CHAPTER TWELVE
JAMES
ABANDONED SCHOOL
(ONE YEAR AGO)
Never be alone with her.
That was my rule. My one damn rule.
Yeah, even I had to laugh at the irony—an Outsider with a rule. We’re supposed to be against all that. No rules. No limits. But when it comes to Sarah… I need one.
And yet, there I was, standing outside the door of the classroom we’d been calling home since the disaster in the woods, about to break that rule, because the genius I’d been trying to respect had just fucked up my night.
Thanks, Michael. You owe me for that one. Big time.
He had one job—one. Watch over Sarah. But no, he just had to sneak off to meet one of Nathan’s sisters.
Nathan Carter and his six siblings had been sheltering in an abandoned school with us for a few days. They’d been through hell before they got here. Helping them was never even a question. They were good people, or at least as good as you could get these days.
I leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, and there she was, in the middle of the room. The place was nearly empty, just a few chairs and tables shoved into a corner, and an old blackboard covering most of one wall.
And right in the corner of that blackboard? A butterfly, drawn in chalk. Her handiwork, no doubt. A little splash of beauty in a place that could really use it.
Sarah was on her knees, fussing with her sleeping bag, making sure the pillow was just right. A book lay beside it, ready for her nightly escape after the rest of us went to sleep. That was her idea of fun, and honestly, it just made her look even cuter.
She hadn’t noticed me yet, which kept this stupid little smile on my lips. Watching her, all quiet and lost in her own little world, felt like a secret I got to keep.
Finally, I decided to stop lurking and walked in.
The moment my footsteps echoed, she spun around.
When she saw me, she froze, her breath hitching like she’d just been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to.
It was the same reaction she always had back at the ranch whenever she’d catch me staring.
And yeah, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy every second of it.
I walked over to the fire and sat down across from her, but I didn’t stop watching her. She tucked one of those loose braids behind her ear and glanced at the door like she was expecting someone else.
“Where is Michael?” she asked.
Good question. “Uh… he’s busy.”
“Busy, huh? Let me guess, one of Nathan’s sisters? Wouldn’t be surprising.”
She had a point. Michael knew he’d get laid with that fucking smile of his.
I gave her a look but said nothing.
Ever since the day we left Sarah alone in our camp in the woods and she got cornered in that cave, we hadn’t let her out of our sight. It scared the hell out of both Michael and me. So now, she was stuck with us everywhere we went.
We’d only stopped in this town to get supplies and rest for a couple nights. The school just happened to be right in the middle of Main Street, and that made it easy to watch the town. If someone came too close, I’d be ready.
But having Sarah there? That was another story. Keeping her in town was a gamble. Not just because of the gangs, though that was always a constant worry, but because of her. She was fearless to the point of being reckless, which made keeping her safe a full-time job.
She had this way of questioning every damn decision we made, then doing the exact opposite.
She talked to strangers when we weren’t looking, vanished into random stores for chocolate, and generally scared the crap out of me every time I turned around and couldn’t find her.
That’s exactly how Nathan’s family ended up with us—because Sarah, of course, decided to chat with them before I even had the chance to size them up.
Yeah, having her around was a risk. But leaving her alone again wasn’t an option.
“So, he put you on babysitting duty, huh?” she asked.
I didn’t answer. Didn’t need to. She already knew.
She chuckled. “I don’t mind. That just means more for us.”
“More what?”
Her lips curved into that mischievous little smile, the one that always meant trouble. She didn’t say a word, just reached into her backpack, pulled out a six-pack of beer, and set it down in front of me.
“Sarah.” I gave her a warning look, even though I wasn’t mad. “How did you manage that?”
“I have my ways.” She threw me a wink and handed me a bottle.
I cracked it open without taking my eyes off her, trying to figure her out—not that I ever would. She was this perfect mix of wild and innocent. And I liked that. A lot.
She sat down next to me, crossed her legs like she was about to tell a bedtime story, and popped open her own beer.
“This your first time drinking beer?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes at me, mock offended. “I grew up on a ranch, not in a cave, you know.”
She tilted her head back and downed the whole thing in one go. My jaw dropped as she grabbed another bottle, not even fazed.
“Thanks, by the way,” she said softly.
“For what?”
“For bringing me into town. I know Michael wanted me to stay back in the woods with him while you came here for supplies.”
I leaned back on my hands. “Well, you’ve never been to a town before. Figured it was about time.”
As if I was gonna leave her alone again after what happened in that cave. I didn’t care if Michael planned to stay with her; I needed to be where she was.
I tilted my head, giving her a sideways look. “So, what’d you think of the town?”
Her smile lit up the whole room. “It’s amazing!”
I frowned. “But it’s all destroyed.”
She shook her head, her expression softening like she was looking at something only she could see. “No, it’s not. We’re here.”
She waved her hands, gesturing around the dim classroom, and my eyes landed on the butterfly she’d sketched on the board. Somehow, her being here made the place feel… less broken.
“Old ruins have always existed, even back when the world was whole,” she went on. “But this?” She looked around again, her green eyes sparkling. “These aren’t ruins from the old world. This is the new world. Our world. Nothing’s really destroyed. It’s just… different. That’s all.”
I looked at her, taking in everything she’d just said. Then I nudged her shoulder with mine. “Have you always been this clever?”
“Yep.” She laughed, picking up another bottle. “And the beer definitely helps.”
She took a playful sip, then smiled. “You know, visiting a town was one of my dreams. But my dad always said it wasn’t safe. I’d tell him about the things I read, the places I wanted to see, and he’d listen. But most of those places don’t exist anymore.”
“You read a lot,” I said, spinning my empty beer bottle on the floor. My mind flashed to all the times I’d seen her lying under a tree on the ranch, a book in her hands. Every time, I wanted to lie down next to her and just watch her read.
She stopped mid-sip. “Oh, you think that’s weird?”
“No, I think it’s incredible,” I blurted out too quickly.
Her eyes widened, like she hadn’t expected me to say that.
I couldn’t even look at her after that. I just stared at the fire, hoping it would swallow me up.
I wanted her so much.
And it was getting harder to pretend I didn’t.
I cleared my throat, trying to change the subject. “Got any more dreams on that list?”
“You got all night? ’Cause the list is huge.”
She started rattling off an endless list of stuff she wanted to do—things like seeing a movie, falling asleep on a plane, dancing on a rooftop, watching Christmas lights twinkle, and trying all the different chip flavors.
She paused, then added softly, “But if I had to pick one that really matters, it’d be getting a butterfly tattoo. Just like my mom’s. She had one on her forearm.”
I studied her, watching the way her fingers traced an invisible tattoo on her arm. Something about that made me want to make all her dreams come true.
“All right,” I said, clapping my hands together. “Let’s do it. Right now.”
Sarah blinked at me, confused. “Wait, what?”
I reached back and grabbed my backpack, feeling her eyes on me. She craned her neck to peek over my shoulder.
My fingers brushed against an old envelope, and I pulled it out. She didn’t blink, just kept staring at it as I opened it and shuffled through the papers inside. Finally, I found what I was looking for. I set the envelope on the floor and held up a small piece of paper.
Sarah immediately scooted closer. “What’s that?”
“Your butterfly tattoo,” I said, handing her the paper with a little black butterfly sticker on it. “It’s a temporary tattoo. Kids used to get them all the time.”
She stared at me as she took it. “How do you even have this?”
“Long story.” She opened her mouth to ask more, but I cut her off before she could get a word out. “And I’m not gonna tell you.”
She pressed her lips together and shot me that look—the stubborn one she always gave when she wanted answers. And I needed to stifle a laugh.
She shrugged off her green jacket, and my heart started pounding faster. That white tank she had on hugged her in a way that made my brain short-circuit. For a solid minute, I forgot how to swallow, breathe, or function.
She stretched her arm toward me, and I somehow managed to peel the plastic off the tattoo patch and press it to her forearm. My hand was steady at first, but when I tilted a beer bottle to wet the paper and seal the tattoo, my fingers trembled as they brushed the edges, skimming her skin.
Thirty seconds. That’s all it took for the tattoo to stick. But holy hell, those were the longest thirty seconds of my life. Might as well have been thirty years.
My gaze drifted from her arm to her face, and she was already staring at me.
Her green eyes held me in place. She chewed on the corner of her mouth, and it was driving me insane.
Every little movement of her lips sent a jolt straight through me.
I wanted to pull that bottom lip between my teeth and feel the heat of her tongue against mine.