Page 51 of Obliterated
“Promise me you’ll listen to them?”
He nods, dazed, a curl falling over his forehead.
“Good.” I pivot, marching out of the bar, pretending not to notice the wide-eyed gapes and the smirk on Tass’s lips as she salutes me before I leave.
Chapter twelve
Kieran
Threedays.That’showlong it took for me to lose my shit, before I drove Tass insane with my many questions about where Max went, how long he’d be gone, and all that blah. Then she shoved me out of the hotel and took me to the beach for a snack.
For fucking ice cream.
I’ve never had ice cream in my entire life. Heard of it and read about it, sure. But to actually have a scoop in a cracked, dented bowl while wandering the boulevard after sunset is… surreal. Bizarre.
Cold that stabs the back of your throat. Sweet that melts before you can think. But it tastes so damn good that for a minute, the waiting, thewanting,stops.
“Calmed down a bit?” she asks, nudging me as she guides us back toward the resort. “A fresh scoop of strawberry ice cream always soothes the nerves.”
“It must’ve cost a fortune,” I say, spoon half in my mouth, moaning when it hits my tastebuds.Shit, she has a fucking point…
She grins that uncanny grin of hers. “Thank your man for it. He stashes his money under a loose board he thinks nobody knows about. If he thinks keeping it there is clever, he doesn’t know me.”
I snort a laugh, but… “He’s not my man.” Not that I can deny how her words land. I don’t know what we are, what we’re doing. It just… feels right. Feels like something I didn’t know I needed.
“Keep lying to yourself, buddy,” Tass says. “I’veneverseen him like this. The only time he’s this obsessive, is when he’s scavenged a new tool that can cut Walkers up in the most horrible ways. Believe me when I say this is a first for him. He likes you. A lot.”
“If he did, he would’ve told me where he went. Took me with him,” I grumble, even though I love the things she says.
“Trust me. You don’t want to be there.” She, honest to the gods, shudders. “The things he does over there…”
“So youdoknow where he is.”
“I do. And when he’s ready, when he’s sure you accept all parts of him… he’ll tell you, show you.” She shrugs, eyes sliding to that dark line where the city lights stop and the wall towers. “Until then, just believe he’ll come back. He’s got more than one demon to slay. He will come back when he’s done.”
As I scoop the last of the ice cream out, she turns, and I follow her back to the resort.
She said he’s “off-grid,” whatever the fuck that means. But I can’t help it. I want him to be back. I just miss him, which is fucking stupid. I mean, shit, I miss that arrogant smirk that says he knows everything, the Ashleaf smoke that clings to his sleeves, the way he, as strong as he is, goes soft under my touch.
Most of all, I miss the way he watches over me, how he takes up every inch of my space, how he eases himself into my life like he’d always belonged.
And it’s not only him who eased himself into my life; Tass did the same.
I like her, I really do. She’s easy to talk to, fun to hang around, and very good at keeping me distracted, like she’s doing now.
We fall into the easy rhythm of walking back, the city lights ticking past on our right, dark wall on our left. Tass tucks the empty bowls in her pack and shoulders it like it’s nothing.
“It was good, huh?” she says. “I swear, ice cream beats even the high of the red rain.”
“How does it feel, being Touched?” The words slip out before I can stop them. “I mean—you don’t have to answer that.”
“Nah. It’s fine.” Tass continues walking, boots hitting the cobbles. “In general, as far as I know, most people are somewhat normal, just more intense after they get infected. But if you ask Max, he’d call me a raging bitch, virus or not.” She smirks. “He’s probably right.”
I smile and tuck my hands in my pockets. “So… You do feel normal? Most of the time?”
She nods. “Yeah, I think so? I don’t exactly know what normal is, since I’ve neverbeennormal. But I feel pretty sane, except on red rain days.”
I look up. The sky’s clear now, dark, stars like the ones in his eyes flickering down on us, but the memory of red clouds sticks in my throat. “And what’s that like? How does it change you?”
