The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (15 page)

“Yes.” I started to bounce on my toes.

“Fine, let’s get on.” He shoved me onto the train and he just made it through the doors before they closed. “What compartment are we in?”

I rifled through my purse, looking for the tickets. When I pulled them out, Gregory snatched them out of my hands—causing me to glare at him—and walked toward the very back of the train. I followed and kept looking in each compartment on the way down to see if maybe Alithea was already in one. As we made it to the compartment, Gregory shut the door behind us. The compartment was small with a chair on either side and a small window. Immediately to the left of the compartment door was another door. I opened it up and a tiny lavatory appeared, big enough for one at a time. I tried to imagine Gregory’s tall frame going in there but couldn’t. He would have had to duck while he went. I closed the door and walked over to the chairs, which were made of brown leather and each had a share of holes in them. As I sat down on the chair to the right of the window, Gregory sat opposite me and looked out. 

It was dark out, and our reflections shone back at us. I looked at Gregory through the glass; his face was impossible to read and he seemed to be concentrating on something, but I wasn't sure. That could be the face of man just trying to think. I smirked, and he glared at me. I tilted my head and wondered if he could read minds.
If you can read my mind, you look really sexy with all that stubble on your face.
He turned his glare to the window. Nope, he couldn’t read minds. He looked exhausted though I knew he wouldn’t admit it, but I was happy he’d agreed to come with me, even if I had to pay him.

“Thank you,” I said. He turned to look at me. He was quiet for a few minutes, and I squirmed in my seat.

“They knew you were going to be at the train station,” he said.

“Who?” I asked. My eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

“The rebels.”

“How? We were careful when we left your place.”

“I saw a bunch of odd-looking military Jeeps, not like the ones the army drives, back at the station. Only a few guys were near them, so I figured they were on the train looking for you. When we got to the entrance of the train, I watched a bunch of them get off at the rear exit.”

“That’s why you shoved me in,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t know how they found out you were going to be here. Maybe they caught Alithea and she gave you up.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t believe that.”

“You don’t even know her. You said it yourself earlier. She could’ve wanted the reward and decided to turn you in.”

“Why would she have gone out of her way to give me tickets?”

Gregory just shrugged his shoulders. “Believe what you want, but I think sh—”

The compartment door opened, making both Gregory and me to jump up from our seats. “Tickets, please,” the elderly man in front of us said. He was wearing a light-blue t-shirt and tan corduroy pants. His hair was white and thinning, and he had smiling brown eyes. Gregory handed over the tickets, assessing the ticket collector. The elderly man ripped off the bottom piece and handed it back to Gregory. “We will be getting to Inonia in eight hours. Please relax and enjoy the ride.” With that he left, shutting the door behind him.

Gregory pocketed the tickets and walked toward the door. He took off his leather jacket and shut off the light. I could see the silhouette of his body as he walked back toward his chair. He propped the jacket up against the window and lay his head on it. “We should probably get some rest. Who knows what will be waiting for us.” He closed his eyes.

“What did you want for payment?” I blurted out. 

A smile formed on his lips. “I’m not sure yet, but once I know, I’ll let you know.”

The bastard probably already knew what he wanted, but he was going to be a stubborn ass in the meantime. I rolled my eyes and tried to make myself comfortable. I kept my jacket on—no pointing trying to take everything off. It would be too much of a pain. I leaned my head up against the cold window and closed my eyes. I had no idea what to expect when we got to Inonia. Were people still going to be after me? Would I even find safety? The train jostled our bodies as it made its way to our destination. It took me quite a while to get my mind to shut off. When I was finally able to do that, I fell asleep.

“What do you think?” Gregory asked, peering into my eyes. We lay on our sides, facing each other. His hands cupped my face, his thumbs caressing my jaw.

“I don’t know…I’d have to ask my parents,” I said. I slid my arms around his waist, pulling him closer to me. His body heat kept me warm.

His eyes darkened at the mention of my parents. “We are not going to tell them.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“I don’t like them—especially not how they treat you. You deserve better,” he said. 

I let go of his waist and slid one hand up to his face. I moved my hand back and forth, smoothing out the anger wrinkles. “But won’t they worry if I just leave without telling them where I would be going?” I leaned closer to his face, our noses touching.

“Let them worry,” he said. He rubbed his nose against mine. I stared into the depths of his eyes, hypnotized by what I saw. I closed my eyes as I felt his lips hovering over mine. I could feel his hot breath on my mouth, and I leaned up a little bit closer, hoping to finally kiss him. Just as our lips almost touched, the bed shook. My eyes popped open at the same time Gregory moved his head back and looked at me quizzically. “What was that?”

The bed shook harder. I grabbed a fistful of sheets. “I don’t know. Where are you going?” I asked. Gregory was disappearing from my eyes.

“Hold on to me!” he said. I tried to grab on to him, but my hands just kept slipping through. It didn’t make sense. I watched him disappear as fear entered my body. I was alone. He’d left me. “Mia!” I could hear his voice calling for me, but I couldn’t see him. “Mia, wake up. You need to wake up.”

I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly as Gregory's face swam in and out in front of me. Heat brushed against my cheek as the dream popped back into focus. Why would I ever dream of us? Like…that? It…it was…it would never, ever, ever happen. 

The train was still rustling us around but seemed to be going at a slower rate. “What’s hap—” I started to say when he clamped his large hand over my mouth. He put his finger to his lips and shushed me. He removed his hand after I nodded my head.

“We have visitors,” he whispered. He moved away from me and walked to the door to our compartment; I watched him closely, noticing he'd put his jacket back on. Nervous energy radiated off of him, his hands rubbing the back of his neck.  

It brought me right back to that dream. God, I hoped I hadn’t yelled or said something out loud. Agathy used to tell me that I talked in my sleep. Nothing would have been more embarrassing than if he had heard me talking in my sleep. I swallowed and clamped my hands together. I had questions I wanted to ask, like
What’s going on? How long have you been up? Did I speak in my sleep about you kissing me?
I put my head in my hands and shook my head. By the time I was finished berating myself for dreaming such a dream, I looked back up at Gregory, who was looking back at me. I raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head. I wasn't sure I understood how we were going to talk through body language; I was clueless at what he was trying to say. “You can talk as long as you whisper.”

Duh. I flushed even further. I’m pretty sure my face resembled a tomato by this point. I cleared my throat. “What kind of visitors?” I crossed my fingers that it would be the kind of visitors who sang.

“The same kind who were looking for you back in Gildonia.” My heart sank, and my stomach dropped. We were now stuck on a train with nowhere to hide.

“How did they get on board?” I asked. I rushed out of my seat and over to him.

“Some of them must have stayed on and decided to do a thorough search of the train, and now they’re headed this way,” he said. He opened up the door slightly, peering through it.

“How do you know?” I asked, trying to peer through the small crack, but I had no way because of Gregory’s large, muscled, annoying body. The body I had dreamed about.
The view now would be much better if he weren’t wearing anything.
I shook my head. I could not think about something like that. What was wrong with me? Our lives were in danger, and the only thing I could think of was his naked body? Had I hit my head recently?
Yes
.

Gregory slowly shut the door and turned toward me. He cocked an eyebrow, as I tried to keep my face neutral. I did not want him thinking I was thinking of the wrong thing to think. “I woke up and went looking for a food cart, and that’s when I heard one of them. Said they were looking for a girl and that she might be here.”

“Oh.” My stomach growled. I wanted to ask, “Did you get any food?” but instead asked, “What do we do?”

Gregory looked around the compartment before he turned back toward the door. He slowly opened it and glimpsed outside. After a few seconds but what felt like eternity, he closed the door and turned his attention back to me. “They’re a couple of compartments down. People are out loitering in the hallway, watching them. The train has started to slow down, so I think we should sneak out of the compartment before they get any closer and move toward the back.” He marched over and grabbed the duffel bags; I stayed where I was.

“Why would we go to the very back?” I tried to follow his plan, but I could see big holes in it.

“The back of the train has this small platform and can fit a person or two on at a time.” He slid both of the bags up his arms and walked back over to where I was standing.

I raised my eyebrows. “So we’re just going to stay on the platform and hope no one looks?” Because that would work. Not.

“No,” he said, looking at me. “We’re going to jump off.”

My jaw dropped. Was he crazy? “Are you crazy?”

My body froze at the serious look on his face. “We need to get you off the train before they find out you were on it. The train has slowed down quite a bit, so when we jump—yes, it will hurt, but no it won’t kill us—we’ll be able to walk away from it. It’s still nightfall, and with the dark clothes we’re wearing, we should be pretty covered.”

“But what happens if they notice us when we walk out of the compartment? Or when we’re walking in the hallway toward the deck? Won’t they follow us? Take the chance to jump off after us?” I said. Images of broken body parts kept floating through my head. I had enough bruises on my body. I didn’t really want to add broken bones to that list. 

“Well, when the ticket collector was in the hall, I stole this.” He held up a set of keys, and I looked at him quizzically. “They lock and unlock all of the doors. So no matter what, I plan on locking the door behind us on the platform. By the time they get it unlocked, we’ll have already jumped, and the train will have brought them too far ahead of us.”

“Oh.” I hated this plan. “When do we go?”
Please say never. Please say this is a joke. Please let this just be a dream.

Gregory smiled. I frowned. “Now.”

Gregory softly opened the door again and he motioned for me to go first and as I walked by him he stopped me. He slid the hood up over my head, his fingertips brushing against my neck as he finished. As his fingertips slid down my neck, I swallowed nervously and watched as he stepped back. He slipped his hood on and beckoned for me to move. We shifted our way to the middle of the hallway; I looked right and saw a gathering of people hanging around in the hall, watching the commotion halfway down the train. I tried to see, but my height wouldn’t allow me to. Gregory quietly shut the door and turned me to go left. Even more people were standing around watching. Gregory led us down toward the deck and I held on to the bottom of his hoodie so I wouldn’t lose him.

It was difficult making our way through the crowd, and it made it even harder when the train jostled around. “We’re almost there,” I heard Gregory say a few moments later. I watched as he took out the keys from his pocket, and I almost rejoiced when the door came into view until men started yelling from behind us.

“Get them!” a deep voice bellowed. I kept telling myself not to look back, but I looked back. People were jumping out of the way, for the men in uniforms were running toward us. I glanced up at Gregory, whose eyes narrowed. He muttered curses under his breath, grabbed my hand, and started pushing people out of our way. A thunderous bang went off, and I could hear a ping of metal hitting metal. I ducked as another bang went off.

“They’re shooting at us,” I yelled as Gregory moved us to the door. People were now screaming all around us, trying to get back into their compartments. We slipped through the door, the cold air biting our faces. Gregory let go of my hand while he messed with the keys. He kept trying different keys in the lock. I looked up at him, horrified. “You don’t know which key would lock it? Why don’t you know?” I said hysterically. I looked through the glass of the small window. The men were approaching much faster than I liked. I could feel my pulse spike and I wrung my hands together.