26. Willa / Greer
CHAPTER 26
WILLA / GREER
D inner tonight consists of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Having skipped lunch to stay in my room, I’m starving. Tray in hand, I stand in the middle of the cafeteria and scan the room until I find River, who’s seated at a back table by himself. I walk over and stop beside him.
“Is this seat taken?” I tease with a smile.
He looks up at me and grins, but my smile immediately drops when I see the bruise around his eye.
“That’s one hell of a shiner. Who did that to you?” I ask, dropping the tray on the table and reaching for him.
He grabs my hand and pulls me down beside him. “I’m fine. You should see the other guy.” When the line doesn’t get a laugh, he sighs. “Seriously. I threw the first punch. Quaid was only defending himself.”
Quaid , I fume. This is about me.
“I’m so, so sorry, River. This is all my fault. I should never have asked you to stop Beckett this morning.” Whatever happens, I need to face up to my reality and stop hiding from it. “Do you want me to get you some ice?”
He shakes his head. “Oliver gave me a bag when he lectured me. It’s all good.” He squeezes my hand. “Are you okay? What happened in there? Nobody would tell me. Patient/doctor shit. And you don’t have to get into the details. I just want to know if you’re okay.”
Not really. The whole thing is emotionally exhausting and frustrating. With a sigh, I lift a shoulder. “Sort of. Beckett told me my powers likely woke during the accident that killed my parents.” I stop and take a breath for courage, then tell him what I remember from the accident and the realization Beckett pushed on me. “I’ve always carried this guilt around with me because I survived and they didn’t, but it never occurred to me that I might have been able to save them. Everything about the accident and that night is murky because of the gaps in my memory. I don’t know what to believe, but the possibilities are torturing me.”
His arm comes around and squeezes me tight. “Or your powers might have already been depleted. We don’t have much juice when our powers first activate. Barely anything, really. It’s likely you used up your reserve creating the pond. Maybe it’s best you don’t know.”
“Part of me wants to know,” I murmur, wiping away the tear sliding down my cheek. “I’ve got so many questions about that night. Why were they after my dad?”
River snorts. “They were after you.”
I shake my head. “My dad had Lionel change my birth certificate. They wouldn’t even think I had powers.”
“Plenty of people were doing the same thing at the time. It didn’t help,” River insists. “My mother stole our original birth certificates, and the copies, from the hospital and courthouse records, and yet Raven still knew about us. They’re always searching, forcing us to run again and again.” Bitterness coats every word.
Is that what I’m going to feel after years of running? “I’m sorry you didn’t have a normal childhood. All I could think about was my parents. I never realized I was lucky to have gotten away. But why didn’t they come after me when I was with Lionel?”
“Lionel was in the Army, right? Maybe it has something to do with that,” River speculates. “What was his rank?”
“Colonel,” I murmur, taking a bite while I think about it. “Sorry, starving.” Chicken is a little dry, but not bad. It’s free food, and I’m realizing how valuable it is.
He takes a bite too. “That’s a good rank, but not sure it would help. Maybe he knew someone higher up?”
Not wanting to reveal Lionel’s missions with the special forces, I lift a shoulder. “I told you Lionel knew Jack Harrison. Former Army buddy. Senator. Head of Phoenix. Maybe that helped?”
“Probably,” River concedes. His voice lowers an octave. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
My cheeks heat. “You still want me to? I understand if you don’t.” I dart a glance at his black eye. “Thanks to Oliver, I know how to find my room now.”
He stares at me. “Of course I want you to stay with me. For however long I’m here, that will never change. Understand?” There’s a note of something I can’t place in his voice.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I blurt out, then wrinkle my nose. “Sorry. That’s extremely selfish of me. I know your mom and sister are still out there hiding, and you’ll have to go back to them.” There’s no way he’ll stay here without his family. “I’m not sure I’ll be ready to go with you, but if not, I’ll be here when you get back.”
His mouth compresses. “I don’t know if I’ll come back.” When I only stare at him, he continues, “Look. I know you think this is the best place for you, but it’s not for me. Not because of the rules, either. I don’t want to live in a cage. Even one as padded as this place.” His eyes silently plea for my understanding. “I’m hoping you’ll go with me.”
Torn between the safety here and him, I shrug. “We’ll see. But promise me… no matter what… you won’t leave without saying goodbye, okay?” I push back at him. “Goodbyes are important.” Not having been able to say them to my parents had left this huge hole in my heart. “Promise me.”
He hesitates for a long minute, but then solemnly promises. “I promise, I won’t leave without saying goodbye.”
Relieved, I nod and turn around to finish the rest of my dinner. “Did you choose any classes?”
“Spanish and martial arts,” he informs me. “I only speak English, and I figured another language would be useful, especially with Mexico right next door. Maybe it would be easier to hide there instead of the States.” His tone is nonchalant, but I can tell he’s given the idea more than a passing thought.
“I’ve always wanted to go there,” I tell him with a smile. “After dinner, would you teach me how to pick a lock? It could be an extremely useful skill, and I need all of those I can get. Although I did good hiding from Quaid today.”
His face morphs into something comical. “You hid from Quaid?”
I snort and explain what he made our class do today. “I remembered what you said about the university and hiding in plain sight, and thought it was a great idea.”
He frowns. “Yeah, but don’t try it in closed spaces. You could be trapped.”
I laugh. “Now you sound like Quaid. Maybe you two have more in common than you think.”
River narrows his eyes. “Don’t even go down that route. He’s an asshole.”
As irritated as he makes me, I don’t think Quaid’s an asshole. Protective. Intense. There’s a lot riding on his shoulders, and despite the friction between us, I like knowing he’s standing between me and the enemy.
Rolling my eyes, I tell him. “So are you. Not to me, but I can see that side of you.” When he looks startled, I wink and change the subject. “Guess what? I shot a gun today!”
“So, you found the safety?” His grin tells me he’s remembering me raising the gun at him and trying to pull the trigger. “I’ll be sure to remember that in the future.”
I shove his shoulder. “Whatever. Yes. I found the safety, Mr. Smartass. My aim, though, appears to be dismal.”
He wipes an arm across his brow. “Phew, guess I’m good for a little while.”
With a grin, I finish eating, then grab my tray. “Whatever. Let’s go. I’m eager to learn another new skill.”
Once we reach his room, he shows me his lock picking kit. “It includes tension wrenches, picks, and rakes. I’ll teach you how to use this kit and a few other items like bobby pins, paper clips, and a knife. Once you understand how a lock works, you can try to find your own mechanisms.”
Tilting my head, I study the pouch in his hand. “Why do you have a kit? Is this something I’ll need to put in my survival bag?”
“Yes,” he says fervently. “It’s not how I got out of the handcuffs at the gas station, but I’ve used the kit a lot to get in and out of places. Definitely a must for your ‘survival’ bag.”
After ushering us back to the hallway, he locks the door, then demonstrates the tools several times. “The bottom lever is for tension. Once you have that in place, you use the second tool to lift up on each of the five pins. You’re looking for the pin that’s the hardest to lift, which is called the seized pin. Keep wiggling the tool under it until it lifts. You might hear an audible click or not, but once it’s up, you have to find the next seized pin. Once all five pins are up at the same time, it’s unlocked.”
He hands me the tools and places them properly into the lock. “There. Wiggle the top tool and try to lift the first pin.”
Biting my lip, I focus on the tiny hole and finding the pin, but it’s way more difficult than it looks. After thirty minutes, I’m sweating, hair is in my eyes, and my shoulders are aching.
“I need a break,” I inform him, dropping my hands from the lock and slumping against the wall. “Who taught you to pick a lock?”
His eyes brighten with laughter. “My sister. Smart as a whip. When we went on the run, she looked up all kinds of things from lock picking to prepper survivalist stuff. She wanted to be prepared. She would learn something and make us learn it, too. Lily was insufferable.”
I laugh. “How long did it take her to learn how to pick a lock?”
He winces. “Five minutes.” I gape at him, and he shakes his head. “She’s a genius.”
Tilting my head, I consider the pink spreading across his cheeks. “And you?”
He mockingly frowns. “Twenty minutes. Lily never let me live it down.”
Determined to get it right, I face the door again and insert the tools. Fifteen minutes later, I’m banging my head against the door. “I’m not getting it.” Tossing him a mock glare for not telling me that this was hard.
He wraps his arms around me and places his hands on mine. “Being on the run creates its own urgency. Here. Let me help you.” Resting his chin on my shoulder, he guides my fingers and the tools.
My concentration scatters, and it takes me a minute of mindless movement until I can rein in my focus. For the next twenty minutes, I ignore the press of his hard body against mine and the heat generating between us to pick the damn lock. Finally, success! The latch clicks, and I turn the handle. Shock renders me speechless as the door swings open, but River immediately picks me up and swings me around in a circle.
Wearing a matching grin, I wrap my arms around his neck. “I highly doubt it will be that easy on my own.”
My eyes lock with his green ones, and I marvel at the gleam of happiness I see in them. Does he see the same in mine? Lionel’s death broke my heart into a million pieces, and this new world isn’t worth the toll I paid, but somehow, this exact second is full of life and hope.
Holding me to him, his mouth lowers. Strong and compelling, his lips coax mine into joining his in a joyous dance. Full of laughter and mingled desire, our tongues and lips play to a song only we can hear. Walking forward, he pushes the door open, then closed.
My back presses against the cool wood, giving me the leverage I need to wrap my legs around his waist and eliminate the gap between our bodies. His lean chest and hips align with mine perfectly, and we both groan at the feeling. Only skin against skin would be better.
The kiss goes on for eons. Chests heaving the few times we break to stare at each other before desperate need pulls us back for more. It’s the best of tortures. Lost in the taste and feel of his lips against mine, I shove aside any rational thought and let the world drift away. Who knew kissing could be this good?
Eventually, he lifts his head. Green eyes drenched with desire stare down at me, but soon conflict creeps in, bringing reality with it. One path leads to something beautiful, but the other rips us apart. Are we willing to take the chance? Neither of us has any words of reassurance for the other. He can’t tell me he’s going to stay, and I don’t know whether I’m willing to leave.
My hand smooths down the back of his head to his neck, and my legs fall to the ground, unsteady but willing to stand at his side no matter what.
Lids lower over bright green eyes, concealing his thoughts, as he pulls me into a tight hug. “From the first moment I saw you, something shifted inside me.” He gives a low chuckle. “I didn’t account for you. You make me want the impossible.” He pauses, taking a deep breath. “But it’s not just us. I have to think about them.”
My lips turn down, but I understand his feelings. “If my mom and sister were out there and needed me, I wouldn’t stay. It would kill me, but I’d leave. And I won’t let you stay for the same reasons.” Dropping my forehead on his chest, I let his warmth chase away the chill sliding over my body. “Who knows? Maybe fate will find a way for us to be together.”