I grabbed the purple blanket—clearly Jayla’s—off a table and loaded the food containers, the thermos, and three cups into the middle, tying the woolen material’s corners together to create makeshift handles.
While I got everything ready, the humidity from last night’s storm trickled through the open windows. Dawn still slumbered beneath the horizon, identically to the majority of our compound. Only a few workers dragged their feet down the street for their early shifts.
But their footfalls couldn’t smother the crackles of static as a hand gripping a black portable radio shot out in the window frame.
“No, my brother won’t change anything.” The speaker’s body materialized on the sidewalk. “Clyde just needs a couple extra days to procure the blueprints. Tell my father we’re still on track.” The tied-up hair caressing his nape swayed as he looked left and right before crossing the street and disappearing into a dark alleyway.
My joints locked.
Even the barely-there sunlight could not deter my insides from shriveling at the prospect of…
No. Now was not the time to entertain the possibilities. The most effective method to test my suspicions would be exercising my patience and waiting a day or two to see how the events turned out.
Leaving the kitchen behind me, I climbed up the stairwell and dropped my cargo beside Kali’s bedroom. I thanked the doorhandle for deigning to go against its tendency to creak as I slunk to Zion sleeping like a starfish on his stomach. Shadow’s whiskers twitched as the kitten peered at me from the pillow above Kali’s head.
Stroking his bicep, I whispered, “Zion.”
He grumbled into a pillow.
Stifling a chuckle, I pinched his nose, cutting off his oxygen flow. Seven seconds later, he leaped up, taking on a defensive stance on instinct.
Twisting aside to avoid collision, I pressed a finger to my lips. “Shh.”
Buck-naked, he rubbed the imprint the sheets had left on his cheek. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I want to show you something.” Pulling out a pair of navy sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and some socks from the closet, I passed him the clothing. Bruises and cuts colored his torso from the blows he had sustained in Ilasall. “Get dressed.”
He yawned so powerfully, I wondered how his jaw didn’t dislocate. A couple of heavy blinks followed as he tried to erase the undeniable bleariness fogging up his mind. “It’s like five in the morning.”
“It’s four-thirty.” I tapped the pile of fabric in his hands. “Now hurry up before she wakes up.”
Kali stretched out on her belly, her sock-covered feet peeking out from the heat-trapping duvet. While Zion laced his boots, I tucked the torture device tightly around her and kissed her temple, adoring her faint huff.
A quick scratch behind Shadow’s ears, and the growing kitten resumed its rest. The fragile peace allowed me to scribble a quick note for Kali before I pushed Zion out of the bedroom.
Picking up the blanket-bag I had rigged in the kitchen, I took the lead. “Come on.”
As I marched down the hallway, Zion ambled after me. “What could you possibly want so early?” He motioned to his crotch. “You even scared my dick to death.” Between his hips, the thin layer of cotton hung loosely instead of tenting, much to his disappointment.
I suppressed my mirth. All it would take for his sweatpants to fill out was for me to slam him into a wall and grasp his throat. He was mouth-wateringly responsive.
And I had fully fleshed plans of spending my days tasting each of his crevices, until not a single one remained untouched.
25
GEDEON
Pausing in front of the stairwell door, I placed a blue food container on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Zion gaped at me crouching down and checking if the lid was airtight.
Finished, I strode through the door he held open for me. “Leaving a trail.” A simple stroke along his jaw, over the faint stubble, was sufficient for him to forget his question and follow me.
We marched up a dozen stairs to a landing I marked with a yellow box and then another dozen to a rusted iron door.
Ignoring Zion’s frown, I put down the third food container, this one glaringly pink—unmistakably property of Jayla’s—on the last step and pulled the old key from my pocket.
“I thought the roof was off limits.” Zion yawned again. “Something about some kind of a hazard.” He rubbed the puffiness around his eyes. “It’s always been locked.”
