Cheating Time (18 page)

"We'll be moving out within the hour,
Carlie. I slept longer than I'd planned last night, meaning you
barely slept. I was trying to give you a little more time before we
pulled out," Jayden explained.

If he hadn't admitted the night before that
he does what he has to do to get Tawney and me to be his good
little soldiers, I'd have thought he cared for me. I'd have thought
Jayden was more beautiful than ever with the water dripping from
ends of his hair and into the day-old beard covering his face.

"You shouldn't have done that. I mean… we
need to get going," I murmured.

"I hear you," he said, and his words were
short. "We'll be leaving soon. I promise. Now…" He bobbed his head
back toward the lake. "I'm happy to stand guard while you take a
quick dip and get cleaned up before we leave. There's no telling
when we'll have another place where we can bathe."

"Is that what you did for Tawney? Is that
why she's looking so good this morning and is in such good
spirits?" I asked.

My jealousy—a jealousy I wouldn't have been
able to fathom the day before—took over my reason and made me feel
like my eyes might be burning red.

"I did let her get cleaned up. Are you
suggesting that I shouldn't have?"

There was a mirth to what he said that told
me I was amusing him, that I was a toy being batted around for his
pleasure.

"No. I'm just curious about how much you saw
while you were"—I did air quotes—"
guarding
her while she was
cleaning up.
"

I was weary, irrational, and absolutely
suggesting there was a whole lot more to their relationship than
flirting. Everything about the way I was feeling reminded me of the
ice cream parlor and my need to stake my territory. I didn't care
anything about Jayden's or Tawney's feelings. All I cared about was
the ache in my chest and the burn in my throat when I thought about
him holding anyone—even my sweet cousin Tawney…
especially my beautiful cousin Tawney
—in his
arms.

After a long belly laugh targeted at me,
Jayden said, "I stood guard. Nothing more. Nothing less. Last
night, I explained to you that Tawney is like a sister to me. I
don't have a real sister, but if I did, I believe seeing her naked
would be the last thing I'd want to do."

My stare snapped toward his. Something deep
inside me needed to look Jayden in the eyes so I could see if there
was anything there that told me he was lying. I hated myself
because Tawney was my dying cousin, one who clearly loved Jayden,
but I couldn't stand by and let their relationship grow.

I just
couldn't.

Even if Jayden hated me and every kindness
he'd ever shown me was done as part of an assignment, I didn't
care. I didn't want him to fall in love with her. I wanted him to
myself, and this was the first time since I'd been scolded by Dad
that I'd allowed myself to think of Jayden as anything more than my
trainer, a man my father assigned to me so I'd know how to protect
myself.

With whispered words that released an army
of butterflies in my belly and a small fire in my chest, Jayden
said, "You, on the other hand… you're nothing like a sister to me.
I'd love nothing more than to stand here and watch you strip naked
and dive off into that water. Actually, there's one thing I'd like
more. Diving in with you. That would be better."

When I saw the glint in his eyes, I knew he
was jacking with me.

My disbelieving stare turned into a hateful
glare in a heartbeat. "You're an ass. Do you know that?"

"What do you mean, Carlie?" he said, and
there was no mistaking the condescension in his voice.

"Go back to the camp and eat your damn eggs.
Tawney's got them all peeled, ready, and waiting for you. I'll be
there in a few minutes. Like you, I have needs, and I'd prefer to
be by myself… I'd prefer not to worry about a perv standing by and
watching."

Jayden chuckled, turned his back on me, and
headed in the direction of the camp. "That's not the way I was
reading you a few seconds ago, you little vixen."

It was all I could do not to turn banshee,
jump his back, and choke the life out of him. Instead, I went in
the exact opposite direction, toward the lake.

Thirty minutes later, I was clean, my hair
was pulled back into a wet braid, and I was walking back into our
camp, one that was completely packed up.

"Good Lord, I haven't been gone that long,"
I said to no one in particular.

The next thing I knew, Jayden was next to
me, holding up for me the backpack Mom packed. He was waiting for
me to put my arms through the straps. I complied.

After it was strapped on my shoulder, Jayden
leaned into my ear and whispered, "I had a lot of pent-up energy
that I had to use so I wouldn't go back to the lake and return the
favor you granted me earlier."

His warm breath brushed my skin and sent
chills up my spine.

Again, he whispered, "If we didn't have an
entire day of walking ahead of us and your family wasn't watching,
I'd snatch that backpack off you, throw you up against that tree,
and make you admit how much you enjoyed the view."

"You wish," I scolded.

"Actually, I do," he said before reaching
over and picking up Tawney's backpack and helping her put it
on.

Making me sick was the way he leaned into
her ear and whispered something that made her blush and laugh. I'm
absolutely sure he'd said something about her earlier dip in the
lake also.

What a bastard!

He was playing both of us and would continue
doing just that until we were at the safe house. I just needed to
ignore him.

After he strapped Gran's backpack on and
said something to him that made my great-grandfather chuckle, I was
even more enraged with Jayden's ability to put people at ease, to
get inside their heads and know what it was that made them
tick.

After he had Gran ready to go, Jayden
grabbed up his backpack, one that was by far the biggest and
bulkiest of all of them. Instinctively, I suspected he broke down
camp himself so he'd be able to lighten everyone's load by putting
as much as he possibly could carry into his own pack.

When he slung the extra pack I'd brought
over his own shoulder, I chastised myself for insisting it come
along with us. I darted his way.

"Jayden, that's my backpack, and it's filled
with non-necessities. I'll carry it. If it gets to be too much,
I'll shed it. I promise. I won't let it slow us down."

He turned toward me with a wink and a smile
and, as if shouting from the heavens, said, "Oh no you're not. I'm
carrying it, and I'm going to do one thing every day for the rest
of this trip to prove my undying love for you, Carles."

I was stopped short. Actually, everyone—Gran
and Tawney—was stopped short.

I couldn't help but wonder what kind of game
he was playing with me. In the same loud tone, I snapped, "I hate
the ground you walk on. I won't be manipulated, and I will carry my
own backpack."

Before he could disagree, I snatched my pack
from his grip. For what felt like the millionth time today, Jayden
laughed at me. With my head held high in indignation, I dashed
forward, pretending as if I were the one charged with leading our
expedition. I couldn't help but sneak a peek at Tawney. Her mouth
was hanging open, but she didn't look hurt, which told me she'd
chalked the entire incident up to another of Jayden's attempts at
taunting and humiliating me.

It seemed as if I'd successfully undermined
Jayden's fake pledge of love. In her eyes, he was still on the
market, and she was looking to buy.

Without another word between us, we began
day two of our weeklong trek to the safe house. After walking for
less than ten minutes and out of nowhere, it began to rain.

Perfect! Absolutely
perfect!

It only took about two hours before I
regretted my decision not to eat before we left. Pride kept me from
saying anything.

I'll drop dead from
starvation before I'll let Jayden know I'm hungry.

As if the Surrogate Soldier could read my
mind, he sidled up next to me, opened his hand, and held out the
eggs Tawney had peeled for him.

I stared longingly at his hand and said,
"Those are yours. Why haven't you eaten them?"

He shook his head. "I ate mine already.
These are yours."

When I looked over my shoulder to see if
Tawney was anywhere near, I saw that she and Gran were lagging
pretty far behind.

"Go ahead. You'll never be able to keep up
this pace if you don't eat something," he said, slipping them into
my hand.

"I'll take two of them. You need to eat the
last one. Your pack weighs more than all of ours combined," I
admonished.

Deciding he'd rather see me eat two than
none, he grabbed one back and bit into it, eating half of it in one
bite. I did the same thing. As proof that I was starving, that egg
was the best-tasting food I'd ever put into my mouth, and that
comparison included every piece of chocolate cake I'd ever
eaten.

I moaned with pleasure. "Oh my God! This is
so good."

Jayden smiled. "It took me a little time
this morning, but I was able to find a few newly created bird and
duck nests. These are the duck eggs."

Jayden was proud of himself, and there was
no reason for me to keep tearing him down. The hike had cooled my
temper.

"They're great. You did good."

"Listen…" Jayden looked over his shoulder
and checked on Tawney and Gran the way I had seconds before.
"Today's trip is going to go pretty slow. The earlier rain made the
forest's floor slippery. There's no sense pushing them any harder
than necessary. We'll only wear them down and make the trip harder
than it has to be."

Instantly, I regretted leading at such a
fast pace. "Oh. You're right. I'll slow down. Neither one of them
should be out here doing what we're doing," I complained.

"It is what it is, but I'd appreciate it if
you'd take it just a little slower. I planned on walking for about
another two hours, take a break, and walk until it's nearly dark.
Are you good with that?" Jayden asked.

This was the first time he'd ever asked my
opinion, the first time he acted as though my thoughts mattered at
all to him. He was treating me like a peer and not one of his
charges. It made me feel good.

"Yeah. I think that's a great idea, Jayden.
I'll do my part. I promise," I said.

Jayden smiled, "I know."

Then he slowed down until he was the one
walking behind our caravan, keeping an eye on us, and protecting us
from anyone who might come up from behind.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.
We walked. It rained. We stopped. It rained. We stopped and ate the
boar jerky Jayden made from last night's leftover meat. Finally and
to everyone's relief, we stopped for the night.

By that time, Tawney and Gran were so
exhausted they could barely put one foot in front of the other.
Like the night before, my energy was unlimited. I was sure I had
the MicroPharm to thank. I was equally sure that Tawney's illness
was preventing her from experiencing the same benefits.

After helping her remove her backpack, I
pulled Tawney to the side and said, "I'm going to help Jayden get
the camp set up. You keep Gran company. The last thing I need right
now is for him to feel like he needs to help. It'll go faster with
just Jayden and me."

As testament to how tired she was, she
nodded, turned, and dropped down next to our great-grandfather
without any sort of argument at all. I was sure she'd be asleep
before her tent was up and ready, which was why I decided to work
on hers first.

Jayden must have known the same thing.
Rather than wait for camp to be set up, he pulled from his pack
bottles of water and more of the jerky. Then he gave healthy
portions of the meat to both Tawney and Gran before offering me my
own ration.

Waving the food away, I shook my head. "Not
now. I have things to do first. You eat with them. I'll eat while
I'm on guard duty later."

Jayden ignored my orders that he eat. He put
up the meat and followed me over to where the tents were going to
be set up. Ten minutes later, sleeping quarters were erected, and I
was leading Gran to his tent and Jayden was carrying Tawney to
hers. She didn't awaken, but she did nestle into his chest and hum
contentedly.

Even in her sleep, her love for Jayden was
obvious. Jayden cleared his throat uncomfortably before glancing my
way to see if I'd noticed. I talked to Gran and pretended to have
been oblivious.

Gran, a man of few words and one who'd
barely said anything all day, looked at me and asked, "Are we
making good time, Carlie? She won't be able to last any more than
five days. We can't be delayed at all. Not if we want to get there
with enough time to make her comfortable and let her pass
peacefully."