Page 79 of His to Burn

After all, he was the one who wiped mytears—then sent me to the height of ecstasy after.

“You know I did.”

“Then you know what they said. No one’s coming. We have to figure out what’s going on out there and make a plan,” he said.

“We should…” I trailed off as Jack studied me, searching for the right next words.

But there weren’t any.

He was right.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, we couldn’t just stay here and pretend that everything would be okay eventually.

Plus, I knew Jack had places he needed to be.

Knew that I held him back from them.

“You’re right,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

I kept my head down but heard Jack cross over and pull me into a full-body hug. I let myself sink into him and let him hold me.

“It’s not about right or wrong, Asia. It’s about being smart, and this is smart.” His voice was soft in a way that made me want to melt on the spot.

Instead, I chuckled, my laughter reverberatingfrom my body to his. “I’m not gonna go that far, but let’s do this before I decide to argue again.”

He returned my laugh and then looked down at me, assessing.

After a moment, he pressed a soft kiss against my lips, then walked toward the patio door with me a step behind. The judge’s house had a deck with stairs that led down to the backyard. Jack thought it was safer to use that rather than walking through the front door or one of the side entrances. He also didn’t want to open the garage and risk someone seeing what the judge had inside.

So, with the morning sun hot overhead, we quickly stepped onto the deck, re-secured the door, and made our way down the stairs.

It felt odd being outside.

And not in a good way.

In the days we’d been here, I fully threw myself into the bubble we built. Allowed myself to think what was outside was distant, different from what was happening inside.

But the humid air and bright sun telling me that it was going to be a scorcher of a day hadthe same effect as being thrown into an ice-cold pool.

Something about the air, the stillness of it, the scent of it so familiar, but still threaded through with smoke, only drove that truth home.

I gave Jack a layout of the judge’s neighborhood. Our plan was to go to nearby houses, see if there was anything to find. And while Jack didn’t say it, I suspected he was looking for something useful, too. The judge was well supplied, but given what we heard, it would be stupid not to get everything we could.

And I was sure Jack wanted to make sure he had everything he ever conceivably needed when he finally decided it was time to leave.

The plan today was to search the neighborhood—seven houses—then get back to the judge’s and regroup. So I focused on that task as we swept through the houses.

Five houses in, and so far we found a couple of guns, some pouches of tuna, and first-aid kits and medication, all of which easily fit into the backpack Jack insisted on carrying. I’d tried to grab it, but one silent glare was enough for me to raise my hands in surrender. I wassure Jack and I would find plenty of reason to argue. Manual labor was one I’d let him have.

The sixth house was a treasure trove.

“Jack, check this out,” I said.

“What?” he asked, as he took the stairs two at a time.

Like with all the others, we did a quick sweep to make sure the home was empty, followed by a more thorough search.

“Isn’t this the most beautiful lamp?” I said when he entered the master bedroom.