Sparrow’s Flight by Jenika Snow Page 0,4

form of illumination, she could still make out the ridges that lined his abdomen.

She stared into his eyes, ones she couldn’t see very well because of the shadows but that she knew were a bright blue. Even after traveling with them, she had only told them the bare minimum about herself, and she didn’t think a last name was really important anymore. “Gray. It’s Gray.” His blond hair was short, but then again, Mason had just cut it with a rusty pair of scissors. She flicked her eyes to Mason. He watched her silently, but she noticed he did that a lot.

“Is Sparrow a nickname or something?”

She didn’t talk her eyes off Mason when Asher asked her. Clearing her throat, she pulled her jacket closer to her body and shook her head. “No, my parents just wanted their kid named after I bird, I suppose.” She hadn’t said it to try to be funny, but apparently he thought it was, because Asher chuckled softly. She hated her name growing up, got teased relentlessly during school because of it, but now as an adult, she liked that it was so unusual.

“You don’t talk much.” Mason’s voice was just as deep as Asher’s, but he had more of a stoic personality.

She glanced over at him. “Neither do you.”

He smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Being on the road with these two guys had showed her a lot. Sparrow didn’t just keep quiet because it was the smart thing to do or because that was what Mason wanted. She also did it, because it gave her a chance to really learn about them and see the things they might not have shown if they knew someone was watching.

Most of the time, she didn’t even think they realized she was still with them. They would be so caught up in talking strategy or scanning their surroundings that Sparrow watched them and learned little things about them. For instance, Mason always had a hand on the hunting knife strapped to his outer thigh or on the butt of his gun. He also was the one who listened more than spoke, and he seemed cold on the best of days.

Asher, on the other hand, seemed far friendlier out of the two of them, and the few times she saw him smile or show emotion, she could see that if she was to penetrate any of their hard exteriors, it was going to be through him. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t as frighteningly powerful or dominant as Mason. When the two of them stood side by side, they looked like hardened warriors ready to kick some ass.

“How did you survive so long after the infection broke out?” Asher grabbed the half-empty bottle of water Mason handed to him and took a swig. He held his hand out for her to take the bottle, and when she did, their fingers brushed. She quickly snatched her hand back, thankful for the darkness that hid her cheeks, since she knew she was blushing.

“I was with a group of four when the infection really started to spread. But slowly, they were picked off until I was the last one standing.” She glanced between them and then drank a mouthful of water. She never thought water could taste as good as it did when you were scrounging for it. When she took her share, she passed it to Mason, but he shook his head.

“You go ahead and finish it off.” The offer was kind, but his expression didn’t show any emotion.

“You sure?” she asked, and he nodded and turned his attention to the candle. “Thank you.” He grunted once in response, but before she finished it, she looked at Asher.

“You go ahead. I’m good.” Asher gave her a warm smile, and Sparrow found herself smiling in return. God, it felt so good to do it. She hadn’t realized the small, almost insignificant things that she had taken for granted until she just didn’t do them any longer. She handed the now empty bottle to Mason, and he tucked it into his bag. “I ended up finding a couple that took me in for a while, but then I started noticing the way they looked at me.”

“Looked at you?” Asher leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. She watched the tendons flex beneath his skin and swallowed down her irrational desire. Sparrow hadn’t felt this way with anyone else she had been around since the fall of civilization, but