Surge (58 page)

“I’m fine,” I answer when she continues to motion at my wounds. She gives me a doubtful look. “Really, it doesn’t even hurt.” Her grey eyes steel, so I know she’s calling bull without her having to say it, or motion for me to cut the shit. “Fine, it stings a little, but it’s nothing I can’t cure with a little bit of rest. What I couldn’t cure, would have been the guilt of you or Cory being murdered by my crew member.”

Olivia scowls at me, before her hands start moving rapidly. I’m starting to get a little dizzy trying to keep up, so I tell her to slow down in order for me to be able to read her signals. In answer, she places Morris gently on her seat as she stands. With her tiny size, she only has to duck her head a bit to be able to do so, but it has to hurt to bend her neck at any angle; so when she ignores the pain in order to reach around the seat and hug me, it makes it better than any words she could have used.

When she pulls back from the awkward angled embrace, I see and understand her motions clearly. A flat hand on her chest, which she bends out as she points to Cory. Obviously, she’s thanking me for helping Cory. I go to tell her it isn’t necessary, but the words die on my lips, when I see her hands make the next motions. First she points at me, then she makes a slashing motion, before pounding a furious fist on her chest. I understand that straight away, and get pissed.

Olivia just told me that I shouldn’t have saved her.

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Pushing my seat belt to its limit, I snatch the furious girl glaring at me, and pull her through the separation of the seats. Sitting her on my lap, I see her eyes have lost the angry glare, in exchange for shock. Too bad, I’m still pissed. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I completely forget about her injury, as I shake her.

“Don’t you dare say something like that again,” I order. “Ever. Do you hear me?”

Olivia holds the side of her throat, but there isn’t pain in her eyes, it’s raw anger. Brushing my hands off of her, she uses one to whack me in the chest, and the other to point at my bandaged skin.

“I’m fine,” I hiss to stress the fact. She makes a slashing motion across my throat. “I didn’t die and if I didn’t help, you would have, so the tiny burns were worth it.”

Olivia presses a hand to her chest, rubs her thumb and forefingers together as she shakes her head; and then places a hand firmly on my chest. Her eyes aren’t angry anymore, they’re sincere and that stabs me better than any knife could. I place my own hand over hers on my chest and cup her cheek with the other.

“You listen to me,” I say and hold her gaze. “You are worth it.” My words are no more than a whisper, but my point couldn’t have been have been clearer. In answer, Olivia lifts her ungloved left hand, and wiggles her ringed finger at me with tears in her eyes. “Travis gave his life to save yours because he loved you. That isn’t a bad thing, it shows how much he cared about you. I respect the hell out of him, because any man that would give his life for yours, is worth more than their weight in gold.”

When Olivia immediately starts shaking her head back and forth, I cup both of her cheeks in my hands and lean in. As soon as my lips make contact with hers, she stills. I don’t know if it’s out of shock or dismay, but I keep my mouth pressed firmly to hers. Relishing the warmth and fullness of those plump lips, my kiss lasts a few seconds longer than I intended it to.

I don’t push for more, since I know that she isn’t ready for it. There’s also the fact that my body’s responding so violently to this small action, and she sure as hell isn’t ready for that. Forcing myself to break contact with Olivia before she feels the growing appendage popping up to say hello; and is further traumatized by it, I meet her shocked eyes. She presses her fingers to her mouth like she can’t believe I kissed her, which makes me want to do it again, but I fight it back before I cave in and lunge forward to ravage that mouth like I really wanted to.

“You are worth it,” I repeat in a tone heavy with emotion. “Now, get your ass in the back seat, before you spend the ride on my lap.”

That catches her attention; she blinks as if coming back to her senses and glances around. The car’s back on all fours, and full of nosy people; who are all staring at us with gaping looks, smug expressions, or satisfied smiles. I ignore them, but Olivia ducks her chin and dives into her seat, startling Morris. She scoops him up and cuddles him close, but really she’s burying her face in his fur to hide her embarrassed expression. It makes me grin to see such a childish reaction out of the badass for once.

My teeny Tomb Raider may have a coating of steel and ice, but underneath that is a soft and loving woman, who uses it as a shield. I’m perfectly fine with the armor, so long as it can be stowed in a closet from time to time when we’re alone. And we will be alone. Her guard dog of a brother has to sleep some time, and I still have gun lessons to teach.

“What are you waiting for, you smug bastard?” I ask a grinning John. “Start this monster up, so we can move on to the next.”

“Sir, yes sir,” he replies with a salute and starts the van. “Where’re we headed?”

“Crazy, wanna come?” When John sends me a
‘come on’
look, I shrug in answer. “Just drive.”

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And drive we do.

Originally the plan was to stop at a nearby house for a night, but Olivia regained her faculties; meaning her spine of steel, and refused to go in. She stood beside the van, stomped her foot, and pointed at the trees. There were several complaints and grumbles, but when she pulled out her machete from the trunk, ran into the woods, and came back with a wheezer head; everyone shut the fuck up, and dove back in the van. We left a cloud of dust and smoking tire treads in our wake, for the pack of wheezers; that came sprinting out of the woods, to munch on instead our asses.

So, we’ve driven for about two hours, pointing at different places that we could stay at, with Olivia shaking her head at each in disapproval. Finally, throwing his hands up in defeat, John pulls the van over. Putting it in park, John twists in his seat so that he can see Olivia. Her eyes are rapidly scanning the sides of the road, which are covered in thick foliage.

“Do you have a place in mind?” John asks and folds his hands.

I know it’s a sign of anger, but he better not take this shit out on her. She isn’t the one that burnt down our house, his scorned groupie did. Olivia just wants to find us a place that she feels will keep us relatively safe for the night. And I trust her judgment, so if those places didn’t pass her approval, we move on to the next. Olivia points to the map I have spread across the dashboard, so I pass it to her. She holds her hand out in a
‘what’
gesture, and moves her palm over the paper fold out.

“We’re right here,” I answer and point to the street that John pulled over. She nods slightly and scans the surrounding area. Biting her lip, Olivia points to a spot forty miles out west of the direction we were heading.

“That’s going further away from the compound,” John says. Olivia pats her chest in an
‘I know that.’
Then she grabs her backpack, unzips it, and rummages inside for something. It takes a few seconds, but she finally comes out with her chain of keys.

“Another one of your burglar hits,” I say and she scowls, until she sees the smirk on my face. Then she smiles and puts a finger to my mouth. It’s like she remembers where my lips were just a few short hours ago, and goes to snatch it back, but I pretend not to notice, and catch hold of her hand to keep in a loose grip. “Fine, another one of your safe houses. If you think that’s our best option, we’ll have to stop for gas first.”

Olivia nods while staring at my hand still gripping hers. There’s a confused expression on her face that I can’t decipher the meaning of, but she isn’t trying to pull away, so I leave it there and tip her chin. “You okay?” She blinks a few times, then her chin moves up and down slightly. I don’t believe it for a second, but I’ll let it go for now. “Then let’s get moving.”

John starts the van back up before pulling onto the road, while Olivia retreats back to her seat. After making sure she’s re-buckled, I turn to face forward, and direct John to our destination. A few miles pass until I fell a hand on my shoulder. A decidedly masculine hand, that squeezes the side of my unburned neck, as it hands over a plastic case.

“Hurt her, and I’ll kill you,” Cory hisses in my ear. I guess that counts as approval in his book, so I nod, not that I would dare hurt her in the first place. Easing up his grip, he follows his whispered threat with a raised, slightly southern drawl.

“Olivia said to put this in before the silence strangles us,” he announces. I take the CD from his hand, while John glances over.

“How exactly did she manage to say all that?” John inquires with a smirk as he checks the rear view mirror. “She’s been rather quiet lately, is she getting shy on me?” A tiny hand cuffs John from the back and he laughs. “There she is, welcome back Miss Short, Pale and Beautiful.” That earns John an elbow jab from me, which makes him laugh harder.

“Quit being a smartass, and drive,” I order.

“Yeah, yeah,” he says and waves me off. “Put the damn CD in already.”

Flipping open the indistinguishable case, I see that there’s a burned CD inside. Knowing Olivia’s varied taste in music, it could be just about anything. When the Beatles’ “Come Together” starts blasting out of the speakers, immediately followed by Eminem’s “The Way I Am,” I can’t help but smile. I glance back, and see her mouthing the words as she stares out the window.

“It’s Jared’s theme song,” John says. “He isn’t Mr. Friendly, and he can most fucking definitely be a prick.”

I flip him off, which he ignores, and keeps rapping away. Several voices in the back pick up the chorus; including the twins, Danny and Cory. Tommy’s nodding along, and mouthing the words like Olivia, but she’s now gesturing out the part of flipping off the media for blaming violence on music. Ain’t that the damn truth. Music doesn’t kill people, people kill people. Well, ape-like animals, too.

Olivia gets really into the next verse about people asking questions, and getting pissed about it. I guess that she isn’t a fan of questions, and who would be, when you have to answer with the nightmares of your past?

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