Page 38 of Fractured Future
“Hang on!” Axel reaches into the footwell to rifle in a bulging backpack. “Put this on.”
He tosses me a scruffy, blue baseball cap. I laugh at the embroidered words scrawled across the front.
“Less Upsetti, More Spaghetti?What the fuck is this?”
“My fantastically hilarious cap, obviously.” He re-zips his backpack. “Keep that.”
Looking over his outfit again—the dark denim tight to his strong legs and full of rips, his shirt displaying some elaborate cartoon of a pizza slice with legs and a cheesy grin—I come up short.
“Do you buy all your clothes in the kid’s section?”
Next to me, Hyland fails to smother a laugh.
“Why?” Axel asks in confusion.
“Just sensing a theme.” I lift the embroidered baseball cap.
“Wow. That’s two for two.” Axel’s smile fades into a look of supreme disappointment. “Keep it up, and you’ll only have this bucket of joy left to talk to.”
Casting me a loaded look, he joins Warner in leaving the car with a ceremonious door slam. Fabulous. I’ve been awake for five minutes and already pissed off two of my rescuers.
“Can you just tell me what I can say to piss you off too?” I remark flatly. “Then I can get three for three.”
Hyland’s throaty laughter tumbles over me like a rockfall, crashing down a steep mountain face.
“Finding you alive is the best thing to happen to me since I arrived in this bloody country. You’d be hard pressed to piss me off right now.”
Giving him the side-eye, I search for any signs of deceit on his golden features. Two honest, mossy pools stare back, a tiny smile playing on his well-shaped lips.
“Huh.”
“Problem?” He widens his eyes at me.
“Just re-evaluating my initial opinion of you. For future reference, perhaps you should be nicer upon first meeting someone.”
“I’m nice when I have a reason to be.” Hyland grabs the door handle. “This fucked up world doesn’t deserve any less than my suspicion.”
“Sounds lonely.”
“Alright, enough analysis. Move it.”
Letting him climb out, I take a second to breathe while tugging the borrowed cap on. My door is ripped open before I can attempt to piece my scattered thoughts together.
“You need help or something?”
“No,” I snap at him.
“Anytime today, then.”
Teeth gnashing, I manage to get my legs out of the car without admitting how badly my whole body is throbbing. But standing up poses a whole other challenge.
“Just ask for help.” Hyland watches me struggle to move. “I’m right here.”
“I don’t need it.”
“You’re clearly in pain. I can make a good guess that you’re hiding all kinds of mess under that sweatshirt.”
“Maybe you should keep your guesses to yourself.”
