Page 36

THE BOWLING ALLEY stood empty, every trace of her encounter erased.

The fires she started had been minor, leaving only a bit of smoke, and the fireman cleared out quickly.

Management sent all employees home for the rest of the day and locked the front door.

Behind the shoe counter, Lucas tapped away on a laptop.

An eerie silence settled over the space, the scent of charred upholstery and stale nachos clinging to the air like a ghost. Afternoon light slanted through the high windows, casting dark lines across the polished lanes.

Cold emptiness seeped into Ruby's bones, mirroring the anger simmering in her chest and the deep regret she couldn't shake.

Her argument with Jonah echoed in her mind, that rare anger sharp as a blade, cutting right through her defenses.

She clenched her fists, wincing as her freshly sewn finger throbbed in protest. The pain grounded her, almost a comfort, something solid she could latch onto as her thoughts unraveled.

Normally, you’d need to graft a vein in a much more complex surgery, but her body didn’t give a shit.

Half an hour later she could bend it once more.

Her leg had healed incorrectly, making it difficult to walk, but her ribs had knit back together efficiently .

"What were you thinking?" He had been raw, vulnerable, stripped of his usual humor. “He could’ve killed you.”

And she hated that her answer—her flimsy, cold "But he didn’t"—had only added fuel to the fire.

The paramedic glanced up as he reached for another tool.

“This is going to hurt,” he warned, though the words barely registered as he swung the hammer to break her leg.

She stifled a scream, grinding her teeth so hard they might shatter.

The pain pulsed, hot and immediate, as she blinked back tears and forced herself to breathe.

“Do you know what it was like? Stuck in that restroom, listening to your screams,” Jonah said. “Actually, I know you do. You did the same shit to me that he did to you and your daughter.”

“It’s not the same!”

“It is. And YOU KNOW it is!” Jonah yelled back, composure broken. “We’re supposed to be partners, Ruby.”

She barely felt the cold sweat on her face as she turned her frustration on Jonah.

“WHY? Why are we partners? Because of some whim of yours?” Her words cut deep, slicing through the tension, pushing him away before he could even think of finding a way in.

“What can you do? If I, a thermophile, can’t stand up to him, what makes you think you could’ve done anything but get in the way?

You’re just a regular ass human. You couldn’t save your sister, and you sure as hell couldn’t have saved me. ”

The silence that followed cut deeper than any of Edward’s threats or the burn of her healing wounds.

Jonah’s face crumpled for a fraction of a second, a flash of hurt so visceral that she wished he’d yell back at her, just to fill the crushing void between them.

But he didn’t. His silence punished her in the worst way—a mirror of her own bitterness staring back at her.

“Jonah, I’m sorry, I—” Her empty words thinned against the weight of what she’d said.

He nodded stiffly, his shoulders taut, as he turned away, taking slow, measured steps.

Then he paused, his voice barely above a whisper, yet as sharp as glass.

“I know you didn’t mean it. But it hurt.

And it pissed me off. So I’m going to take a walk and let you feel like shit about what you said.

Then we’re going to sit down and discuss this, as adults. ”

He left, his footsteps echoing through the empty bowling alley. She watched him go, the frustration giving way to a hollow ache. She’d ripped something precious out of her own hands and flung it away in a moment of anger.

The silence weighed heavily until Lucas broke it with a cough, making her jump. “God, the tension was practically choking me.” He gave her a wry grin.

“Shut up.” Ruby flung a bowling shoe at him. He ducked.

The door called to her, and she made a snap decision. “I’m going to the cemetery.”

Lucas tossed her his car keys without hesitation, his expression unreadable.

“Take my car. I’ll handle the footage—make sure no one’s wondering why there’s a charred bowling alley and a missing cheese finger on camera.

Try to be back by nine, though. I need to be at home, showered and drunk so I don’t have to think of your cheese finger while I watch my shows. ”

NINE WORDS STARED back at Ruby from the phone in her hand.

I need you to meet me at my house.

They echoed in her mind, pressing down on her already heavy heart. Earlier, she’d yet again spent the evening at the cemetery, sitting silently in front of her late husband’s grave. She had nothing left to say, no confessions, no lingering apologies—just a hollowed out sorrow.

His gravestone had become a stand-in, a quiet, weather-worn monument for her daughter.

Her husband had refused to accept that Andy was gone, insisting he’d get her a gravestone only when he found her.

But Ruby had no illusions. Her daughter was gone, like her husband, like the life they’d once shared.

Now, she stood outside Jonah’s door, clutching her phone as though those nine words might crumble in her palm. Maybe if she stayed here, just outside his life, nothing would happen. He wouldn’t break off their budding relationship, wouldn’t tell her that she wasn’t worth it.

Just as she turned to leave, the door creaked open. She froze, feeling caught, her back tensing, fingers curling into fists. She considered leaving without facing him—an escape, an end without confrontation. But his quiet intake of breath, the faint sound of him stepping closer, held her in place.

Dropping her shoulders, she turned to meet him, ready to fumble through an apology, to plead if she had to. The words died in her throat. Tension carved into Jonah’s face, his eyes weighted by a new burden. Between his fingers, he held a small pink note, crumpled from a tight grip.

“He knows where I live.” A tremor ran through the rushed words.

Her brow knit in confusion, her heart picking up speed. “Who?”

Jonah’s jaw tightened, his eyes dark with a mix of anger and fear. “Edward. He left this on my door.”

Denial shot through her, desperate, swift, and sharp.

Her hands shook as Edward's threats resurfaced, his smug promises to tear apart anything that grounded her. She looked up, meeting Jonah’s gaze, finding his eyes filled with a startling anger, a helpless fury at the intrusion into his life.

She wanted to shield him from all of it, to undo the connection that had put him in harm’s way.

“What does it say?” she asked, knowing she didn’t want the answer. Jonah hadn't been on Edward’s radar until she’d brought him there. A weight settled in her chest, heavy and unmoving, as his fingers crumpled the note.

Jonah passed it to her without a word.

Sending love to Samantha and Arvin. 1129 Goff Avenue, Colorado Springs . Ruby read the words aloud, a sick feeling curdling in her stomach. At the bottom, a crude drawing of a hand reached up, like a ghastly zombie clawing its way out.

“I don’t get it,” she muttered, her mind racing.

“Those are my parents,” Jonah choked out, “And their address.”

From the shelf behind him, the photo stared back at Ruby—a snapshot of Jonah and his sister, laughing with their parents, a slice of warmth she had rarely known.

The innocence and ease of that photo twisted something deep inside her.

She’d dragged him into her nightmare, bringing Edward’s dark shadow onto the people he loved.

A vision flared in her mind. Mornings wrapped in Jonah’s arms, rings glinting on their fingers, laughter echoing in a sunlit kitchen.

Little feet pitter-pattering down the hallway, filling a house they could make their own.

Her dreams dissolved as quickly as they formed.

That life wasn’t for people like her. The infected, the bitter, the hunted.

Scarred and cursed, every love she touched withered in her hands.

But Jonah wasn’t like her, he still had a chance for the life he deserved.

She inhaled sharply, savoring his face at this moment, the worry etching lines across his brow. A last glimpse at the man she loved before she lost him. Her heart twisted painfully, but she steeled herself.

“You were right to cut me out a few years ago.” She glanced around the room, taking in all the details of his house, all the things she’d never see again. “This was a mistake. We were a mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked down, her face hardening. “Edward Alden didn’t kill your sister.” There would be no coming back from this. “I did.”

Jonah’s face twisted in confusion, his mouth opening to argue, but she cut him off.

“I didn’t kill her directly,” she clarified, voice flattening. “But I left her for the TCA to find. She was my first thermophile target. Your sister wasn’t killed by a thermophile, Jonah. She was one.”

His confusion shifted to something else, something more painful, as her words sank in. She kept going, her heart clenching even as her face remained icy.

“She begged me not to turn her in, sobbed the entire time. She had a family, a boyfriend, dreams. I held her down with my boot. I broke two of her ribs in the process then let the TCA take her.”

Jonah shook his head. “Ruby, you didn’t—”

“Do you know what the TCA does to thermophiles, Jonah?” She spat the words. “They don’t just ‘put them down.’ They burn them. Sedatives barely work through the pain—they’re awake the whole time. And they scream. The. Whole. Time.”

A horrible silence followed as Jonah took in her words, as the truth settled between them, heavy and irreversible.

“She would have screamed the whole time,” Ruby deadpanned.. “And I never thought about her again. She didn’t exist to me anymore. Once the TCA had her, I erased her from my mind.”

The silence stretched, suffocating. She wished, fleetingly, that he would scream, fight, rage. Anything to make it easier for her to let him go. But he remained silent, staring, shattered.

She turned and walked away, each step peeling away a piece of her until she reached the edge of his drive. The cool night air filled her lungs.