Page 24 of Railed

He was already in deep enough that it would hurt him to leave her. If I was being honest with myself, I was pretty attached to the possibility of her, too. I could see her fitting in quite well with him, me, and Jamie—and not even just sexually. They both already liked her, too.

He had to tell her. There may be some way we could help her, but only if she knew.

"I'm going back out there."

"No," Jamie said quickly. "Give them some time. Maybe he'll come to his senses on his own."

I shook my head. "I'm going out there."

"Please don't."

"What's in it for me?" I asked. We'd played this game enough that they knew exactly what I wanted, the one way to make sure I stayed in the room with them.

They sunk to their knees in front of me, looking up at me and pouting. "Can I please taste you?"

"I don't know," I said, pretending to consider it. "You're being a bit of a brat today. Maybe I should punish you."

"Punish me later if you have to, but don't punish yourself too. Please let me taste you."

I pretended to think about it, but I already knew that even if I was going to spank them later, I was going to indulge them now.

Chapter Nineteen

Emma

I woke up alone, in a strange bed, and it took me a few seconds to realize where I was and why.

I was still at Gauge's apartment. Another few seconds made it obvious why he wasn't lying next to me.

He was standing outside the door, whispering to someone outside. From what I could hear, it sounded like they were arguing.

"I'll tell her eventually. I just need more time."

"We're running out of time," came the heated answer that had to be Rosie.

"We'll figure something out."

"How? We're trains! We're not from here, and if she doesn't figure something out, we can't stay."

I was pretty sure I was dreaming now, because none of that made any sense. I must be having a nightmare from all the stress of the Railway project.

"She'll figure it out," Gauge said confidently.

I was glad he was confident about it, because I definitely wasn't.

"If she doesn't, we'll have to leave. Maybe to a different island, maybe leave the planet altogether, but we wouldn't be able to stay."

This was a weird dream. I wondered when I would wake up.

Gauge was quiet, but Rosie continued. "Don't you want to be able to continue riding the rails here? I don't know about you, but I don't want to leave. Especially not now that you found Emma and things are getting interesting."

"I can't leave her," Gauge replied. Everything in me rebelled against his defeated tone.

Before I could think, I answered, "Then don't leave."

They both instantly went quiet and, after a moment, the door slowly opened.

Gauge and Rosie were both standing there, watching me. "How much did you hear?" he asked.