“Careful.”
“I’m never gonna have kids,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of yours.”
Jamie rolled over me.
I pushed him off, and his body hit the ground. Before he got up, I flipped him and pressed a forearm over the back of his neck. I bent to whisper at his ear. “I let her down. I left her here. I’m not leaving you. You can either get up on my back and help me out, or I will beat your ass, knock you out, and carry you like a fucking baby. What say you, Jamie? We gonna get out of here, or we gonna measure dicks?”
Silence, and then he said, “You didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
“Just because I didn’t know what they’d do to her doesn’t take it away. It is what it is, and we gotta man up. So what’s it gonna be?”
Jamie grunted. That was a yes. He rolled over and on top of me. Damn, he outweighed me by about fifty pounds, so I crawled back, crouched, and rushed the mud wall. A bellow ripped from my chest as I sprang up and buried my claws into the wet dirt. I paused. My hands dug but got no purchase, and we slid back down.
Again, but this time, I aimed at the part of the wall that looked less muddied. I sprang as high as I could and jabbed my claws into the dirt, thinking we’d fall again. We slid down a few inches. Jamie transferred his weight, one hand jabbing into the dirt. “Ain’t dead yet. Let’s move.” I huffed out a breath.
We moved.
I sweated my balls off, thought we’d crash back down more than once, so when I felt marble under my palm, I pushed, straining to get him up with me. Dirt in my eyes, dirt in my nose, mouth, claws, clothes, dirt everywhere. So when I made it to the clean floor, I sprawled on it and rested there. I rested until Jamie pecked my cheek. “My hero,” he said.
“Get off me, perv.” Although we had phones, there was no reception out here.
He rolled over. “Vice?”
Five more minutes of rest, and then I’d move us to the bikes where I’d activate my com unit and call my ship crew to come get us. Put Jamie in the med bay. Check on Dewlyn. “Hm?”
“They took the bikes.”
Fuck. Me. “When we get back, you’re going on a diet.”
Dewlyn
It was midnight. Vice hadn’t returned. Not that I expected him to come home, but I’d hoped he’d come back to pack some of his stuff. I got antsy at home and walked over next door, surprised to find Rey awake.
She was folding baby clothes in the living room. I lent her a hand. That only lasted for another half hour. I flung my hair over the back of the couch. I tapped my foot. “How far is Texas?”
Rey chuckled. “You can’t go there. Wait for Vice.”
“Okay. Still, how long do you think it’ll take me to get there?”
She folded a tiny pink shirt and looked up at me. “You can’t travel there on your skater.”
“Why not?”
“It’s like days’ worth of travel.”
I sighed. “I can’t just sit around.”
Rey stretched and grabbed a huge blue bag, then kicked it to me. “Three loads of laundry need ironing.”
“Great. I love ironing.”
She winked at me.
Another hour later, I’d ironed and folded the last piece and leaned back on the couch again. I bit my lip. “Rey, how long does a raid take?”
“Not sure,” she said. “A few hours. Why? Still bored?”
“No, nope. How long did it take them to raid your community?”
“Jamie left early in the afternoon and returned early next morning. Why?”
“No reason.” Somehow, I felt Vice should have returned already. Somehow, I felt this strange weight in my chest.
“I don’t have a reason to wonder either, and yet I’ve done every chore in the house twice. I’m worried,” she said. “It’s a raid.”
“Nah, they’ll be fine.” I couldn’t say the same of my parents. I couldn’t even summon sympathy for them.
Dark pawed at the glass back door.
“I got him,” Rey said when she heard the leather protest as I got up from the couch. She walked to the back door and let Dark outside. A splash sounded from the pool as she closed the door.
“Well, I’m heading out.” I picked up Kickster. Rey found the handrail as if to climb up the stairs. She paused on the first step. “Hey, they’ll be back.”
“Sitting around drives me crazy.” I swung open the door. A shiver ran down my arms. Winter approached, and soon I’d wear that one pair of boots Vice got me. Those were nice. I looked down the street, then up, checking for smoke from the burning in the city. I couldn’t see from here.