“This was a mistake. Best we forget it.”
She stared up at him, but he couldn’t quite read her expression. Was she scared? Stunned? Disappointed? He couldn’t worry about that now. He needed to get her gone.
“Go, Jess. Get in the house.”
She’d jumped down and fled. Embarrassed? Ashamed? He didn’t know. Running a frustrated hand through his hair, he made a decision in that moment. It was becoming way too dangerous to be living in this house with her. Not with the way he was starting to feel about her.
He moved out the very next day.
Ghost shook the memory free and stared at the woman before him now.
“I crossed a line I never should have crossed. Thought we both agreed to forget that day ever happened.”
“You mean forget that kiss ever happened?”
“Yeah. That’s what I mean.”
“We’re not actually blood related, Ghost. It’s not like you’re really my brother. My mom just married your dad. He wasn’t the first stepdad I ever had, or the last.”
He squatted back down and began working on his bike again. “What’s she on now?”
“Husband number five.”
He shook his head.
“How about your father?”
He squinted up his face, thinking. “Mmm, number six, I think.”
She huffed out a breath. “Doesn’t bode well for either of us, does it?”
Ghost chuckled. “No, I guess relationship longevity doesn’t run on either side of this fucked up family.”
She smiled, sobering. “I guess not.”
Ghost continued working on his bike. He was glad to occupy his mind with something and glad they were both able to drop the subject of the one and only time they’d kissed. He hadn’t been lying. It had been a mistake.
Jessie sat back against the wall and eventually dosed off. After a while, Ghost took a break and wandered outside. He found a small bluff and was able to climb up and see the road. He spotted several small groups of Death Heads riding the highway.
He thought about leaving his bike and heading out on foot, but he didn’t know how far they’d get, especially with Jessie in those damned high-heeled boots. There was no way she’d be able to hike through the vegetation, and if they kept to the roads, they’d be sitting ducks and spotted for sure. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if the Death Heads came upon them.
He looked to the west and saw another line of storm clouds approaching. Goddamn it. They just couldn’t catch a break. He returned to the shed to find Jessie nervously pacing. When she looked up and saw him, she came to a dead stop.
“You came back.”
He frowned. “I was just checking out the road.”
“I thought you left me.”
“Babe, I was twenty yards away.”
She began twirling a piece of her hair nervously. “I just thought…”
He remembered that quirk of hers. Whenever she got nervous or anxious she’d twirl a piece of her hair, round and round. He wasn’t even sure she was conscious of doing it. But for him it was like a ‘tell’ in poker. A dead giveaway to how upset she was. Not that she was ever that hard to read, not for him anyway. At least, that had been the case when she was younger, now, maybe not so much. “Jess, you really think I’d leave you here?”
“Well, I didn’t think you’d leave your bike, but when I woke up you were gone…”
“Oh, so I’d leave you, but not my bike, is that it?”