I glanced sideways at Sean, smiling to myself. Not only was he the handsomest man on Earth, sometimes I thought he was the only decent guy left. He was selfless, brave, and had saved my butt more times than I could count.
Sighing, I took one last look around. As much as it had been home, I was happy to leave. All the surrounding neighborhoods had gone to hell. Last night, we’d packed everything methodically—freeze dried food, guns, ammo, gas cans, water, the propane gas stove. We were set. Except for gas, we could live off of what was inside our Jeep Cherokee for a few weeks, if we had to.
That’s how Sean rolled. But he always had. It was his Special Forces training. Training that had taught him how to survive off the land, how to shoot, and had built him a bangin’ body along the way, too. The latter was something I couldn’t help admiring. So I was in lust with my brother. Who wasn’t?
“Ready for a road trip, sis?” Sean glanced my way as he pulled onto the highway heading south.
With him by my side, I was ready for anything. I smiled.
“I have the map,” I said, lifting it from my lap. “First stop on our ghost town tour is Oklahoma.” We’d be hitting the outskirts of larger cities as we made our way through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, ending up in Las Vegas, Nevada where we hoped to stay a while.
“We’ll have to refuel along the way,” he said, gripping the wheel harder. “Do we need to refresh your firearm training?”
Always prepared. Like a Boy Scout. Only with more muscle mass.
“I’m good.”
He’d made sure of that, just like he made sure of everything. I could still remember the warmth of his arms as he’d reached around me to correct my grip on the pistol. He’d helped me aim at the bottles lined up on our house’s retaining wall for target practice.
I think that’s when I’d begun to feel stirrings of deeper emotions for my stepbrother.
Sure, I’d loved him before, but in a casual, familial way. We hadn’t met until our parents began dating. I’d been in middle school, he in high school, and then he’d joined the Army, and we hadn’t seen each other for years.
Just months ago, he’d returned. I hadn’t expected to see him again, to be honest, not after what happened to my mom—and his dad. He’d driven from Fort Hood, Texas to Colorado Springs to find me living alone in our family home—I’d nearly clobbered him with his own baseball bat when he’d entered, dropping it when he’d called out my name.
From that moment, I was no longer in charge. He’d made that abundantly clear. I was the little sister, I was in need of care and protection, according to Sean. I’d done just fine without him, I liked to shoot back, but the truth was, I was glad he was with me. He always had good ideas. Like this road trip. It never would have occurred to me.
We drove throughout the day, stopping at a fire watch tower late afternoon in a national park we’d found on the map. After clearing the area, we made our way up the stairs and set up camp—sleeping bags laid out side by side.
“I saw plenty of signs of deer and rabbits in the area when I went to take a leak,” he said.
Glancing out at the forest far below us, I was overcome with how beautiful it was, how pristine, seemingly untouched. “I don’t mind staying.”
His gaze went to the sleeping bags, and then shot back at me. “I’m going out for a while. Might come back with a rabbit for the cook stove. Something fresh instead of freeze-dried to eat.”
“Want me to come?”
“You keep safe.” He shook his head. “Don’t turn on the light until I return. No need alerting anyone who might be near.”
I nodded and drew a deep breath. I hated when he left me alone, because then all my fears crowded in. But I didn’t want to add to his burden by expressing them. “I won’t budge. I promise.”
He left through the trap door in the floor.
While he was gone, I laid out the things I
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