Cheating Time (15 page)

"Be careful," Jayden cautioned, as if Tawney
had suddenly turned into a small child.

After offering a smile his way, Tawney
nodded and began picking off and eating pieces of the meat. As soon
as her first bite registered, her eyes went wide. "This is great!
How did you make wild boar on a campfire taste this good, Jayden? I
forgot how good you were at everything," she praised.

Embarrassed in a way I'd never seen him, a
shrugging Jayden seemed pleased with her attention, and he replied,
"Hog, mulberries, and a few seasonings. Anybody could do it."

He didn't bother getting exact with his
recipe.
You know… chef's secrets and
all,
I thought, rolling my eyes.

Tawney shook her head. "No. No one can do
the things you can do and you know it."

I thought I actually saw a flush cross his
cheeks right before he went back to the fire to get her another
skewer. While they chatted some more about how good the hog was, I
walked over to where the backpacks were and grabbed another water
for Tawney. When I returned, I found that Jayden had taken my place
and was huddled up as close to my cousin as he could possibly
get.

I was once again irritated with the soldier.
She was my cousin, and I had every intention of spending the
evening basking in the little time we had left together. Instead of
being hateful, I grabbed my own skewer from the fire, leaned
against the log directly in front of Jayden and Tawney, and
ate.

Dammit! Tawney's right.
This tastes like it came straight from a five-star restaurant.
Figures he'd be able to do that also.

It was with a whole lot of petulance that I
sat by and watched Jayden and Tawney yuk it up, talking about old
times and laughing about every embarrassing moment I'd ever lived
through during our survival training. With the mere mention of the
weekend when I started my period for the first time in my life
while we were dozens of miles away from civilization, I sprang to
my feet.

There was no way I was going to sit by and
listen to the blow-by-blow of me swearing I'd been maimed and
injured during a swim in the Guadalupe River. Jayden had been as
frantic as I'd ever seen him when he'd run back to the camp to get
Mom. She'd known instantly what happened. She'd taken me to her
tent and explained what was going on with my body. It wasn't like I
hadn't known about a period before that day; I'd just been in
denial that I'd ever have one.

I'd been able to tell by the way all the
men—Dad, Jayden, and Gran—avoided me the rest of the weekend that
they'd been apprised of the situation. I may have resented it, but
I understood why Jayden had been kept in the loop. My parents
hadn't had any choice because I'd made such a big deal of my
imminent death that he'd refused to let it go until someone told
him what was wrong with me.

It was with obvious irritation that I
interrupted their walk down memory lane. "Jayden, how are we going
to alternate keeping watch? Me first. Then you. Or vice versa?"

Both heads—Tawney's and Jayden's—snapped
toward me and out of their private worlds, and Jayden was suddenly
all business. He stood and said, "You sleep first, Carlie. I'll
wake you when I'm tired."

Without skipping a beat, Jayden put his hand
out to Tawney, silently offering to help her to her own feet. She
smiled one of her beautifully radiant smiles and took his hand.
After they were face to face, Jayden gave her an equally gorgeous
grin and a hug to go with it before saying, "I've missed you."

With those words, more tender and heartfelt
than any he'd uttered to me, I felt betrayed. I remembered what
he'd said to me at the farmhouse.
I think I
missed our camping weekends the most, princess.
When
he'd said that, I'd assumed he'd missed me. I now realized he'd
missed weekends spent with Tawney.

He wouldn't have cared if
I'd never been there.

When Jayden glanced over Tawney's shoulder
and saw the hate-filled glare I was leveling on him, he sent a
questioning furrowed brow my way, one that told me he was trying to
understand what in the world had gotten into me. Because I couldn't
verbally berate him without looking like a crazy person, I grabbed
Tawney by the elbow and said, "Come on. I'll get you and Gran
situated before I go to bed."

"Thank you, Carlie." Then Tawney hesitated
before nervously clearing her throat. "Why… why don't you help
Gran?" She nodded her head toward our great-grandfather. "And
Jayden… Jayden can walk me to my tent," she said, her cheeks
flushing.

Jackass Jayden bowed his head Tawney's way
and put his arm out for her. I stood speechless, wondering how all
of this was going to play out. Tawney's emotions were not ones to
be toyed with. Not right now.

What the hell is he
doing?

When Gran slid his arm through mine, I
peeked over at him and smiled a weak and jealous smile.

"Let them be, my dear. Let them be."

I glanced back at Jayden and Tawney and, for
the first time ever, noticed just how easy their relationship was.
They'd never fought or bickered. They'd always treated each other
with the utmost respect.

Like Mom and
Dad.

It was at that very moment when I fully
understood that they'd be perfect together, that I had to step back
and check the reasons behind my jealousy. I had to wonder if it was
a competitive thing. I'd never been good at losing, and it felt as
if I'd just lost Jayden to my cousin.

Jesus! He was never yours
to lose. What are you thinking?

Gran was walking slower than ever as we made
our way to his tent, which was a mere eight feet away from Tawney's
and just far enough that I couldn't hear anything Jayden and Tawney
were whispering.

"She'll only be able to travel at this pace
for a week. After that, she'll be too weak. Sam promised me the
next safe house was just days away. I'm betting on that right now,"
Gran said, interrupting my study of the couple.

I took a shaky breath. "Did Mom and Dad
know?" I asked, already suspecting they hadn't. If they had, they'd
have never left her. Mom would have done anything to keep her from
taking her last breath without her at her side.

"There were things they thought they had to
do and telling them wouldn't have changed her fate. She'll be
surrounded by people who love her. You, Jayden, and me. We'll usher
her into her mother's arms," Gran assured, gazing in her
direction.

For the second time tonight, the
white-haired man's bright blue eyes were watering behind his
rimless glasses and his nose was cherry red. Again, I felt sorry
for him and the burden he carried, because it was the kind that
weighed him down and made it hard for him to enjoy the little
things in life. Noticing the curve of his long and lanky back, I
decided his secrets sat so heavily on his shoulders that they
warped and twisted his spine.

"A week to get her someplace safe?" I
mused.

"Maybe more, but it would be better to get
her where we're going sooner rather than later," Gran confided.

"I'll talk to Jayden and tell him we have to
make our way to the next house as soon as possible," I said softly
while kneeling down near the flap of Gran's tent and unzipping it
for him.

Scooting to the side, I waited for my
grandfather to crawl in and get comfortable.

Just as I was about to zip it up for the
night, Gran said, "Your mother is controlling your MicroPharm.
She's giving you constant and consistent doses of adrenaline so
you'll have the power and energy to keep going even when you're
tired. I'm suggesting you give in to the rest you need—even if
you're not tired—so you'll be able to continue this journey."

I stared blankly toward him and wondered if
there would ever be an end to the bizarre world I'd been born
into.

Probably not.

I leaned over and kissed him on his head.
"Good night, Gran."

"Good night, my dear."

When I stood and caught sight of Jayden with
his arms wrapped around Tawney and her hanging on to him tightly, I
felt as if I'd just been punched in the gut, as if I were spying on
them and intruding on one of their last few precious moments
together.

Gran was right. I wasn't tired. I wasn't
sure if it was because I was hopped up on the adrenaline, because I
was so worried about Tawney, or because I was insanely jealous.

Rather than crawl into my tent, I went back
over to the fire and sat with my back to Tawney and Jayden and my
knees curled up into my chest. I wasn't sure how long I watched the
fire dance along the log before Jayden plopped down beside me.

He was as close to me as he'd been to
Tawney, and something about it seemed like I was betraying my
cousin. I scooted away from him.

"I'm not going to bite you. I just thought
it would be better for us to talk where no one could hear us," he
snapped.

"We have one week to get her where she needs
to be," I informed him bitterly.

The day had been too much. I might not have
been sleepy, but I was mentally exhausted. Staying strong and
refusing to cry seemed like an overwhelming tasks. Before I could
stop them, tears welled in my eyes and a tiny sob broke free.

Quicker than I'd broken down, Jayden had his
arm slung over my shoulder and wrapped around me. He wasn't doing
anything more than trying to comfort a sad little girl, but if I
allowed anyone—even Jayden—to hug me close right then, my grief
would burst from where I'd been stuffing it for the last few hours,
and my wails would be heard throughout this forest. Instead of
letting him comfort me, I jerked away and stood up.

"You need to rest. I-I'm wide awake. I'll
take the first watch," I said, wrapping the quiver around my neck,
sliding it to my back, and slinging the bow over my shoulder.

Without another word, I headed out toward
the parameter of our camp. If I'd thought I was going to get away
from Jayden, I obviously didn't know him as well as I'd assumed. He
followed me.

He was suspiciously quiet as he trailed
close behind me. When we'd gotten deep enough into the forest that
there was no way for our words to carry back to the camp, I stopped
near a tree, leaned against it, and took some deep breaths. When
that didn't work, I dug my fingers into the tree trunk and let the
bark drive its way under my nails. I hoped the physical pain would
override the ache in my chest, an ache I suspected was every bit as
excruciating as a heart attack.

The next thing I knew, Jayden grabbed my
arm, twisted me around, and pulled me into him. He was so fast his
movements barely registered. He hugged me into his chest and kissed
the top of my head. No longer able to hold back the grief, I broke
down, sobbing and shaking. In search of solace, I buried my face
into his shirt and muffled my moans.

Jayden never said a word. He just held me
tight and let me purge as much of the sorrow from my soul as
possible. A faraway part of me wondered how bad my grief would have
been if the MicroPharm chip hadn't been releasing a nerve-calming
sedative.

I knew it had to be doing just that because
that was its job. Mom had designed it so. Still, the ache was so
intense, so raw, and so crippling that I had to thank God above
that there was something to keep me from feeling the full weight of
this sorrow.

I'm not sure how long Jayden held me like
that, but it felt like hours. When I'd cried all the tears I had to
cry, I closed my eyes, pulled away from him, and said, "I shouldn't
have done that."

I ducked my chin into my chest, knowing my
face was red and disfigured from the swelling.

"Yes, you should have, and it didn't hurt
anyone. You held it together for Tawney and Gran. The only person
who will ever know about this is me, and your secret will follow me
to my grave," Jayden swore, like this moment in time would be the
olive branch we'd been searching for since the day I'd betrayed him
in the ice cream parlor years ago.

"Thanks," I murmured.

Jayden shrugged and right before he looked
away from me, I noticed his own eyes and nose were swollen and red.
I hadn't been the only one who'd needed to grieve.

Why wouldn't he? He's in
love with Tawney.

I put my hand on his arm, and he turned back
toward me.

"We'll get through this. Gran's been working
on a cure for lymphoma for years," I said, biting my lip before
finishing. "I'm going to find out everything I need to know about
his research and his discoveries."

With that commitment, I'd made the decision
to fight for Tawney's life. I was the great-granddaughter of Peter
Panzali and the daughter of Selma Enoche, both Nobel Prize winners.
If anyone in the world had the genes and the incentive necessary to
make life-saving discoveries, it was me. I stood straighter and
took a long, deep breath. I felt better—stronger—than I had in
hours.