Cheating Time (25 page)

"You almost died. MediTech was alerted about
your medical emergency. We were dispatched, and you were the only
person who could be lifted out of there in the MediChopper. Believe
you me, it took more than a few of us to explain to him that he
couldn't fly back to the infirmary with you. Before we got off the
ground, St. Romaine was running behind us. Like I said, I expect
him any minute. There's no way he was going to stop and rest before
he made it here," Thorne explained.

"How long have I been here?" I asked.

"Three days."

There wasn't anything I could say to that.
I'd lost three days and my entire family. Jayden was on his way,
but there was no mention of Gran or Tawney. I was afraid to ask
about them. I worried that if they'd gone in search of the safe
house on their own, my questions would put them in danger.

I'd wait for Jayden. He'd tell me what I
need to do.
What we need to do.

As if on cue, there was a noise outside the
tent. Since it didn't seem I was being held captive, I ran toward
it. I
had to
see if Jayden had made
it.

Outside of the tent, I saw that sitting in
the middle of this forest was a dozen or so caterpillar-type tents
with one giant donut-shaped pavilion in the middle.

Jayden hadn't wasted any time finding me.
The minute I stepped outside, I was nearly tackled by him.

"Carlie! Oh my God, Carlie!" He pulled me
into his chest and hugged me tight.

I didn't care who saw us. I hugged him back.
In his ear, I whispered, "Where's Gran and Tawney?"

He stiffened and glanced around to see who
was near.

"I convinced them to keep going. I swore to
them I'd stay with you until MediTech arrived. When they wouldn't
let me come with you…" His whispered voice was hoarse with
dehydration and worry.

I palmed his cheek and looked into his eyes.
"I'm going to be fine. You need to let me take care of you. You
need something to drink and eat, and you need to sleep. After that,
we'll talk about what we need to do."

He was shaking his head as if he were going
to refuse my suggestion when Rorie came up behind us carrying a
tray with the food and water Jayden's body required.

Looking over my shoulder, Rorie said,
"Thorne, why is he hugging Carles. Does he know you're going to
marry her?"

Jayden stiffened like Rorie had just speared
him through the back. His grip on me grew tighter.
More protective.
He didn't make the first effort
to move away from me or pretend he didn't care for me.

"Rorie, can you put the food and water on
the table inside my tent, please. After that, I want you to go to
the galley and get it cleaned. Don't forget to lock it down.
Surrogate Manniless told me you left it open over the weekend and
bears got in," Thorne gently chided.

Like always, Rorie did exactly what her
brother told her. This time, she was a little quicker. His
gruffness had not gone unnoticed by Rorie or me. Gone was the
loving, carefree brother who allowed her to have supper with
us.

After she'd deposited the food and water
inside the tent and as she was leaving, she looked down at her
wringing hands and apologetically said, "I-I didn't leave it
unlocked, Thorne. I promise. I don't know how the bears got in, but
it wasn't because of me."

Softening in a way only Rorie could induce,
Thorne reached over, put his hand on her shoulder, and kissed her
tenderly on the top of her head.

"Okay, sweetie. Don't worry about it. I'll
find out what's going on," he said in a very low voice, one he
didn't mean for us to hear.

Wiping the tears from the corners of her
eyes, she nodded and, without another word, headed toward the
donut-shaped tent. Staring after her until she was safe inside the
galley, Thorne kept his back toward us.

Jayden looked down at me as if he thought I
might actually be able to telepathically transmit their story. I
couldn't. I shook my head in a way that said,
I'll tell you later
. Based on the thinning of his
lips, he didn't want to wait, but he would.

Ignoring the way Jayden still had me wrapped
up in his arms, Thorne turned, walked around us, and opened the
flap of his tent, the one I'd been recovering in, and said, "You
need to eat and drink. After that, we'll find you a place to sleep.
Based on the time it took you to make it here, I'm going to assume
you've had about three hours of sleep in the last seventy-two
hours."

I could tell by the scowl on Jayden's face
that Thorne was right, and Jayden didn't like it that Thorne knew
that much about him, about what he'd done or not done in the last
three days.

I pulled away from Jayden and took his hand
in mine before leading him into Thorne's tent. Like me, Jayden
looked around and was amazed by the clean sterility and the
uncluttered vastness of the tent.

Thorne walked back toward the table where he
and I'd eaten and sat down before waving his hand toward the chair
Rorie had sat in earlier. She'd laid out for Jayden a feast similar
to the one she'd prepared for Thorne and me. I was more thankful
for it now than I'd been when it had been for me. Jayden hadn't
taken care of himself. He needed water and nutrients, and more than
anything else, he needed rest. The gauntness of his cheeks and the
circles under his eyes were proof of that.

"Eat," I ordered. "We've already eaten so
there's no need to wait for us."

He nodded and before he took the first bite
of food, he downed the entire glass of water.

I glanced over to Thorne and asked, "Can I
get him more from your cooler?"

"You're still recovering yourself. You've
only just come out of your coma a few hours ago. I'll get it," he
offered, getting up and walking over the cart at the end of the
tent and pulling out a bottle of water. Unlike when he was getting
the water for me, he took his time.

I wished I'd have gotten the water for
Jayden myself. I would have treated the chore with the urgency I
thought it required.

Rather than focus on Thorne's slow water
run, Jayden went straight for the roasted duck. Getting protein in
his body was a matter of importance. He may have been starving, but
when he took the first bite of duck, he raised his brows and nodded
his head appreciatively toward the food.

I said, "I know. It's wonderful. Rorie made
it. Apparently, she's an amazing cook."

I saw pride swell around Thorne. He loved
his sister, and he loved seeing her get her due for the hard work
she'd put into the meal. Speeding his pace, he set the water bottle
in front of Jayden, who eyed it suspiciously, but like me earlier,
he needed it so bad he didn't have the luxury of refusing it.

While Jayden downed another bottle, I
glanced toward Thorne and saw the way he was staring at Jayden and
my hands… hands that were still intertwined and squeezed tight.

With the curiosity of a scientist and the
jealousy of a man who really thought he and I were a couple, he
said, "You're a Surrogate, right?"

Jayden stiffened like he had earlier when
Rorie suggested Thorne and I were going to marry. He swallowed hard
and sent a death glare Thorne's way.

Thorne wasn't intimidated. He may not have
been bred as a Surrogate and trained since the moment he could walk
to fight until the death, but he'd definitely been blessed with
some great genes. He was nearly as tall as Jayden; their builds
were comparable and their moves similarly graceful. Seriously, both
men would be worshipped as gods for their beauty and strength.

The men's biggest differences were easily
measured. Where Jayden's hair was short, wavy, and brown, Thorne's
was long, straight, and blond. Where Jayden's irises were a vivid
shade of jade (marking him as a Surrogate), Thorne's were an
equally brilliant gold.

"Yeah," an irritated Jayden finally groaned.
"Why?"

Thorne shrugged but never took his golden
stare off our joined hands. "I-I just thought there were rules that
prevented Surrogates from getting too intimate with
Procreates."

I saw the instant Jayden felt defeated, like
reality had throat punched him. His shoulders dropped a little, and
he looked at the food like it might actually be poisonous. With a
shake of his hand, he tried to pull his fingers away from mine, but
I wouldn't let him.

Right then and there, I'd decided I'd
wrestle him to the ground and make him hold my hand if I had to,
but I was going to hold his hand. I was too glad to see him and too
thankful for everything he'd done to make sure I was safe. He'd put
me and his concern for me above his body's needs.

Yeah… there's no way he's
going to get this hand back.

When I wouldn't let go, he glanced toward
me, trying to figure out what the hell I was doing. When he saw the
glare in my eyes, he knew I was daring him to challenge me, and
that dare brought a lopsided grin to his face.

I softened and smiled back. All the while, I
held on tighter, and he didn't complain. Then I sent a smug smile
Thorne's way.

"In my house, Jayden is now and always has
been much more to us than a Surrogate assigned to protect us. He's
part of our family, and like you, we treat everyone in our family
with respect," I said, throwing down another challenge. This one
just for him.

I knew he'd understand I was comparing the
love we had for Jayden to the love he had for his twin sister. It
took him a few minutes to embrace it, but with the infinitesimal
bob of his head, he did just that.

We sat in silence while Jayden finished his
meal. Right before he took his last bite, he shook his head,
fighting off the sleep he so desperately needed.

Worried for him, I glanced toward Thorne and
asked, "Where will we sleep?"

He looked as if I'd slapped him. "There's a
tent next door where Surrogates sleep. It's filled with men. You'll
not be welcomed there."

"I need to watch over him while he rests," I
insisted. "Look at him. He's about to collapse with
exhaustion."

More concerned about me than himself, Jayden
asked, "Where will Carlie be sleeping?"

Thorne shrugged as if the answer were
obvious. "She's been sleeping here in my tent with Rorie and me for
the last three nights, and she's been fine. I'm confident tonight
won't be any different."

"You've been sleeping in here with her?"
Jayden roared only a little quieter than the king of the jungle
would have.

I jumped.

"I'm not sure if you realize this, but
Carles's parents and my parents formally agreed years ago that we'd
be married when Carles turns twenty," Thorne announced after
clearing his throat a few times.

I jerked up to my feet so quick that I
nearly knocked the table over.

"What in the hell are you talking about? My
parents would never do anything like that, and if they had, they
would have told me. I know you love Rorie and you want to give her
everything her heart desires, but I'm not for sale. I'll pick my
husband or I'll never marry," I assured Thorne with as much
vehemence as I felt over my parents' betrayal.

"This union"—Thorne waved his hand wildly
between the two of us—"is one Barone insisted upon. It's not one
either of us can back out of. I thought you knew… I thought that's
how you knew about me and my father."

The bizarreness of the situation, the fact
that I was miraculously brought to the camp where my fiancé was
stationed, felt just a little too convenient. As if answering my
unspoken question, Thorne continued.

"I'm in my third year of medical school. I'm
in the middle of my MediTech rotation, which is why Rorie and I are
here at all. Actually, it's as if fate had us in its sights all
along. I mean… my fiancée is bitten dozens of times by poisonous
snakes, and I'm the doctor on call, the one charged with retrieving
and nursing her back to health.

"Even if you don't care for me, you have to
admit I did a fantastic job of bringing her back from the brink of
death. I'm not sure many other physicians would have been able to
do what I did. So before you start questioning where she's been
sleeping, I'd like to remind you who you are questioning," Thorne
said, throwing down a gauntlet that couldn't be challenged.

Hell will freeze over
before I marry a man because someone else wants me to.

As if Thorne's actions outweighed the
wonderful things Jayden had done for my family and me over the
course of years, Jayden stepped away from me. I reached for his
hand, and before our fingers met, he pulled it back and shook his
head.

"Carlie, I'll catch up with you in the
morning. You and I can talk then. I-if you need me tonight, just
yell. I'll hear you, and I'll be here in a heartbeat," he
mumbled.