Free inDIVISIBLE by Ryan Hunter Page B

he’d had on the beach in Greece, when we’d stood with the sunset before us, the sun disappearing behind a low strip of land that made the horizon. The waves reflecting that sunset couldn’t compare with my fluttering of infatuation, or the first taste of his lips against mine. I wondered then, seeing his profile against the afternoon sun, would he ever try to kiss me again? Did I even want him to try? The stirring in my belly screamed yes.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 11
     
     
     
    We knew the longer it took to escape from the city the closer the Alliance would be watching for us, but there were a few more things we had to do before we fled to our safe haven—which T insisted existed.
    “They’ll look for people who are running—showing f ear and anxiety,” he said as we settled near a stream in an unfamiliar park amid unfamiliar homes.
    “So we blend in,” I said.
    “Like lovers ready to apply for marriage courses.”
    I blushed and dipped my fingers in the mountain stream. Icy to the touch, it sent a shock of life back through my body. “Lovers?”
    T scooted closer, running his fingers over my shoulder to tickle the back of my neck. “Too far a stretch for you?”
    I wiggled away, my head so thick with fog I could no longer concentrate. “A stretch?” I’d forgotten what he’d asked.
    “Friends then?” he asked, dropping his hand to draw circles in the river bank.
                  “Friends.” I nearly kicked myself. Had I really resigned myself to being just friends ?
    T wiped out the circles he’d drawn and leaned back on his elbows. “Friends … for starters. Tomorrow, we’ll see—”
    I brought my hand from the river and splashed him. He sat straight up and grabbed my hand, keeping it between his as he said, “About Cray …”
    His voice had dropped and it sent a shiver through my chest. “How important is it that we find him again?” I asked.
    T cocked his head. “We’re not leaving until we get you on an antibiotic.”
    I knew he’d say that. I pulled my hand away and trailed my fingers again. “I don’t know how to find him.”
    “We need a PCA or computer to look him up.”
    I chuckled. “Good luck.”
    T dropped back to his elbows and crossed his legs at the ankles. “What about the notebooks? Did your father mention him? Give any contact information?”
    I pulled the notebooks out of my backpack and handed them over. “I’ve only read a bit. See what you can find.”
    T rolled onto his side, his back to the park so the few children who played near their mothers couldn’t see, and opened the first notebook.
    My fingers tingled, numbing from the cold water . I dried them on my shirt.
    He flipped the page, scanned and flipped another. I laid back on the grass, folded my hands over my stomach and watched the drifting clouds. My eyes had just closed when T said, “Brynn.”
    “Hmmm?”
    “There are some things in here you need to read.”
    “Anything about the Carmichals? ”
    “Not yet , but—”
    I sat and crossed my legs. “What are we going to do tonight?”
    He closed the notebook. “I thought it looked cozy in those bushes over there.”
                  He opened another notebook and began reading. Was he serious? “The park closes at dark.”
    “What’s it matter if they can’t see us?”
    I’d never slept outside before and the idea formed a lump in my throat. “What if they catch us?”
    A young mother stood, a woman with bobbed hair and freckles. She called to her child, a boy with the same sandy hair and baseball cap. The boy kept swinging until she stopped the swing and took him by the hand. They waved to the other child and walked away, the boy jabbering while his mother pretended to listen.
    “One more to go,” T said, “then we make our way into those bushes and find some comfy grass for a pillow.”
    “T,” I said.
    He glanced up.
    “I’ve never slept anywhere but my bed.”
    “Scared?” he asked, eyebrows