Page 19 of All Your Days
“Oh, disgusting! Just when I was startin’ to like ya, too!” Eli laughs, giving the apathetic camel another scratch. That’s when he spots me, resuming my usual position of lurking watcher in the middle distance.
“I’m walkin’ with you!” He calls out, and I take it as an invitation to walk over to the pair under the limited shade of a gnarly old gum. It barely looks alive anymore.
“You sure? It’s hot and—” I begin, but he cuts me off with a sharp shake of his head.
“I’m not gettin’ on the fuckin’ camel, Jacob. You can’t make me.” He crosses his arms and sets his jaw like he’s expecting a fight. He’s definitely not expecting me to grin at him, mimicking his stance and crossing my arms. If he wants to walk with me, I’m not going to stop him. Being away from The Facility has made me weak against him. I’ve got nothing in me to fight this pull between us.
“You can do whatever the fuck you want, so long as you keep up.”
In a rapid series of changes, Eli’s eyes flare wide again, and then they narrow before filling with heat and he drags his heavy-lidded eyes over my body—from the tip of my boots all the way to the top of my hat, and all the way back down again.
“Pretty sure I can’t do whatever the fuck I want, Jacob. But not ridin’ the camel is the next best thing.” His voice is deep, huskier than I’ve ever heard it.
Lou catches it, too, snorting and quickly tying off the final straps before slipping away, finding anywhere else to be.
“I–you—fuck.” I can’t find any sensible words in response to Eli. Then his eyebrow raises, a coy smirk curling up his lip and I realise what I’ve said. “I’m not touchin’ that one. Get your water. You’ll need it. And your scarf. Wind’s pickin’ up.”
And then I turn on my heel and leave before I do something stupid, like throw him over my shoulder and drag him away like I desperately want to.
Chapter six
Eli
Jacob’s acting different. Ithink it’s the heat. Or maybe, it’s just how he is outside of The Facility. But it’s not the Jacob I’m used to. My usual Jacob is quiet. Reserved.Silent.
This Jacobtalks. This Jacob shares stories. This Jacob getsflustered.
It’s fascinating. Is he always like this and I’ve just never seen it? Well, the joke’s on him, because the hard shell he’s kept himself in for the last decade has cracked and I want to bust it entirely open.
Well, not all the way open. I want to bust open an Eli-sized hole, so I can worm my way inside of this prickly man and discover every piece of him.
The game between us has changed. Ithinkit started with the way he helped me in the courtyard before we left. Or maybe, it was even earlier. He was downright chatty—for him anyway—in the Labs the day before that.
So maybe it isn’t the supply run. Maybe they really are doing strange tests on us at The Facility like the visiting armymen like to taunt, andthat’swhy he’s doing it—medical experiments.
I don’t care what the reason is. I just want more of it—and every tiny bit I get makes me want to push him even more.
I snort a laugh at my own ridiculous thoughts and wave the flies from my face. They’ve settled on the cotton scarf I’ve got wrapped over my nose and mouth like a mask to protect me from the sun. So many fucking flies, the bastard things.
Beside me, Jacob casts me a suspicious side eye, but doesn’t say anything.
He hasn’t said much since we set out after lunch when he accidentally suggested we fuck. Well, not really, but his stumbling words were easy to turn about. His eyes had gone so wide I thought they were gonna fall out, and his cheeks grew darker with his blush. It was a sight to behold.
In the moment I thought I won that round of whatever game it is we’re playing now, but my prize ended up being a long walk in the sun with an erection hard enough to bore for water.
It hasn’t been fun.
He definitely won this morning, even if it was by accident. Coming out of the tent to go for a piss and finding him half naked in the sunrise?
I had to burn every millimetre of the image into my brain so I can draw it again and again until my fingers know his body by memory.
“Lizard.” I call out, pointing to the dragon sitting on a rock beside the path. Its little head follows us, watching us pass with all the contempt only a reptile can truly master.
To my annoyance, he just grunts. I’m getting a little bored with the silence. And of the endless flatness around us. What I wouldn’t give for Moby’s humming, or more of the big rocky ranges out in the distance.
And I’mreallydone with the sun. And the flies. Seriously, I’m done with the flies. I think Adeeko agrees with me. He keeps trying to flick them away from his face, but there’s no use.
“So how long were you with Sarah?” I ask when I can’t stand it any longer. “Eagle.” I tack onto the end, pointing up to the large bird swooping through the sky.
