He could understand why his presence here had set off Roman. Roman was a fiercely private person, and Ash had seen a glimpse of him at his most vulnerable. This was a secret he’d been guarding for years, and now it was out.
“Roman,” Ash said, his voice thick. “I didn’t know, I swear—”
Apologizing seemed to be the wrong move. A grunt, and Roman was lunging for Ash again, fist swinging. His first punch missed, barely catching Ash on the arm, but his second connected with Ash’s jaw, spinning him back a step. Ash blinked, seeing stars. Damn.
“Hit me,” Roman spat at him, furious. “Come on, Asher. Aren’t you going to defend yourself?”
“Wasn’t my plan,” Ash said, stretching out his injured jaw. He could feel his bones shifting in place where Roman had hit him. The pain wasn’t bad, yet, though he knew he’d feel it later. “But I’ve got to admit, that last punch didn’t help.”
Roman gave him a withering look. From this distance, his eyes were just dark pools of reflected light. “I barely touched you.”
“Still hurts.”
“Sorry about that.”
Ash looked up at him, hoping for remorse, but the look in Roman’s eyes was cold. He sprang, but Ash was ready for him this time. He feinted to the left, and Roman slammed into one of the tents, the fabric billowing around him as he went down.
A second later, Roman was up again, head lowered, charging at him. Ash thought he heard the sound of Dorothy’s voice, shouting at them to stop, but it was hard to make out with the blood pumping in his ears. Roman hit him square in the chest, but Ash manage to crack off a single blow to Roman’s gut before Roman’s fist got him in the eye—bright white burst of pain—and then he was jerking back, swearing.
“You’re a better fighter than you used to be,” Roman said. “You finally let Zora teach you to throw a punch?”
Ash tasted blood in his mouth. With a jerk of his chin, he spit it into the mud.
It was a joke, sort of. Back when he’d first come to the future, he’d been truly awful in a fight, worse than both Roman and Zora, despite being the only one of them who’d been in a war.
Throat dry, he said, “Well, you know how bossy she can be.”
“She didn’t do a very good job. You still drop your shoulder.” Roman was inching toward him, again, his hands balling into fists.
The muscles in Ash’s leg tensed. His heart beat hard and fast in his chest.
“Old habits die hard,” he muttered.
Dorothy’s voice came from the darkness, “Ash, just go.”
“Yes, Ash,” echoed Roman, mocking. There was a smear of blood on his cheek, but Ash didn’t know whose it was. “Just go.”
Ash suppressed a grimace. The awful thing was, he didn’t think he could go. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten here, and he had no idea how he was going to get back.
If they didn’t offer him a ride, he might end up stuck.
35
Dorothy
If these idiot boys didn’t kill each other, Dorothy might do it for them.
“What are you thinking?” she snapped. Roman had been inching toward Ash, taunting him. “Are you trying to get us all caught?”
Roman’s lip curled in a sneer, and he didn’t answer her. It made Dorothy want to slap him. She’d been too shocked by the first few blows to do more than scream. It embarrassed her now, that this had been her reaction, but she couldn’t help it. She’d always hated fighting.
She reached out to cup Roman’s shoulder, and he finally turned, giving her a long look. He had one eyebrow arched, cool and furious, but, otherwise, she couldn’t make sense of the expression on his face.
“You’re taking his side?” he asked, in a voice that was more hurt than angry.
Side? “Are you serious? The two of you are acting like children, and I want to know how he got here.”
She was pretty sure Ash hadn’t managed to stow away on the Black Crow. The ship had been in the Fairmont parking garage since their last trip, guarded by a team of their best Freaks. She’d have heard if he’d managed to sneak in.
A moment passed, and then Roman’s shoulders slumped, reminding Dorothy of a chastised child.
“He started it,” he muttered. But he let his arm drop.
Children, Dorothy thought.
That should have been the end of it. Dorothy thought it would be the end of it—
But then Ash lunged, slamming into Roman and knocking him to