Scars Of Defiance (12 page)

Zachary had begun forming the doorway on the inside wall of
the existing tunnel. He needed to cut the upright beams and install a header
for support, and he planned on running a line of wire to power low-wattage
lighting.

“Paul, hand me another upper beam.”

“We’re all out of upper beams. I’ll go get more.” They both
knew the beams were outside in the back yard.

“No, I’ll do it,” Sam said. “You stay with Sara.”

They both climbed up the ramp into the crawlspace. It pained
both of their backs to be hunched over for the extended periods of time
required to dig and haul the bucket loads of dirt and rock, mostly rock. Even
in the crawlspace they couldn’t stand up completely. Paul and Sam walked like
hunchbacks toward the trap door.

Sierra sat on the blanket near the trap door, watching in
earnest as they approached. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Paul lay on the blanket to try to stretch his muscles,
anything to ease his throbbing back. “We’re out of upper beams. He’s going to
get more.”

“How’s the digging going?”

“Slow. We’re almost there, I think.”

“I wish my foot felt better. I’d help you dig,” she said
with a smile. She sat cross-legged next to his torso. “It’s feeling a lot better.
I can put weight on it now. I’ve been practicing.”

“That’s not a good idea if it’s broken.” He looked over at
her. She had an expression on her face Paul couldn’t read. His lack of
experience with girls made it even more difficult to decipher her expressions.
It would be so much easier if girls had flash cards stating their emotions at
the time.

“What’s wrong Paul?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re looking at me like something is wrong.”

“Oh sorry, I was just … thinking.”

“Thinking,” she repeated, enunciating each syllable.

“Sara, what do you plan to do with your life once you’re
free?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it that far.”

“Maybe you should.”

“You sound confident that I’ll be able to escape.”

“Do you have doubts?”

“Frankly, yes. You don’t know the Rawlings family like I do.
They don’t ever stop. I’ll probably have to flee to another country, except … ”

“Except what?” He saw pain in her eyes. He saw fear and
agony. But why?

They were interrupted by the trap door falling open and
boards clattering down. She jumped nervously, and Paul instinctively sat up and
placed his hand on hers.

The trap door closed, but Sam hadn’t come down. Paul spotted
a note attached to one of the boards. He moved quickly and grabbed it. “Stay
put. Men at the door,” it read. He looked upward at the floor joists.

“What is it, Paul?”

He turned his head toward her and placed his finger to his
lips, signaling her to be quiet. He moved back over to her side and handed her
the note. She read it, and her eyes shot upward too. They hadn’t heard the
doorbell, and there weren’t any sounds of footsteps.

Paul motioned toward the furthest corner of the crawlspace,
and he helped her move. This position placed them in the southwest corner under
the living room, right beside the boxes of supplies. Paul reached in a box and
pulled out a blanket, which he spread out on the ground.

“Lie down here,” he said quietly. She seemed frightened to
him, and he wished he could comfort her, but he didn’t know what to do.

She whispered back, “Is this a raid?”

“I don’t think so. It’s quiet up there, so we’ll wait till
Sam comes back down. Are you cold?” He’d seen her shiver.

“No, well maybe a little, I’m scared.” She tried to smile,
but her chin quivered with the effort.

There was just enough light from the bulb by the trap door
to cast a glimmer on the gathering moisture in her eyes. His heart swelled with
concern, and he sat beside her. He slid his arm under her neck and helped her
sit up, then pulled her body into his arms.

Her head came to rest on the front of his shoulder, and her
forehead fit perfectly against his neck. He held her close across his lap with
his hand wrapped around, cradling the back of her head. She reached her arm up
around his neck and held on for her life.

She felt entirely safe in his arms, the same arms that had
pulled her from the ice and nursed her back to the land of the living. Was it
coincidence or fate that he had found her? She didn’t know. She only knew she
was safe in his arms at this moment, and she wished it would never end.

Paul, on the other hand, sat holding his crosser, his mind
racing with the impossibilities of keeping her safe. They were trapped down in
this hole. The exit wasn’t completed, not near enough. How was he supposed to
protect her? This vulnerable, highly sought-after, incredibly beautiful crosser
had accidentally become his responsibility, his first ever, just because he saw
her orange bandana in the ice and didn’t turn the other way. Now she literally
clung to him.

He rubbed the back of her head and leaned his head on hers.
Her tense arm, which had wrapped itself around his neck, had now relaxed, and
her thumb was lazily rubbing his neck. The action made him feel suddenly
different — tense, not because of the possible danger above, but because of the
possible situation below.

He put his focus back on the happenings upstairs, but
nothing sounded out of the ordinary. Pulling his head away from hers, he looked
down at her. At the same time, she looked up at him, and her hand on the back
of his neck moved forward, cradling his jaw under his ear. Again her thumb made
the lazy circles of desire across his skin, warming it.

Her eyes were in shadows away from the light, and Paul
couldn’t see their intent. Her head lifted slightly from his shoulder as her
hand on his neck pulled him toward her. It became obvious to Paul only a
fraction of a second before it happened that she was going to kiss him.

Their lips met, sweetly. Paul’s initial thought racing
through his head was that she was thanking him for protecting her with a polite
kiss. All the senses that he had purposely closed off now came fully awake. His
curiosity, his wondering, and his dreams of her needed to be explored, if only
for a moment.

His mouth opened, inviting her in, hoping she wouldn’t turn
tail and run the other way. On the contrary, she took the invitation and
responded in a heated, passionate kiss. Her feelings for him were passed
through her lips to his and through her hands as they caressed his chest and
torso. The intensity of the moment had him leaning forward, supporting her as
he laid her back to the blanketed ground. She willingly let him do so, never
breaking mouth-to-mouth contact. On her back, both of her hands were in his
hair, turning his head to get the best possible angle on his mouth.

He rested his weight on his elbow with his hand under her
head as he stretched out beside her, his mouth never leaving hers. His other
hand wrapped around her middle, and his palm was under her back supporting her.

The sweetness of her mouth and the incredible softness of
her lips had driven him crazy with desire. Otherwise he would have heard the
trap door drop open and his brother entering the crawlspace.

“Is she hurt?” Sam questioned in a loud annoyed voice.

Panic raced through Paul as he quickly sat up and moved away
at arm’s length. “Whoa! Sam!”

“Yep, it’s me. Is she hurt?”

“No,” Paul and Sierra said at the same time with the same
amount of guilt in their voices.

“Well,” Sam chuckled, “it just looked like you were
performing mouth-to-mouth on her, that’s all.”

Paul and Sierra looked at each other, then back to Sam.
Their hands had been caught in the cookie jar. It seemed incredible to Paul
that his mind had completely blanked everything else out except for Sierra.
Evidently hers had too, or she would have heard the trap door open.

“Who was … you know, um … upstairs?” Paul wondered if his
hair was as messed up as Sierra’s or if his face was as red as it felt.

“When I came into the living room, Mom was stepping out on
the porch to speak with someone. So I looked through the peep hole and saw two
men in suits and ties speaking with her. I attached the note to the wood and
dropped it down the hole until I could ascertain if the men were a threat or
not.”

“Well? Were they?”

“Actually, yes, they were.” His eyes focused on Sierra, who
had propped herself up on her elbows. “They were looking for you. They had a
physical description and said a reward has been posted.”

“A reward? Like money?” she asked.

“A great deal of ‘like money.’” Sam nodded and then smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn you in. Not when I can get to see a
humongous display of innocent embarrassment. I’ll leave you two alone so you
can try to explain your instant awkward attraction and say something like, ‘I
don’t know what came over me’ or ‘I’m sorry about that; it won’t happen
again.’”

Sam left. Paul took a deep cleansing breath and looked at
Sierra. Before he could even formulate any words, she spoke first. “Paul, I do
know what came over me, and I’m not sorry one bit. From your reaction, I think
you feel the same.”

He leaned forward, took her chin in his hand, and kissed her
lips again. “I’m only sorry I didn’t hear him come down the hole.”

“I didn’t hear him either!” she whispered with amazement in
her voice.

He pulled her up into a hug and caressed the back of her
head. “That was even better than my dreams.” He kissed the top of her head. “I
need to go dig with Sam.”

She nodded as he got up. She watched him leave the blanketed
area and saw him turn around to throw her an appreciative smile. It made her
soul melt and her core heat up again. What had made her act so impulsively?
What did it matter? She wanted to kiss him. He clearly liked it, just as she
had, and yet she was surprised by the amount of passion between the two of
them. Then the comment about her being in his dreams shot a lightning bolt to
her toes. She didn’t know he had been dreaming about her. It was an exciting
revelation.

Paul made it down the tunnel to where Sam was already
positioning an overhead board in place. “Thought you’d never come,” Sam laughed
in spite of himself.

“Drop it, Sam.”

“Oh no, I can’t do that. You see, you’ve made the biggest
mistake ever where crossers are concerned:  never become attached to one. But
it’s just our little secret, right?”

“I’ve never been in on those cardinal rules, Sam.”

“Its common sense, little bro. Use your head. She’ll be gone
before you know it, and you’ll be left here. It’s called self-preservation,
man.”

“Is that how come you’ve never married? Self preservation
has helped you reach the ripe old age of twenty-six without a broken heart.
Sheez, how do you do it?”

Sam stalked over to Paul, more like he waddled, half bent
over due to the low ceiling. “Don’t begin to think you understand anything
about me, ’cause you don’t! And don’t think you know more than me about
complications that can come from getting too involved with a crosser!”

“Alright.” Paul held his hands up in front of himself.
“Simmer down, Sam. Obviously I’ve hit a nerve.”

“Yeah. Let’s just drop this. We’ve got to finish this before
those men come back.”

“Right.”

Chapter 7

By evening they had reached the tunnel. They were both
covered in sweat and dust, and Paul’s mouth had dirt in it. Whenever he put his
teeth together, they crunched with grit. He continually spit to get it out, but
to no avail.

He asked Grandma Martha to stay with Sierra while he cleaned
up. He took a quick shower, and then he went outside to chop some firewood.
Being around Sierra was driving him crazy. Working in the tunnel hunched over
all day had taken its toll on him, but not more than the emotional storm
brewing in his gut. The kiss he and Sierra shared still sent tingles through
his body when he thought about it.

Paul swung the axe hard, and it sunk into the large log.
Chopping wood for the fireplaces had always been one of the responsibilities
Paul shared with Sam. Tonight, Paul actually welcomed the extracurricular
activity. He needed something to ground his mind with. What better way than
chopping the hell out of a pile of firewood.

“Whoa! What got into you, Paul?” Greg looked over the fence
with both arms folded across the top of the rail.

Paul looked at him, and then slammed the axe down again,
chopping a log in half. “Why do you ask?” he answered with a smile.

“All this pent up anger you’re taking out on innocent logs
can’t be good.”

“Who said it was anger?”

“Isn’t it?”

Paul wiped his brow with his sleeve. “No. As a matter of
fact, I’m feeling pretty good.” He leaned the axe against the log and walked
over to the fence. He pulled his leather gloves off one finger at a time.

“Feeling good about what?”

“Can’t a guy just feel good without a reason?” Paul spread
his arms wide and looked to the sky.

“You have a girl! You lucky buck! I didn’t even know you
were dating anyone. Wait, is it the new waitress at the diner?”

“No. Can you keep a secret?”

“You bet!”

Paul leaned closer to Greg and said, “I told you my crosser
is male, but that wasn’t true. I’m actually caring for a girl, and today we
kissed.”

“Get out!”

“It wasn’t any old ordinary kiss either. It was … amazing.”

“A girl, in your room? How come you didn’t tell me sooner?
How old is she?”

“Old enough. She’s not jailbait, if that’s what you’re
wondering.”

“Who is she? Can I see her?”

“You know I can’t tell you, and no, you can’t see her.”

“I won’t try to steal her from you. Come on, don’t you trust
me?”

“I trust you enough to share this much information with you.
Isn’t that enough?”