Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
I pinched a leaf of basil between my fingers, breathing in its sharp scent. She’d smelled me. My lips twitched at the memory. Cora had let me breathe her in, and then she’d done the same, her nose pressed against my neck for just a moment. Like she was trying to memorize me.
I set down the shears carefully, wiping soil from my hands onto the worn denim covering my thighs. Six years since I’d buried my wife, waking up alone or in a concrete box with a cellie I despised. And now this woman with eyes like a winter sky had walked into the compound and cracked something open inside me that I’d thought died with Sarah.
“Here you are again.” I glanced up to find Knight grinning down at me. “Is it a coincidence you started spending more time here around when a certain delivery driver started showing up?” His voice held no judgment, just the gentle teasing of a brother who knew when something had shifted.
I drew in a breath. “Still need supplies.”
“Uh-huh.” Knight picked up a small stone from the garden’s edge, turning it over in his tattooed fingers. “And it’s got nothing to do with the fact that you kissed her yesterday where anyone with eyes could see.”
Heat crept up my neck. I’d forgotten how exposed we’d been, standing there by her car. Hadn’t thought about the compound’s many eyes, too consumed with the feel of her, the taste of her.
“So what if I did?” The words came out more defensive than I intended.
Knight set the stone back down precisely where he’d found it. “So nothing,” he said simply. “Glad to see you taking an interest in her. She seems like a good person.”
“She’s just a delivery driver,” I said, but the lie tasted bitter.
Knight shrugged, shoving his hands in to the back pockets of his jeans. “If you say so.” His voice softened. “But whatever she is, she’s got you looking less like a ghost these days.” He took a step back. “And that’s something none of us thought we’d see.”
I didn’t respond. Couldn’t find the words to neither confirm nor deny what he saw. Because he was right. Something had changed. I could feel it shifting under my skin, uncomfortable and foreign after feeling nothing but rage and grief for so long. I honestly couldn’t say the change was unwelcome, but trying my best not to linger on the possibility my happiness could be taken away again so easily kept me in check.
Knight lingered a moment longer. “Carrie’s making breakfast. Food’ll be ready in thirty.” He took another step back. “In case you want to join the living for a while today.”
Then he was gone, his footsteps fading as he moved back toward the main building. I returned to the garden, but I’d lost focus. The mint blurred before my eyes as memories of Cora intruded. The way she’d leaned into me. The small, surprised sound she’d made when our lips met. The feel of her fingers against the nape of my neck. Christ, I hadn’t thought about anything beyond the grief in so long, I hadn’t bothered to remember the wonderful memories I kept buried deep inside where they could never leave me.
I’d given Cora my name. My real name. Not Rancor. Marcus Wheeler. A name I hadn’t spoken aloud in years. A name that belonged to a man who I’d thought had died the night Sarah did. Remembering the feel of Cora’s lips against mine made me grateful that man was still inside me somewhere.
As the sun climbed higher, warming my shoulders through my T-shirt, I found myself wondering if Cora would come back today. Wondering if she’d let me taste her a second time.
* * *
Cora
Dark clouds hunched over the horizon as I drove toward the Kiss of Death compound. The afternoon light had turned strange, that eerie yellow-green that always preceded a serious storm. My windshield wipers smeared dust across the glass, and I made a mental note to replace them at some point. Wipers were like roofs. You don’t think about them until it rains. I’d checked the weather before heading out, knew a front was moving in, but I’d pushed forward anyway. After yesterday’s kiss, part of me had been looking for any excuse not to come back to the compound. The other part, the part that won out, couldn’t stay away. I wasn’t kidding anyone, including myself. I hadn’t looked forward to seeing anyone in my life as much as I anticipated seeing Marcus.
My vehicle rattled over the uneven road leading to the gates. Griffin waved me through the gate without hesitation when I rolled my window down and threw a hand up at him in greeting, now familiar with both me and my vehicle. The compound looked different today, the camo netting overhead swaying in the strengthening wind, casting moving shadows across the ground.