Page 29 of In Hiding

Without thinking, he trailed his fingertips across her brow, careful to avoid the swollen egg over her left eye. He marveled at the way the muscles relaxed under his touch. “Rest, Sarah. You’re safe now.”

Tucking her hand under the covers, he left her in peace and found the room where Will lay on a cot, staring up at the ceiling. The light from the open curtain allowed Jake to see the tension harden the kid’s square jaw. He said nothing as he moved to the second bed. He toed off his boots in the silence and removed his coat, laying it over the foot of the bed.

“She’ll be okay, Will.”

“No thanks to me.”

Jake couldn’t let the boy punish himself any longer. “It was not your fault.”

“If it wasn’t for me, she’d be fine. I argued with her. If I’d just told her what she wanted to know, we wouldn’t have argued.”

Sitting heavily on the bed, Jake sighed. “So, you pushed her, then?”

Will sat bolt upright and glared at him. “No!”

“You tripped her?”

The kid’s eyes bulged as his cheeks burned red in the moonlight. “Fuck you.”

“See? It wasn’t your fault.”

Will sighed, his anger barely contained. Spinning away, he laid back down, folding his arms and clasping his hands behind his head.

“What did she want to know?”

“Why I’m failing at school.”

Sounds familiar. He had more in common with the kid than he cared to admit. Jake straightened out on his back. “Well?”

“Like I’m gonna tell you.”

It was like hearing his teenage self. “Okay. Night.”

He closed his eyes and listened to the strained breath of a wayward youth. At that age, he’d been restless and wanting adventure. School seemed like a waste of energy and he couldn’t see the point of writing essays about Shakespeare and doing calculus. He’d had the same argument with his mother, except that ended with Jake falling in with the wrong crowd and getting in trouble. It saw him seek solace in the Army, and hadn’t that turned out well? He sighed at the stupidity of adolescence.

“I’m a screw up,” Will whispered.

“We all screw up, kid. It’s what you do next that matters. Get some sleep. Your mother won’t forgive me if you turn up looking like you’ve been partying all night.”

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