Alive (The Crave) (15 page)

He opened his mouth to speak at the same time the front door opened.

“Hey, you guys okay? All clear?”

Eve jumped at the sound of Joseph’s voice and banged her shoulder into the sharp edge of the closest cabinet. “Yes, all clear!” Her voice was too high pitch and sounded more like a squeaking mouse. She looked everywhere, but at Gage when she left the room. Moving in a big circle to avoid touching him.

She walked so quickly that when she came out into the hall, she nearly bumped into Joseph. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s okay.”

She moved around him, averting her eyes, afraid that one look would let everyone know how easily she let Gage get to her.
Pathetic.

“Daddy, she’s bleeding!”

Eve stopped when she heard the little girl’s words.

“Oh, you’re right Maddie Bell. That looks like it hurts.” Jospeh came to stand next to her.

Eve looked down at her shoulder that, she now noticed, throbbed from when she bumped it. Blood had started to drip down her arm. She immediately put her hand over it. She didn’t know if the jenks could sense blood or not, she’d never sat around with an open wound or a dead carcass trying to figure it out and she definitely didn’t want to find out the hard way.

“It’s just a scratch. I’ll go look for a towel.” She turned, but a hand grabbed her arm.

“Let me look at it, please?” Joseph smiled down at her. He was taller than her, which wasn’t saying much since she was a whopping five foot two. He was a little shorter than Gage though. She’d noticed earlier in the day when they’d been walking next to each other. “Believe it or not, this man used to be a nurse.” He smiled and indicated himself. “And before you get too excited, yes, I take your insurance.” He winked at her.

Eve couldn’t help herself. She started laughing, a sense of ease came over her. It was only when a shadow blocked the light from the end of the hallway that Eve stopped chuckling, but she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. Maybe adding Joseph and his daughter to the group wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Chapter Seventeen

The Before

Eve didn’t make it to homecoming. She wanted to go more than anything she’d ever wanted to do in her entire sixteen years of existence, but she hadn’t gotten to. She’d consumed the chicken dinner her mom had made and the short bible study that followed, barely hearing any of it, her mind was so lost in thought about Gage and the football game…and the dance.
The dance!
It was something she had only dreamed about, but it just hadn’t been in the cards for her.

After dinner, she decided to do something she’d never done before.
Sneak out.
But she had chosen the one night that her mom decided to bring her a basket of laundry. Eve had had one leg out window and was busy hoisting her other out when her mom walked in with the wicker basket full of whites. Her face, which usually bore distaste when she looked at Eve turned to one of pure hatred, before it was replaced with some sort of sick joy.

In less than thirty seconds, her dad rushed in the room and that’s when things got bad. So bad that Eve dreaded walking through the door that would lead her into the high school cafeteria on Monday morning. She stood staring at the glass doors with a silver push bar in the middle for more than ten minutes before finally deciding to suck it up and go in.

“You can do this.” She caught her reflection in the glass. The same as always, aside from the white cast that adorned her left arm. Her face wasn’t swollen this time, but at least the swelling in her face had gone down in a couple of days. Her broken arm would take six to eight weeks to heal.

It wasn’t the broken arm that had her down though. Sure it hurt, but nothing hurt worse than her pride. First she hadn’t even made it to the game or the dance and now she was showing up at school with a broken arm. How embarrassing.
Sorry I couldn’t make it to your game. I broke my arm?
What was she—twelve years old?

Not to mention all of the unwanted and cruel attention it would draw from the other kids. The second she pushed through the double doors, every student in the cafeteria turned around and looked at her, as if she was some sort of magnet. Sunder High wasn’t very big, but having over two hundred faces staring at you at once was enough to make anyone nervous.

It wasn’t their uninvited attention that made her breath hitch in her throat, balling up like a knot. The pictures and posters that covered the wall were no longer banners about the homecoming game with lame sayings like “Beat the Bobcats”. No, the walls were now covered with posters of the winning homecoming couple.

Gage and Sally stood next to each other in one, holding hands in the middle of the football field. She was wearing a form fitting red dress with a crown on her head. Gage was in his red and white football uniform, holding a king’s scepter. His hair was damp and dark face sweaty, but still handsome as ever. They looked perfect standing there together. Another picture even featured him kissing the top of her head.
What is this?
She nearly screamed the words, but thankfully they were contained inside her head. The posters almost seemed like a cruel joke, as if whoever hung them knew how badly it would hurt her to see them when she walked in.

A niggling in her brain reminded her that they had done the same thing last year with Sally and whatever senior guy had won with her. Only it hadn’t mattered anything to her then. But now Eve’s stomach seemed to drop low in her abdomen as the knot grew thicker in her throat.

Instead of heading toward the rest of the students, who had all resumed their previous conversations, obviously bored with the arrival of the weird girl, she turned on her heel and ran back out into the parking lot.

That was where she ran right into the muscular chest of a big body. A body that belonged to Gage.

“Woah, are you o—Eve?” He frowned down at her.

She jerked back and looked away quickly, not wanting him to see the tears that were spilling over her eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah fine. Just remembered I forgot something on the bus.” She stepped around him.

“Wait, what—” Eve didn’t wait to hear what he had to say, but made a left around the side of the building, heading for the bus barn, but going right on past it.

Eve had never missed a day of school in her life, but her throbbing arm and her aching heart was a good enough excuse for her first.

Chapter Eighteen

Olive trudged through the high grass, trying to keep up with Reno’s back-breaking pace. The bag of blankets on her back along with her own pack of personal belongings didn’t weigh too much, not as much as the jenks Rose was currently pulling behind them, but it was enough to exhaust her and make her back ache.

They had been walking all day long and the Texas heat sucked her breath away. Not to mention that when they stopped for lunch, Reno had been interested in satisfying his never-ending urge for sexual release. Olive had been happy to oblige, but her throat was killing her from the rough face fucking she’d received. She glanced over at Laney who carried the food bag, her personal bag, and Reno’s pack. She wanted to say something to her, but she knew she would be ignored and given a look that could kill. She’d been getting them all day from the woman.
Annoying. I don’t feel bad for Rose at all. We all share responsibility around here.

Olive glanced at Reno’s muscular back, which was free of the hindrance of any bags. A large machete was clutched in his right hand. His head swung back and forth, scanning the landscape. He never glanced behind him, probably because he knew that Olive or one of the other women would alert him if they saw something he didn’t.

She wished that he would carry something. It would make traveling much easier.
Hush. He takes care of you. Protects you. You should be grateful.
She was grateful, so very grateful, but sometimes when she was tired, grateful went out the window.

“My back hurts,” she muttered more to herself than to anyone else.

“You’re pathetic.” The sneer came from Laney.

“What was that?”

“You heard me.” The woman’s blue eyes glittered with hate.

“I don’t know why you’re so pissed off at me.”

“You know damn well why—”

A low moan sounded from behind them ending Laney’s words. Olive spun around to see Rose stopped some thirty feet behind her, holding her stomach as if in pain.

“Rose!” Laney clambered back through the tall grass.

Great, what was she was doing?
Probably just looking for attention from Reno.

“What’s wrong with her?” Reno’s frustrated voice sounded from behind her.

“I don’t know. I think her water broke!”

And the hate that Olive had for the woman quadrupled.

Chapter Nineteen

“There that should do it.”

“Thank you.” Eve released a thick breath of air. Joseph clipped the end of the string. Her simple injury had turned out to be worse than she expected. The sharp edge of the cabinet had scored her skin deep enough that Joseph thought she should be stitched up.

She had refused at first, claiming that she didn’t need anything of the sort, until he had pulled out a large First Aid kit from his bag.

“You can never be too careful,” he’d said before he’s showed her all of the things inside the kit.

Looked like the bag held precious cargo after all. She hadn’t even considered letting him do it until everyone had eaten and held a towel to the wound in the mean-time. He’d stitched her up by candle light. They’d found some in a cupboard, along with a drawer full of lighters. It looked like the old grandma who’d occupied this house in the before was a smoker.
Lucky us.

“Does it hurt?” Maddie asked, peering down at where Joseph had just snipped the last stitch with scissors.

Eve could see the concern on the little girl’s face and instantly a wave of regret drenched her down to her soul. She hadn’t wanted to save them. Saving the uninfected ended up getting a person killed, whether they had a kid with them or not.

“Not much,” she said through gritted teeth.

When Joseph started rubbing some sort of salve on the wound, Eve let out an involuntary moan. Whatever the stuff was had some sort of tingling warmth that made her skin prickle and eased the throbbing pain of her new wound.

“I think that’s enough.”

The words sounded like jagged rocks scraping against each other. Eve opened her eyes and met Gage’s gaze across from her. He was sitting on the floor, his back against the floral patterned wallpaper. He had his switchblade in his hand along with a piece of wood, much like he had the night before. Eve hated how fascinated she’d been by his smooth movements of the knife. It seemed second nature to him, running the blade along the jagged wood until it formed the perfect lethal weapon.

Now was different though. He clutched the knife so tightly that his knuckles were white.

“I would put a bandage on it, but I don’t have one big enough. I think you will be okay though, just take it easy and try not to go ramming into anything sharp and pointy if you can help it.”

Eve glanced away from Gage’s violent posture and met Joseph’s warm brown eyes and returned his smile. He didn’t look at Gage at when he said this, but focused solely on Eve. She couldn’t help but blush. It had been a long time since someone had cared for her, if ever. The tenderness in Joseph’s eyes was something she hadn’t seen since before the Crave and even then, it hadn’t been directed at her.

“Thanks, but I’m sure I can manage. Already feels better.”

He smiled again.

“Daddy, I’m tired.”

“All right, punkin, let’s go to bed.” Joseph stood and gathered all of his accessories for the First Aid kit. “Maddie and I are going to take the first bedroom on the left if you need us, that’s where we will be.”

Eve nodded.

“Which rooms will—”

“We’ll be in the master bedroom if you need
us
,” Gage interjected, the snide edge in his voice more obvious than anything.

Eve didn’t look up at Joseph. He cheeks burned and anger sparked in her chest.
What the hell is he getting at?

“Oh, okay. See you guys in the morning.”

“Night night, Eve and Gage,” Maddie’s voice sounded cuter than a kitten’s first meow.

“Goodnight,” she said after them.

Once they left the room, she stood up, deciding that she needed to go outside and get some air. She didn’t look at Gage, but rolled her shoulder a little to try and loosen herself up.

“Where are you going?”

“Outside for a bit.” Eve had just reached the door.

“Just outside? I’m surprised that you aren’t confiscating all of the valuables in the house and then bolting.”

Gage’s words blasted through her brain like a bullet. She tensed, ready to snap at him, but took a deep breath and instead told the truth. “I would, only I didn’t see shit that was worth anything. Let me know if you run across anything
priceless
.” The last word rolled off of her tongue as she stepped through the square doorframe and into the hall.

She didn’t realize until she had been outside for several minutes, leaning against the side of the brick house, that she had expected him to follow her and goad her right back. A strange feeling welled inside her body, not anger. No, anger never felt strange to her. She’d spent her whole life angry, she just didn’t know it when she was younger. She’d grown so used to hiding it away with all of the other emotions her daddy had forbidden.

I’m disappointed that he didn’t follow me out here.
The realization struck her like a bat hitting a home run—that was the only baseball analogy she knew.
I want to fight with him.
Fighting with him, bickering back and forth, even just communicating with him in general over the last few days had made her feel more alive than she
ever
had.

A memory resurfaced, other times when life had thrummed through her body came back to her, but she pushed them away. Not willing to go back into the past. It was gone. Over. Done. No bringing any of it back, no changing it.