Page 26 of Claimed By Ruin

I took care of the two others, and then went back out.

Asia stood in the grass with Miles.

I marched over to her, reaching for her, but froze for a split second. Then I wiped my hand on my pants and put two fingers on her neck. I curved my fingers, ready to hold her in place if she pulled away. She didn’t. She just held my gaze for a long moment. Then she looked away.

“You okay?” I said.

“Fine,” she responded, but she didn’t pull her gaze from Miles. “You got them all?”

He nodded. “Yeah, there were two over there, plus your three out here. How many in the smokehouse, Jack?”

“Three. Meat’s gone.”

The kid looked at me like I kicked every puppy on planet Earth. Asia’s shoulders deflated.

“Darn it,” she said.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Darn it?”

“Trying to be respectful of the kid, Jack.”

“Guys, I’m almost sixteen,” Miles said, sounding more like he was eleven.

“Yeah and you know what to do next. Now’s your chance for cleanup duty,” she said.

Despite everything, Miles beamed. “On it!” he exclaimed. Then he scurried off.

I watched him for a moment, then focused on her. “You all right?”

“I already told you yes,” she said, though she still didn’t look at me.

I moved my hand from her neck and grabbed her chin. I locked my gaze with hers.

“Asia, are you all right?”

“I told you I was fine. We just lost a month’s worth of food. Sorry for taking a minute to think about how we’re going to replace it.” Then she pulled her chin away and turned and walked off.

I looked at the corpses on the lawn, the black blood spilling from them, tainting the rest of this place as the ones in the smokehouse had spoiled the meat.

I grabbed the wheelbarrow and loaded corpses.

I let her avoid me the rest of the day, though I was seething. Mostly because she put all this on herself, carrying it like it was her fault. I saw it in the tension in her shoulders. The way she rubbed her temple when she didn’t think anyone was watching. For a smart woman, she could be dumb sometimes.

Hadn’t she figured out that I was always watching?

Except when you were gone.

That accusation whispered at the back of my brain, but I paid it no mind. She got it. She understood. I told myself that, and got back to work with Asia in my periphery and at the center of my thoughts.

I took the first night shift, and well after dark, when the farm was quiet, I finally retreated into the house. I took a quick, lukewarm shower that was more refreshing than it had any right to be. I saw the faint glow coming from the kitchen, the same one that had been there when I came in.

I walked in and saw Asia absently rubbing her temple again, staring down at a notebook.

“We’ll figure it out,” I said.

She didn’t look at me, keeping her gaze on the notebook. She wasn’t even startled by my voice, but I got it. I might always watch her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t always watching me, too, though she would chew glass before admitting it.

She said nothing but her shoulders were stiff, almost pressing against her ears like she was trying to protect herself from me.