Damien crouched and then brought me into a small indentation in the rocks near the lake. It wasn’t a cave, per se, it wasn’t deep enough, but it did provide good cover so we wouldn’t be seen. After laying me down, he pulled out two sticky bombs and gently set them within arm’s reach. Then he put his finger lightly on the trigger of his gun and sat at the mouth of the shallow cave, looking out. Guardingme.
I lay there for a long time, saying nothing, just watching thesky.
“You think your brother can figure out how to make the cuff last longer?” I finallyasked.
“Yes,” he said, withouthesitation.
I nodded and then made the mistake of looking down at my ankle. It wasn’t as painful—must’ve been the anesthesia—but it looked gnarly. It had stopped bleeding luckily, that’s something that needed to be done before going in or you would bleed out in here. Basically, you either needed to have surgery in the Dream War, right after the injury, or it was more high risk to have it in the real world. People that had car accidents and lost consciousness while bleeding arrived here with those injuries, and didn’t survive. My leg and arm would be a mangled mess while I was here but as long as I didn’t sustain any new injuries or further these, I would wake up stitchedup.
“Should I call Dawn?” I asked him, figuring she could help now that I knew she could breathe fire. I wasn’t sure if my gift would work here or on earth but I was willing totry.
He shook his head. “Not yet. Only if there’s trouble. She might attract them to our location. We’re hidden now, so let’s stay thatway.”
I nodded, trusting his judgment since his mind wasn’t muddled with pain meds. Resting my head on the dirt floor, I lay there for a while in a half-asleep, half-awake state. It was very unsettling—my body felt like it was floating but it wasn’t. I couldn’t drift off, but I wasn’t alert. And I didn’t want to alarm Damien, but I couldn’t really move my legs. The sentry saliva, I presumed. Hopefully it was just a Dream Wars thing and not a permanent thing, or I wasdead.
“I have a confession,” Damien said, after a long time withoutspeaking.
“Hmm?”
He looked back at me with a sly grin. “I totally stalked you six months ago when I was searching for a newteam.”
I grinned. He was funny, and I liked his sense of humor. “Like surveillance outside my loft, orwhat?”
He chuckled. “No, not quite that intense, but I may or may not have watched you at your gym through thewindow.”
I feigned a gasp. “Youcreeper!”
His cheeks colored. “I know. Totally not my style but… you were so interesting to me. The stuff in your file, your hair, everything aboutyou.”
I swallowed hard, the conversation becoming less funny and more serious. “Yeah, your file was pretty interestingtoo.”
Is this a real date? What the hell is going on right now? Am I on a date during ankle surgery on an alien world?FML.
He looked out at the lake. “You know what my favorite part about youis?”
Oh God, this is totally a date.I was loopy as hell, looked like total dog ass, and was on a freaking date with the hottest male specimen I’d ever seen. “What?” I croaked. I wanted to know. I needed to know. He was such a dick to me when we’d first met, that I never even considered him date-worthy, but it must’ve been the lack of sleep and my spicy female charm, because he was pretty sweet once you got to knowhim.
He looked back at me, the green reflection from the lake igniting his eyes. “Your loyalty to your friends. You have a big heart. That’s not something I see anymore. Everyone is so… deadinside.”
His comment shook me. Did I have a big heart? I didn’t think so. I felt dead inside. This war night after night had stolen my innocence and my desire to findlove.
“You wanna know what I like most about you?”Might as well roll with the mushy date thing while I’mdrugged.
Henodded.
“You’re pretty easy on the eyes.” Iwinked.
Deep, genuine laughter rolled out of him and he shook his head. “And here I thought you might say somethingmeaningful.”
No. When things got serious or uncomfortable, Ijoked.
“Fine,” I groaned. “I’ll say one serious thing and then neveragain.”
His eyes had a twinkle in them as he leaned closer. “Better make it a good one,then.”
My stomach flipped over at the huskiness in his voice. If I weren’t high as a kite on meds, I wouldn’t even be doing this flirty weird date thing. “You’re not a snob, even though you should be with how much money your family has. You treat Mr. Hansen and Josephine like family members, not the hired help, and you don’t mind getting your hands dirty to do dishes. That’s a rare find in a guy. I can’t even get Brisk to showerdaily.”
He grinned and leaned closer. “Just for the record, if you weren’t heavily medicated right now and covered in blood and vomit, I would kissyou.”
