Free Exodus: Book Two: Last Days Trilogy by Jacqueline Druga Page A

this...” He pointed. “Bed.”
    Reggie shrugged. “Unless something happened that I don’t know about... Marcus, you didn’t...”
    “What? No.” He shook his head. “We slept together, Reg.”
    Reggie just stared.
    “Slept,” he repeated.
    “Okay.”
    “Do you know why?”
    “We were tired, perhaps.”
    Marcus huffed. “No, I’m serious. Can you be serious for one second? We have two beds, why did we sleep in the same one?”
    “For me, I was scared,” Reggie replied. “You make me feel safe,” she shrugged, “and maybe, because the past few nights we’ve been cuddling. I like the closeness.”
    “Exactly my point. It feels right.” Marcus snapped his finger. “Which brings me to my talk.” He moved closer to her. “I want to do this with you more often. I want to do this with you all the time. It feels too right, too natural. I want to... I want to be with you more, Reg.”
    “Marcus...”
    “No. Don’t say anything sarcastic. We kissed… not last night, not like when we were ten or fifteen, but we kissed. And you know, I thought it might lead somewhere. But then things happened. It never came back up. I’m bringing it back up.”
    “Right now?”
    “Yes.”
    “With all that’s going on?”
    Marcus’ head dropped. “Especially with all that’s going on. With the world so up in the air, you’re the one thing, Reg... The one thing that I am certain about.”
    “Oh my God,” Reggie whispered. “You’re serious.”
    Marcus nodded. “Very. Marry me.”
    “What?” Reggie blasted. “Can’t we go steady or something first?” She suppressed a laugh. “You’re joking.”
    “No, I’m not.”
    “Marcus, we’ve barely kissed. We haven’t had sex.”
    “There’s more to marriage than that.”
    “Exactly,” said Reggie.
    “And we have it. You and I. We have it. The companionship. Chemistry.”
    “Marcus.” Reggie shook her head. “You’ve done the marriage thing enough. You don’t want to do it again.”
    “Yes. I do. And maybe, the reason my marriages didn’t work was because they were the wrong people.”
    Reggie rolled her eyes. “That’s pretty obvious.”
    Marcus stared, then sulked. “You know what? Forget it.” He turned.
    “Marcus, why are you so offended?”
    Marcus jerked his head back at her. “Because I love you, Reg. I want you in my life. I thought... I really thought, especially after this past week, that you wanted the same.”
    “I do.”
    Marcus looked up. “Really?”
    “Yeah.” She nodded and walked to him. “But you’re throwing me off a little with the marriage thing. Marriage is not what I want to do. I never planned to get married ever again. So, I can’t make any promises. Plus,” she paused, “now don’t get mad, but...” she leaned her face close to his. “...your track record sucks.”
    Marcus snickered.
    She continued softly, “we can take it one step at a time. How’s that?”
    Marcus’ face was inches from hers. “That works.” He brought his lips to hers. “Like this.”
    “Like this.” Reggie smiled, inching her lips to his. Just as they kissed, a loud knocking jolted them apart.
    “Swell.” Marcus shook his head.
    “My father.” Reggie raced to the door and opened it. “Daddy!”
    “Hey!” Kyle bundled her in his arms. “Thank God you’re all right. Hey, Marcus.”
    “Hi, Mr. Stevens.”
    “We’ve been through a lot.” Reggie said, pulling back from the hug.
    “I bet.” Kyle stepped into the room and shut the door. He was carrying a bag. “We have to hurry. Things are getting bad. Roadblocks and...” Kyle spotted the still-made bed and frowned.
    “Mr. Stevens,” Marcus said, nervously approaching, trying to keep the guilt out of his voice. “It’s, um, not what you think. See, I’m kind of neurotic about making my bed in a motel.”
    “He’s lying, Daddy,” Reggie stated. “We slept together last night. I don’t know why he’d lie, I’m a grown woman.”
    Marcus was horrified as