Page 3

Chapter

Three

GRACE

S taring at his prosthetic was probably rude as fuck so I focused on the area around us, not that I could see much. The darkness was deep, but when the light behind went out it was like the night took on a texture of its own. Above, there were so many stars.

“Keep drinking the water,” Alphabet advised as he tugged on a clean shirt. The sound of his zipper pulled my attention back to him. “Just getting changed,” he said, not looking at me. Or maybe he was. The velvet night outlined him. He was a darker shadow amidst the others, but maybe it was the memory of the light from the car made his blonder hair seem almost like a halo.

Or maybe my brain was just making shit up.

I opened my mouth to offer to help, but then closed it again and leaned my head against the side of the van and stared at the sky again. In school, there were pictures in books about the stars and they showed up in the movies.

But this was…

“It’s something else, isn’t it?” he asked.

“I’ve always lived in cities,” I admitted. “Traveled to cities. Lived close to cities.”

“Sometimes, the best part of deployment was where it took us—took me. First time I saw anything like this, I was in a high desert in the mountains. Cold enough to freeze your nuts off, but we couldn’t use a fire. Not that I would have traded the view for the warmth.”

“Do they go away with any light pollution?” That was the word right. The throb of the headache had taken on a steady cadence. It wasn’t quite killing me anymore, but I wouldn’t mind if it went away.

How many concussions was too many? It had to be a concussion, right?

“Not totally,” he said and there was something soothing about his voice in the dark. Goblin was nearby, I could hear the soft huffs of his panting. The smell of metallic rust and sweat still coated my nose but then a breeze would come to brush it away. “It does take away from some of it. It’s best on a night with no moon.”

That made sense.

“Drink, Gracie.” The gentleness in his tone softened the order to a request. Thankfully, he didn’t continue to press me. Course, I also unscrewed the top of the water bottle and took a drink.

His movements disturbed the air so I could kind of follow him getting dressed again. While I didn’t comment, a part of me wondered how hard it was to get dressed, or undressed for that matter, with the prosthetic.

Also, how far up did it go? What had happened to his leg? Clearly, he’d been injured. I wasn’t a total idiot even if my brain actually hurt at the moment. They were all former military, they had to be. Or close to it.

“How did you get the name Alphabet?” The question slipped out in the darkness. I’d already asked Voodoo what his real name was and he hadn’t answered me. Or maybe he had and that answer was none of my business.

“My name is a bitch sometimes,” Alphabet admitted. “I always have to spell it for people. It became a running joke… so—Alphabet.”

I took another long drink of the water. He popped open the wipes. The faint scent of the scentless teased me. Nothing was truly scentless.

“I’m going to guess you like it better than the other?” I mean, it was still a question but when men in their what? Mid-thirties? Went by nicknames permanently, they had to like them, right?

“Eh,” he said and I could almost hear the smile that kissed the words. “It’s not bad. And I don’t have to spell it.”

A snort escaped me. “I mean… I guess you could always sing it if someone does ask.”

The silence that greeted my statement had me swallowing my own humor with another long gulp of water. I’d almost finished all of it and my stomach wasn’t rolling anymore. Good sign, right?

He huffed, then let out a real chuckle. “Sing it.” I could almost picture him shaking his head. “You know what, Gracie. Maybe I will next time.”

That made me grin all over again. There was the sound of plastic rustling, probably sacking up his filthy clothes. The smell was much better so I’d take it.

“Now, for the hard question,” Alphabet said and I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.

“Because everything else that’s happened has been so easy and gentle.”

“True,” he mused. “But you’re a big girl. You can handle it.”

Yes, I probably could. Or I could fake it. Either way… “What’s the hard question?”

“Do you want to change? I’ll be honest, I was more worried about getting you away and making sure you didn’t have any open wounds than I was worried about your clothes. But I also didn’t realize how sticky some of that shit still was on me when I put you into the van and got you out.”

I made a face. “Would you mind looking at my back for me? I really don’t want anyone’s blood on me.” Not even my own.

“I don’t mind at all.” A simple, straightforward answer. I screwed the cap back on the empty bottle. “Light coming on.” Instead of the overhead which I expected, he had a flashlight in his hand pointed at his boots.

It was much brighter than I expected, but also whiter than the muddy light from the overhead. Weird, the things you noticed. I pushed up from where I sat on the lip of the back and turned away.

The light threw my shadow against the door and past it. Goblin was right there, panting. It wasn’t that warm out here but maybe he was tired. “Should we give him water?”

“Yep,” Alphabet answered. “We will. Going to touch your back, okay?”

“Okay.”

Instead of touching me directly though, he pulled the sticky shirt away from my back and my stomach rolled. A shudder rippled through me and then there was a hand on my shoulder.

“Breathe,” he ordered. This time it was not a request. “It’s mostly sweat, I would imagine. But there is some blood. So, your bag is right there… let’s get you out something clean and…”

The light swept lower, over my leggings.

“Your butt looks fine, and your legs. So I don’t think you got any there. Shoes are good.” He swept the light upwards again. “Touching your head, okay?”

Despite the no-nonsense tone, he waited for my response.

“Yes, I found a lump. But I don’t think it was bleeding.”

“Well, that’s something.” He moved a little closer, then his hand was in my hair, gentle as a butterfly’s wings while his fingertips traced over my scalp. “Definitely a lump. I’m pretty sure you have a concussion.”

“I kind of guessed.”

“You’re going to be fine,” he continued as though there were zero other options.

“Or what?” The tease fell out of me. “Going to sing me the ABCs?”

His snort pulled a real, if reluctant smile to my lips. “I might save that for when you do something really bad.” As fast as the humor appeared, it vanished. “We’ll save that for later though. Right now, let’s get you cleaned up and get Goblin some water and we’ll get back on the road.”

“Can’t wait.” If he could fake enthusiasm. So could I.

Changing meant taking the shirt off in front of him. Not that I cared.

“I can turn around if you want.” It was a nice offer.

“It’s just a body, AB,” I told him. “And if you don’t mind doing me one more favor, I’d like it if you could make sure to wipe any of the blood off me.”

“AB?” He repeated the letters in order. “Giving me another nickname, Gracie?”

“If you hate it…”

“I don’t,” he said quickly. “It’s kind of nice. Okay, let’s get you cleaned up. Once we’ve got signal again, I’ll tag Voodoo about the pain relievers you can have for that headache.”

Changing me took almost no time at all. I did my best to not think about any dampness I touched as I stripped the shirt off. He used the light and a wipe to clean up my back then he sighed.

“Gracie…”

“It’s on the bra too, isn’t it?”

“Sorry.” The funny thing was, he sounded absolutely sincere.

“I’ll live.” I reached behind me and undid the snaps then shrugged it off. It fell on the ground and I left it there. He finished wiping down my back. The wipe itself was cool and it left goosebumps in its wake as the breeze hit. He cleaned away all the traces of the earlier attack.

If only everything could be washed away as easily.

“All done. Do you need me to get you a bra?” He handed me a fresh wipe. I’d already pulled out a t-shirt, but I made sure my hands were as clean as I could get them.

“No, thank you. One upside to my tits. I don’t bounce that much.” I tugged the shirt on. It was dark too. Even the perceived sensation of something on my skin had me shuddering.

When I would have reached for the bra, Alphabet touched my arm lightly. “I’ll get it, put it in the bag with my stuff. Go back up front and get some more water for us and for Goblin?”

I tried not to let my relief show, because yeah, the last thing I wanted to do was touch the items again. Frankly, we could burn them. I wasn’t sure you could get that much blood out in the wash. Especially not what was on him.

“On it.” The water cooler was tucked under the back bench seat. Weird van, but someone had restocked it. So I opened a bottle and filled the bowl hanging off the pack on the front passenger seat. Goblin trotted over as I set it down and he slurped down the water.

I opened a bottle for Alphabet as he closed the backdoors then came up to where we were. Once he was in arms reach, he shut the flashlight off again. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust and I found myself staring upward again. The scattering of stars across the sky were really beautiful.

“Do they look different from different parts of the world?”

“I don’t think so,” he answered in an equally quiet voice. Only the sound of Goblin lapping up his water filled the air around us. “I guess it might look different depending on the time of the year, but I never really noticed it. Just… like looking at them.”

I did too. There was something peaceful about them. They were all so far away and seemed small, but we were the small ones really. “Think this is what it would be like to have a time machine?”

His soft snort made the corners of my lips twitch. “Maybe. Their light could have taken thousands of years to get here. We could be seeing those stars and the Milky Way how it appeared when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.”

“That’s—unsettling.”

“But cool,” he intoned, then took a long drink of his water. “Still got Goblin’s bottle?” I passed it to him without question. He crouched and emptied the rest of the bottle out for the dog. “What do you think?”

“About how long it took the light to get here?”

“Sure,” he answered. Maybe he hadn’t meant that.

“I don’t know what to think. Not really. I mean they’re gorgeous and looking up at this now… I never want to move from here. I want to see this forever, but that’s not how time works or life for that matter.”

“True, but if you like the stars, Gracie. We will find you more stars. There’s a couple of good spots at base where we get some excellent views of them. If you want, I’ll show you when we’re back.”

“AB?”

“Don’t ask me to let you go, Gracie. Not yet. Not while you’re not safe.” The length of his sigh wore at me. “I know you weren’t safe back there and that’s on me. But I’m not letting that happen again. Once we get this solved, find out the threat and eliminate it… then you can go home.”

“We don’t even know what the threat is,” I said. “Other than human traffickers, I can’t imagine that’s a short list. Then there’s Amorette…”

“I haven’t forgotten her.” Nothing about his words sounded like a lie. But a good lie wouldn’t. That’s what made them a good lie. “Like I said earlier, you need to learn to trust us. Trust takes time.”

“Even if I tell you no and say just drop me off somewhere, that’s not an option, is it?” I’d ask every single one of them if I had to.

“You already know the answer.” He crouched again and came up with Goblin’s bowl. “Want to ride in the front with me now that you’re awake?”

“Sure,” I said. What other answer was there? Sit in the back and sulk like a child? I mean, the idea had merit, but at the moment, my head hurt too damn much for that.

With a light nudge, he moved me aside and removed the pack from the passenger seat. He moved to the back and stored it, then got Goblin up into the back at his command. The panel door slid shut after him.

I stared up at the stars while he got us ready. They really were beautiful. I’d never cared for camping when we were growing up. Maybe I needed to add that to my list of hobbies.

Am would probably laugh, then worry I needed therapy if I brought it up. The idea of her laugh made me smile. Definitely needed to tease her with it now. Just to find out.

I missed her.

The driver’s side door slammed shut. It was time to go. Lowering my gaze, I stared out into the darkness. This felt like a weird metaphor for my life. There were bright, unexpected moments, but everything else was shrouded in darkness.

Alphabet didn’t hurry me along. I gave myself one last look at the stars, then I climbed into the passenger seat and pulled on the seat belt.

“So what are the rules?” I asked, summoning up some humor.

“For?” Alphabet asked as he got the van started.

“For the music. Driver controls it or do I get some say?”