The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (6 page)

“I’m not afraid of Kieran.”

“You should be,” Aedan said. “We all should be. They are coming for you and your family. What do you think they'll do to your wife? Your daughter? You saw those pictures of the women who got in their way. You might as well take your wife and daughter out back and shoot them before Kieran makes his way here, or they will have wished they’d died before he got his hands on them. And what about the people of Lorburn? How do you think they feel? Mostly everyone hates you. Don’t you think they would be attracted to the promises Kieran is throwing out there? Some already have. The people are divided.”

“Aedan, I promise nothing will happen. We’ve been friends for how long? Twenty, thirty years? When have I ever let something terrible happen to our people?”

“They won’t only be attacking you and your family, Andrew.”

“And that is why you are so worried. You would be the next target if something happened to my family. But you have to trust that I have everything under control.”

Aedan muttered something, but I couldn’t catch it. I tried to lean in closer, as I couldn’t hear anything else. They were either taking a breather or whispering. 

As I moved away from the office door and toward the front door, I couldn't help think of the worry in Aedan's voice. I bit my thumb nervously and leaned my back up against the wall, waiting for Agathy to show up, and stared down at my shoes. Why would there be an uprising? Didn’t they know how dangerous it would be to go against the Lorburn’s army? Who were these rebels?
There is a movement happening.
Aileen’s voice popped into the back of my head.
They will come after you. Listen to your gut. If it is telling you to run, you run.
Was this what she meant? Was this the movement she was talking about? The rebels?

“Mia?” Agathy’s voice broke through my thoughts. I blinked a couple of times and shook my head. Agathy stood in front of me with a look of concern. “Are you okay?” I nodded my head, but the look didn’t drop from her face. She handed me my light-green bag. “Here you go. The money is in your wallet. You have enough to get food for the day and do whatever you would like.”

My jaw dropped. Thoughts of rebels and running vanished from my head. My father had never given me that much money before. If he’d wanted me out of the house before, he would make me rely on the money he gave me every week. “Really?”

Agathy nodded. “Really. Now go out and have some fun.”

I slid my black wool jacket on and draped the bag onto my shoulder and over my head, that way it was lying across my chest. “I’ll see you later,” I said. Agathy was looking down the hallway. It was the first time I’d ever seen her look distracted. Something was bothering her. I wondered if she had been like that earlier.

“Yes, yes.” She patted me on the head and moved me out the front door.

I walked down the steps and moved toward the café. I pushed my hands deep inside my jacket pocket to keep them out of the cold. Snow covered the streets and lawns from the downfall the night before; snow was still sprinkling onto the ground. It was beautiful. It always brought me peace.
You might as well take your wife and daughter out back and shoot them. They will wish they’d died.
I shivered at the words. It wasn’t a very peaceful thought. Would these rebels really hurt innocent women? Why wasn’t my father taking Aedan’s words seriously? Did he truly not believe the rebels and this Kieran guy were that dangerous? With the way Aedan was talking about them, I would want to hide in my secret lodge.

“Hey!” a familiar, deep voice yelled out.

I looked up and squinted through the brightness of the snow. I could see my new mystery jerk walking toward me. He didn’t look happy.
Look who's stalking me now
. He slipped his hands in his back pockets as he stood blocking my way. I took him in; he was wearing navy-blue jeans, the same boots, and a black hoodie under a black leather jacket.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

I looked up at him and narrowed my eyes at him. “Walking.”

“Why?”

“Umm, because I have legs that work? And why do you care?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Well, I live here.” I started to get annoyed. “And you can’t tell me where I should or shouldn’t be.” As I moved around him, he stepped in my way again, blocking my path.

“You don’t have any friends, do you?” 

I glared up at him. “I do too have friends. And why do you care? Wasn’t it just yesterday when you brushed me off?” I raised my eyebrows and placed my hands on my hips. “Don’t you have someone else to annoy?” 

“One, I don’t think you have any friends; I’ve never seen you with any. Two, you seem like the loner type, but not the
I want to be by myself
loner type,
more like the no one wants to be friends with me
loner type,” he said. “Plus, you shouldn’t be walking around alone.”

I wondered if his middle name started with
A
and ended with
hole
. “Just because you’ve seen me alone three times doesn’t mean you know if I have friends or not. And I walk around alone all of the time.” I moved to the right to get around him, and he blocked me again. Crossing my arms, I glared up at him. This was getting ridiculous. 

“I’ve watched you for longer than three days. I noticed you on my first day of the rebuild of the theater.” My heart decided to accelerate along with his words. “It always struck me as odd that with all the money you had, you had zero friends.” My heart decelerated back to normal as the blood started to boil in my veins.

“Wow. Who peed in your cereal?” I started to walk past him. “And it brings me back to my question, now who’s stalking who?”

He grinned. I would have been impressed that his lips could form that shape, but I was too annoyed by his irritating, sadistic, happy attitude. “My bets are still on you stalking me,” he said, strutting next to me down the street. Who was this guy?

I looked over at him and narrowed my eyes. “Are you a twin? Do you have a twin who is all brooding and you’re the jerk?” I said. I forced my legs to pick up the pace, but he just continued along with me. “Why are you walking with me? You just called me a loser, by the way.”

He threw his hands up in front of him. “Hey, I didn’t say loser. That came out of your mouth. I was just telling it like it is. And maybe because I’m walking to the same place you are.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t even know where I’m going. Shouldn’t you be working?”

“We just got canceled for the day, something about the weather,” he said. He motioned around to all the snow. 

I peeked over at him. Maybe this was his happy stage. I think I might have preferred his grumpy stage. 

My stomach growled loud enough for the other regions to know I was hungry. I grabbed my stomach with my hands.
We are almost to food—just hold on.
 

“Hungry?” he asked.

Damn. I had hoped he hadn’t heard that. “Yes, I’m actually on my way to get something to eat.”

“What, no food at your big house?”

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?” I didn’t want to be around him anymore. 

“I should.”

I slipped my hand out in front of us, animated two fingers as legs, and made the walking motion. He pushed my arm down and away from him.

“Are you trying to kick me out?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “All I’m saying is that you brushed me off yesterday. You took an innocent hot chocolate event and made me into some creepy, lovesick child who would stalk her prey.”

He laughed. “Did I hurt your feelings?”

“Look,” I said. “We could argue all day whether you did or didn’t. I have a feeling no matter what I say you won’t believe me. So move along. Go home. Leave me alone.” I hurried my steps, leaving him behind.

I opened the doors to the café and inhaled all of the wonderful smells that were drifting through the place. The café was enormous. On one side were all of the food vendors and on the other side was the seating area. I got in line for pizza and felt a little drool trying to make its way out as two delicious slices of extra cheese landed on my plate. Picking up the tray, along with an orange soda, I checked out and picked a table next to the window so I could watch the snow drift down. I slipped my bag and jacket off and set them on the chair next to me. I closed my eyes and moaned as I took a large bite of the pizza; letting the mozzarella sizzle in my mouth. 

A chair scraped across the floor, and my eyes popped open.
Oh, come on
! He picked up a burger and took a bite. He chewed while staring at me. I kept my eyes on him, not wanting to break this staring contest we seemed to be having. I took another bite of pizza as he took a sip of his soda. 

“Are you going to moan like that again?” He pointed to the pizza that I was currently holding. “Or do you moan for more than just pizza?”

I rolled my eyes. I was not going to let him get to me. He took another bite of his burger as I took another one of my pizza. It was like some weird, food-eating stare down. It was a pity that he was such an ass, because he was striking. Dropping my pizza on my plate, I licked my fingers. “So, why are you here?”

He stared at my fingers and then at my face. He shrugged his shoulders. “Because I’m hungry.”

“I mean why are you sitting with me?”

He smiled and I couldn't remember how to breathe. It was a beautiful smile. The kind of smile I doubted he showed very often. His smile reminded me of a rainbow, very seldom seen, but when it appeared, it stopped you in your tracks. “There's nowhere else to sit.”

His smile disappeared as he took another bite of his burger. I cleared my throat and looked around, there was barely anyone here. Most likely because of the weather, not a lot of people liked the cold. I raised my eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure if you looked around, you might find an open spot. Like anywhere.”

“Nah, I’m good here.” He finished the rest of the burger, the whole time keeping his eyes on me. I rolled mine and returned to my pizza. 

I would just ignore him. He could sit there all he liked, but I wouldn’t have to think he was here. I could do this.

“So why are you out on a day like this?” His voice sent fingers of warmth up my spine. I loathed that my spine decided to work against me.

“Because I decided I didn’t want to stay in bed all day and do nothing. I wanted to spend my Saturday wandering around with an annoying voice in my ear,” I said dryly.

He smiled again. “You know, if it weren’t for the fact you live on this side of the wall, I might like you.” I cocked a brow at him, and he shook his head. “And don’t let that get to your head. When I said like, I meant more like of an acquaintance like. You are definitely not my type.”

“I believe we covered this yesterday.” I tried to keep the sting of his words from hitting my esteem and kept my eye on my pizza. “Anyway, you’re not my type either.”

He laughed. It was full and masculine and gorgeous. So, of course, I hated it. “Whatever you say.”

I looked down at my second piece of pizza. My appetite disappeared. “Well, I think I’m done here.” Picking up my tray, I dumped its contents into the trash and grabbed my jacket and bag; putting it on before I walked out in the freezing cold. If I ever saw him again, it would be way too soon.

As I opened the door, the cold wind hit me in the face and I winced and felt tears pounce in the corner of my eyes. Tears were always pouncing in my eyes from the cold. Burrowing further into my jacket, I headed in the opposite direction of my house—moving slowly as the wind shoved up against me. I slipped a few times on pieces of ice but was able to catch myself each time—except for the last one. When I moved one foot forward, it slipped out from under me, my body landing hard on the ground. Not only was my butt sore, but my pants were now soaked by the snow. I would be walking around with wet pants, and I wasn’t allowed to go home. 

“You’re kind of a klutz,” he said, coming up from behind me.

You have got to be kidding me.
“You’re kind of a stalker.”

He stood in front of me. “Nope. The gate's this way.” He held his hand out to me. I stared, wondering what trick he was going to do. He tilted his head at me. “Do you need any help?”

Probably. But would I accept his? With my luck, I would try to get up on my own and end up slipping the whole time, never finding traction. I would make myself look like an even bigger fool than I already had. As I slipped my petite hand into his large calloused one, he hefted me up without any trouble. Quickly, I took my hand back. 

I looked at the ground as I started to move. “Thank you,” I mumbled. 

He came up beside me. “What? I didn’t quite catch that.”

I groaned. “Thank you.” I made sure I said it loud enough, so I wouldn’t have to repeat myself again.

“You’re welcome.” He shoved his hands into his front pockets. “So, where are you headed?”

“The library.” I really wanted to drop my pants. The water from the snow was so cold on my butt I would have given anything to dry off.

“Why?” he sounded genuinely confused.

“I like to read.”

“Why?” I glowered at him, and he smirked. “You’re such a grouchy person.”

“I am not. You make me grouchy.” I focused back on my feet: one foot in front of the other.

“So, what’s your name?”

“Why would I tell you my name?” I asked suspiciously. 

“I could just call you Grouchy.” He smirked again. “That could be your nickname. You’re Grouchy and I’m Gregory.”

Gregory was a nice name. Too bad it didn’t fit with his personality. “You can call me whatever you like.” I smiled bitterly up at him. I pushed past him and up the steps to the library. My hand was on the door when he yelled out behind me. 

“Try not to stalk me tomorrow.” 

I turned toward him, flipped him off, and made my way inside the library.