At a muffled scream, I froze and lowered myself further into the tangled undergrowth. Several gruff voices cursing up ahead were followed by a second cry. That time, it was clearer. A woman’s high-pitched whine. As a skin-chilling drizzle began, the crashing of tree limbs and shrubs reverberated before me. Despite the thumping of my heart, I kept still. Patience, always patience. At last, once silence had descended, I crept forward through the gentle pitter-patter of frigid droplets.

Once I’d reached the muddy edge of a shallow ditch, just to make life fun, the heavens opened. In an instant, the rain became endless sheets of icy gray water. With my hands tight to the bullpup carbine, holding its barrel clear, I offered a mumbled curse to those heavens. Another series of epithets slipped from me as I skated sideways on my thigh into the weed-choked gulley. A controlled descent, sorta.

With a grunt, I landed in the already filling bottom. At a soft crunch under my other boot, I eased to one side. As I eyeballed the ground below, my loose ponytail, soaking beneath a battered knit cap, stuck to my shoulders. Amid wild plants and half-submerged in muck lay scattered, discolored bones in tattered filthy rags.

Although I couldn’t be sure, it was most likely the remnants of a walker. It’d been so long since the Fall, most of them had disintegrated wherever they’d last crawled or meandered. The bodies of any actual dead from that horrific time weren’t likely to be in one place anymore. Animals had seen to that years ago.

“Watcha got, Astie?” A gruff male’s voice came through the headset just as I took my next step.

“Hold on,” I whispered.

With great care, I eased through the dense brush. My boots squelched in ever gooier mud. Beneath the pounding rain, I moved under thick tree limbs. Their deepening shadows blotted out the late evening’s cloudy, darkening sky. After slowing, I swept the building gloom ahead through the carbine’s green-tinted optics. Above the ravine’s lip, hunched dark silhouettes shuffled in and out of sight as they passed gaps in the heavy underbrush.

When I slipped into a patch of taller undergrowth, I jerked at the last second to avoid a scrunched female body. Pale, with matted, filthy hair and bare beneath the waist, her slender torso was wrapped in something thin and pink. After a soft sigh, I clicked the boom microphone just before my mouth.

“Yeh. Boss was right.” After another quick glance at the crumpled form, I rolled my stiff lips, freeing a rivulet of icy water to run down my chin. “Fuckin’ slavers.”

At the sudden burst of laughter in my ears, I swallowed a grin while inspecting the woman. Slender and petite. Young, perhaps. But she was too emaciated to be sure.

“Yeh, yeh.” While exhaling, I lifted the carbine to give the soggy terrain another scan. “Got it. Point made. But we’re not as bad as these assholes.”

After a longer sigh and flicking a loose strand of wet hair from my face, I left the body to glide into the rain-soaked darkness. Given how long I’d been wandering those hills, I’d a pretty good idea where the sad little column was heading. With the carbine’s stock tight to my shoulder, I cut through the brush until a gentle rise led me to the edge of a narrow trail.

Thick with glistening mud and marred with the pathetic troupe’s footprints already filling with water, the path wound downhill towards a nearby river. Well, relatively nearby. After a quick glance skyward, I shook my head. They’d really have to up their pace to reach it by full dark. Because the slashing heavy rain did a number on the scope’s view, I could discern only the backs of the last two in the group. In bulky clothes and hunched against the deluge, they trudged into the gloom.

Nope, they wouldn’t make the riverbank. They’d be huddling for the night at “Iron Cliff’s.” Not towering sheets of rock, it was an abandoned tumbledown biker bar. I swallowed a wry chuckle. Probably would’ve been a fun place before the Fall.

After a slow exhale, I blew a puff of frigid rainwater from my upper lip. Right as I’d begun to scan in the other direction, a snap and soft cough behind me sent a chill through my core. Snap, movement. Cough, not a walker. Before my mind finished processing the sounds, I was spinning on the wet leaves to align my optics on a shadowy silhouette.

In the sight, the image resolved into a young woman. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of green. Since dark, goopy mud coated half her dirty face, one eye shone brighter in the dim light. Both glimmered as if they were the brightest of emeralds. After a quiet gulp, I lowered my weapon. With skinny pale arms tight over her chest, she clutched at a torn, rain-soaked, muck-streaked pink tank top painted to her slim frame.

It was the “body” from the ditch.

Across her bare pelvis and slender legs, glittering rivulets raced. Every inch of her was bruised, marred with dirt, and covered in goosebumps. As her bright white teeth chattered in the gloom, her small feet squelched in a deep puddle.

“Are you the police?” She glanced past me after the disappeared slavers. “Will you punish them?”

It took a few seconds to interpret her quiet, raspy voice. “Wha—huh?” As I followed her glance, I swallowed a chuckle. There hadn’t been any law enforcement, real police, in a very long time. “Nope. Not a cop. Why’d you think that?”

“The way you’re dressed,” she replied while gesturing with one shaky hand. After leaning in closer, her eyes widened. “Oh, you’re a woman?”

“Yeh,” is all I said while glancing at the scavenged black body armor tight to my torso.

Lined with pouches, it was bulkier than other types. Over the years, I’d shoved it full of every kind of useful junk. But it also did a great job of hiding my figure; the real reason I chose to wear it.

“Status, Astie?” came over the headset.

“Clear,” I replied as I swept the optics along the trail once more. “Gonna head to the old Donnelly place. Can’t see shit, anyway. I’ll pick ‘em up in the AM.”

“Okay.” There was a loud crackle of static before the voice returned. “With this storm, river’s gonna be runnin’ mighty high. They ain’t goin’ far.”

“That’s what I figure.” While speaking, I lowered the carbine and stepped upward onto the trail.

Once both boots had settled into the path’s gooey muck, I rolled my shoulders. From my brows, rain dripped to my eyelashes. After a quick flutter to clear them, I turned to squint back into the dark ravine. Even tinier from where I stood, the huddled dirty pink figure in the thick brush was hard to discern. While tremors rippled through her, the woman stared each way along the path before meeting my gaze.

Right then, the struggle was real. Oh, I knew what I should’ve done. Left her. She’d be nothing but dead weight. Straightforward. Except, those amazingly shiny eyes caught the tiniest shaft of rain-choked starlight. Moment of weakness? Maybe. Whatever it was, as icy droplets slithering into my collar drove rippling shivers through me, I broke my rule.

“Come on,” I said, while holding out my black-gloved hand.

Yet, for my trouble, she only shrunk backwards with her pretty eyes widening. If anything, her arms tightened further on her ribs as her bare feet, by then up to their bony ankles in murky water, sloshed. With a shrug, I glanced across the trail towards the shadowy rise beyond a patch of dead trees. When I returned to her, I sighed.

“There’s a safe place ... Well, safer place, up ahead. It’s dry, at least.” While shifting my weapon to keep its barrel downward, I waggled my fingers. “Look. If I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead.”

Despite the unrelenting downpour, and the tremors wracking her entire frame, she gazed up at me for an eternity. Behind those glimmering bottomless emeralds, a million thoughts seemed to flash. At last, she raised one trembling hand. After latching onto it, I tugged her upwards with a grunt. She was so light, I almost flung her into the mud beside me. But after steadying on her wobbly legs, she gave me a quick nod.

A dull flash somewhere high above illuminated her skinny, shaking form. Her teeth were chattering. For a second, I thought about digging into my pack for a blanket, but it’d be soaked before she could wrap it over her shoulders. And at the rate the cloud-blocked sun was dropping, it was getting darker with every second. The peal of thunder at last rumbled over us.

After a terse sigh, I turned and headed into the maze of deadfall. Dripping sheets of water, the leafless, gnarled limbs overhung thick, bristly shrubs. At one time, it’d been a well-manicured hedge and treeline along the grandiose property’s perimeter. But like many things, the years hadn’t been kind to it. By then, the gloomy labyrinth served as a formidable barrier to any who didn’t know their way through.

I knew the route.

Once we’d clambered clear of the last thick brush, I kneeled to sweep the optics over an open scrub-covered slope. At the soft squelch as she settled and her rapid breaths behind me, my chest tightened. What the fuck was I doing? And why, Nasty Astie? Yeh, I wasn’t the kindest of folks in our settlement. Emeralds. With a quick shake of my head and a quicker sigh, I lowered the carbine.

At the top of the gentle rise was the dark silhouette of a two-story house with a sharply peaked roof. The rain hadn’t slackened and, other than the Donnelly home’s outline, I couldn’t make out any details. After a brief glance at the little pink-clad figure, I eased forward. With the carbine’s worn buttstock seated against my shoulder, I kept low. I suppose I should’ve said something to her, but ... Well, I didn’t. Though when I slowed to check, she was behind me, hunched as small as she could get.

So smart and pretty.

Pretty? Really? Where the fuck had that come from?

With a half grunt, I slipped into the house’s shadow. At least its tall stone walls blocked most of the wind-driven rain. As I leaned against the cold brick, I gathered my strength, watching the skinny form shuffle closer. From a clogged gutter high above, a twinkling sheet of water descended to splash around the perimeter of the structure. Once she’d made it, I flashed a quick grin before turning to move towards the rear of the home. Fuck. Really? I was grinning at her. Like some sort of moron.

“What the fuck, Nasty Astie?” As I murmured, chilly rivulets of rain slid along my lips.

While trying to remain focused on, oh I don’t know, staying alive, I crept past a murky sludge-filled swimming pool. Just ahead was a gaping rectangular hole that had once held sliding glass doors. My pulse quickened. It should still be clear, but back then one never knew.

After making the tattered edge of the yawning doorframe, I peeked inside. Atop litter-strewn stained tile lay scattered the wreckage of once-plush furnishings. The ruined family room was nothing more than terrifying dark places for anything, or anyone, to hide.

At the sound of her body slipping into place behind me, I slid a hand back to grasp the woman’s thin wrist. After only the briefest resistance, she let me tug her into the house. Still keeping low and facing my weapon towards the interior, I shoved her into a corner.

“Stay there. And keep quiet.” While speaking, I looked through the optics at a shadowy corridor. When I turned to her, I held in a grin at the glint of emerald in her shadowed eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” she whispered before squeezing behind the overturned frame of a battered easy chair.

Jesus. How the fuck did her eyes manage to glimmer like that in almost total darkness? Even as I shook my head to clear the image, I weaved past a toppled couch and slipped towards the gaping darkness. The good news was, after sweeping both floors, nobody else was in the ruin.

The bad news was, as I peered at soot marks in what had been the kitchen, somebody had been there. After dragging the fingers of my glove and rubbing them together, I sniffed the residue. But not for a while. So not such bad news.

“Donnelly clear,” I whispered into my mike while heading for the back of the house.

“Got it. Stay safe, Astie.”

“Aww, you care,” I replied with a chuckle.

“Nope. But the Boss does.”

Although I caught only the start of laughter before the transmission ended, I couldn’t help but smile. Honest. Brutally so, but honest. Scouts were rare. Trustworthy scouts like me were rarer still. While slipping back into the destroyed ex-family room, I waved toward the huddled form in the corner.

“Come on. It’s cl—safe.”

As she unfurled to step into the center of the room, I found my eyes wandering to the slim silhouette. Not just wandering, I was pausing, if only for the shortest of times, at all the right spots. She had curves. Wonderful curves. Right then, I should’ve left her. There’s no way she wouldn’t be trouble. I needed no complications.

At a closer peal of thunder, I jolted and shifted to follow a powerful sheet of pounding water approaching across the weed-covered concrete pool deck. A lengthy sigh slipped from me. I wasn’t leaving. And I damned sure wouldn’t send anybody out into that anytime soon.

Fine. I was stuck with her. And her curves. And her glossy emerald pools. With only a curt nod, I gestured for her to follow me before heading back to the kitchen. Once inside, I worked in silence. After dropping my pack, I pulled out a package of brown oil paper. As I tugged each of several rusty cans free, I removed thick wads of old newspaper. Filled with small pieces of metal, they jangled as I set them on a dingy, stained tile countertop.

Atop her folded legs, the young woman in pink sat on the floor, watching me emplace jingle cans at the doors and string fishing line attached to others across the windows. After standing back to inspect my work, I nodded to myself before pulling out a threadbare blanket. Once I’d packed it with wadding from the cans and a few twigs, I lay it in the middle of the room. After shaping a pile of loose rubbish to imitate a campfire, I sat back on my haunches with a grin.

“Alright, that should do,” I said while rising to stand with the open pack dangling from one hand. “If anybody stumbles inside, they’ll come here first. And we’ll know about it.”

After flashing her a tight grin, I gestured for the woman to follow. Right when I moved for the one doorway I hadn’t rigged, a resounding boom of thunder pulled a yelp from her. When she took a step towards me with her brilliant green eyes wide, I gulped. It’d been a long time since anyone had approached me for protection. Not that I could do much against Mother Nature.

“It’ll be okay. Come on.” While speaking in a softer tone than I’d used in ages, I broadened my smile and gestured her forward. “We’re about as safe as it gets.”

Not entirely convinced, she glanced around, but at last nodded and trailed me from the kitchen. After a quick halt to rig the door behind us, I moved deeper into the ruined house. At the foot of the main staircase, I slowed before clambering upwards past several pieces of tumbled furniture. Once at the top, I shifted a hefty bedside table into place to block off access to the upper floor.

“Tada. Fort Donnelly.”

As I laughed, I caught the tiniest twinkle in her eyes. And that—that was nice. I mean, a flicker of warmth tickled Nasty Astie’s blackened little heart. And it felt good. With my heartbeat thumping, I turned from her to head along a strip of tattered, stained carpeting towards an open doorway. Once we’d crossed the threshold, I lowered my pack onto a chair’s wooden frame and looked around.

Pretty much as I’d left it the last time I’d passed through; the bedroom possessed the only solid windowpane in the house. Most likely because of the large tree rustling in the fierce wind gusts beyond its filthy glass. Other than the chair frame, nothing remained inside but the well-worn pile carpeting that might’ve been some shade of red a million years ago. With its door missing, an enormous closet lay bare of anything but a mass of rotted clothing in a corner.

Not much to celebrate, right? Ah, but the sight through another doorless gap brought a grin to my face.

It was a small, white-tiled bathroom. No, not untouched. Such a thing was limited to the haunts of long dead fantasies. But to one side, although the commode had been looted, was at least a bare hole in the floor. Which meant no need for a shovel and a trip outside into the rain, snow, or worse.

But that wasn’t what was causing my smile to widen. Since it was too large to fit through the door, legions of looters over the years had left my shining treasure unmolested. Against the far wall beneath mostly intact glass blocks lay a deep, white porcelain clawed-foot bathtub.

“Make yourself comfortable,” I said, while shoving the bedroom door closed behind us.

After sliding the chair frame against the solid door, I already imagined water flowing over me in the tub. Even if it were cold, it would be magnificent. As I turned, the start of a grin froze on my face. Followed by everything within me slamming to a halt.

Illuminated in a sudden flash of light, the shivering, wide-eyed young woman stared around the darkened space. With her arms remaining tight to her chest, everything below the muddy pink hem stuck to her waist was bare. A mix of older and newer bruises and handprints marred both filth-streaked legs.

Harsh reality came roaring back into me with a vengeance.

It would require much more than an empty room before she’d ever feel comfortable. Despite the sudden surge in my pulse at the glimpse of her pale, round butt and trembling thighs, I averted my eyes. Yeh, I know. Nasty Astie averted her eyes.

With my chest tightening, I rummaged in my pack before retrieving a compact nutria-bar. A short stretch of my arm through the open window had my canteen cup filled to the brim with icy rainwater. While keeping my focus on it, and not on her, I headed for the bathroom. As the trembling woman watched from the doorway, I built a small fire in the tub. A few quick snaps sent chunks of the bar plopping into the water, and I leaned closer to hold the cup over the flickering flame.

“What’s your name?” The warming metal handle felt good in my gloved hand.

“Julia.” Her voice became shaky and lower. “Uh, they were, um, calling me ‘Little Jewel.’”

Rather than comment on who “they” might be, I only nodded while staring into the flames. My second thought? Yeh, she was a little jewel. Fuck. Now catching the thicker wood, the fire warmed my face and neck. At the warmth seeping deeper than that, I gulped.

“I’m, uh, Asteria.”

For a long while, there was only the shuffle of her feet and rumble of distant thunder until a quiet cough cleared her throat.

“That’s a pretty name.” While taking a tentative step closer, she lowered to crouch beside me, stretching her palms towards the ersatz firepit. “It means star. As in a star sapphire. Blue, like your eyes.”

As she fell silent, I faced her. And lost myself. Though the heat from the flames was constant, the heat inside me flared. Reflecting those flickering orange tongues, hers were the bejeweled eyes. Pure emeralds. Glossy. Almost translucent. As the pulse roared in my ears, I managed a lopsided grin before shaking my head.

At sudden pain in my fingers, I yanked the metal cup from the fire.

“Ow! Fuck!” As I lifted the canteen, the slurry within bubbled. “Hold on a sec,” I added while easing to my feet and slipping past her to the main room. “It needs to cool.”

So did I.

While stomping in a wide circle, I looked everywhere but at her. It’d been a mistake to bring her there. I’d blown a safe house location. And what was she to me? Julia. Jewel. Little Jewel. Damn it. Focus, Astie. Nasty fucking Astie. At last, I whirled to find her leaning against the bathroom doorway.

Behind her, the fire’s flickering orange tips cresting the tub’s stained porcelain silhouetted her slender curves. With my heart hammering, I gripped the cup in both gloved palms. Despite its heat searing me, I held the cooler handle towards her. Towards Little Jewel. And the most amazing eyes I’d ever seen.

“Here. Get this into you.” I nodded at the bedroom floor where she’d been sitting. “Not gonna lie. It’ll taste like crap, but it’ll warm you up. A bit.”

Before she could reply, I moved to my pack to snatch my personal care kit. Again, while avoiding her, I managed to gnaw my way through a nutria-bar while peeling away my armor. Once I’d slipped free of the sweat and rain-soaked charcoal-tinted tunic, I stood in only my sodden, once-white t-shirt. Although I avoided looking at Julia, between rumbles of thunder, I detected every soft slurp from her lips. And after undoing the ratty ponytail and shaking out my matted blonde tresses, I caught Julia’s tiny gasp. So, she’d been watching me.

A twisting, shooting flare of heat roared through my core.

Fuck!

Cool. Now!

As the room wavered, I needed to chill whatever was going on inside me. After popping open the window, I shoved my face into a rain-laden gust. While my dangling hair swirled in the wind, I dragged my soapy fists along it. Once clean, I let the slanting icy raindrops rinse it before retreating to wrap my dripping mane in a towel.

When I turned, as much as part of me struggled, I glanced at Julia. Despite the chilly hair wrapped to my head, the glimmer in her eyes sent my pulse racing once more. As she sat sideways on her folded legs, the empty cup was on the rug before her scratch-covered knees. Another brief scan of her filthy frame had me exhaling. No matter what, the poor thing deserved at least a little help.

After grabbing a bar of soap, I lifted the canteen cup from the rug. Even as I held in a curse, I flung open the window again to give the metal a quick rinse. Once I’d refilled it with rainwater, I walked into the bathroom to heat it over the flames. When it was warm enough, I set it aside before dousing the flames and removing the remnants of the fire.

“Alright, Julia. Hop in,” I said while placing the hot water and soap bar on the lip of the tub. After giving my hair a quick rub, I draped the towel over the near side. “I’ll get you some cold water.”

She didn’t move.

Well, Julia’s eyelashes batted as she gazed between me and the tub. But her arms were again tight to her chest, although she wasn’t trembling as often. Yeh, well, considering what’d happened to her out there, that’d been a bit much to ask. With a sigh, I went to my pack. After digging out a rolled gray t-shirt and a pair of loose navy cotton shorts, I turned to face her.

“Here.” I held out the clothing with one hand while reaching for an empty light-blue metal bottle with my other. “Everything’s gonna be big on you, but it’s all I’ve got.”

Still unmoving, Julia swallowed before glancing between her legs. As I tracked her gaze downward, I spotted crusty yellowed stains. My nostrils crinkled at the pungent scent. As much as I’d wished it to be imaginary, it was all too real.

“They used me.” Her voice was beyond tiny and followed by several rapid hitching breaths. As Julia looked up at me once more, a soft sniffle slipped from her.

With only a slow nod of my head, I dug farther into my pack to find a small pouch. After tearing away a piece of silvery duct tape, I unwrapped a single pink pill from a square of aluminum foil. As I held it out to her, I forced a grin. A grin that I did not feel, but then again, it wasn’t for me.

“What’s this?” she asked in the same tiny, shaky voice.

“For emergencies.” As I rolled my lips, my brain tumbled. If only it’d been me, and not her needing it. Where’d that thought come from? “Uh, so, you, um ... Well, don’t end up with a baby.”

“Oh,” is all she said before tossing it back.

After a swift gulp, Julia eased to her wobbly feet, took the clothes from me, and headed for the bathroom doorway. Every languid, rhythmic motion of her little frame sent pulsing heat through me. Also, two thoughts screamed inside my head. First, I wanted to rip apart the fuckers who’d harmed her. And second, I wanted to hold her so tight to me, she’d never be alone ever again.

Once I’d torn my gaze from Julia, I returned to the window and unscrewed the bottle’s lid. A long, very long, exhale escaped me as I held the open cylinder beneath the torrent pouring from the clogged gutter. As it filled, my mind continued to whirl. There was no denying it. Julia was a complication. And there was no way I should be feeling what I was. No logic to it at all. She was my ... I don’t know. My ward? A responsibility I hadn’t wanted, but possessed anyway? And what was I to her? Some scary armed woman who’d just sent her to strip and bathe. Why? What did she think I’d do with her? To her?

At the icy water dribbling over its lip, I jolted back to reality and brought the bottle inside. Reality? Complication. And...

“And something else,” I muttered while closing the window. “Fuck it. Maybe.”

Right as I turned towards the bathroom, Julia tugged the sopping pink top from her torso. Although marred with bruises, handprints and scratches, her perfect chest jiggled in the diffuse light coming through the dirty glass behind me. My heart hammered. When our eyes met, the twinkle in hers before she averted them sent blood roaring into my skull.

After a slow gulp, I moved closer and held the water out to her. A glimpse of pink. Sharp, her nipples were small. And, despite the surrounding teeth and finger marks, the darker flushed stems were—perfect.

“Thank you—Asteria,” she whispered while sliding her shaky fingers into mine to retrieve the bottle.

“You’re, uh, welcome,” I managed, while taking a wobbly step backward. At her tilting head and narrowed glance from beneath knitted brows, I nodded and turned away. “I’ll, uh, be just out here. If, um, you, uh, need anything.”

Christ on a cracker. I sounded like a nervous little girl.

“What the actual fuck?” I murmured while balling my fists and marching to my pack.

Still cursing under my breath, I tore out a tattered, dark-green sleeping bag and flung it to the ground before grabbing a smaller chunk of soap. With the soap in one hand and a ratty old t-shirt I used as a rag dangling from the other, I strode to the window.

After tearing away the rest of my clothes, I tugged it open. At the chilly, humid air striking me full force, my body shook as I gritted my teeth. It took less than a second for the cold to raise goosebumps along my skin. More, and much louder, curses mumbled from me while splashing icy rainwater to scrub at the grime. After a final rinse that soaked the carpet by the wall, I dried myself with the torn shirt.

Even once done, I stood in the open window, letting the frigid air flow over me. Letting my brain chill. Letting my heartbeat slow. At last, with my teeth chattering, I eased it shut.

When I faced the room, all that chilling action went right into the toilet—the one that wasn’t there anymore. As heat raced back into me, both deep inside and over my skin, it was my turn to shudder. Draped in the huge t-shirt, Julia stood in the doorway, holding the waist of the shorts in one hand. Stuck to her slim shoulders, though damp and matted, her clean dark hair shone. And of course, gleaming like the pure bejeweled windows to her soul that they were, her eyes swept over my naked body. As the warmth intensified within me and seared the tips of my ears, I dodged to the pack to find fresh clothes.

Only once I’d slipped into clean panties, loose shorts similar to the ones she wore, and a lightweight tank top did I return my gaze to Julia. Still in the same place, she watched me rise as I dragged a brush through my hair.

“You’re beautiful, Asteria,” she whispered.

“Uh, huh,” is all I murmured while cramming gear into the pack.

Despite my mind flooding with my usual comebacks, each failed on my lips. Who did Julia think she was, calling me “beautiful?” Why? What did she want from me? Because if I’d learned one thing out in the wild, it was that everyone wanted something. Always. After kicking the green nylon sleeping bag into place, I tossed a thin emergency blanket at her feet.

“Better get some shuteye. We need to be long gone as soon as possible in the morning.”

It took several tries for my shaky fingers to attach a scratched silencer to my pistol, but at last I shoved it into the bag with me. After shifting around, I zipped the sleeping bag shut and sighed. Unmoving, Julia stared at the blanket next to her before raising her shiny, perfect eyes to find mine.

“What?” I spoke in an icier voice than I’d intended. But what the fuck, it was too late to take it back.

“You said ‘we,’” Julia replied while sliding to the carpet and wrapping herself in the skinny, crinkling plastic.

“Yeh. Yeh, I guess I did,” I mumbled while crushing my eyelids closed.

Although holding myself still, my brain whirled, heart raced, and body continued to surge with heat. At the shifting of her body on the rough carpet and the continued quiet chattering of her teeth, I exhaled. After a curt sigh, I opened my eyes and unzipped the bag.