“Where to?”
“Ah…” I frowned. “I don’t really know. I suppose there’s still a mat by the ho—in the storage area.”
He frowned back, liking that idea no better than I did.
And then a strong arm was under my arms, supporting my weight.
“I’ll get her where she needs to go,” Ian said.
Jared’s face was careful, the way he looked at me when he didn’t want me to know what he was thinking. But he was looking at Ian now.
“We were just discussing where exactly that would be. She’s tired. Maybe the hospital… ?”
I shook my head at the same time Ian did. After the past horrible days spent there, I didn’t think I could bear the room I’d once misguidedly feared. Especially Walter’s empty bed…
“I’ve got a better place for her,” Ian said. “Those cots aren’t much softer than rock, and she’s got a lot of sore spots.”
Jared still held my hand. Did he realize how tightly he was gripping it? The pressure was starting to get uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem aware. And I certainly wasn’t going to complain.
“Why don’t you get lunch?” Jared suggested to Ian. “You look hungry. I’ll take her wherever you had planned… ?”
Ian chuckled, a low, dark sound. “I’m fine. And honestly, Jared, Wanda needs a bit more help than a hand. I don’t know if you’re… comfortable enough with the situation to give her that. You see —”
Ian paused to lean down and pull me quickly up into his arms. I gasped as the movement tugged at my side. Jared didn’t free my hand. My fingertips were turning red.
“—she’s actually had enough exercise for one day, I think. You go on ahead to the kitchen.”
They stared at each other while my fingertips turned purple.
“I can carry her,” Jared finally said in a low voice.
“Can you?” Ian challenged. He held me out, away from his body.
An offer.
Jared stared at my face for a long minute. Then he sighed and dropped my hand.
Ow, that hurts! Melanie complained. She was referring to the sudden lance of pain that shot through my chest, not the return of blood to my fingers.
Sorry. What do you want me to do about it?
He’s not yours.
Yes. I know that.
Ow.
Sorry.
“I think I’ll tag along,” Jared said as Ian, with a tiny, triumphant smile hovering around the edges of his mouth, turned and headed toward the exit. “There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
“Suit yourself.”
Jared didn’t discuss anything at all as we walked through the dark tunnel. He was so quiet, I wasn’t sure he was still there. But when we broke out into the light of the cornfield again, he was right beside us.
He didn’t speak until we were through the big plaza—until there was no one around but the three of us.
“What’s your take on Kyle?” he asked Ian.
Ian snorted. “He prides himself on being a man of his word. Usually, I would trust a promise from him. In this situation… I’m not letting her out of my sight.”
“Good.”
“It will be fine, Ian,” I said. “I’m not afraid.”
“You don’t have to be. I promise—no one is ever going to do something like this to you again. You will be safe here.”
It was hard to look away from his eyes when they blazed like that. Hard to doubt anything he said.
“Yes,” Jared agreed. “You will.”
He was walking just behind Ian’s shoulder. I couldn’t see his expression.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
No one spoke again until Ian paused at the red and gray doors that leaned over the entrance to his cave.
“Would you mind getting that?” Ian said to Jared, nodding toward the doors.
Jared didn’t move. Ian turned around so we could both see him; his face was careful again.
“Your room? This is your better place?” Jared’s voice was full of skepticism.
“It’s her room now.”
I bit my lip. I wanted to tell Ian that of course this wasn’t my room, but I didn’t get a chance before Jared began questioning him.
“Where’s Kyle staying?”
“With Wes, for now.”
“And you?”
“I’m not exactly sure.”
They stared at each other with appraising eyes.
“Ian, this is —” I started to say.
“Oh,” he interrupted, as if just remembering me… as if my weight was so insignificant that he’d forgotten I was here. “You’re exhausted, aren’t you? Jared, could you get the door, please?”
Wordlessly, Jared wrenched the red door back with a bit too much force and shoved it on top of the gray one.
I now really saw Ian’s room for the first time, with the noon sun filtering down through the narrow cracks in the ceiling. It wasn’t as bright as Jamie and Jared’s room, or as tall. It was smaller, more proportionate. Roundish—sort of like my hole, only ten times the size. There were two twin mattresses on the floor, shoved against opposite walls to make a narrow aisle between them. Against the back wall, there was a long, low wooden cupboard; the left side had a pile of clothes on top, two books, and a stack of playing cards. The right side was completely empty, though there were shapes in the dust that indicated this was a recent occurrence.
Ian set me carefully down on the right mattress, arranging my leg and straightening the pillow under my head. Jared stood in the doorway, facing the passageway.