Page 73 of Calico Descending

“You’ll be the death of me,” he says raggedly. “And I’ll welcome it.”

I smile, resting my hand over the arm stretched across me. How beautiful this moment is, our first taste of freedom, making love beneath the stars.

Contentment bathes my muscles, in the calm satisfaction that he radiates through my body, shadowed only by the sadness I feel for Titus. I don’t know why it troubles me to see him lying alone, but as I lay trapped in the arms of Valdys, a very small part of me longs to comfort his friend.

Exhausted, I close my eyes to those thoughts.

A hard thunk breaches the void, and I jolt awake, sitting upright. The fire still crackles and burns a hot red, while beside me, Valdys is already awake, also sitting upright. Across from us, Titus lies on his back, blowing out a sigh.

“Cadmus,” Valdys says, stroking my arm.

I lower myself back to the ground and exhale a breath, closing my eyes, as Valdys settles in behind me once more.

Thunk.

Eyes snapped open, I zero in on the sound, coming from the back of the truck, and that’s when I hear the low and muffled cries, almost inaudible over the crackle of fire.

Imagining him trapped inside that cage is enough that I can’t fall back to sleep, as I stare across our small camp, waiting to hear him again.

Chapter 32

Sleep weighs heavy on me, as I roll up the sleeping bag, while Valdys buries all evidence of our night here, kicking sand over the ashes left from the fire. Titus stands off a short distance, with a stream of urine shooting from between his legs.

I tip back the canteen for a sip of my water, and my gaze lands on the back of the truck. “He needs water. And food.”

Glancing back at the truck himself, Valdys reaches for the small rocks arranged in the circle that held the fire, and tosses them off behind a bush. “He’ll be fine for a bit. Let’s just get some distance today.”

“Valdys. It’s eighty degrees already. He’s got to be miserable in there.”

“Those cages are temperature controlled inside. He’s more comfortable than we are out here.”

Nibbling on my lip, I set my hand to my hip. “I heard him last night. He sounded in pain.”

He twists on the ball of his foot to face me. “What would you have me do, Cali? Let him out? He’ll be on you first, I guarantee it.”

“At least … just check on him. Maybe give him a sip of water before we go.”

With a groan, Valdys collects the rolled-up sleeping bag from my arms, and crosses the camp for Titus’s, before tromping off toward the vehicle.

I follow after him, but only get a few steps, before he swings around.

“Stay. You’re not going anywhere near him.”

With a nod, I do as he says, until he disappears into the back of the vehicle, and I shuffle across the hot sand toward the back. Peeking around the bed of the truck, I watch Valdys huff and press the button on the side, initiating the beeping sounds. The door pops and slides to the right.

On a roar, Cadmus charges toward Valdys, who pushes him back. By the look in his eyes, wide and determined, he isn’t trying to attack Valdys, or hurt him. I’m certain he’d make a formidable opponent, if that were the case. Instead, he seems to be trying to escape that box. In the scuffle, his gaze falls on me, where I stand hidden, and he slams a fist into Valdys’s face. The two wrestle each other, as Valdys wrangles him back toward the box, until one hard lob at Cadmus sends him flying backward, and Valdys closes the cage.

Hands set at either side of the silver box, he pauses, his back expanding and contracting with hard breaths. “I thought I told you to stay back,” he says, without bothering to look at me.

“I’m sorry. I just needed to see.”

He looks over his shoulder and turns to face me. “See what?”

“That he was okay.”

“What is your sudden interest in his wellbeing?”

I lower my gaze at the bluntness of his question, and here I am again, trying to explain something I can’t. “What will you do with him?” I ask, changing the subject.

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