Free Faithless #2: A Tainted Love Serial by K.B. Nelson

1
    FIVE YEARS AGO
    A safe sits on crumpled sheets, pushing the mattress deep against the frame of the bed. It’s an old safe with cracked paint along the sharp edges of faded metal. The door hangs open where the box is able to inhale the last bit of summer air it’ll see for the next five years.
    I pace before an open window. The breeze is hot, just as the sun is as it begs to set in the distance. “Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask Luke as he enters the bedroom waving the post-dated check in his hand.
    “Don’t you trust me, Faith?” he asks with a smirk. “I’m a hundred percent reliable—that’s what everyone’s always said.”
    “I do, and that’s why I’m asking. Is this really necessary?”
    “That’s the thing about insurance,” he says and passes the check into my hands. “It’s a pain in the ass until it’s the one thing saving your ass. You never know where we’re going to end up down the road, and who’s to say five years down the line, I won’t be such an honorable person?”
    The very idea that could be a distinct possibility causes a raise in my brow. “You don’t have it in you.”
    “You never know.” He shakes a pointed finger at me. “People change all the time.”
    “True,” I mutter under my breath and flashback to a few days ago when Noah was standing in the driveway. Then I wonder if he’s ever coming back. And if he does, who’s he going to be?
    I lay the check gently against the floor of the safe, being careful as if the check itself might shatter into a million pieces. That’s a consequence of recent events—everything’s become so damn fragile. So even the things that should be safe from the weight of tragedy must be protected.
    I push the door shut, and hear the lock clicking into place. Only I know the combination. “All set,” I say and step back. A ray of sun catches my eye and I turn to face it, throwing a palm above my eye so I’m able to see the hills in the distance. The sun has always baffled me with how strong it is—a visible God to replace the one you’ll never get a chance to meet.
    Luke moves to the bed and scoops the safe into his arms. He grunts but manages to force a smile as he carries it from the room.
    I turn back to the window, this time seeing the sun for what it is with no palm held to shade me from the blistering truth—dangerous.
    The floor creaks and I spin on foot to see Luke re-entering the room and plunking down on the bed.
    “That was quick,” I say. “You can’t hide it in the house.”
    “I didn’t. It’s waiting in my room to be hidden when I figure out where I’m going to put the damn thing.”
    “Do you ever think he’s coming back?”
    “Noah?” His palms reach out, caressing the tangled sheets. “Give him time.”

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PRESENT
    It’s fucking cold. I pull the covers tighter, folding them against the curves of my body like a glove. I’m rolled up like a mummy, but with half the satisfaction of being mummified. When I open my eyes, I’m met with the reality that Noah has abandoned me in the middle of the night.
    I sit up in bed, seeing the bare-bones décor of his room for the first time under the light of the glowing sun. But unlike that morning five years ago, the sun is now cold—and powerless.
    The wind whistles underneath the door, sweeping a curling freeze into the room.
    “Noah?” I call out and swing my legs off the bed. My feet land against the ice-cold floor, sending a shiver through my entire body. “Noah?”
    I get dressed in a hurry, throwing one of Noah’s sweaters on and pulling a pair of his sweatpants over my jeans. I push the bedroom door open and am met with a winter wonderland straight out of a children’s book.
    But even as a child, I hated snow.
    And I hate it now. Through the broken window pane, snow, carried by the wind has been dusted across the floor. With the power still out, the only heat in the entire loft comes from my body. But it’s draining fast.
    I take a look