Broken World (Book 6): Forgotten World (9 page)

The last few words are said so quietly that she sounds like a child, but Jon nods, and I know he didn’t just hear her. He understands her. He understands where Ginny is coming from and what she needs, and he’s going to be there for her no matter what. They’re so different than they were the morning they left the hot springs, and it’s so strange to see them like this. But so wonderful, too.

“Okay,” Jon says, his voice strained and his eyes full of tears as he wraps Ginny in his arms. “Okay. I’m sure no one is going to like it, but I will make this happen. We’ll go to Atlanta to have this baby.”

Ginny rubs her face against his chest and whispers, “Thank you.”

Jon kisses the top of her head, nodding despite the tears.

I turn and tiptoe out of the kitchen, heading out to join Axl on the couch. As excited as I am to learn that I will not be saying goodbye to Ginny in a few days, the idea of her coming causes a sinking feeling to form in my stomach. What she’s saying makes sense, but I can’t help worrying that she might be risking too much. We don’t know the condition of the rest of the world or what we might run into.

I sink onto the couch at Axl’s side, and he wraps his arms around me the way Jon did just a few seconds ago with Ginny. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “It’s just hard getting used to the fact that every decision you make could result in your death. That’s how it is now, you know? Everything we do has risks.”

Axl nods. “Yeah. It ain’t easy to live with.”

9

“YOU ALL PACKED and ready to go?” I ask Ginny as I hold the door open for her and Lila.

Ginny waves a piece of paper in front of my face. “I don’t have much other than the supplies on this list. I’m a lot less high maintenance than I used to be.”

Lila snorts. “No kidding. I used to
live
in Neiman Marcus. I got a fifty thousand dollar car for my sixteenth birthday and I had a personal masseuse that came to my house weekly.”

I stop walking and turn to face the teen. “Are you serious?”

Lila’s eyes get huge. “Yeah. Why?”

“Nothing.” I blink, then shake my head. There’s no sense in making the girl feel bad even if I didn’t even own a computer. None of that matters now anyway. “It just sounds crazy after everything we’ve been through.”

“Yeah, it does,” Lila says as she walks past me.

Ginny’s eyes meet mine, and she shrugs. She was rich too, so even though she may think a personal masseuse for a seventeen-year-old is excessive, she doesn’t know where I’m coming from. Even before she became Ms. Hollywood, Ginny had a nice upbringing. A good family. Middle class, but I doubt she ever wanted for anything. I learned to do without the things I wanted, and most of the things I needed.

When we reach the hall, Lila stops, looking both ways before saying, “Which way?”

“The supplies we’re going to need are this way.” Ginny nods to the right. “Last room, if I remember correctly.”

She turns down the hall with me and Lila trailing behind her. I’m so busy going through my mental checklist that I don’t notice Dax until he’s grinning my way. Not that it matters. It isn’t like I can run off and hide, especially not when we need the things on our list.

He’s in the middle of talking to one of his men, so all he can do is wave. “Tomorrow morning! You ready?”

I nod and shove Ginny forward. “Faster. Let’s get out of here while he’s occupied.”

“But he’s always so happy to see you,” Lila says, nudging me with her elbow.

I roll my eyes. “Not funny.”

Dax finishes whatever conversation he’s having less than a second later, and as soon as the other guy turns away, Dax is jogging toward me. Figures. I never could catch a break.

“Hey! What’s the hurry?” He smiles even wider when he stops in front of us. A guarded smile that hides something frightening behind it.

“Just busy getting things done,” I say, ignoring the way my skin prickles under his gaze.

He gives me the creeps. The more I’m around him, the more he makes me feel like I’m back in the Monte Carlo, which is bad news, considering we will be on the road tomorrow.

“That boyfriend of yours send you here?” Dax asks, his eyes on me. Only on me. “Seems like he could have carried this stuff on his own.”

“Husband,” I snap. “And there’s no reason I can’t carry all this stuff. You think that just because I’m a woman I’m not capable of pulling my weight?”

Dax’s eyes flash, and I realize I hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly what he thinks. This guy is a caveman, and I was dead on when I compared him to the men at the Monte Carlo. He’d be right at home with them.

“Husband?” Dax says like that’s the only part of what I just said he can concentrate on.

“You think we’ll be heading out on time?” Ginny asks, jumping in to save me.

Dax shakes his head and finally tears his eyes off me so he can give Ginny a strange look. “We?”

“You weren’t told?” Ginny asks. “Jon and I are coming with you.”

“No,” Dax says firmly, his voice booming through the hall. “This can’t happen. You hear me? We can’t take you out there. It’s too dangerous.”

“I thought you weren’t worried about running into trouble,” Lila shoots at him.

“We can always run into trouble,” Dax says, glaring at the teen. “And if we do, she’s going to slow us down.”

“I’m the hope for the future,” Ginny says, not backing down. “You’ve said it yourself a dozen times, and it’s safer for me to deliver this baby in Atlanta where they have drugs and real facilities and they know more about what we’re dealing with. Hope Springs is a death sentence for this baby and we all know it.” Even though her expression remains hard and unwavering, there’s a tremor in her words that gives away just how scared she is.

“You
were
the hope for the future,” Dax says, stepping closer like he can intimidate her with his size. He’s wrong. Ginny has faced much more terrifying opponents than this asshole, and none of them won. She didn’t let them. “Now, things are different. We have Angus, and he’s my priority. We get him to Atlanta. That’s all that matters.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with me,” Ginny spits at him.

Dax steps closer. “You aren’t going.”

“What the hell is going on here?” Jim stops behind Ginny, frowning as he looks us over. His eyes are colder than ice when they turn on Dax.

“He says I’m not going,” Ginny says.

“Corinne already agreed. I was with Jon when he talked to her, and even though she wasn’t thrilled, she agreed. And the council backed her up. This is our best chance at keeping this baby alive. She’s going. So is her husband, and so am I.”

This is the first I’ve heard about Jim joining us, and after my revelation about Dax, I’m more than happy to have another friendly face on this trip. The more the merrier, as long as they think Dax is an asshole who can’t be trusted.

Dax shakes his head, and his mouths scrunches up so much he looks like he’s going to spit. “Shit. This is a bad idea, but it looks like I don’t have a say in it.” He steps back but keeps his eyes on Ginny. “If trouble comes and you slow us down, you’re on your own. Angus is my priority.”

Jim stiffens at Ginny’s side, looking like he’s ready to pounce on Dax. Luckily, he doesn’t need to, because the big man turns and walks away. Looking more pissed than ever before.

Jim watches the other man, frowning. Looking like he wants nothing more than to hit something. “You sure this is what you want to do?” he says, not looking at Ginny.

“Yeah,” she whispers.

“Fine.” Jim lets out a deep breath, still not looking Ginny’s way. “I already let Dax know I was coming, but you can tell Jon when you get home. I have a few things to do before morning.”

He’s shaking his head when he turns and heads off, not looking back.

Lila exhales when the blond man has disappeared down the hall. “He sure does have that sexy, brooding thing down.”

I turn to face the teen, eyebrows raised and a smile on my face despite the confrontation we just had. “Sexy? How do you think Al would feel if he heard you say Jim was sexy?”

Lila’s cheek turn pink, and she shoves her dark hair out of her face. “He doesn’t need to know. It’s not like I’m interested, I’m just stating the obvious. I love Al. I don’t want anyone else. I—”

I laugh and give her a playful shove. “Relax, Lila, I’m joking.”

She rolls her eyes.

“Let’s get our things and get home,” Ginny mutters as she takes off down the hall. “We have a lot to do before tomorrow morning, and I’m not interested in hanging out where we can run into more of Dax’s men.”

“I think that’s everything,” I say, standing up straight and twisting my back until it pops.

Ginny nods, rubbing her belly as she looks the nine bags we have over. It isn’t much, just one book bag for each of us, but we won’t risk bringing more. Even if we’re going to be on a bus and there’s plenty of space—something Dax has brought up more than once—the essentials are all we need. That’s something we learned from being on the road for weeks at a time. Only bring what you can carry. That way, if you run into trouble, you don’t have to worry about what you’re leaving behind. Most things can be picked up along the way, and luxuries are something we can’t afford these days.

“I feel like we’re forgetting something,” Ginny says after a few minutes of silence. “But I think that’s just because we don’t have weapons yet.”

“Jon, Axl, and Angus will take care of that.”

I don’t bring up the fact that they have to get through Dax. That goes without saying, though. We’ve insisted our group be armed, but like everything else, the leader of this little expedition has been fighting us every step of the way. He doesn’t understand why we all want weapons. In his mind, we’ll be on the bus and safe—at least that’s what he says. I’m concerned he’s just trying to hold on to his power, and he knows giving us weapons will put some of that in our court.

“Good,” Ginny says, nodding once.

The door opens, and Al comes in with Lila right behind him. Parv follows a second later, and then Sophia, Anne, and the kids. I wait for Joshua to come, but he doesn’t. I haven’t seen him other than in passing since he stormed out of Anne and Sophia’s house, and I’m worried. He still says he’s going, but he won’t talk about what happened with Anne or what’s going through his head. After Winston, I’m afraid to let anything go for too long.

“Everyone packed?” Sophia asks, her eyes moving to the pile of bags on the floor.

“We are,” I say, nodding.

Her gaze meets mine, and she smiles, but it doesn’t mask the pain in her expression. “I can’t believe we’re saying goodbye.”

I’m on the verge of telling her it doesn’t have to be this way but stop at the expression on Anne’s face. She doesn’t looks sad. She doesn’t look torn. She doesn’t look like she gives a shit about any of this. And Sophia, when she looks at her daughter, is confident. Like she knows she’s making the right choice, even if it is hard on her. She knows she’s doing what’s right for Ava. These women will not be changing their minds, and I won’t waste my breath trying to convince them.

“We came to say goodbye,” Sophia says, taking a deep breath. “You’re leaving early and we didn’t want to get the kids up and drag them over there…” She shrugs. “Plus, it’s just too hard. You know?”

“I get it,” I say.

Sophia’s bottom lip trembles, and I cross the room so I can pull her in for a hug. Her arms go around me, and her shoulders shake, but the tears are silent. We’ve been together for months, but I still never thought it would be this hard to say goodbye. I thought it had been too common to bother me. It seems like every time I turn around we’ve lost another person. Of course, we usually don’t have a choice when it comes to those goodbyes. This is different.

“We will miss you,” I say when I pull back.

Sophia nods as she wipes the tears from her eyes. “Us too.”

“Don’t forget to check on Brady. He’s alone out there, and it isn’t going to be easy. Maybe, if you give him a little more time, he’ll decide to come here. Try to convince him.”

“I will,” Sophia says. “I promise.”

I nod once, then turn away before her tears infect me.

Ava and Max stand next to the door, looking sad. I give them each a kiss on the top of the head. “Be good and take care of your mom and Anne...” It’s an odd thing to say. I’m not sure who Max considers his mom. Maybe it’s neither one of these women.

The kids nod, and the little boy doesn’t even blink.

Behind me, the others say their goodbyes to Sophia, but I focus on Anne. She keeps close to the door, her arms crossed over her chest. Acting like she doesn’t want to be here. I’m starting to think that’s the real truth: Anne doesn’t want to be here or back in our gated community or in Atlanta, or anywhere else for that matter. She just doesn’t have the guts to end it the way Winston did.

“Take care of Sophia,” I say when I stop in front of her, unsure of what else to say.

Unlike the other woman, I didn’t get really close to Anne. She was a tough woman when we met—a former cop who saved the little boy she found wandering the streets—but she gave all of herself to Jake. From the moment they met, she was his mother. There wasn’t enough of her to go around when he was alive, and when he died, he took most of Anne with him. After that she pitched in where she could, but she didn’t talk much. Except to Joshua.

That didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, that’s for sure.

“We’ll be fine,” Anne says, not meeting my gaze. “You—” She swallows, and a tortured expression crosses her face. “Watch out for Joshua.”