Chapter Twenty-Two
T here were multiple debates over the next few weeks as our time ticked down. Mina had found a handful of notebooks in the children’s bedroom and we used those to track the date. As of this morning, we had exactly nine days before the first set of trains left.
According to Mina, the train station was on the outskirts of the university. Which, by our estimation, was a three-day hike away. We wanted to give ourselves one day of leeway, which meant we had five days left to make a decision.
Unfortunately, our group seemed to be split almost down the middle. Rainer and Aiden were adamant that we didn’t attempt breaking into the camp again. Warner and I were convinced that it was the right thing to do.
Although, I wondered if Warner leaned more toward the idea for the excitement. He didn’t seem to shy away from the adrenaline rush that came with multiple people shooting at you.
Murphy was down the middle. On one hand, he didn’t want to risk our lives. On the other, he desperately wanted his mom to know the truth.
Sasha seemed to be leaning my way, although she was tight lipped on giving an outright opinion. Which left Mina.
“Hi,” I said, taking a seat next to Mina on the bed she and Sasha had been sleeping in.
Sasha was downstairs with the guys, prepping our dinner for the night. To no one’s surprise, it consisted of several cans of vegetables and a few cans of soup. There weren’t many options when there was no way to freeze or refrigerate food.
“Hi,” Mina responded.
The two of us leaned against the headboard, our feet stretched out in front of us. Both of us wore long pants, hers slanting over her feet, the size too big. I hadn’t been too picky when I had rummaged through the clothing section of the store.
“You’re here to ask me what I want to do,” Mina stated instead of asked.
I knew it was futile to lie, so I shrugged my shoulders, crossing my ankles. “As much as I hate to put you on the spot, you’re the deciding vote.”
She let out a heavy sigh, resting her head against my shoulder. “I want to help others, I really do.”
She paused, fiddling with the hem of her thermal shirt. I rested my head against hers, asking, “But?”
“But,” she continued, “what if my family is already safe? They’re from the East Coast, where the bunkers are. They could be waiting for me. What if I die?”
It was the first time one of us had admitted out loud what we faced each day. No guards had come knocking on our door in the past two weeks, but it was an entirely different story when we showed up at theirs.
“We don’t all need to go. You can stay behind,” I tried to reassure her.
She lifted her head off my shoulder, pleading eyes meeting mine. “And what if you die?”
I didn’t need to ask her to elaborate. The fear that someone around me would die was sometimes debilitating. But wasn’t that how everyone felt? How could we stand aside when we had the chance to change that?
I explained as much to Mina and I pinpointed the moment when my words began changing her mind.
“You’re going to go either way, aren’t you?” She asked, and I couldn’t hide my grimace.
She may have been the only one to figure that out. Even if the majority voted against it, I’d be going back to the camp. And I knew I wouldn’t be alone, Warner following my lead.
Slumping back against the headboard, she finally gave in. “I vote yes. But,” she held up a finger, “only if we all go. We’re in this together.”
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. “We’re in this together. That’s what families do.”
Mina voiced her vote to everyone at dinner that night. Rainer and Aiden were in an uproar, but they were the minority and eventually they settled on frowning into their food, knowing they were outvoted.
The rest of the evening was quiet as we all headed to bed, no one wanting to discuss the plan yet. We still had five days, which meant for now, we were all going to live in a fantasy where we weren’t putting our lives on the line once again.
Sasha and Mina, as well as Murphy and Rainer, had gone to bed about an hour ago. Aiden had also slipped upstairs a little bit ago. I was supposed to be up there with him while Warner kept watch, but I also wanted to speak with him.
There were so few moments where I could speak to any of them alone. And I desperately needed to know more about this man. The one person who was willing to follow my madness, no questions asked.
“You should be sleeping,” Warner said as I crept into the living room.
He faced away from me, but I wasn’t surprised he knew it was me. He seemed to always know the score, one step ahead of the people around him.
I settled onto the couch beside him, curling my legs up in front of me. “I wasn’t tired.”
He finally turned toward me, tracking my features, before leaning in. “Liar.”
Giving up the game, knowing he could read me like a book, I rolled my eyes. “You’re right. I’m exhausted.”
“So why aren’t you sleeping?” He asked, gripping one of my ankles and tugging my body closer to his.
I hesitated, suddenly unsure of my intentions. Sure, I wanted to know more about him. I mean, we had spent months together and really all I knew was his name. But in the dark of night, with everyone else in the house sleeping, the questions on the tip of my tongue seemed too intimate.
Especially when he rubbed circles on my ankle, his gaze penetrating through my skin.
“Alessia, tell me why you’re down here,” he demanded.
The question spilled out of my mouth, his words hypnotizing me into following his instructions.
“Why do you want to send out the broadcast? I can’t figure out why. Either you have someone out there or you have a death sentence.”
He didn’t answer for several moments, his tongue pressing against his cheek as he tilted his head to study me. Finally, he said, “I don’t have somewhere out there.”
His words were said with such finality, I raised my brows. “No parents? Siblings? No one?”
I found that slightly hard to believe. He had to have someone, maybe even a close friend.
But he shook his head. “No one. Or at least, not anyone that I know of. I’m sure somewhere out there I have a mother and father.”
I pieced together his words, asking, “You didn’t grow up with your parents?”
“I grew up in a foster care in Colorado. Made my way out to Montana when I turned eighteen. I’ve been here ever since.”
“And how long has that been?” I asked, wanting him to quench my thirst for knowing more now that he had turned on the faucet of information.
“Are you trying to figure out my age?” He smirked, his hand traveling further up my leg, settling on my calf.
I rolled my eyes at his question. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out.”
His smile was bright in the darkness. “I’m thirty-one, so I’ve been here for about thirteen years.”
Another question niggled at the back of my brain. “You were never adopted?”
“No. I watched plenty of kids come in and out, but I never left.”
The image of him became clearer in my head. I could imagine a young Warner watching new people enter his life every few months. His calculating stare had been formed at a young age, creating the man today that always seemed to keep to the shadows, paying attention to those around him.
Bringing us back to my original question, I asked, “So you have a death sentence? If you have no one out there, that’s the only logical answer I can come up with.”
This time, he chuckled, his hand reaching my thigh and squeezing. “I can assure you that I have no desire to die anytime soon.”
Still, he wasn’t giving me the answers I wanted. “Then why?” I pressed, leaning into his space.
His hand crawled up my thigh, his other hand reaching out to grab tendrils of my hair, tangling them in his fingers.
“I’m not sure I can explain it. I spent my childhood alone, most of adulthood too.” He pulled the strands of my hair, tilting my head until my neck was exposed. “But then there was you.”
His head leaned forward, his nose skating up the column of my neck, sending a shiver down my body. Reaching my ear, his hot breath warmed the sensitive skin.
“Hair dark as night. One of hundreds of faces in a crowded camp. You should have been able to blend in the way I had done my entire life.”
He took the shell of my ear into his mouth, nibbling gently on the flesh, a soft moan escaping me. He chuckled, continuing, “But instead you begged to stand out. Do the one thing in that camp that no one else dared to do.”
Warner backed away, his dark gaze meeting mine. “The second you dared to ask me about an escape plan, a complete stranger, I knew you weren’t meant for the darkness like me. But I realized I’d be your shadow, following you wherever you led.”
My heart beat a wild rhythm in my chest. I didn’t recognize the woman he described. I wasn’t a leader. Bravery didn’t guide me, it was fear that led to my recklessness. But I wanted to be who he pictured me as.
And under his heated stare, I knew I could be. I didn’t wait for him to invade my space as he enjoyed; I pressed forward, my hands landing on his chest and my lips finding his.
He met me immediately, pulling tighter against the hold on my hair, his tongue spearing past my lips and tangling with mine.
With his empty hand, he gripped my hip, guiding me onto his lap until I was straddling him. His need pressed against my core, my hips rolling involuntarily.
Our mouths fought for dominance, his large hand sliding up my side and cupping my breast. He kneaded the sensitive flesh, his fingers brushing over my taut nipples through my shirt.
I continued to undulate my hips, unable to hold myself back. I wanted him. I wanted to be the daring woman he promised me I was.
Sliding my hands down his chest, I slipped them under his shirt, the ridges and valleys of his muscled chest firm beneath my touch. He followed suit, his hand slipping beneath my shirt and finding bare flesh.
Pulling my hair, he broke the kiss, his mouth finding my neck. Sucking and licking down the column, he released my hair, gripping my hip once again while he continued to play with my nipples.
Moving my hips in a rhythm that had him groaning against my skin, I sank further into his touch. I was on fire, aflame with a hungry desire I couldn’t contain.
Our movements were frantic and hurried, need building between us. A loud moan escaped my lips as he pinched my nipple between two fingers, his hips thrusting his cock against my core.
His hand left my skin, his mouth leaving my neck, and emptiness rushed through me at the lack of contact.
I wanted to ask why he stopped. Why he didn’t continue to play my body like an instrument when all I wanted was to feel his entire body on top of mine.
But I never got the chance as he shifted my body, planting me on my feet while he stayed on the couch.
“You should get some sleep,” he told me, and I raised my brows in question.
“And what if I don’t want to?” I sassed back.
He wrapped his hands around my stomach, his touch warm and inviting, a contrast to the way he pushed me back.
“Make no mistake, I will have you writhing underneath me. I’ll taste you until you’re begging me for more. And when you’re on the edge, pleading with me to fuck you senseless, I’ll finally give you my cock.”
I swallowed roughly at his words, imagining it in perfect detail, my core throbbing for exactly what he described.
“But when I do, there won’t be five other people right upstairs.” He crowded my space, a filthy smirk crossing his lips. “Because when I take you, I’ll have you screaming my name.”
I was speechless. Utterly speechless, unable to form a coherent thought, let alone words. He turned my body, slapping a hand against my butt.
“Now go get some sleep. We have a lot of planning to do tomorrow.”
Following his words, I trudged back up the stairs, slightly stunned and highly turned on. Climbing into the top bunk, I crawled under the covers, shutting my eyes. And no one could blame me when dreams of Warner’s mouth and hands invaded my mind. But I’d never admit that two other men starred in those dreams as well.