She looks around the blind—at the blankets piled in the corner, the camp stove, the tin cups. "What's goin' on up here?"
"Just… thinkin'," I say, moving back to sit against the wall. "It's a nice quiet little place to do that."
"I've been looking for you," she says, crawling over to me. I open my legs up and she settles between them, collapsing against my chest, like we've been doing this every day, all our lives. Immediately, my fingers find her hair and start playing with it.
"After everything with Colt and?—"
"Don't." The word comes out harder than I meant it to. "I don't wanna talk about that."
"All right." She doesn't argue.
Then I feel like an ass, so have the urge to explain. "It's just… it's not even Colt, ya know?"
Savannah sits up a bit, trying to look at me. "How could it not be about Colt? He's thirty-one years old. She's seventeen. Eighteen now, but…"
She sighs.
I sigh.
"Yeah. He's…" I blow out a breath. "I dunno. She could do worse, I guess. She could've ended up here, ya know?"
"Hmmm." This hum of hers says a whole lot without sayin' anything at all.
It says…Iended up here.
It says…youbrought me here.
It says…you failed.
"There are pictures of us all over the internet," Savannah says. "Someone leaked videos of last night."
"For fuck's sake.Who?"
"Not sure. Mama Jo thinks it's Brandy, but she's denying it."
"I’m sorry, Savannah. I'm so fucking sorry I ever brought you here. What the hell was I thinking?" I start to get up. "We need to?—"
"No," she says, pushing back on me. "Just…" she sighs. "Can we just take a breath?" She turns her body, repositioning so she can see me. "All I want is tobewith you. I don't care where it is."
"It's all I want. Ever wanted. You're it, Savannah. You've been my dream since that first time at the silo. Before I even knew what it meant to love someone like this, I loved you."
She smiles up at me. "Whatever happens to us, as long as it's us and we're not alone, we'll be OK."
It's bullshit, these words. It's not even remotely true. But I don't want her to know that. I'll do anything to keep her from knowing that.
She leans up and kisses me. Her lips taste both sweet and salty. And it reminds me of how into it she was last night. How she took my cock in her mouth?—
"Yes, what?" I ask back.
"Yes, I want you inside me right now."
I chuckle. "That's not what I was thinking."
"Not yet," she says.
For a moment, all I see in her is sadness. Loss. Betrayal. It kills me.
And she knows I can see it, because she puts a fingertip on my lips. "No. Don't think. Just… take me." These last two words aren't even a sound. Just her lips moving around the letters. "Talk dirty to me, Legion."
