Free Beyond the Darkness by Jaime Rush Page A

slanted in through a crack in the curtains, and she was alone in the bed. The RV was rumbling along the highway. It was ten-thirty. That was pretty bad, that she hadn’t even felt or heard him get out of bed.
    She climbed off the bed and went down the steps to the bathroom. “Ugh.” Being road weary didn’t agree with her. Puffy eyes, pale skin. She dug into her purse and ran a brush through her hair. After smudging on some blush and lipstick, she made her way to the front.
    “ ’Morning, sleepyhead,” he said as she approached from behind. He’d thrown on his shirt but left it unbuttoned. Which made him look juicy. The black sheath around his neck made him look juicily dangerous.
    She dropped into the passenger seat, swiveling it toward him. “ ’Morning, yourself. How long have we been on the road?”
    He was scooping handfuls of Spanish peanuts from a can wedged into one of the drink holders. “Two hours after I dropped off. I woke before the alarm chirped.” He held out the can to her.
    She shook her head. “I don’t like the crinkly shells around the peanuts.”
    “They’re the best part. I like the way they crackle on my tongue.”
    She didn’t want to think about things crackling on his tongue. Her gaze went to his ring. “I noticed your ring last night. It’s pretty cool.”
    He took it off and handed it to her. “It’s called a Mobius band.”
    It was warm as she turned it with her fingers. On the inner band the words ONE, ALL were inscribed. “What’s the twist for?”
    “It’s what allows you to cross both sides of the band without going over the edge.”
    She traced the tip of her pinky finger on the inside of the band, and when she crossed the twist, she was on the outside. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? Walk on both sides without going over the edge.”
    She saw a spark of admiration in his eyes. “Perceptive.”
    She let herself warm to his compliment for a moment. “What does the inscription mean?”
    “A diagram of the Mobius strip was found in an ancient manuscript, and that was the caption.”
    “Cool.” She handed it back to him. “I’m going to take a shower.”
    “Ten minutes. Or you’ll run out of water.”
    She pushed to her feet, rolling her eyes. “Is everything ten minutes with you? Never mind, do not answer that.”
    She’d grown up with two boys in the family. That was not a question she wanted to let hang in the air between them. Not helping was that Zoe, one of the Rogues, once confided to her that male Offspring could go on and on, staying hard and hungry long after they’d come. It had been so pitifully long since she had sex, thinking about it with Cheveyo around nearly did her in. She was thinking of it again now, watching the muscles in his arm as he grabbed a handful of peanuts. How would those hands feel on her? Calluses rough against her skin, hands possessive . . .
    He held up a handful of peanuts to her. “Sure you don’t want some? You look hungry.”
    C heveyo timed her shower, and fifteen minutes later the water stopped and he heard, “Really? Really? ”
    He laughed, imagining her all full of soap. Then he stopped, because the mental sight of her tall, curvaceous body covered in bubbles zapped him in the groin.
    Thank God he was getting rid of her the next day. He opened his glove compartment and took out a photograph tucked inside. Painful, looking at the face in that picture. A good reminder that people around him got killed. Innocents. He couldn’t let it happen again. He tucked the photo away, feeling the familiar burn in his chest.
    The bathroom door opened, and in the rearview mirror he saw Petra’s head peer around it, bubble blobs on her hair. “That was so not ten minutes.”
    “You’re right.”
    “I knew it!”
    “It was fifteen. You were lucky you got as much water as you did. There are some bottles of water beneath the kitchen sink if you need to rinse off.”
    Since he was driving, he could hardly get them for