Surge (81 page)

“This bullet has Cole’s name on it,” she whispers.

I don’t know if she’s whispering so that the others won’t hear, or if it’s still easier to talk in a soft voice. Either way, I have to lean in to hear a little better over the conversations and music bouncing around the metal interior of the van.

“The day they came in, Travis was teaching me how to shoot. Well, I was practicing, anyway, and he came up to see how I was doing.” Olivia closes her eyes as she closes her hand around the bullet. “I was on my last shot in the clip when he interrupted my practice, wanting me to go inside and rest.” Her voice gets bitter. “I should have fucking listened, but because I’m a selfish bitch, I begged him to let me try just one last shot.” She opens her eyes and lifts the bullet. “I never got to fire it off because I left the safety on, but those precious seconds cost me Travis, and I’ll never forgive myself for that.” I reach over and cover her hand with mine. I highly doubt that little piece of metal cost her so much, but I don’t want to discount her when she’s talking about some of her dark memories.

“How did you wanting to practice, cost you Travis?” I ask, and Olivia looks at me.

“If we had gone inside when Travis said, we would have never heard the scream,” she answers and her eyes get a little misty. “But we didn’t, and since we heard it, we ran over to the edge of the roof and saw her. She looked so scared, Jared, and she wouldn’t stop fucking screaming.” Olivia squeezes my hand, but I don’t think she realizes it. “I looked at Travis and I could see it on his face that he wanted to go help her, but when he looked at me, I seen how much he wanted to protect me and the baby more. So, what did I do? I told him that we’d be fine and to go bring her back.” She turns her face away but I see the tears trail down her cheek before she wipes them away.

“I once told you that your only fault is caring too much, and Travis was the same way. When they dragged him in, they told Travis to give them everything, and they’d leave him alone. Travis told them take anything they wanted, but just to leave us alone. When Don told him that they wanted me, too, Travis fought, so they dragged us to the roof and...”

Olivia starts sobbing, so I pull her as close as the seat belt allows and tuck her head into my neck. I feel her arms wrap around me, and catch Cory’s eyes looking at us. From the look of pain, and fury mixed in his brown irises, I know he heard every one of whispered words. I pat her hair down, and wave Cory back, when he moves to come and comfort her to say that I’ve got it. He scowls at me, but remains in his seat. I rub a hand down her back, and hold Olivia, until her body stops wracking with sobs. Pulling back, I see that Olivia has an embarrassed expression on her face, as she swipes her wet cheek across her jacket sleeve. I pretend I don’t see it, and let her recover her composure. When she’s set, she lifts the bullet again.

“Since this bullet cost Travis his life, I find it fitting that it should cost Cole his.”

“You didn’t kill Travis, and neither did that fucking bullet,” Cory says. “So, stop blaming yourself.”

“I’ll quit blaming myself, when you stop blaming yourself,” she retorts.

“It’s neither of your faults,” I counter. “Remember what you told me, Olivia? They prey upon human emotions; it’s sick, but effective.”

“I fucking hate it when he uses his mouth,” Olivia mutters and I grin. She flips me off. “It isn’t cute anymore, I find it obnoxious.”

“It..” I start.

“
‘Comes with the territory,’
” Cory and Olivia say in unison, before they start laughing. I scowl at them, which makes them laugh harder.

“Assholes, I’m glad I amuse you.”

“Oh, you most definitely do, Mouth,” Olivia says with blue flecks in her eyes. They’ve since taken over the pale grey, so I’m good with her laughing at my expense, if it makes her happy.

“W-where’re we s-stopping tonight?” Tommy asks from the driver’s seat. He’s been his usual, quiet self, but I’ve seen him mouth along the words to a few songs; so he seems better now that he’s not in self-imposed solitary confinement.

“We have two days left of driving if we stop here,” Cory answers and points to a spot on the map. “Olivia has a safe house we could use, so we got another twenty minutes to go.”

Tommy nods as he returns his full attention back to the road. He’s actually a pretty good driver, avoiding wheezers and keeping a steady pace so we’ve been able to cover quite a bit of ground today. He even cut a day off of Olivia’s revised estimate of taking three more days before we’ll arrive at the compound.

It’s been a damn crazy month; we’ve lost supplies, survived a crazy bitch, had casualties and dealt with injuries along the way, so the thought of finally reaching our destination is kind of surreal. When Olivia first proposed it, I thought it was nuts. Hell, I thought she was bat shit crazy for a while. And now, I’ve not only learned that she isn’t cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, but I’ve also developed feelings for her that I’ve never before.

I’ve become closer with each member of the group in one way or another, like I know more about Whit and Mike then when we first started, definitely learned a hell of a lot more about Tommy, and met the real Cory. Akio’s still a dick, but at least he knows his shit. The twins are awesome as always, they may creep me out with their clone-like qualities, but they’re loyal and can be depended on for whatever it is you need.

As for John, Sarah and Danny, I’d say that my relationships with them each matured a little. John and I aren’t all shits and giggles anymore; he’s hardened now with the loss of his girls. Sarah’s no longer just my little sister, but a person whose happiness matters to me. And Danny isn’t the piss ant that I wanted to squish with my size twelve’s just a short while ago. He’s actually a decent kid, who I wouldn’t mind getting to know better, and it looks like the kid is hankering for some male bonding time.

Like now, for instance. Danny’s back in the last row with Sarah and Oscar, and Oscar’s showing him how to handle a rifle. Yes, the safety’s on so it’s completely safe, and Danny’s watching with rapt attention. You can see the way he’s hanging on every single one of Oscar’s words, so if I were to hand him a piece of paper and a pen right now, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if it were written down word for word. I apologized to him, but I still feel bad about the whole assault back at the condo, so maybe I’ll include the kid in more of the guy stuff. Yeah, he’s closer to Sarah in age than anyone else here, but he’s still male, so I doubt that he enjoys having to censor his thoughts and words at all times.

“Jared,” Olivia says and waves a hand in front of my face. “You alright?” I shake my head.

“Yeah, sorry. Just spaced out a minute. What’d you need?”

Olivia raises her eyebrows at me and points at the empty car. “We’re here, and you’re just sitting there, so, are you coming or not?”

“I’m coming,” I answer.

After unclicking my belt, I follow her out. Walking around back, I see that not only did everyone take their new packs of supplies in that John and the others collected back at the outlets, but they’re already in the house. Reaching into the already opened trunk, I grab out my pack and Olivia’s. She scowls at me for taking her bag, and tries to snatch it from me.

“Uh-uh, my mommy raised me to be a gentleman.”

“Please, you are no gentleman,” she says with a crooked grin. I place an offended hand on my chest.

“How dare you?”

“A gentleman wouldn’t have kissed and told,” Olivia counters
.
Her grin turns
smug, as she snatches her bag from my frozen fingers, and heads toward the house. It gets a cursory look to see that it’s a freaking mansion in the middle of nowhere, but I ignore it, as I regain motor skills and chase after Olivia.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Without pausing, Olivia answers. “Back at Aunt Crystal’s, I heard you and John swapping virginity stories.” She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “Did you really bribe a girl to sleep with you so that she could graduate?”

“I was fifteen years old, of course I would have done anything for even the slightest chance at sex!”

“I’d say that any post-pubescent male would do anything for sex,” she points out. “Take Cory, for instance. He was drooling over this complete bitch named Karen from middle school up through high school graduation. When she had the nerve to dump him after she cheated with four different guys, he passed up a football scholarship to Brown, and enlisted. If it weren’t for her, he would have been an architect. He was obsessed with Legos, K’nex, tinker toys, popsicle sticks; anything that he could build with.” I guess that explains his handiness back the condo. He constructed our garden and the downspout to collect rain for our barrels.

“So, he’s not gay then?”

“What?” Olivia asks with a laugh. When I don’t join in, she looks at me like I’m nuts. “Wait, why the hell would you think he’s gay?”

“I’ve known him a year, and have never seen him look at any of the girls we found. And he’s never mentioned a single woman from his past, even when John was sharing his conquest stories.”

“I’m sure that you have a list just as long as John’s,” she says dryly. “But Cory is as straight as they come. He’s private about it, but he’s been burned, and doesn’t trust anyone of the opposite sex. Well, other than me, since I do have a vagina even though I forget sometimes.” Hearing Olivia talk about sex and vaginas is kind of frying my brain, but I manage to pick out a piece to concentrate on.

“I do not have a list as long as John’s,” I retort. Olivia gives me a look. “Fine, I was a man slut, but not anymore.”

“That’s because there aren’t any women left that you’re interested in.” The hell? Is she blind? I’m fucking panting after her every second of the day, and she doesn’t see how very interested that I am in
her
? I’ll puzzle that out later, since she’s still talking. “Just you wait and see, as soon as you get to the compound, they’ll see those baby blues and come running in droves like locusts.”

“Not if they aren’t into Freddy.”

“Jesus H. Christ!” Olivia exclaims. She comes to a halt in her forward motion toward the house, to dope slap me on the unburned half of my head. “You do not look like Freddy freaking Krueger.” Lifting her gloved hand to my face she traces my lips. It’s not because she’s hiding that she’s wearing the gloves, Olivia’s in full leather gear because we’re out in the open, but they will be coming off as soon as we get inside Rockefeller’s Mansion.

“These are absolutely sinful,” Olivia says as she runs a fingertip underneath my bottom lip. Looking up to meet my eyes, she continues. “They evoke wicked thoughts in the minds of straight women everywhere, trust me.” Fuck, she’s making me hard. “You’re a freaking skyscraper, which happens to be built like Brad Pitt in
Troy
. Those greenish-blue eyes are like a mood ring. They get this vibrant blue color when you smile, I swear they fucking glow green when you’re pissed, and when you space out? They get this rim of midnight blue that complements the aqua center.” She shakes her head and drops her hand. “So, trust me when I say, that any woman who doesn’t stop dead in her tracks, drop on all fours and purr at your feet; is either a muff muncher, or an extremely faithful wife.”

Now would be the perfect time to say that I’m not interested in them, that I want her and no one else. That I want to drop on all fours, rub against her leg and purr like Morris does. That I can’t go to sleep curled around her each night without jacking off three times out of fear that she’ll feel my erection trying to impale her. That I want to be the one to make her live again. And I abso-fucking-lutely want to ravage those soft pillows she calls lips, and make her think wicked thoughts about me. But I don’t get to do any of that, because just as I open my mouth to nut up or shut up, dickface has to pull out his big brother stop sign.

“Are you going to come inside, or do you plan on sleeping in the van tonight?” Cory asks from the still opened doorway.

Olivia immediately moves toward the house, while I growl underneath my breath. I’m chicken enough about this shit, and just when I think I can grow some balls and do something, I’m interrupted. And didn’t Cory’s sarcastic comment have to spark my demented brain into envisioning what I could have done with Olivia had we slept in the van. The grey bastard didn’t even care that three people lost their lives in that vehicle, he still wanted to bend Olivia over the center console, and let Junior have his way.

Looks like I’ll be making a pit stop to stroke the snake before I join the others.

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