Page 109 of Chaos

“You don’t have to kiss me.”

“I know I don’thaveto. Iwantto. Do you?”

I have an impulse to save face and say no, push him away. But I want to kiss him more than I want to salvage my pride, so I say, “Yes,” and it comes out in a croak.

We lean in at the same time, closer, closer, closer. I can’t even remember my last kiss, but it was nothing like this.

His lips touch mine, soft, tentative at first.

He pauses, his eyes meeting mine filled with a silent question. I nod, and his fingers settle along my throat, lips coming back to mine, parting slightly, and it just … obliterates every other kiss that came before it.

Not with fire.

Not with heat.

Not with aggression or even passion.

With tenderness.

And tenderness can sometimes hit as hard as a blow.

26 |Sticky-burr people

YORKE

SHANE’S WAITING FOR MEin the suite at 3am when I step out, dressed for combat.

I close the door on sleeping Frankie. We went back to the party last night. Auden was high on sugar and glee, and when I got back from putting him to sleep, she was already out. There was no time for us to talk about Lavinia Hope.

“Soldiers up?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah.” He’s lit one of the camp lights at the small table we use for eating and playing games. “Ephie talked last night.”

I didn’t expect that.

“She says she isn’t sure but she thinks the pigeons go to Charleston, and Ben was running middleman to get the gunsfrom the Butcher to the Raiders. And … she says the woman in DC, Lavinia Hope, she’s looking for you. You specifically.”

Carefully, I pull my handgun off the top of the armoire and check it for ammunition.

“You knew?” he says.

“Most of it. Not about the birds. I’d hoped they went to DC. And I was pretty sure Ben had some kind of deal with the Butcher at one point, that had fallen apart.” It would be nice to think we’re not on Charleston’s map. I sit on the bench by the door and lace my boots. “The other part, yes.”

“What does she want you for?”

“I don’t know.” But I’ve thought about it enough. “I suspect she has plans to put me to work. But no real explanation for why I think that.”

He’s quiet as I finish gearing up.

When we step out into the cold, dark hallway, only a thin beam of moonlight makes it this far from the stained glass skylight above the stairs.

“You're going to leave, aren’t you?” His voice tips up at the end, cutting through me. I swear I lived this exact scene once long ago, and it was Carl saying it exactly like that.

“I’m going to find out what she wants, so she doesn’t come here.”

“What about the rest of us?”

“I can’t take Frankie away from Sheila right now.” At the look on his face I hold up a hand. “We’ll tell you everything soon, but for now, this place is the safest place for her, and Auden stays with her.”

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