Rules of Survival(13)

Holy shit. My pulse quickened, only I wasn’t sure if it was out of fear, or because of the way he was looking at me.

I swallowed and took a deep breath. They’d raided my stuff like scavengers and rummaged through what was basically my entire life. But if they hadn’t, the keys would have been lost. And that would have been a disaster. “Okay… Whether we like it or not, we’re stuck with each other—for now. A little teamwork will go a long way if we wanna get out of this alive.”

He nodded, backing down as well. Some of the tension drained from his shoulders, and he let go of my arm. I shivered at the loss of warmth. “Agreed.”

“So…truce?”

“Truce,” he said extending his right hand.

I took it and forced a smile. I didn’t like the idea of calling Patrick, but we didn’t really have anything to go on. The way he’d spoken, he knew my mom. If he knew her, then maybe he knew who Mick was. Maybe even T. The letter was gone—at least for now—but maybe it was still possible to piece this thing together. I was smart. Resourceful. I could do this.

“Please—for the love of planet earth—can we find someplace warm and dry? I’m turning into a frozen prune…”

“Yeah,” he said.

I started walking right. Shaun went left. We each got about one and a half steps before our arms jerked back, sending us off-balance and colliding into each other.

This wasn’t going to end well…





Chapter Five


“We need to change.” I poked my head from the alley, around the corner of the building.

Shaun, shivering as much as I was now, nodded and wrapped his jacket around my shoulders. Hot, smart, and thoughtful. If not for the irritating attitude, and the desire to turn me in, he’d be a seriously drool-worthy package.

“Yeah.” He cupped both hands in front of his mouth and blew furiously as a strong gust of icy wind hit. “Need to find a store or something, but don’t have much cash.”

And neither did I. If Mom were here, she’d make me wait outside while she did a little bit of shoplifting. She’d given me the skills I needed to survive, but did her damnedest to keep me from doing anything that could be considered “against the law.” Over the years, and against her better judgment, I’d convinced her to show me a few tricks here and there, but nothing I felt confident enough to try. It was the middle of October and we were soaking wet and shackled together. That didn’t really scream “under the radar.”

“I have an idea,” Shaun said, pulling me from the alley and guiding me across the street.

I followed, unsure what he was doing, but too cold to care. He led me through the doors of the small apartment complex, and the moment we walked in off the street and out of the icy breeze, I felt a million times better.

He closed the door behind me. “Laundry room. Should be able to find what we need there.”

I was kind of surprised because it was fairly brilliant. “That’s actually a good idea…”

He glanced back over his shoulder and shot me a cocky grin. “Of course it is. That’s why I was the one who came up with it.”

I would have responded, but I didn’t trust myself. Of all the people on earth for me to be shackled to, the universe sends a cocky, know-it-all * with a perfect body, face of a demigod, rocking an attitude? I’d done horrible things in a previous life to deserve this. Kicked a cherub or spit on a cloud. That was the only answer.

We went through the small foyer and around to the door marked Stairs. He pushed through and followed the hall to the end, our wet sneakers squeaking against the tile floor. We found the laundry room with little trouble, making only a single wrong turn and ending up in the boiler room.

In addition to being hungry and soaked, I’d had to pee since I’d woken up. Luckily, there was a small restroom in the corner. I was able to duck inside despite the shackle chain, closing the door most of the way, and preserve at least some of my dignity.

“Don’t be picky—just grab anything that might fit and let’s get out of here,” Shaun said when I came out. He pulled a dark-blue T-shirt from the pile of unfolded clothes to his right and started peeling off his wet one off.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Well-defined lines and a whirl of black ink brought a rush of heat to my cheeks and regions lower. The air grew almost humid, thick and hard to breathe, and I found myself wanting to move closer. To run the tips of my fingers across his skin. It was as he stretched to pull the shirt over his head, arms extended and glorious muscles flexed, that I snapped out of it and realized the problem with our plan.

“Whoa!” I said, grabbing the chain and yanking. “Do not do that please.”

A wicked grin slipped across his lips as he let the shirt fall back into place. “I know once you’ve seen my physical perfection it’ll ruin you for all others, but—”

I blinked. “Are you kidding me?”

He thumped his chest. “I saw you checking me out when Pat and I came into the cabin. You couldn’t keep your eyes off me.”

I had been checking him out, but he shouldn’t have been that flattered. I didn’t really get to spend much time with guys, in general. Besides, he was staring at me just as hard. “Checking you out?”

He set the dry shirt down on the nearest washing machine and stepped closer, stopping just shy of invading my personal space. The tightness in my stomach increased, this time accompanied by a spike in my pulse. “Yeah. Checking me out. Kind of like you’re doing right now.”