Free The Wilds (Reign and Ruin 1) by Jules Hedger Page B

second drag was, too. I relished
the feeling of the cool air drifting in, carrying out the sweet
smoke as it swirled around the room and back out of the window.
Once the cigarette was finished I thumbed through the box past the
photographs and rolled another one. I probably smoked three or four
before I stopped, and then I just sat looking out the window,
running my hands over the gold chain around my neck and thinking of
Cirrus's fingers around my waist.
    I wish I had
looked further into that fucking box . . .
    ***
    I must have fallen
asleep. When I awoke the next morning, the room was still dark.
Someone had drawn the curtains shut and covered me with the large
comforter from the bed. I pushed off the comforter and stretched my
legs out luxuriously. My foot knocked against the wooden tobacco
box.
    Oh,
great , I thought. He must have come in and seen his tobacco.
He'll be angry. I meant to sneak it back into his room when he was
in the washroom. I didn't know what time it was but the crack
between the curtains let a small stream of daylight in. It must be
early morning, but not too early because I could hear that
tell-tale whistle out in the garden. Expecting to see Tyler
outside, I drew open the curtains.
    A man's face
stared back at me through the window.
    I cried out and
stumbled backwards, my feet nearly catching on the rug. It was the
coal man from the train! His face was still smeared with the black
dust and he was looking straight into my eyes. My hand fumbled for
the knife in my pocket and the man watched me clumsily open the
blade with trembling fingers.
    Brandishing the
knife in what I hoped was a terrifying manner, I pointed it
directly at his face through the glass. The whistling continued
outside.
    "What the fuck
do you want?" My voice came out harsh and croaky and entirely too
soft to frighten anyone. It has been too long since I had smoked,
and the burned patches of my throat resisted, throwing up a bought
of coughing that caught me unawares. It seared and the man simply
stood on his ladder, watching me as I tried to stay upright during
the coughing fit, tears streaming down my eyes.
    I eventually
pulled myself together and when he caught my eyes again, he moved
his arm toward the box on the bed. He shook his head.
    "What? You want
a cigarette?" I asked disbelievingly. He shook his head again and
mimed tipping it over. "Dude, say something. I'm serious or I am
calling Tyler."
    The coal man
put a finger to his lips and started to climb back down the ladder.
My knife and I rushed to the window to watch him walk through the
back garden and climb over the wall, just in time to miss the
gardener walk around the corner raking the leaves, whistling.
    I hurriedly
closed the curtains. My heart pounded and I closed my eyes for a
moment to slow it down.
    He could have
killed me, but he didn't. He dragged me onto a train, put a knife
in my pocket and then played charades at my window . . . for what?
Just thinking about how long he might have been waiting there
behind the curtain gave me the creeps.
    In the brief
shock of finding a lurker behind my window, I had forgotten my
brief escapade as a petty thief. Grimacing at the box on the bed,
there was nothing doing except to apologize to Tyler and hope he
was as dumpy as he came off to be yesterday.
    I found him at
the kitchen table, looking over a stack of papers with a pen in
hand. Underneath the boiling of the tea kettle, an old record
player was singing Benny Carter. Tyler looked up through his
reading spectacles and put down his pen.
    "Well, good
morning. You must have needed more than a nap! Did you sleep well?"
he asked.
    "Yeah, I slept
great thanks." He nodded in satisfaction and put his hands
together. And just smiled. I waited for him to say something about
his missing box, but he just sat there. Smiling.
    "Um, thank you
for coming in to check on me."
    Tyler's smile
wavered for a second. "Your room was dark and quiet. I didn't want
to disturb so I didn't."
    "You