Page 60 of Hurry Up And Wait

I stilled. My heart raced at such a dizzying speed that I nearly collapsed. Then warmth encased my back as the hard body moved closer. I didn’t dare breathe, couldn’t if I had wanted to.

“Where do you think you’re going with that?”

His voice slid over me like silk, causing goosebumps to break out over my skin. The relief of knowing he was here nearly made me collapse. Then his hand slid down my arm, leaving pebbles in their wake. His large hand cupped mine for a moment before relieving me of the weapon I held so tightly in my grip.

“I don’t think this is a very good idea,” he murmured in my ear.

I finally sucked in a ragged breath. “There was somebody here,” I said in a rush.

I felt his body tense behind me. In a flash, he pushed me against the wall and shoved me to the floor. In the faint light, I saw him hold a finger to his lips and then he was gone. I held my breath, waiting for him to return. I couldn’t hear his footsteps or see any sign of him. What if whoever was here killed him? What if I was left all alone? Riley would find my body in bloody pieces on the ground, which would inevitably give her something to tease me about for the rest of my ghostly life.

I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting off the panic that was sitting like lead in my stomach. I was never the girl who hid behind the stairs, but after the bomb and the car that had been idling on the street day after day, I couldn’t seem to pull my shit together.

You’re fine. Nothing’s going to happen with IKE here.I repeated it over and over again. If I told myself enough that I would be fine, it had to happen, right?

I screamed as rough hands grabbed my arms and hauled me upright. A hand was clasped over my mouth, but when I opened my eyes, I sagged in IKE’s grip. He removed his hand, then flicked on a flashlight, illuminating the room.

“There’s no one here.”

“Are you sure?”

“I checked everywhere. And the power’s only been out a few minutes. I would have had an alert if someone had broken in. What did you see?”

The light from the flashlight cast an eerie glow across his face. I had to look away from the intensity in his eyes. I was already on the verge of losing it. “A shadow,” I finally answered. “In the corner of the room. The lightning flashed and…I swore I saw someone.”

His eyes scrutinized my face, and I knew he was trying to decide if I was crazy or simply panicking after everything that happened. “Shadows,” he murmured. “They play tricks on us all.”

He turned and walked over to a door, then flung it open and stomped down the stairs. I heard some clanking and swearing before, finally, his boots pounded on the stairs once more.

“The generator’s out.”

I nodded, relieved he was back inside. Even though he searched the house, I was still on edge—still seeing movement in the shadows. What I needed was a drink, something to take the edge off until I could pull myself together.

“I picked up your prescriptions and some food,” he said, walking over to the counter.

“You left hours ago,” I said, wondering where he had been for so long.

“Yeah, I stopped by OPS to check in.”

“And?” I asked hopefully. “Do they have any leads?”

He shook his head as he pulled out the food. “Not yet.”

Sighing, I sat down at the counter with him, taking the container he shoved my way. I watched as he moved around the kitchen with no light. He knew this place so well, grabbing things out of cabinets and drawers like it was second nature. I doubted I could do that even in my old house.

He set two candles on the counter and lit them, giving us a little mood lighting to eat by, though I was pretty sure that wasn’t his intention.

“Eat,” he grunted, shoving a forkful of Chinese food into his mouth.

I sighed heavily, dragging my fork back and forth through the fried rice. I knew I needed to eat, but I was so out of sorts, and that damn shadow was still lingering in the back of my mind, taunting me like when I was a kid and saw monsters under my bed.

“There’s no one here,” IKE repeated as if he could read my mind.

“I know. But it’s like waking up from a bad dream, you know?”

He nodded, but didn’t acknowledge me in any other way.

“So…if you don’t work for OPS, what do you do?”