I desired. I watched him pause. I knew he was trying to work through the words. Before, everything was hot but playful. Speaking out loud about his fears and desires was never Huxley’s strong suit. I wanted to beg him to fuck me here in the deadlands. I was aching for him. Aching for his body, for his words. But Huxley was the type to get spooked easily. And since Patrick wasn’t here to do the talking for him, I’d have to wait.
I merely stared at him, watching each conflicting feeling cross his features. I watched in patient silence, allowing him to come to terms with his needs in his own time.
Finally, he spoke. “You have to survive, Ash. ’Cause I have lots of plans for us. Lots of time to make up for. I want a lifetime of this,” he said, and I had to stop the moisture gathering in my eyelids from spilling over. I didn’t want him to see me cry.
“I will,” I whispered, for once feeling like the speechless one in the relationship. At my promise, he rocked into me, and we spent the rest of the hour kissing the edge of eternity.
Chapter Seven
“We should probably park outside of the city,” Cyler said. We all had loaded up into our transport at sunset and were headed towards Lythe. A somber mood had taken over us. I quietly watched the sky turn a deep navy blue, and shimmers of the deadlands’ green toxic wave were kissing the air with their bright hue. I was surprised to find that, somehow, the world looked beautiful just then. The swirls of colors, showing our land in a swirl of stillness and color.
I glanced down at my black cargo pants while pinching my thigh. Cyler was sitting beside me, his shoulders tense with authority over what we were about to do. He grabbed my hand to stop me from clenching myself. After offering me a reassuring squeeze, he turned his attention to the conversation going on in the transport.
“Why?” Jules asked.
“Transports are rare right now. It’ll draw too much attention to us,” Maverick explained. He wasn’t wrong. People were hoarding resources and fighting each other for food, which meant that a working transport wouldn’t last five minutes in a populated city, especially unattended. It was why we rarely stopped when we were checking for survivors.
“Remember,” Bowden began. He wore an uneasy expression. Thurst had stayed behind because his fever kept coming back. I made him more tea before we left him to rest in his tent. “The entrance to underground Lythe is at the clinic. Whatever you do, don’t introduce yourself as the Dormas Leadership Council. You’ll be eaten alive. Just say you’re coming to town to shop. They’ll probably pat you down and ask you some questions.”
Kemper bristled. “So I’m guessing I should leave the explosive device I made in the car?”
Bowden rolled his eyes, obviously unamused. “Probably would be a good idea.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“So what if what’s left of Cavil’s guard has taken over?” I asked. “What’s the protocol then?”
Bowden gave me a frown. “If they’ve taken over, then we’ll be captured. End of protocol.”
A heavy silence filled the transport. Jacob’s mindspeak said what we were all thinking. “Well hell. That sounds just fantastic.”
We didn’t really know much about the city, aside from what little Thurst and Bowden could provide us with. We were operating on the hope that it was where Mia and Aarav were taken. I didn’t know if I wanted to find Mistress Stonewell, Payne and Hope. If they were with Cavil’s men, then there was no telling what sort of things they had to endure. I struggled between wanting to find them as quickly as possible and wanting them to be safe. We were going off of hearsay, and once again I found myself feeling frustrated about the lack of information and answers.
“People that live in Lythe are different. They’re survivalists to the core. They rarely leave their underground city and are naturally suspicious of anyone they come into contact with,” Bowden added again while running his fingers over his scalp and biting his lip. I tried to imagine what this underground city looked like. How could people possibly survive there? I spent a lifetime indoors at Stonewell Manor but still went outside weekly to run errands. I thought I would go crazy if I had to spend my entire life without the feel of the sun on my face.
I turned