Page 77 of A Bridge to Nowhereland

“How did you know Chaos was there? How did you know to come and get me?” I asked.

“I’m more sensitive to its flow than most.” He tilted his head toward the stairs. “You’ll stay here tonight, and I’ll take you back in the morning.”

There was no point in arguing, since the last thing I wanted was to go to the outpost. He’d said the outpost was safe from Chaos, but I’d also been told people didn’t have constant brushes with it. At least if I was near Kaden, he’d sense it coming. Having a walking and talking early warning system was definitely reassuring at the moment.

The first time I got close to Chaos, it had severely rocked me. This time? I wasn’t sure I’d sleep for a week.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The front door opened. I glanced up, expecting to see Kaden, since the house had been empty when I awoke.

It washer.

“Why are you here?” Antoinette asked, staring at me where I sat at the table. The way she glared, it was as if I’d climbed in through an unlocked window like a beggar.

“The bridge was down last night. I couldn’t get back to the outpost.” I wasn’t going to tell her that Hank and the bridge workers all seemed to be conspiring to get me to Nowhere, most likely because of her. She was the one that had pissed them off so bad. It was her own fault if they found a way to aggravate her.

“Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to chat with you.” She motioned toward a chair at the table.

As if I could refuse her a seat at her boyfriend’s table. Her fake manners were threatening to bring up my morning oatmeal.

I waved as if I didn’t mind. As if I didn’t want to drink my coffee alone. As if I didn’t absolutely dread being in this woman’s presence, even for a few minutes.

“Would you like some coffee?” I offered, not because I wanted to but because if we were going to feign politeness, there was some inner instinct to go along with it.

“No. Thank you.” She situated herself on the seat with too much care to be normal, smoothing down the fabric of her dress and crossing her ankles as if there were a rule book she was following.

She probably didn’t drink coffee, the way she didn’t eat croissants. Too beneath her for reasons I’d be too uncouth to understand. I folded my legs up on the seat, sitting cross-legged, instead of the elegant way Antoinette crossed her ankles and folded her finely manicured fingers.

“Kaden seems to have an interest in you,” she said. “You might not have noticed it, since it’s not an overwhelming one, but more of what you’d have for a casual oddity.”

“You don’t say,” I replied, as if I had any interest in what this woman thought of anything.

I continued to drink my coffee, wishing she’d leave, or someone would come hit me over the head and knock me out. Anything before she continued.

“He gets this way when he thinks someone might be useful to him. I didn’t want you to misconstrue it into something it wasn’t. A lot of women find him attractive. In the past, there’s been some awkward instances where he might be kind to someone, as he tends to when they’re down on their luck, and they’ve misunderstood. I wouldn’t want you to embarrass yourself in that way.”

First off, were we talking about the same man? Although I guess not making me sleep on the street would strike her as generous if my hunch on her standards and ethics was accurate.

“Yes, well, I wouldn’t worry yourself over that. We work together. That’s all. I wouldn’t be so foolish to think he’d ever want me,” I said. I would’ve declared myself a troll if it got rid of her. Plus, it was true. I might not always like Kaden, but I knew when someone was out of my league. He’d never want me. Why would he? I might actually look like a troll standing next to Antionette.

She smiled, eyeing me up as if she didn’t quite believe me. As far as I saw things, that was her problem, not mine.

Kaden walked into the house and nodded to me before giving Antionette a kiss hello.

“How old’s the coffee?” he asked, clearly speaking to me, since she was too good for coffee.

“About twenty minutes.”

He was already on his way over to the coffee pot.

“I’m glad we had a chance to get better acquainted,” Antoinette said, faking it so well that she almost sounded genuine.

“This coffee is horrible,” Kaden said.

“What’s wrong with it? It’s the way I like it,” I said.

He sat in the chair beside me, instead of her, with his newspaper in hand.

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