Page 29 of Blood We Steal

The response came in the same language. It was Besnik. I cautiously pulled open the door. He walked in and spared one glance at Simone before he pulled me into a hug. He stepped back and smacked me on the chest.

“I told you I would find you. Were you worried I was dead or something?” I asked.

“You? Of course not,” Besnik said, smiling. “But we must go.”

Simone had already started to gather the items we had collected.

“Is she coming, too?” Besnik asked. He looked sheepish when he glanced at Simone, but then quickly refocused on me.

I bit back the annoyance. “She’s useful. Let’s go,” I said.

Besnik nodded and we walked, Besnik in front, Simone after him, and me behind. It was the same path as yesterday, but it felt good to have Besnik at my side. It was also much less eventful. And we made the walk in less than five minutes, ending up at the same door that had been impassable yesterday.

“You got in,” I said.

“Arben, he overrode the wiring so we have access to these three wings. He and Lorik are doing a search as we speak,” Besnik said.

I walked through the door after Simone and Besnik, ignoring the carnage. We made it to the common room in the back. Damian was there, while other men lay spread in various spots. I went to greet my brother, but stopped when I heard Simone.

“Aaron!” Simone said, her voice bright.

I watched as she broke away from Besnik and ran over to another man. She smiled at him, a real smile, one I had never seen directed at anyone else, and then pulled him in for a hug.

“Baby girl,” he said, his voice soft with tenderness.

It was Aaron who had introduced us. As they hugged, I could see the clear affection between them. He looked at her like a proud father over a pair of reading glasses mended at one hinge with tape, and she smiled up at him with pure adoration.

I cataloged the smile like I did everything else, recognized that it was genuine, pure. A smile she’d never given me. One I decided then I didn’t want.

She stepped back.

“You doing all right? You’re looking a little thin.”

“I told you I was never gonna eat bologna again.”

“Oh gosh, Aaron. So you’ve been eating honey buns and potato chips?” she said.

He smiled sheepishly, and the platinum chain around his neck caught the light. Two things hung off it: a woman’s wedding band—his mother’s—and a small, dinged-up medal. Simone’s first place medal for seventh-grade math bee. I knew that because I knew everything about Simone, down to the things she’d never said out loud. Aaron hadn’t said them either, but he wore his pride for her around his neck every day.

“Don’t tell Mama,” he said, and she chuckled. Then she pulled him in for a hug.

“I’m so glad to see you. I was so worried.” She squeezed his hands.

“You think some zombies are gonna take me down, baby girl?”

She laughed and continued to hold his hand as they went over to a bench in the back of the area.

“Come here, Simone,” I said.

The room had been abuzz with activity but went quiet at my words. Simone looked at me, then looked back at Aaron.

“Now,” I said, my voice quiet.

Aaron looked down at her and then glanced at me. “Go ahead, baby girl. We’ll catch up later.”

She nodded, then walked over to me. “Yes, Rubin?” she asked.

I ignored her and turned to Damian. “You were going to break me out, huh?” I said.