Page 45

Jade sits beside me and puts a comforting arm around me. “We have each other, and you have Maison, and Micah.”

I shoot her a look.

She sucks in a breath. “You and Maison seem like you’re getting close. If you’re close with one twin, you’re close with the other. That’s how they work. Micah will watch over you more than anyone else for that reason.”

I shake my head. “I’m not so sure about Micah. He’s unsteady and mean, and as you pointed out at school, scary as hell.”

“You should have seen Micah and Ezra earlier,” she says. “They sat and argued about what to do. Ezra didn’t want to come; he said you guys risked yourselves by coming out here, and you had to figure it out yourselves. I don’t think Micah sat down the entire time you two were gone. He just… paced. And when he finally sat down, all he focused on was making that spear and wouldn’t talk to anyone. So yeah, I think he does care, London. He seems to care an awful lot.”

When I found Maison, he had already caught two large fish that now lay dead, wide-eyed, staring at me on the rocky shore bank. Lake trout, he tells me as he stands knee-deep in the cold waters. I don’t want to go anywhere near those slimy fish, so I keep my distance and watch him with awe as he catches a third small one.

Enough to feed us for one night.

Somehow, he traps them using bait, and now I can appreciate how often he must have gone fishing when he was younger to be so skilled at it. I watch him, so focused, and his face lights up when I walk over to him, when he finally pulls himself out. He already misses me, despite not being apart for long. My senses dull as I watch him clean himself up and put dry clothes on, and he smiles at me, biting his bottom lip. The mutual attraction between us is unmistakable, and I struggle to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes.

I just found him and already, I’m afraid of losing him. And if Nigel decides to be a dick, my relationship with Maison could end before it even gets started. Maison clams up when he talks about Olivia and somehow, I need to get more information from him. I was so worried about being able to trust Maison that I didn’t stop to think about whether he should trust me.

We build a fire at our kitchen spot to prep and cook the fish, and Micah and Naomi joined us at the same time. Her face is flushed, her lips curled in a cocky grin, and Micah’s expression is stone cold, as per usual. To his credit, he is carrying a dead rabbit, so they did indeed do some hunting, after all.

He and Maison immediately set out to gut the fish and skin the rabbit, while Thomas and Ezra work on the fire. The food looks bloody and gross, but my stomach does a flip at the thought of eating meat. Our survival out here depends on our fat stores, so we need a lot.

Jade and I decided we are going to forage the forest for berries tomorrow to help round out our diet, and Micah and Thomas are going to the airplane to check on the others. Micah has to teach them how to hunt and survive off the barren land until James is healed enough to walk. If he’s even still alive… We have no way of communicating with them.

The sun casts its last rays of light for the day and evening settles as we quietly gather around the fire to get ready to eat. Everyone except Nigel, who keeps to himself, insulating with a small fire of his own near his tiny shelter. He forced Jade to stay with him and, of course, she does out of her loyalty to him. Loyalty, I’m thinking he doesn’t deserve.

“We have to keep at least one fire lit at all times,” Micah stresses as he places the meat on a stick and hovers it over the flames. “It will be our lifeline out here and can help signal our location if needed, especially during snowfall—which will happen, and soon, given where we are.”

“How are we supposed to keep it lit at night, man?” Thomas asks.

Micah sits on a log and pulls it up closer. Maison sits next to him and cooks the fish, the two of them acting like this is the easiest meal they’ve ever cooked. For a minute, I can’t tell them apart.

Micah flicks his head up. “We take shifts. Someone should always be awake, anyway. We’ll attract big animals with this food, but hopefully they come to this spot instead.”

“What if it rains?” Naomi asks.

Naomi has placed herself on the ground between the two of them. Ezra can barely take his eyes off her, and Micah ignores her, his focus only on cooking the food.

Micah flexes his jaw. “We keep the fire lit, no matter what. It’s really fucking important. Does everyone understand?”

Silent nods.

We move sites once the food is cooked. I’m sitting alone, leaning back on a log Thomas brought over, away from the others. I have an airplane blanket draped over my legs, and I changed into Maison’s sweater because it keeps me warm. Maison heads over to me, and all eyes are on us, including Micah’s, as he moves in behind me. I curl my knees in and wrap his sweater around my legs. His heart beats in my ear, and eventually, I lay my exhausted head against him.

Maison’s arms around me are all I want, and I’m not trying to hide it. I suppress the nagging pit in my stomach that Nigel can rip this away from me.

“Hey baby,” he whispers, and my stomach does a backflip as his hot breath tickles my ear. “I offered to stay out tonight. I want to spend another night sleeping under the stars with you.”

I stare up at him and nod. All the feelings of warmth and safety rush through me as his dark lashes and soft eyes glisten back at me. He places a piece of fish in my mouth, which I greedily take, licking a bit of his fingers along with it. He hands me a bigger piece, and I lean back on him and eat, and relief instantly hits my stomach. All day it’s been lined with acid laced from the hunger, twinging with worry.

I close my eyes as the heat from the fire hits my face and twilight settles in around us. “And tomorrow,” he continues his soft whisper, “I am going to build you and me our own shelter so I can keep you warm every night while we’re here.”

He wraps himself around me like a shell as the sounds of evening bugs fill our ears.

I glance up at Micah, who is watching us. The shadows hiding his face, but I sense him, watching me like he knows I’m poison. He grabbed a stick earlier and now carves it to the point of obsession as the fire blazes in front of him. Naomi tries to sit with him, but he pushes her away. She sulks by herself while Ezra just smiles.

Micah’s focus is unwavering as I watch him out of the corner of my eye. When he’s done, he get’s up, holds the spear in one hand and heads to his shelter, passing us as he goes. Maison is distracted, but I follow him, unable to look away. Micah meets my gaze right as he walks by, the fire flickering over his face.

I bury my head back into Maison, wishing I could just curl up on him and sleep. And I guess there is nothing stopping me now. Maison squeezes me a little harder and whispers, “I’m never going to let you go, London King.” And I don’t want him to. I can’t imagine a world where Maison isn’t hugging me.