Trapped (The Condemned Series #1) - Alison Aimes Page 0,38
was too afraid to ask for fear she wouldn’t like the answer. Instead, she watched in silence as he stalked to the kitchen area and grabbed a cup of water. And even though she could see his Adam’s apple sliding up and down as he drank deep, even though she could see the sexy curve of his lip as he held the cup to his mouth, he could have been a solar system away with the length of the distance he’d put between them.
Chapter Twelve
“What are you working on?” Tired of the impasse that had kept them in separate corners of the cave for the last hour, Bella crossed to where Caine was hunched over a mish-mash collection of colorful, frayed wires and beat up circuits. It must have taken years to accumulate it all.
“Not much.” He didn’t look up.
“Is that the start of an engine for some kind of space ship?”
He snorted.
Yes, that’s what she’d thought, but a girl could hope. “What is it then?”
“Just a heap of trash now.”
“And when it’s done?”
There was a long pause. The pounding of the storm debris against the cave walls only made the quiet inside more acute.
“Fine.” She turned away, her voice tight and sharp. “We don’t have to talk at all. Silence is good, too.”
A hand wrapped around her ankle, checking her in place.
“I’ve had eight years of silence, Bella.” This time her name held no anger. “I don’t need anymore.”
Guilt settled low in her stomach. She might have been on her own her whole life, but Caine had been truly alone. No siblings to offer a smile or a hug. No colleagues with which to discuss the latest theories. No bunkmates to commiserate with over a late night of smuggled-in banned drinks.
What right did she have to begrudge him memories of people from his past? Or take his reserve personally? Maybe she would never matter to him like he did to her, but they could still co-exist. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and pretended her chest didn’t hurt.
“Okay.” She plopped down on the floor beside him, her own form of olive branch. “Can I help?” She gestured toward his project.
“Sure.” He handed her a couple unattached wires. “See if you can peel away the burnt coating. It’s no good anymore, but the wire beneath could still be useful.”
She got to work. Sitting side by side, working in tandem, was…relaxing. Peaceful. Washing away the last of the tension between them. At his urging, she told him about her childhood, her brother and sister, and her work. Though he didn’t say much, she did manage to learn he’d grown up on one of the rare working farms still in existence twenty years ago and that he’d traveled to a heck of a lot more places on Earth than she’d ever been.
It was nice simply being together. Learning his habits. The way his brow drew down when he was concentrating. The way he rubbed at the scar on his right thumb when he was listening to her stories, a faint smile on his gorgeous face.
A while later, she got up to get some water. Caine kept working away. His project still resembling nothing she could identify.
“Are you sure that’s not a space ship engine that can fly us out of here?”
He took the water she proffered, his throat muscles moving up and down as he took a long drink. “Still dreaming of us both getting out of here, fighter gi—ah, Bella?”
“Of course. The good guys always win in the end,” she joked, appreciative he’d made an effort to use her name.
“Good guys, huh?” He looked hard at the jumble of wires. “What if I told you when it’s done it will be something similar to the equipment used by 225’s pack to override your shuttle’s computers?”
“The thing that caused us to crash?” She suddenly didn’t even like looking at the contraption. It felt ominous. And deadly.
He ran his hand over one of the wires. “Exactly.”
“Why would you make something like that?” Her voice came out shriller than intended, memories of the crash making her throat go tight.
His fingers stilled. “Why do you think?”
“I don’t know, but I’m certain it’s not for the same purpose used by 225. You’re not a killer.”
“I’m not?” The deliberate way he placed his work onto the ground and unfolded to stand above her proved they’d waded back into dangerous territory. “I killed that tracker.”