark eyes narrowed. “Are you sure, Boss?”
Jackson made a valid point. Informing the entire network could be a mistake. Dwight losing his sister might be interpreted as weakness. Weakness was to be exploited, rooted out and destroyed—one of the reasons they’d released the flu in the first place.
But he had to get her back by any means.
“Go!” Dwight exhaled a plume of smoke and gestured with his cigarette. Jackson left. Dwight righted his chair and sat, leaning his he
ad back and closing his eyes.
Hillish’s death had led to splintering in the movement. This was his chance to rise, to step into that leadership void.
But Jolene was ruining it for him. Dwight stubbed out the cigarette. “Bring me a woman!” He yelled to the guard at his door.
He needed more release than a mere pistol-whipping could provide, and the woman would pay for his sister’s mistake.
Chapter Ten
Cash
Cash poled the raft through the dark, keeping his legs farther apart than usual to secure his stance. Sunshine lay curled up atop the crude platform covered with his sleeping bag. Tiny sat sphinxlike at the front of the raft, nose twitching and ears swiveling, keeping watch.
How close were they to civilization? What dangers and challenges lay ahead?
In the past three days they’d passed only a few cabins built on the rocky, forested bank, deserted with the change of seasons and Scorch Flu. Still, they traveled at night, the darkness making it less likely they’d be detected. During the day they pulled the raft up onto the bank and slept under whatever cover they could find.
The first night, they’d broken into a cabin and enjoyed washing up with water heated on the stove. But unfortunately, the cupboards had been empty, and now they were out of food. Cash heard Tiny’s belly rumbling from the front of the raft, making his own pinch in sympathy.
He had hunted daily, shooting a couple of squirrels with his bow, but it wasn’t enough. With the addition of Sunshine, they’d run through his stores twice as fast.
And then, there was hunger of another kind.
Cash’s gaze traveled over the soft mound of Sunshine’s body under the sleeping bag. Over the last few days they’d shared several more scorching kisses, and each time he’d asked Sunshine’s permission first—until the last time—when she’d spontaneously kissed him.
Cash hadn’t taken things to the next level, though his desire for Sunshine certainly wasn’t the issue.
He wasn’t sure what the issue was.
Cash used the pole to maneuver around a large boulder, gleaming black and shiny as a whale’s back rising from the moonlit surface of the water.
He turned the situation over in his mind.
Sunshine was vulnerable. Cash felt her growing attachment to him in every kiss, glance, and touch. She knew she hadn’t been raped, but her brother definitely had some plan involving her. “I think he intended to give me to one of his men.” Sunshine had been cradled in Cash’s arms as they lay down to sleep under a pine, the raft tied to a tree and Tiny keeping watch over their crude camp. “That’s why I ran away.”
She was so brave, and didn’t even know it.
Cash had stroked the swastika on the back of her head, closed and healing now, but still rough and raised under his fingertips. Her hair was growing to cover it, soft as deep velvet. The deprivation from their journey had honed Sunshine’s features, her aqua eyes growing larger as her cheekbones emerged. The soft round of her chin had melted away to reveal a surprising dimple.
He liked kissing that dimple.
Cash couldn’t resist her, but he knew she’d become even more bonded to him if they slept together. When he eventually let her down and moved on, she’d be devastated. His chest ached at the thought of causing Sunshine pain.
Cash was her hero now, but she didn’t know the real him. He’d disappoint her. People he cared about got hurt.
All his life he’d moved on just as attachments formed and dreams began to build. The idea that Sunshine might be the one who could change him, settle him, trust him…foolish and dangerous.
Cash Luciano was a rolling stone.
When they reached the Haven, Sunshine would be safe. Cash would be free to move on, or not, but Sunshine would no longer be his responsibility.
He wouldn’t change. He couldn’t change. He’d tried several times, but always ended up throwing his shit in his truck and driving off, spooked by someone getting too close, wanting more than he could give.
Cosimo Luciano was the black sheep of the family, an Italian with blue eyes that harked to a distant nomadic ancestor with wandering in his blood.
An ugly memory clouded his mind. God, if he could only erase that day…
Another boulder ahead. Cash wiggled the tiller, but the damn thing was almost useless. The river’s flow accelerated and riffles of foam gleamed in the moonlight. Tiny whined, a high-pitched cry of distress that reached Cash clearly, even over a distant roar.
Was a section of rapids ahead? They sure as hell weren’t equipped to deal with that.
Cash applied the tiller again as the raft hit chop, lifting and slamming down. He also used the pole, pushing them away from a rock. Tiny scrabbled to keep her grip, and Cash gave an inarticulate cry as the dog slipped off the raft and splashed into the cold black water.
“Sunshine!” Cash yelled.
His companion lifted her shorn head in alarm. “What’s wrong?”
“Tiny’s overboard!”
She immediately scrambled up as black water spat and churned around them. His hands occupied with the pole and useless rudder, Cash spotted Tiny’s bobbing head chasing them, trying to catch up.
“I’m pulling off to shore!” Cash yelled above the increasing roar of the river.
Sunshine knelt at the edge of the raft, her stained white dress glowing in the moonlight. “Here, Tiny, come on, girl…”
Cash dug the pole in and heaved, pushing toward the bank. His energy drained from days with hardly any food, he struggled to move the small craft. The current caught the raft and spun it around so that now he was facing Tiny as she valiantly paddled toward them.
“We’ve got to get to the bank!” Cash dug the pole in and shoved with all his might. The raft sluggishly responded, swinging closer to the boulder-strewn shore as the water churned around them. Sunshine clung to the bench platform as a wave broke over the side, soaking her and carrying the sleeping bag away.
Cash pushed off a boulder, narrowly saving them from a crash, his heart pounding for Tiny as the dog paddled in their wake. The pole snapped against another boulder, but the raft settled into a niche between the rocks, nudging the bank at last. He looked up to see Tiny being sucked past them.
“Tiny!” Cash cried as he grabbed onto a stone to keep the raft from swirling back into the rough water. Sunshine picked up the rope they used to tie up at night, wrapped it around her waist, and jumped into the water. Tiny whined as the current sucked Sunshine downriver to where she grabbed a handful of the dog’s thick ruff. The pair swirled downstream until they hit the end of the line.
“Pull us in!” Sunshine screamed.
Cash leapt into numbingly cold, waist-deep water. Adrenaline gave his exhausted body a surge of strength, and he pushed the raft up onto the rocks where it finally stuck.
He couldn’t feel his extremities, but he dug his booted feet into the river bottom and grabbed the taut rope at the back of the raft, pulling, the skin of his hands tearing. He hauled Sunshine in enough to grab her around the waist and pull her close. She released Tiny, who found her own footing and splashed up onto the bank.
Sunshine’s lips were tinted blue and her skin blotchy with cold, but she looked so beautiful in this moment. Cash enfolded her shivering body in his arms before pushing her toward the bank, helping her onto the shore like he had that first night when they’d fled the fire.
Tiny was on her third round of shaking, water spraying in all directions.
“Tiny, come.” Cash’s voice wavered through chattering teeth. The big Akita walked heavily over to flop, damp but warm, over Sunshine’s feet. Cash forced his drained, freezing body into action, pulling his pack off the raft, digging out his silver emergency blanket and wrapping it around Sunshine’s shoulders. It was the best he could do, now that the sleeping bag was gone. “You two snuggle while I get some wood for a fire.”
Cash gathered driftwood and Sunshine built the fire, wrapped in the blanket with the dog, as he pulled out a
last chunk of hard, homemade deer jerky from his bag. Cash dropped the unappetizing lump into the cook pot, and joined Sunshine and Tiny in a warm but smelly snuggle under the blanket. When the water finally boiled, he poured the hot, flavored liquid into his aluminum mug and handed it to Sunshine. “Drink this.”
She did, her chattering teeth tapping the rim.
Cash took the softened chunk of jerky out of the pot. Using his buck knife, he carefully cut it into three pieces, handing one to Sunshine and another to Tiny. “We have to stop here and hunt. We can’t go on without more food.”
Sunshine nodded, her eyes reflecting the flames from the fire. Tiny ate her piece of meat in a single gulp. As Cash turned away, he caught Sunshine feeding the dog some of her portion as well. “Sunshine! You need your strength, too!”
“I’m fine. I’ve got extra padding.” She patted her thigh and smiled. The dog stretched out with a groaning sigh of exhaustion, and Sunshine snuggled against her. “I’m warming up with Tiny. She smells bad, but she’s better than a heater.”
Cash’s body sagged with the aftermath of extreme effort as he finished drinking the hot water directly from the tin pot. He curled up on the other side of Tiny, and drew the crinkly blanket up over all of them. “Nothing but the finest accommodations for our guests on Cash Luciano’s River Rafting Adventures.”
She giggled, a silvery sound that zipped up his spine and woke his flesh, in spite of everything.
“You saved my dog, Sunshine.” Cash reached across Tiny’s snoring bulk to take Sunshine’s cold hand. “You rock, lady. I owe you one.”
“Good. I’ll remember that and hit you up for a favor sometime when you least expect it.” Sunshine yawned. “Good night.”
Seconds later, he heard her deep breathing blend with Tiny’s.
Cash rolled onto his front to extinguish the hard-on caused by Sunshine’s giggle, and closed his eyes.
Maybe this could work. Maybe he could be different this time. Maybe he wouldn’t hurt her.
The blasting sound of a gunshot in close quarters. Blood spattering a white wall. A dear face, surprise etched forever on his features.