Page 34 of His to Burn
I locked eyes with Jackson as he continued to scan through the channels.
The takeaway from them all was the same.
We were fucked.
Jackson turned the radio off, the rough way he twisted the knob the only hint of what he thought.
“This won’t be over soon, will it?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.
His jaw flexed. “No. It won’t be over soon.”
His words sank into my mind, and I searched for a way to deny them.
Didn’t find one.
My voice was barely a whisper when I finally spoke. “Why do you say that?”
“What we saw out there, what we can see on those cameras…it merits an overwhelming response. We’ve seennoresponse. That tells me resources are stretched thin. And my gut says this isn’t just local,” he said.
“Which means?” I whispered.
“Which means we’re fucked,” he said, perfectly mirroring my earlier thoughts.
“And?” I said, sensing there was more.
Jackson met my eyes again.
“And things are only going to get worse.”
Jack
I hadn’t even considered lyingto her, but as I watched her process my words, I wondered if that was a mistake.
A hysterical woman was the last thing I needed on my hands.
Of course, what I’d seen of her so far didn’t suggest she was one who would easily lose her shit. But I knew from hard experience that you couldn’t tell a person’s mettle from looks alone.
They had to prove it in battle.
So far, Asia had held her own.
And fucking wrecked me in the process.
The taste of her lips lingered on my tongue, and I had to force myself to keep from touching her again.
Taking her again.
Even in the face of the world falling apart, I wanted her.
Felt an unwelcome need to comfort her when I saw the way her face fell at my response.
She’d seen what I’d seen; that should have been enough for her.
I braced myself, ready to prove the point if she wanted to argue, trying to convince me that this was something that was going to be fixed.
To my surprise, she just shook her head and smiled.
“That’s literally the least surprising thing I’ve heard all day. Still, hearing it like that kinda sucks,” she said.
