AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maddie’s eyes are filling with tears, and she bites her lower lip.
“Do you hear me?” I repeat.
She nods, looking down at her bare feet.
Without another word, I turn and leave.
* * *
Eve turns on me as soon as I close the door to my room.
“You shouldn’t have said anything to her!” she yells. “I told you it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It looked like it was a big deal,” I argue.
“But it wasn’t.”
“Tell that to your face.” I run a hand down my face and shake my head. “I’m sorry, but you were clearly upset, and I figured I could take care of it.”
“That is what you think about everything,” Eve says, spinning around and pacing towards the bed. When she gets there, she turns on her heel and charges back towards me. “I can take care of myself.”
“So you’ve said.”
My tone makes her raise an eyebrow, and I sigh. “I’m sorry, but—”
“She is scared. She is scared and alone, and I don’t want to alienate her.”
I reach out and lay my hands on Eve’s shoulders. She tries to wriggle free, but I hold on. “And I don’t want her to screw up your chances of getting out of here.”
Eve shakes her head. “She wouldn’t.”
“She could. She already got herself in trouble with the Cartel once, and the closer you stick to her, the more you put yourself at risk.”
Eve opens her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. “You saw what happened to Number Five today.”
She closes her mouth, chewing on her bottom lip, and then nods. “I did.”
“Seeing how heartless they were towards that woman only reinforced the fact that I would let every single one of the women here die before I would ever let anything like that happen to you.”
Her cheeks go red, and her brown eyes go hard. “That isn’t right, Luka.”
“I don’t fucking care if it’s right!” I roar. “It’s the truth!”
She drops down on the edge of the bed and folds her hands in her lap. “You always do this. You always come to my rescue when I don’t need rescuing.”
“I know. And I won’t apologize for it, either.”
She looks up at me, clearly surprised that I agree with her. I shrug. “I know that I micromanage everything when it comes to your safety and Milaya’s, but I can’t help myself. My life has always been dangerous, but I’ve never had anyone in it that I cared about as much as I care about you and Milaya. I guess I’m still getting used to what that looks like for me.”
Eve holds out her hand to me, and I grab it, letting her pull me onto the bed with her. She lays her head on my shoulder. “I’m still getting used to what it feels like being loved by someone like you.”
I kiss her temple. “We are both going to have to find a good balance, but until we are out of here, I’m going to err on the side of caution.”
I feel her unhitch her breath to argue, but I squeeze her fingers and continue. “Because in here, any slipup could mean you get hurt. And if you get hurt, I’m going to kill whoever did it, probably getting killed in the process. And if we both don’t make it out of here, there is no telling what will happen to Milaya.”
Eve is silent and still for a long time before she finally crawls away from me and moves to the top of the bed, sliding beneath the blankets. She pulls back the comforter, inviting me in, and I crawl in next to her without argument.
We fall asleep that way, tangled in one another, trying to forget our troubles for a few hours.
