“Seven days to get there. We’ll need a week to take it down, and a week to return. Like I was saying, let’s take this time, and when I return we can figure out where we sit?—”
I blinked, realizing what exactly he was doing. “You’re breaking up with me.” I laughed. This was unbelievable.
“No!” he exclaimed. “But we never officially declared that we were going steady or anything. And now, I don’t know what to do. I screwed up, and I need time to think about what I want.”
“What does that mean? Me or him?”
“No,” Callahan came closer to me and put a hand on my cheek tenderly. “Whether I want to lose you or not. Give me time to figure out how to make this right. Fix what I broke. Please, Eleanor, do this for me.”
I shook my head and looked up, trying to force the tears away.
“You’re a bastard.”
“I know.” He looked down. “A bastard who loves you. A bastard who needs to figure out what’s best for us both. I don’t know if I’m the one for you. I want it to be, but— what I did yesterday? That’s not something someone who loves someone does.”
He was right. And I hated him for it.
“We’re leaving tonight. The bunker is probably just finding the bodies we left for them. So they’re bound to start trying to find soldiers to come for us.”
“And you’re going to leave me here. I’m not going to be able to fight off a battalion.”
“No,” he admitted. “But Riot can.”
Chapter 50 - Eleanor
Don’t test a wastelander.
Callahan left with Boone, Bonnie, Soda, and Cherry the next morning. We spent the entire day fighting, Callahan and I. He was trying to convince me this was what was best, but I refused to agree with him. I was being abandoned so he could run off with a group of renegades.
It felt like I were back in the bunker again. He, my Daddy, got to have all the fun, while I had to be proper and stay put. I wasn’t going to listen to him. Not anymore. The moment he took off on his own motorcycle with the others, he gave up his right to boss me around.
I stayed in my room, plotting. Riot left me alone, spending his day in the junk yard. He’d brought out those things that had ambushed me and Cal the other night. They were gruesome looking beasts. He called them Hogdogs.
He passed by my room in the evening, pausing to knock on my door.
“Cherry made some stew before she left. It’s warmed up on the stove. You might wanna eat.”
“Thank you.” I called through the door, with no intention of eating. I waited silently as he took off down the hall toward theshower. When I heard the water squeak on, I leaped up, adjusted my backpack, and ripped my door open.
Quickly I hurried down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as I could. I opened and shut the front door softly and looked around, finding only one mode of transportation left: Riot’s motorcycle.
I didn’t have time to dwell on things. I still didn’t have any clothes. I was wearing another one of Riot’s long shirts and my Young Lady Mary Jane’s. I’d burn myself if I took the bike, but, what options did I have? I took a step toward it and froze when I heard a click.
“I wouldn’t do it if I were you, Young Lady.”
I gripped my backpack straps tight and turned slowly to face him.
Riot stood in the doorway, his hair and body soaking wet, in nothing but a pair of loose boxer-briefs and a gun in his gloved hand. His eyes bore dangerous holes in me. “I suggest you take your pretty ass back inside.”
“Why? So I can sit and waste my life away while Callahan goes and lives a life full of adventure?”
“No, so you don’t get eaten by a bearbie. If you want to run off, you can do it in the fucking daylight. Now get in here so I can finish my shower.”
“What’s a bearbie?” I followed him back inside. He didn’t lower his pistol. Instead, he directed me back upstairs. “Where are we going?” I asked, looking back at him, but continuing to walk.
“It’s clear I can’t trust you not to do something foolish. So now, you get to stay with me at all times. I need to shower, so you’re going to join me.”
I was pushed into the bathroom and he shoved me down onto the closed toilet. For a home in the wastelands, Heathen Heights was surprisingly modern. The water worked, and they had a wayto heat things to cook food. Bonnie had explained places like this were rare.
