The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (34 page)

Gregory finally looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Well, you may have had a point earlier. So, I got some stuff for the road: more food, water, and some medicine. It’s for plan B.”

I stiffened. “What’s plan A?”
Something you’re not going to like.

“I still think we should meet up with Emma. She’s our best bet. But if we get a bad feeling from her, we’ll leave.”

“How would we do that?” I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice.

“I was thinking we leave our stuff behind here. No one knows we’re down here, so we won’t have to worry about anyone taking it. We’ll still meet up with Emma, but like I said, if things feel off, we’ll come back here. We’ll wait it out and then find a way back to Gildonia.”

I grumbled about ditching plan A but sucked it up. 

“I take it you’re happy with the plans,” he said sarcastically.

I nodded my head. “I don’t have any other choice, do I?”

“Nope.” He took a bite of his dried meat. “Now we should eat. We’re meeting up with Emma in a few hours.”

“Why so late?”

“It would be better if very few knew of our presence.”

“I’m glad you thought of that.” I bit into the meat, almost moaning. “I never would have.”

“She actually told me it would be better to do it that way,” he said.

I frowned. I didn’t want to do anything she wanted us to do, but I didn’t want to start another argument with him, especially if we were to be on our way soon. “Okay.” 

“You’re not happy about it, are you?” he said.

Damn. “I didn’t say anything.” I stuffed chips in my mouth. I looked at Gregory, who just rolled his eyes at me. “So, where are we meeting up with her?” I said between bites.

“In that alley where you had a panic attack.”

I looked over at him, my eyebrows raised. “Wouldn’t, I don’t know, men who have been looking for us be there?”

“They should be gone.”

If I were one of those men, I would have stayed put. People always go back. “Right.”

“She’ll be waiting for us there. Then we’ll go with her to her place.” He wiped off his hands and went for his drink, taking a long pull.

“Why couldn’t she just tell you how to get to her place? It seems like it would’ve been better that way.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “She said she knew the best way to get there without being noticed.”

I bet she did. “I still would’ve liked to just meet her at her place. We could have scooped out the area first and seen if it was a trap. Now we’ll never know.”

Gregory smiled at me. 

“What?” I asked uncomfortably.

“You.”

“What about me?” I pushed my hair behind my ears.

“You’re adapting to the runaway lifestyle.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Gregory shrugged. “I think it’s good. Not the whole running-for-our-lives situation but that you’re easily adaptable. Well, not that easily adaptable, because you complain and stomp your feet when you don’t get your way.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t stomp my feet.”

Gregory reached forward and lightly touched my face. “Whatever makes you feel better.”

I stilled at his contact. His eyes bounced back and forth between my eyes and lips. I licked them nervously, tasting the salt from the chips. His thumb moved softly over my bottom one, and I stayed perfectly still. What was he doing? I had this sudden urge to kiss him. His mouth parted as he concentrated on his thumb as it swiped back and forth on mine. I moved an inch closer and ruined the mood. My soda spilled all over me, and I jumped up from the cold liquid seeping through my pants. I stood up and jumped around as I tried to dry myself off. Gregory went back to eating and ignored me.

After I’d determined I was dry enough, I sat back down, but this time opposite Gregory. He kept his attention on his food. I really wanted to know what he was thinking. 

“I’m sorry.” 

I looked up at him, my heart racing against my chest. Was he sorry he almost kissed me? Was his very first apology to me going to be for almost kissing me? “For what?”

“For how your life has been. No one should’ve had to go through what you’ve gone through.” 

I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip of the orange soda. “Is it really a surprise that people would retaliate against a Leader?”

“Not that,” he said.

“Not what?”

“I’m sorry you were born to a cruel father. Someone who was supposed to be there for you, protect you, and love you. I’m sorry that you had to live in fear for most of your life. You should never be afraid of your own home. Family’s everything. Family’s supposed to be there for you, always. I’m sorry you never knew what it was like to live in a happy home, where parents showered their children with love. Love from a family is different from all other types of love. Love from a family is a love that will be with you forever. It’s a love that, no matter how many fights you have with them, will always be there. And I’m sorry.”

Tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I blinked a few times until I knew I wouldn’t shed any. Where was this coming from? I almost wanted our fighting back. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but I have that love. Grew up with that love. And you’ve never experienced it. It pisses me off to know you grew up terrified of what would happen next. No child should be terrified of their own home.”

I looked down. “I don’t have a home.” It was true. I didn’t. I had never thought of Gildonia as a home. My home was always with Agathy, and she was gone now. I only had myself. And Gregory. I looked up at Gregory. His beautiful lips were frowning. “I lost my home when Agathy died. I only have myself. And you. I don’t want to lose you.”
No matter how many times he’s pissed me off or annoyed me.

“You won’t,” he said.

“Then I want you to make me a promise.” I sat up.

“What?” He looked at me suspiciously. 

“Promise me that, no matter what, I won’t lose you. That if it comes down to life and death, you will always pick your life over mine.” Gregory opened his mouth to say something, but I put my hand up and in front of me. “Never choose my life over yours. Your life is just as precious as mine. I want us to both survive and live to very old ages. But as I’ve found out, that’s never promised. So promise me that I won’t lose you.”

Gregory was quiet. He captured my eyes and held them captive for what felt like hours. “I don’t think I can make that promise.”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall. “Why not?”

“Because for some unknown reason, you’ve wiggled your annoying ass into my life, and I can’t let you get hurt,” he said.

He had such a way with words. “Then we might have a slight problem.” A laugh bubbled up in my chest. I opened my eyes and started laughing. Gregory narrowed his eyes. “We will both be jumping in front of each other. I guess that could work out in our favor though. I jump in front of you, you jump in front of me. Over and over again, and the person coming after us might get bored.” I started laughing harder. It took a few minutes, but I finally controlled my laughter. Gregory was shaking his head.

“You’re crazy,” he said blankly.

“I’m starting to think so,” I said with a smile.

Gregory shook his head again and smiled. “We should get going.”

“Were you going to kiss me?” I blurted out. Gregory instantly froze. I shouldn’t have said anything. “Earlier, I mean. Before the soda spilled all over my pants?”

Gregory rubbed his face with both hands. “Is there any way you will drop this?”

“Nope.”

“It was a moment of weakness,” he said. I could feel the pieces of my heart start to crack. It shouldn’t be cracking, but there it was, cracking. “A moment that won’t happen again. Or at least until you turn eighteen. I’m six years older than you. I shouldn’t be kissing you. I shouldn’t be thinking about kissing you. It was a moment of weakness.”

Gregory stood up and walked out of the room. I guess that was my cue to leave too. So I had to wait three months before he would kiss me again? I didn’t want to wait three months.

Gregory and I entered into the pitch dark and freezing tunnel. Pulling my leather jacket closer, I crossed my arms and sniffed; my nose was cold and running. We’d been walking in silence for over an hour, we didn't want our voices to bounce off the walls. We stayed close to the edge of the tracks. In case anything or anyone came toward us, we could slink deeper into the shadows.

I wished we’d had more time in the room that now lay behind us. We hid the duffel bag, with the extra food and clothes, under a loose floorboard. I wanted to go back, but I knew we had to give Emma a chance. I hated the idea, but I sucked it up. I didn’t want to understand how Gregory wanted The Emma Plan to work, but I did. She could help us tremendously.

I wondered how Aileen knew Emma. Aileen didn’t seem to be a person who had connections here.

I wished we’d found out what had happened to Aileen and Aedan. I hoped Aileen had made it out, but doubt clouded in. I also hoped Jake hadn’t made it out. He would be one less person I’d have to worry about coming after us.

What kept filtering through my mind were my parents. I started to feel a loss, knowing I’d never see Mother again. I hoped she didn’t suffer before she died, but I did wonder if she’d had time to think about the kind of mother she was and if she regretted it. My father was still alive that much I knew. Otherwise we would’ve heard something. And I couldn’t help but think this was his karma. As much as I hated them for everything they’d done to me, I didn’t want either of them to suffer. But I still wouldn’t turn myself in. There was no way Kieran would let my father go if I turned myself in. He was smarter than that. He needed to contain both of us or he wouldn't be the Leader of Lorburn. 

“Mia?” Gregory whispered, breaking through my thoughts.

“Yeah?” I whispered back.

“Do you hear that?”

We stopped walking and listened. At first I thought he was just hearing things, but then I could hear it. There was a slight clinking moving closer toward us, slowly but surely. I looked over at Gregory. “What is that?” I whispered.

Gregory shrugged. He put his finger to his lips and moved in front of me, grabbed my hand, and started walking forward. The farther we moved, the closer we got to the noise. A light ahead of us bobbed up and down. The clinking grew louder and louder. Voices bounced off the walls, along with the clinking. I ran into the back of Gregory as he stopped. Tightly, I grabbed his jacket. We quietly stalked into the shadows and crouched low to the ground as the voices became clearer.

“You think she’s alive?”

“Nah, she’s most likely dead.” The voices belonged to two men. 

“How would you know?” 

“No one has seen her since Leader Aedan’s house got hit,” the other one said. “She probably was killed there, and Kieran and the men are just lying.”

“I don’t know.” There was a long pause. We could hear the shuffling of their feet. “You gonna join the rebels?”

“Bobby, you know my answer.”

“Still no?” Bobby asked. “Why not? I heard they have great things.”

“I don’t care.”

“So why are we searching for this girl?”

“Maybe she survived.”

Bobby laughed. “You seem set on the girl being dead. Are you doing it for the bounty? It’s a shitload of money. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find the bitch.”

The men passed by us. I inched closer to Gregory, tightening my hold on his jacket.
Please don’t see us, please don’t see us, please don’t see us.

“I want to do what’s right.”

Bobby snorted. “And what’s right?”

“I don’t know yet.”

The voices trailed off as the light went with them. My body shook. Kieran had put a bounty on my head? Not very surprising. We crouched until the light, clinking, and voices had completely disappeared. Gregory pulled us up, and we started to move. He slid an arm around my shoulder, holding me close as we walked. His warmth spread through my clothes. Plan B sounded more appealing the further we walked.

By the time we made it to the stairs that led us out, panic started to settle in. We’d be out in the open and anyone could discover us and turn us in. Emma could turn us in. Gregory stopped me before we walked up the stairs. He opened his backpack, pulling out two guns. He handed over a gun, placing the cold metal in my hand. My fingers closed over the handle as I watched Gregory slide his in the back of his pants, his jacket falling over it. I followed his lead, the cold penetrating through my shirt. Before we left the room, Gregory showed me how to use the gun. Sure, I listened intently and watched exactly what he did, but I wasn’t sure any of it would stick in my brain.

Night had fallen by the time we made it out of the station. No one was around. We walked into the darker shadows of the buildings, our progress slow and quiet. It took us a bit to get to the alley, but once we made it, I let my body relax a bit. We looked around, but there was no one there.

“Where is she?” I whispered. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. 

“We might be early,” Gregory responded. He didn’t sound so sure.

I went over and sat next to a dumpster. Gregory followed, standing in front of me. “So what, do we just wait to see if she shows up?”