Fall (Roam Series, Book Two) (28 page)

“I’ll see that she is punished,” he responded obediently, slicing through my ropes.

I pinch my eyes closed, concentrating.

“She prays to the devil,” Logan accuses me. I scowl at him, reaching beneath my dress to find what I am looking for.

On my feet, I extend my arms, aiming the Glock 19 at Troy’s head. He staggers and steps back. “What is this?”

He’s never seen a gun.
I press my thumbs together, lean forward, and squeeze.

And I do not flinch.

“Roam
… oh, baby, your cheek,” West smoothed my hair from my eyes, turning my face as I struggled to pull away from the nightmare. “Your nose is bleeding.”

“He’s right handed… and they don’t know what guns are… and I think I can use a sword,” I murmured, reaching for my left eye. My head throbbed in my temple.

“Hold still.” West returned from the bathroom in seconds, pressing a cool washcloth to my eye. “He hit you.”

“Into tomorrow,” I
remarked drily, my morning voice low and raspy. He pressed his lips to mine, tender, careful not to hurt me.

“A sword?”

“I felt confident… that I could use one. In 1955, I could sing… Annie could sing. But here, I can’t carry a note. So maybe… I can use a sword,” I knew I was rambling, but the sunlight streaming in the window and catching West’s eyes was quickly chasing away the details of the nightmare.

He continued to blot beneath my nose, adjusting the pillow and tipping my head back. “Would you like me to go down to the basement again and kill him in your honor?”

I twisted beneath his warm torso, my bare legs brushing his sides. “No. I would like you to do something… else.”

His lips curled into a smirk, and he reached beneath the sheet to lightly trace my side, from my hip to my neck. “And that is?”

Meeting his eyes, determination filled my gaze. “Anything?” Bowing upwards, I slid my fingers into his hair. “I did get in the pool. You
did
make a promise.”

“
Anything
, Miss Camden.”

The tears welled in the corners of my eyes before I could stop them as I pressed my body against his. “
I want my baby,
” I whispered, the words barely leaving my lips before I reached for his kiss.

H
is biceps corded beneath my fingertips as I held onto him. I expected him to move away, but instead his mouth hardened, needing, and he held me as if I’d vanish at any moment. Yielding, I opened to him, crying out softly as his kiss deepened. “
I don’t want to lose you,
” he hushed, vulnerable.

He joined me at that moment, and I gasped, tears clouding my vision. “
Don’t let me go,
” I pleaded, moving with him as he held my face in his.

“
I love you
,
Roam
,” he cried, waiting for me to fall apart beneath him before giving me everything within his heart, the promise of seven lifetimes whispered between worlds.

I lay curled in his arms, the fear of the vast unknown before us weighing heavily on my shoulders. He kissed
a trail from my bare neck, over my arm and ended at my wrist.

“
I love you, West
,” I breathed, turning into him.

We slept
on and off for a while, the unknown, waking nightmares worse than the dreams.

I stirred sometime later as he sat up. “Baby,” his breath was warm against my lips. “We’ve got to get going. It’s almost eight.”

The house was louder than I’d ever heard it with all of us there.
I wore jeans and a warm, gray sweater. West had purchased weather-protected outerwear for us all, including various-sized, steel-toed combat boots.

Logan met me at the bottom of the stairs, glancing at West. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

“Sure,” I took his hand and moved to the empty dining room. “What’s wrong?”

He touched my cheek tenderly, narrowing his eyes. “What happened?”

“Nightmare. Troy.”

He nodded, looking down. Finally, he took my hands in his. “Before we leave… while I can tell you this, alone,” his
brown eyes focused on mine. “I need to tell you… I’m sorry.
I am sorry for everything I’ve ever done… in any life… to hurt you.
I am so sorry.”

“Logan
,” I shook my head adamantly. “You don’t need to be sorry-…,”

“But I am. I just want you to hear that… all of you, in every life.”

I realized, finally, what he needed to hear. Taking his face in my hands, I held him firmly in my fingers. “I forgive you, Logan Robert Rush. And you’re a good person, worthy of everything wonderful that your life is going to bring you. I love you.”

He crushed me to him, exhal
ing slowly. “
Thanks, Cam.
”

“
Roam,” West called me to the kitchen, and I squeezed Logan tightly once more before walking to the counter. “It’s time to talk to Troy. Are you sure you can do this? Even after the nightmare?”

Morgan tucked her arm around me, and I nodded.

“Yes.”

We walked to the basement door,
and West reached for the handle. I covered his hand with mine, shaking my head.

“I have to speak to him… alone. He won’t believe me if you’re standing right next to me.”

“I don’t want you down there alone.”

“Agreed,” Logan called from the refrigerator. Violet met my eyes before turning to her father.

“She’s right. It makes no sense that you’d agree to this, unless you’re planning to double-cross him. Let her go. She can handle it.”

West looked down at me, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Five minutes, and I’m coming down.”

Nodding, I turned the door handle. I refused to look in Troy’s direction until my feet were flat on the concrete floor. As I turned to him, lightheadedness invaded my body.

“Roam,” he spoke my name in a way that
melted my spine.

I looked at
my hands, fighting for courage before turning to Troy. He watched me, his hands gripping the bars.

“What you said… about your army,” I took a deep, calming breath. “
West is planning to take you with us. But,” I let the tears flow freely from my eyes. “I lost my daughter, and I just… don’t want to
lose
again… I want Laurel to have her daughter back. I want everyone that I love to be
safe
.” My words turned into a sobbing jumble, and I wiped my eyes, hiccupping.

“If you cooperate, and take us through safely… you can have me… for Laurel. I’ll go without a fight, as long as
they are all safe,
” I dropped to my knees, looking nervously at the stairway.
How much time has passed?
“
Please
… once you have me, you can kill me… Just make it fast,
please
,” I buried my face in my hands, unable to look at him any longer.

I heard the doorknob from up the stairs,
opening my eyes. Troy stared at me carefully, trying to determine if I was acting.

You’re a terrible actress.

“Cooperate, take you through the doors, give you Laurel, let them all leave… and I keep you? The prophecy is over when I kill you.”

“Unless you choose to… keep me,” I lifted my eyes to his. “Alive.
There is that option,” I said defensively. “I will do… anything… that you ask of me.”

His revolting sneer made the skin beneath my ears tighten, and
nausea pooled in my stomach.

“
How can I be sure you won’t cross me?”

“West
knows I’m down here.” I gave the stairs a nervous, sideways glance. “He plans to save me. He thinks that he can.
But I know he can’t.
Not with your whole army against him.”

“He would die trying.”

“My sister has to live,” I broke with the betrayal in my words, holding my head to keep from falling apart. “
Logan… has to live
.”

“After all of this… you love my brother.” He shook his head, and at that moment, I knew he believed me.
“My orders will keep my army at bay when we pass through. If they see me harmed in any way, they will attack.”

“You won’t be harmed. You’ll be tied up until we get to the… plane. And I’ll walk right to you.”

“The inclined plane. You figured it out.”

“West did.”

At that moment, the basement door burst open, and West thundered down the stairs. He saw me, on the floor, in tears, and reached for me. “Roam?”

“I agree,” Troy interrupted, his eyes unwavering as he stared into mine.

“Go to hell,” West slid his arms under my shoulders and legs, lifting me against him.

“And… fuck my world.
I choose the second option.
”

West slammed the basement door to answer him. Logan
was at my side in seconds. “Did he hurt you?”

“He’s just
scary,” I turned against West, and his grip tightened.

“Let’s go.”

West packed the Pilot with the duffel bags of ammunition and weapons, loading them into a military grade, padlocked trunk. Logan would drive Violet, Morgan, and Jason in his car.

Troy walked to the Pilot with three guns pointed at him, allowing West and Logan to
cuff both his hands and feet to steel-enforced cargo hooks that West had installed. The route that we planned avoided tolls, and would take almost four hours.

Once on the road, I turned around to look at Troy so
often that I began to get motion sickness. Finally, West jerked his rearview mirror down to face the backseat so that I could see. “I know he’s unsettling. Just watch him like this.”

West had a loaded pistol near the stick shift, within either of our grasps. Troy was gagged, but hadn’t attempted to make a sound.

His piercing eyes followed me constantly.

Before we reached the border, West
turned off at a gas station, Logan pulling up next to him in the Camry and rolling his window down. “Break?”

“Let Jason drive. The numbers,” he gestured to his arm. Logan looked unclear for a passing second, and then reached for the door handle.

“What about you?”

“I can drive through it.”

Lowering my eyes to my arm, I pushed my sleeve up to look at the coordinates for Madison, Ohio. They were about the change for Pennsylvania.

As we pulled
back on the road, I waited, watching West’s knuckles go completely white on the steering wheel as his change began. I brushed my fingers over his back, comforting. Troy gave a guttural snarl from the backseat, and I turned, taking silent pleasure in the beads of sweat that erupted as the numbers changed for him.

Mine began last. I
wanted to accept them silently, showing Troy what I was capable of handling, but as the blaze of stabbing pain began, I cried out, trying to focus on my breathing as West firmly held my palm in his.

After they changed, I lifted my eyes to the rearview mirror.

He was smiling through the gag.

We stopped at a Sheetz to use the restroom once we were in Pennsylvania. Nerves were getting the best of Morgan; I could tell she was shaking as she reached for the handle on the single-stall restroom door. My heart pounded in my ears when I waited in the corridor for my turn, thinking about what we were about to do. The panic set in before I had time to trade places with Morgan.

“Roam, you’re as white as a ghost. Look at me. Breathe. Breathe.”

“
Morgan
,” I looked down, concentrating on the multicolored tiles on the floor. “I can’t let anything happen to you… because of me, because of what I
am
.”

“I chose to come here. Roam, things don’t
happen
. They just
are
. You made all the choices up until this moment. You’re in control.”

Listening to her, I nodded, still focused the tips of my boots.
I’m in control.

My choices.

The Johnstown Inclined Plane opened at ten o’clock. As we pulled into the small parking lot, I focused on the identical set of rails running parallel along the mountainside. An enclosed boxcar, a red one on each track, ran simultaneously up and down overlooking the Conemaugh River. 

Logan pulled into the parking spot next to ours.
I watched him get out and walk to the ticket booth, and then climb onto the car.

“What is he doing?”

“He’s checking to see if we really need him.” West tipped his head to the backseat.

Less than ten minutes later, West’s phone rang. I shoved the sleeve of my coat up, looking for the numbers.

They remained.