“Why do you care?” She finally flipped her knife closed, sliding it into one of the pockets on the front of her dark shirt.
“He was talking about it before I watched him shoot an Order asshole in the face.” I jerked my head toward the tent, wondering if I was telling her Aubrey’s personal business because it was amusing, or because I wanted her to understand what had drawn me to him.
I wasn’t sure thatIunderstood yet, so.
“Is that right?” she said, and stood. Blythe only came up to my chin, but I’d seen her climb on top of a man taller than I was and gouge his eyes out with the same knife she used to whittle whatever little creature she held in her hand now. “Has nothing to do with the way I heard you two moaning last night, does it?”
I couldn’t stop the smirk that tugged at the corner of my mouth. Aubrey had beenloudonce he’d been caught, and he hadn’t really gotten that far away from camp.
Sound traveled, I guess.
“It just sounds interesting, is all.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“Right.” She leaned in, placing the carving in my palm. “Why don’t you give your new boy this, then? I heard they used to have tigers at Paradise before everything went red.” I held the little figure up. The detail she could put into something so small was honestly amazing.
“Tiger?” I hadn’t heard of that before, but judging by the carving in my hand, it was feline.
She smiled at me then, a little indulgent. I had a feeling that once upon a time, Blythe had lost someone important to her, and there were moments when it felt like she tried to take care of me to make up for it. She was only five years older than I was, but she reminded me of the woman who’d picked me off the streets when my actual mother had abandoned me. Lynna had been a raider too, and she’d taught me that the world was kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. They were both so strong.
“I’ll go tell everyone to start packing. If I know you, you’re going to want to leave before we have breakfast, and I’m not dealing with Cutter bitching about being hungry.”
She did know me—once I had my mind set on something, it was hard for me to concentrate on anything else.
“Thanks.” I turned, my thumb running over the little wooden carving in curiosity.
They used to havetigersat Paradise.
I wondered what they had there now.
“Where are we going?”Aubrey asked for the eighth time. I was beginning to wonder if it would be easier to gag him. Blythe hadn’t said a word, and it seemed like no one else realized where we were headed either. It wasn’t strange for us to wander without an actual destination in mind, and for whatever reason, she was willing to make sure that the rest of the pack didn’t realize I was moving with intentions that weren’t my own, even if they were fit to serve my purpose.
“You’re shit at being patient, Killer. Is that why you shoot first and don’t bother asking questions?” I cut my eyes to him and watched his expression go flat.
“I shoot first and don’t bother asking questions because I don’t give a fuck what anyone has to say. The dead don’t talk, Phoenix.”
I might have been a little more irritated if I couldn’t see the peek of the bruise I’d left at the juncture of his neck spilling out from the hood of the jacket he wore.
As it was, I just kept moving forward without bothering to acknowledge the threat in his voice. His hands weren’t bound, but he didn’t have a weapon, and we all did. There was every chance he’d be able to kill one of us, maybe two, but there was no way he’d get out of the situation alive.
That and I kept watching him cut his eyes to me when he thought I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t always a perfect judge of character, and fuck, I’d slept with some people who woke up the next morning with a knife to my throat, but I could read him well enough to know that he’d tasted something he liked, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it.
Aubrey had spent an entire day seeking out death and danger. It made sense he wanted to stay with someone who embraced it, who embodied it. Last night, when he’d been on his knees and I’d had my hand around his throat, I’d seen an expression of pure bliss on his face.
I was putting a lot of faith in the fact that he’d want another taste before he tried to off me.
Well… that and the crossbow Zero had slung over his shoulder. He walked at the back of the group when he was usually in the lead, and I knew he was doing it because I hadn’t bothered trussing up our newest member.
After another half hour of walking, Aubrey let out a little sound that made me grin. I was wondering when he was going to catch on to the direction I’d taken. We’d been coming from a different way, so it made sense he didn’t realize right away.
As we rounded the corner and the station came into view, he drew up short, his boots digging into the broken pavement like he could somehow anchor himself there instead of taking another step.
I was pretty sure I hadn’t misread the situation. He’d talked about this place; it was in his letter. But Aubrey stared at the train station like he was seeing a ghost, and the tension running through his shoulders seemed almost out of place for the way he’d been trying to get here when I first found him.
He turned to me slowly, his eyes a little wide, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides like he was trying to ground himself with the sensation of his nails biting into his palms.
“What are we doing here?” Fuck, it was almost like an accusation, and I shouldn’t have felt so smug that he hadn’t guessed.
“I’m going to take Paradise for you.” I didn’t say it like it was a question, or like anything there could stop me. Once I had my mind set on something, there was nothing that could get in my way. And honestly, it wasn’t the resort I had my eye on.
