He came into the room and sat at the edge of the bed, in the exact same spot his mother did earlier that morning. I decided that information would only anger him more and I would keep it to myself. I knew Abri had pissed him off, I just didn’t know why.
I opened the wardrobe up and removed my bag, settling it on the bed. I set aside what I wanted to wear on the plane ride that evening and put the rest inside. I was packed in less than five minutes. Ian laid across the bed next to my case not saying a word and buried his head in my pillow.
I brushed my teeth, dressed and put on my makeup before plaiting my hair in a messy fishtail, laying it across my shoulder. I came out, put the traveling stragglers back in the case and zipped it shut.
“This pillow smells like you,” Ian said absentmindedly.
He flipped over, tucking a hand behind his head, straining his shirt against the muscles in his bicep.
“You all right?” I asked him again.
“I will be,” he said when I crawled next to him, my head laying on his shoulder. He brought his arm around and held me close. “I called Charles back this morning,” he continued.
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What did he need?”
“They’ve confirmed the presence of Resistance soldiers at the swimming hole and this time it seems a bit more dangerous.”
My heart thundered in my chest. “What do you mean?”
“They found several bullets left by accident near their footprints.”
“What do we do?”
“Get home.”
My hand followed a messy trail of bedspread and met his fingers. They inched their way up my palm until they met my forearm and held there, his thumb rubbing the skin there back and forth, back and forth.
“I’m torn between wanting to keep you here with Simon and taking you with me so I can protect you.”
I shook my head at him.
“If you think for one second that I’m going to abandon you or Masego now, when they need as much help as possible, you are out of your mind,” I told him.
He eased to a sitting position, his grip still on my forearm and leaned into my face. He kissed me softly. “I must be the most selfish person on this planet because I’m not going to fight you on that. I want you near me. Always.” He kissed me once more, this time much harder before pulling away.
Knock. Knock.
I climbed off the bed and answered it. It was Simon.
“Ready when you are, princess,” he teased, tugging once on my braid. He nodded at his brother before leaving.
Ian stood and grabbed my bag for me. I supposed lunch with his parents was out of the question.
When we reached the front door, we noticed both Ian’s parents were standing at the bottom of the walkway, talking to Simon. They seemed to be in deep discussion but eased up when we neared.
“It was such a pleasure meeting you,” Henrik told me, hugging me and kissing my cheek. “I hope it’s not our last.”
“I hope not either,” I told him, smiling. I kissed his cheek in return and turned to Abri.
“Thank you for having me, Abri.”
She waved my comment away as if it were a gnat circling her head and avoided eye contact. I was willing to bet that’s what she equated me with. I wasn’t going to bust my ass to prove anything to her. I’d just let time do that.
Ian placed our bags in the back of Simon’s little sports car. I lingered by them when Ian went back to say goodbye to his parents. He’d hugged his father but not his mother. He opened the passenger door and attempted to get in the small back seat but I stopped him and pushed my way through.
“Not about to make your tall ass shimmy in there. I got this,” I told him but was swung back playfully instead and pushed aside.
“Not about to make your bony ass shimmy in there. I got this,” he teased, squeezing his impossibly large frame in the tiniest little back seat I’d ever seen.