Page 48 of Shattered Home

Maybe ignorance truly was bliss.

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Emmanuel and I didn’t fish for much longer after that. He had managed to catch three fish, which was plenty for a meal today. When we arrived back at camp, everyone was awake, milling about. Aiden and Warner stood off to the side, watching the others prep a fire and breakfast. They looked so out of place, like they didn’t know where they fit. I knew how they felt, but the feeling was no longer there, as I easily melded back into the day-to-day life out here.

Taking a seat beside Murphy, who was lighting the fire, I nudged his shoulder with mine. “You know, you technically saved us.”

Murphy turned to me with squinted eyes, trying to figure out what I meant. “Saved you? I was the reason this happened to you.”

His eyes traced the bandages that I needed to change soon, so much hatred in his gaze. But it wasn’t hatred for me, it was for himself. I thought of Rainer’s words last night, how Murphy blamed himself, and knew I needed to do something.

“It wasn’t your fault, Murphy. There were so many of them, if you had been awake, they would have hurt you.”

He shook his head as if he didn’t believe me, but I couldn’t let that happen. This world hadn’t broken his smile in the four months I had known him, I wasn’t going to let this one thing take it from him now. Cupping his cheek, I forced him to meet my gaze, needing him to see the honesty in my words.

“It was not your fault. And the reason we escaped? It was because I was able to set the camp on fire. That was only possible because of you.”

The two of us stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like hours, Murphy’s sadness bleeding into me, until he finally grinned. It was small, but it reflected in his eyes.

“You set the place on fire, huh?”

Nodding with pride, I released my hold on his face. “Set a bigger fire than you ever have. Watch out and you won’t have a job around here anymore.”

My words were a joke, but Murphy’s face was serious when he responded, “That’s fine with me. The only job I care about now is keeping you safe.”

His eyes dropped to my lips, reminding me of the kiss from last night. Instinctively, I wetted my bottom lip with my tongue, his gaze darkening at the movement. My body moved forward, forgetting we were in the center of literally everyone else, when a voice disrupted the moment.

“Alessia,” Warner called from behind me and I turned to see what he wanted.

He held up the bag stuffed with the files we had taken from the building, the files that may give us more insight. Now that I knew what my dad and Emmanuel had been working on, I wondered if those files were their research.

Standing up, Murphy looked annoyed at the interruption, but I waved for him to join me. The more people we had reading the files, the quicker we could look through them all. I gathered Aiden, Sasha, Mina, and Rainer to join us. I knew Emmanuel would probably be helpful as well, but he was spending time with the twins and I didn’t want to take away from their time together.

The seven of us crowded in a corner of the clearing, all of us taking a seat on the dirt. This time Warner looked annoyed by the intrusion of the others, but I simply rolled my eyes. Seven sets of eyes were better than two.

Warner began pulling out the files from the bag, handing a large stack to each individual before speaking. “Let’s see what they’re hiding from us.”

“What do you mean, hiding from us?” Rainer asked, his voice harsh.

Whatever moment we had last night had disappeared with the sun, the domineering asshole I was used to back in full force.

“I mean, Alessia felt the need to run into a locked building and get all these papers. We’re pretty sure they have information on what the hell is going on.” Warner turned to me with a salacious grin. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

Murphy and Rainer’s eyes whipped toward me at Warner’s pet name and suddenly, it was as if I was in the middle of a pissing contest. I decided I didn’t quite enjoy how it felt.

“That’s right. They wanted answers from Aiden and I about our dad’s work. And I’m pretty sure this is their work.” I held up the stack of papers in my hand. “So we’re going to sit here and read these until we have some answers.”

No one disagreed, everyone diving in to reading. The feeling of everyone listening to my words, following my lead, was a heady one. Pride surged through me, knowing I had come so far.

Warner met my gaze, a spark in his eyes, as he winked. And I remembered what he had once said. I was mouthwatering when I acted tough.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

We spent hours tracing the lines of the papers. Some of them were useless, just lines and lines of names that meant nothing to us. Any that seemed interesting were thrown into the middle of our circle so that another set of eyes could inspect them.

Sometime around midday, Elizabeth brought us all lunch and Emmanuel came to sit with us. He filled in the others on what he had told me. That had halted our search for answers for a bit. No one was sure how to take in the information. I mean, how did one come to terms with the fact that their life was going to end soon?

“You didn’t know when the meteoroid was going to hit the Earth?” Murphy asked, throwing another stack of papers into the discard pile.

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