Page 69 of Kingdom of Chaos
Nineteen
“Freckles, time to wake up.”
I open my eyes to find myself cuddled up against Talon in the back seat of the truck.
Again.
We’d switched drivers a few times over the hours and the last thing I remember is being squished between Talon and Imogen. At some point I must have fallen asleep, because my cheek is pressed against Talon’s chest and he has an arm thrown over my shoulders, his hand lazily brushing over my exposed arm as he holds me in place, a trail of goosebumps following the path of his fingers.
I wiggle out from under his arm, trying to make sense of what is going on. The truck is empty and it’s just the two of us. Again. I never realized what a deep sleeper I must be.
“Sorry,” I say, my voice husky and low with drowsiness. I rub my eyes, silently praying to the Creator I didn’t just drool on him. “I don’t mean to make a habit of passing out on you.”
Talon chuckles lightly, and the soft laugh sends a flutter through my chest I would die before admitting.
“I wouldn’t mind if you did,” he says, his gaze sweeping over me with slow intensity that sends a flush of heat across my skin.
I clear my throat and drop my eyes, trying to ignore the sudden warmth rising in me, until I notice a dark spot on his already dark T-shirt.
“Talon,” I gasp. “You’re bleeding.”
He looks down with a frown and lifts the bottom of his shirt to reveal a slow leak coming from between the seams of the duct tape covering where the bullet tore through him.
Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “I guess it needs to be rebandaged.”
“Agreed. Let’s get that taken care of,” I say, and then look out the window to find we’re parked in the parking lot of a restaurant. “Where is everyone else?”
“The others are inside ordering food,” he says as he opens the door and climbs out of the truck. “Ensley said she’d know what to get you.”
As I shift to jump down after him, Talon offers his hand. The truck’s high clearance isn’t a problem. I can manage on my own. But I take his hand anyway, moved by the small, unexpected gesture.
Going around to the tailgate, Talon grabs his backpack and jerks his head toward the restaurant. “Let’s get inside so we don’t have to do this out in the open.”
I nod in agreement. The area looks rundown and a little sketchy, so I’d rather be inside. A small group of what appear to be the homeless sit on the grass near the edge of the parking lot, two of them arguing loudly. The restaurant itself looks like it’s seen better days. The neon sign above the entrance readsMom’s Homemade Kitchen, flickering with age, and the glass on the front door is cracked, held together by only a couple strips of tape.
But as we get closer, I catch a glimpse through the window. The inside looks clean and cozy, which makes me feel a little better.
The restrooms are immediately to the right and down a hall when you enter, so Talon and I go there first. They’re single stalls with locks on the doors, which makes it easier for us to have privacy while I re-dress his wounds. When we get inside, Talon goes to lock the door behind him, but asks if I’m comfortable with that before turning the deadbolt.
I give a little laugh and say, “If I don’t trust you by now, we’re all in trouble.”
He glances over his shoulder at me, a hint of vulnerability in his eyes when he asks, “You trust me?”
I realize that, to him, trust is no small thing. So I take a moment to really think about it, to search my heart. And I’m a bit surprised to find that yes, somewhere along the way, Ihavelearned to trust Talon, despite everything.
Yes, he lied to me when we first met, and at the time it nearly destroyed any faith I had in him. But now that I know more, I understand why he did it. Especially after meeting his mother, who was willing to coldly excommunicate him, not just from the Arcane Society but from his family and everything he’d ever known, simply for revealing their secret to us.
Moving forward, I reach around him, my gaze locked with his as I turn the deadbolt, making it clear that I do, in fact, trust him.
The crooked grin that lifts the corners of his mouth makes him look lighter than he did a moment before. Without another word, he reaches for the bottom of his shirt and I step back as he pulls it right off his head.
I’ve seen Talon shirtless more than once now, but the last few times were in high-stress situations when my concern overpowered everything else.
This time feels different.
Seeing his bare chest now makes my stomach drop. Even with the three healing slashes across his ribs and a bleeding bullet wound in his side, his body is still a work of art.
My mouth goes dry and I can’t peel my gaze from his abs.
