Page 15

The fact that Cherry had apparently found such a special sort of love out here, with a criminal alien cowboy, no less, was nothing short of beautiful. Miraculous, even.

If it were true.

I gave her fingers one more little squeeze before releasing them and furtively shutting the bedroom door.

“We’ve got to be out of earshot now,” I whispered. Cherry looked unconvinced, one of her eyebrows popping up.

“Alright, fine. Here.” I hustled to the bedroom’s window, yanking it shut. Then, I swiped the quilt from the bed, sending her pyjamas flying to the floor. Holding the quilt tightly under one arm, I forcefully pulled Cherry into the closet with the other.

“What are you doing?” she asked with a laugh. But it wasn’t her usual friendly, happy laugh. It was the sort of laugh you would let out when deeply unnerved by something.

I knew it. Something wasn’t right. Therewassomething she wanted to tell me.

“Quick,” I whispered, tossing the quilt over her head. I got under there with her, then sat down on the floor, yanking her along with me.

“OK, no, seriously. What are you doing?” Cherry asked from the quilted gloom of the closet floor.

“I’m creating a sound barrier,” I breathed. “Or, trying to. But we should still keep our voices down.”

“They’re Zabrians,” Cherry responded at a maddeningly normal volume level, “not intergalactic spies.”

“They still might be listening. You’re the one who told me how good their hearing is,” I hissed. I liked and respected Cherry, but goddamn, she would not be a good partner to have in a heist situation. Or a hostage situation. Or any situation that required even the smallest amount of discretion.

Alright, maybe hunkering down in the middle of a tiny closet with a quilt thrown over our heads wasn’t exactly the height of discretion, but still…

Maybe we could create some kind of code language.

No. No time for that. Who knew when Silar or the warden would come in and interrupt us?

“Cherry,” I said on a quiet exhale, “are you in danger? Blink twice if you want me to get you out of here.”

“Girl, it’s so freaking dusty here!” she wailed, once againfartoo loud. She covered her eyes with her hands. “I blink about a million times an hour!”

“OK. Fine. Blinking is out.” It was difficult to see her face beneath the quilt anyway. “Grab my hand and squeeze it if you don’t feel safe here.”

“Safehere, as in this closet? With you? Because I kind of feel like suffocation might be on the table.”

A valid concern. There was no cooling system in this house, and the summer heat made things extra stuffy in here, something only amplified by the blanket.

“You’re avoiding my questions. I just need to know how you really feel now that Silar and the warden aren’t hanging around. So squeeze my hand if-”

I suddenly yelped, breaking my own rules about volume level. Cherry had grabbed a part of me and pinched it.

But it wasn’t my hand.

It was my ear lobe.

“What the hell was that for? I didn’t mention ears in the special code,” I whisper-shouted, rubbing at the stinging flesh as she pulled her hand away.

“Sorry,” she replied, patting my knee in a comforting but not-at-all remorseful way. “It’s something I do when Silar is spiralling. It may not look like it, because he’s so quiet and all, but there’s a lot going on in that big head of his. He can be a really anxious alien bean. I often find a nice, friendly little ear-grab gets him out of his own head and back into the present moment.”

“Glad to hear that it was meant to be nice and friendly,” I muttered.

“Of course!” Cherry replied, giving my knee another reassuring pat. “I’ve helped Darcy through more than enough mental breakdowns out here. I’m practically an expert by now.”

“I’m not having a mental breakdown!”

“We are currently hiding under a blanket in a closet,” Cherry pointed out dryly.