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It was taking everything in my power not to selfishly take her and run somewhere they’d never come to look. But I couldn’t do it. No matter how much I wanted to protect her at any cost, Felix was like a brother to me. I couldn’t abandon him. I also couldn’t kid myself. Saving Sylvie at the cost of her sister wouldn’t accomplish anything. It’d break her fucking heart, and I suspected she’d rather die than go on knowing we’d abandoned her sister.
So the only choice was to fight. Together, at least.
“Are you scared?” Sylvie asked.
“You should be resting,” I said.
“I’m thinking about tomorrow,” she admitted. “I used to know exactly what my future held. Lots of hand sanitizer and indoor time. Now I hardly know what to expect an hour from now. It’s exciting, but scary.”
“That’s what being alive feels like,” I said. “Embrace it.”
She gave me a crooked smile, fingertips idly plucking at my shirt. “That’s some enlightened talk from the grumpiest man I’ve ever met.”
“I haven’t been grumpy for hours,” I said.
“That’s true. Ever since I let you sleep with me, you’ve been a little happier.”
I put my fingertip to her lips, looking to Kyla, who appeared to be asleep. “Don’t give her anything to gossip about.”
“Kyla doesn’t strike me as a gossip.”
“That’s her trick. She lulls you into spilling all your secrets and then blabs to everyone she knows.”
“Liar.”
I smiled, then lowered my voice. “You may be right. There seems to be a connection between my mood and your pussy.”
I slapped his chest. “Riggs,” I laughed.
I put my lips to her ear. “My only regret is that I didn’t take the time to taste you.”
She shivered, then audibly swallowed. “Maybe next time we can spring for separate rooms from your sister.”
If there was a next time. “Yeah,” I said. “Absolutely. We may need thick walls.”
“That’s big talk. I hope you’re planning to follow through on all these dirty promises.”
I kissed her, then had to summon all my willpower not to take it further, even as she pressed her small body against mine and I felt her breasts against my arm. Her legs wrapped around mine and I thought I felt the heat coming from between her legs and into my thigh. God. I desperately wished I could temporarily move Kyla to another room.
“We could be quiet,” Sylvie whispered.
“I’m not sleeping, and my ears are unfortunately very strong. If you two start humping, I swear to god I’ll pull the comforter off the window and fry us both.”
Sylvie’s eyes went wide.
I suppressed a laugh. “Maybe not,” I said.
Sylvie slammed her eyes shut and looked like she was willing herself to fall asleep.
I didn’t go to sleep right away. I lay there with my arm around her, enjoying the slow rhythm of her breathing and the warmth of her body against mine.
This small woman had gone from a stranger to being my world in a little over a week. I marveled at that. I hadn’t realized I was spiraling toward a dark place until she came along and violently yanked me out of it, but it was true, wasn’t it? She was fixing me, moment by moment.
I knew I had to protect her. I had to find a way to make this right, because she’d given me something worth fighting for.
39
Sylvie
Riggs worked on a gas station hotdog, a bag of chips, two candy bars, and a soda while he drove. I wanted to be jealous of the food, but my stomach was already betraying me. Just looking at it made me feel nothing. It was like staring at a mailbox and trying to summon up feelings of hunger.
That was a little sad. I wished I’d put a little more effort into enjoying what I guessed was my last meal as a human. My last time eating real food.
Just thinking about it was making me feel weird, so I rolled down the window to distract myself. Cold night air gusted through my hair and I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation.
Kyla nudged me a while later. “See that little town?” she asked.
I opened my eyes and looked over the rolling hills we were driving along. There was a picturesque town nestled between the trees. Some of the buildings went right up to a large, sapphire blue lake that was casting the moon’s reflection in several broken, wavering images.
“That’s where the Silverback’s live?” I asked.
Riggs nodded. “Home sweet home,” he said, voice laced with bitterness.
“So are we going to just knock on the town hall building or something?” I asked.
“They already know we’re here.” Riggs directed my eyes to the side of our car where I saw something darting between the trees in the shadows. When I looked closer, I realized it was several somethings.
“That’s not creepy at all,” I said.
