Page 81 of Ash Fall

Jules kisses the way he does everything else, with absolute certainty. His hand tightens at the back of my neck. My fingers find the front of his shirt without any instruction from me. When his tongue slides against mine I make a noise that I'll be thinking about for the rest of my life, and I feel him smile into it.

The buzzing comes up again, stronger this time, rolling out under my skin everywhere he's touching me.

When he lets go I have to put a hand back on the motorhome to stay standing.

Jules brushes his knuckles down my burning cheek, and there's something almost tender hiding under all that satisfaction.

"We'll be back soon," he says.

Reid squeezes my fingers once, that quick nervous press of his. Then the two of them walk away around the front of the motorhome, and their voices fold into the noise out on the apron.

I stay exactly where I am.

Cold metal against my back, lips buzzing and my legs feeling like they’re noodles. Two of them kissed me inside of two minutes. I press the tips of my fingers against my lips and try to get my breathing to steady. A laugh comes out of me, high and a little unhinged.

I'm still standing there with a stupid grin on my face when I turn my head and see Gage is at the other end of the motorhome.

He isn't moving. One hand rests on the corner panel and he's just standing there, highlighted against the orange light coming in through the big doors. His stillness tells me he has been there long enough, and my grin dies at the stony look on his face.

"Gage."

He doesn't say anything. He doesn’t have to. I can see the thoughts on his face plain as day. First comes something raw that I can only read as betrayal, and it knocks the air straight out of me. That slides into a sadness heavy enough that I nearly cross the ten feet between us to put my hands on him. What comes last is worse than the first two because there's no heat in it at all. I see a man finally setting something down because he's worked out exactly what it weighs.

He gives me one short nod. Then he's gone around the corner, and the engines start up out on the apron, and I'm left standing alone behind a motorhome with my heart slamming in my throat.

Chapter 30 - Gage

The third dealership on the strip has its front doors standing open and not one vehicle missing off the lot.

Tanner walks in ahead of me and hits the lights out of habit. The whole showroom stays dark and empty. There's a coffee cup on the sales desk with mold growing across the top of it. Somebody left a sweater on the back of a chair. Whoever worked here walked out some time ago and never came back, and they didn't bother locking the door behind them on the way out.

"Office," Tanner points.

I find the key cabinet inside four minutes. It's a grey steel box mounted on the wall behind the parts counter, not even locked, every set of keys tagged with a stock number in somebody's neat handwriting.

"Oh, that's beautiful. Makes this so much easier." Gord says behind me.

What's out back is even better. Two dealership trucks sit along the fence with fifth wheel hitches already bolted into the boxes, fueled and built for exactly one job.

I do the math out loud because it's easier than thinking about anything else. "Two of your trucks that can pull a travel trailer. Two of these. Gramps, Gord, Stu. That's seven trucks and drivers."

"Seven going, seven coming back." Anders is already walking the row. "Two runs, and then we're done with this place tonight."

"Fourteen campers." Tanner spits to one side and nods. "That'll house a lot of people."

We spread out. I take one of the dealership trucks because it means I'm hitched to a fifth wheel the size of a small house and nobody is riding with me.

Reid and Jules don’t know anything about hooking up trailers so they start looking through the accessory store in the show room. I pick a trailer that’s on the lot furthest from them and get backed in to hook up.

I wish I could shut my brain off with the work to be done but no, what I saw keeps circling round and round. Those few seconds from behind the motorhome just keep playing over and over again. Luna against the side of the motorhome with Reid's hands on her face and his mouth on hers. After that come her fingers fisted in the front of Jules's shirt. The sound she made, which I heard from ten feet away, and which is going to be haunting me for the rest of my life. Just over a week ago I was telling myself I had time. Guess I was wrong.

"Gage?" Gramps is standing at my back bumper with his arms crossed. "You don’t have that pin all the way in."

I look down. He's right about that. I pull it, turn it, drop it into place, and don't say anything.

He watches me for a second longer than I want him to.

"Should have light left for another couple trips," he says finally, and walks off toward his own rig.