Rock Bottom (Dragon Within #4) (3 page)

    
“And you
haven’t seen her in all this time.” Not a question, since I obviously knew the
answer. “Have you even called her?”

    
“No.”

    
“Derek.”
I swatted his arm. “Why not?”

    
“Since I
left home I’ve been chasing you, trapped in a corn crib, or running for my
life. I didn’t have a lot of time in-between for making phone calls.”

    
I shook
my head. “Not good enough. We’ve been here a long time, are you telling me
there’s not one phone in town you could use to call her?”

    
“It’s not
that. It’s...” He sighed. “She might be mad at me by now, for not getting in
touch with her. Maybe she won’t want to hear from me.”

    
“Oh,
she’s mad all right, you can bet on that,” I said. “But if she loves you enough
to want to marry you, then she loves you enough to want to know you’re still
alive. If you don’t call her and let her ream you out, then how is she supposed
to have a chance to forgive you?”

    
He
chuckled. “You might have a point.”

    
“Of
course I do. I’m a girl. We understand these kinds of things.”

    
“How do I
explain why I haven’t called?”

    
“That’s
got to be up to you,” I said. “Let her scream at you for awhile, and then let
her know how sorry you are. Tell her what happened at the compound, she can’t
fault you for that. And you’ll get sympathy points.”

    
Derek
squeezed my hand. “You’re getting to be pretty good at this sister thing.”

    
“I try.
Hey, Brandy said something last night about going into town today to get
supplies. You should go too and call Stephanie.” And then I had a completely
selfish thought. “You could take Hannah and Curtis with you.”

    
“And
leave you here alone with Zack? I don’t think so.”

    
But alone
with Zack was exactly what I wanted to be. We needed to talk and we couldn’t do
that as long as everybody else was hanging around. “He’s a battle trained
tracker. And I’m getting pretty good at using my powers. I think we can handle
it if something happens. Not that I think it’s going to.”

    
“I’ll be
happy to take Curtis, but not Hannah. She attracts way too much attention in
town. Besides, I trust her more than Zack. I’d feel better if she stayed with
you.”

    
“What,
exactly, is it you think Zack is going to do?” I asked. “I know all this isn’t
about you being worried he can’t protect me. We both know he’s a better killer
than anybody here. So what is it? Why are you so worried about us being alone?”

    
Derek
started to say something, then didn’t. He stood up and shoved his hands into
his pockets. He looked at the floor and then at the wall. “He... He’s
dangerous. A killer, like you said. And he... Well, he hates me. I’m sure he’d
like to hurt me for what happened to his mother. What better way to do that
then... then to go after my little sister?”

    
“What do
you mean by ‘go after’?”

    
“Ah, come
on Abby. You know exactly what I mean.”

    
It took
me a second before my brain clicked on what he was getting at. A rush of heat
rose up through my chest into my throat. “So that’s why you’re always asking me
if he said or did something.”

    
I stood
up too, so we could be eye to eye, more or less. Derek was taller than I was
even face to face, but sitting on the floor while he loomed over me made me
feel about five years old. “Zack has never done anything like what you’re
thinking.”

    
Okay, I
know, I was lying to my brother. But it wasn’t a complete lie. He wasn’t
talking about a kiss or a touch the way Zack had kissed me. He was talking
about Zack trying to hurt me and that had never happened. I mean, sure, I was
hurting inside from the way he kept trying to pretend nothing had happened
between us, but it’s not the same thing, okay? Stop looking at me like that.

    
“I could
use a little peace and quiet,” I said. “I won’t get that with Hannah here.
Please, Derek? I promise you, Zack is not going to hurt me.”

    
He made a
face. “All right. But I don’t like it.”

    
“Thank
you.”

    
“You’re
welcome. Now take a nap. We’ll leave after you wake up. I don’t want you dozing
off while everybody is gone.”

    
“Okay,
big brother.” We smiled at each other. It was kind of annoying being treated
like a kid, but it was a little nice as well. Nice to know he cared about me
even though we’d missed so much time together.
     

After he left, I laid back down but it still wasn’t
easy to fall asleep. Now my mind was spinning around trying to think of what I
was going to say to Zack once everybody left. I’d meant what I said to Hannah
about making things weird, but it was getting too hard to deal with. Even if he
didn’t like me, even if a kiss was nothing but a kiss, it had to be better knowing
for sure one way or the other. Right?

CHAPTER
TWO

    
All
right, I admit it. I’m a coward. Derek and the others had been gone for over an
hour and I still hadn’t worked up the nerve to talk to Zack. He was prowling
around outside but that was really no good excuse. I could have gone out there
to him. But I hadn’t.

    
Can you
blame me, really? I’d never been in a position where I wanted to tell a boy I
was in love with him. How do you even start a conversation like that in the
situation we were in? I’m no expert on relationships, but I figure most people
are an actual couple before they start saying things like that. Me and Zack had
only kissed once. We’d never been on anything even remotely resembling a date.
And for all I knew, he didn’t even like me that way. Maybe everything I thought
had passed between us was all in my head.
      

    
Zack
walked through the front door and before I could have a chance to talk myself
out of it, I spoke up. “Hey, do you have a minute?”

    
“For
what?”

    
I opened
my mouth and nothing came out. How was I supposed to say what I needed to say
while he was standing there glowering at me? “Nothing,” I muttered, looking
down at the table. “Never mind.”

    
He made
an annoyed sound. “Look, if you have something to say to me, then say it. I
don’t have all day to stand around waiting on you. Somebody has to keep an eye
out for trackers and I seem to be the only person who cares to do it.”

    
My head
snapped up. I glared at him. “You’re a jerk.” Not the best way to start off
trying to tell a guy you're in love with him but the tone in his voice had hit
me all wrong. “You’re rude and egotistical and... and mean. And not half as
cute as you think you are.”

 
   
He raised a brow. “I’m so glad I hung
around for that. If you’re done...” He started toward the back door.

    
“I’m not
done.” I pushed back the chair and stood up. “I need to say something to you.
We need to talk about...” I licked my lips. “About what’s going on between us.”

    
He
stopped, tension written across the tightness in his shoulders. “We don’t have
anything going on between us that needs talking about.”

    
I almost
let him get away with it. He had his hand on the doorknob. I could have let it
drop. But it was too hard to keep going on this way. “You kissed me. You can’t
pretend it never happened.”

    
“I thought
that’s exactly what we've been doing.”

    
“No, it’s
what
you’ve
been doing. And it’s driving me crazy. So you tell me, right
here, right now, that our kiss didn’t mean anything to you. That you don’t feel
anything for me. Tell me. Because I can’t stand not knowing. If you don’t... if
there’s nothing...” Man, this was even harder than I thought it was going to
be. “The least you could do is tell me to my face.”

    
Zack
turned around and nothing in his eyes made me believe I was going to like
whatever he was about to say. “Don’t you think we have enough to deal with
without adding this?”

    
I have to
admit, my resolve to keep pressing him was seriously wavering. But I’d started
this and I was determined to see it through. “Just tell me.”

    
“What do
you want me to say?” Zack asked. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. It was a
mistake. Does that make you feel better? Are you happy now?”

    
My lips
trembled but I was not going to cry. No. Not that. “So why did you kiss me
then, if it was a mistake?”

    
“I don’t
know.” He ran both hands back through his hair. I don’t think he even knew he
was doing it. “I got caught up in a moment. I wasn’t thinking straight. You and
me... That would never work. Your brother hates me and the feeling is entirely
mutual. Don’t you think if there were an ‘us’ it would put you in a weird
position with him?”

    
“Oh, no
you don’t.” I took a step toward him. “You do not get to put this off like
you’re trying to protect me from something. I don’t care how you feel about
Derek or how he feels about you. I want to know how
you
feel about
me.
”

    
“I...” He
frowned. “Did you hear that?”

    
I made a
face. “Don’t try to--”

    
“
Shh
. I’m serious. I heard something.”

    
With my
hands on my hips and my lips pursed, I waited, listening. “I don’t hear--”

    
“Don’t
argue, just get over here.” His eyes told me he wasn’t trying to put me off.
Something was wrong.

    
I walked
the rest of the way to him. “What is it?” I felt kind of silly whispering, but
it seemed like a situation that called for it. “What did you hear?”

    
“I don’t
know.” He edged away from the backdoor. “Maybe it was the others coming back.”

    
Yeah,
right. If that was what he really thought he wouldn’t be acting the way he was.
“What do we do?”

    
“You stay
out of sight.” Zack took me firmly by the shoulders and pressed me to the wall.
“Don’t move.” He scooted to the edge of the window to peek out.

    
I bit my
lower lip and tried to control my breathing. Panic was not going to help. But I
was really wishing I hadn’t sent Derek and Hannah to town. “Do you see
anything?”

    
“No.
But--” The entire wall imploded and a gust of wind whipped into the cabin,
lifting Zack off his feet and flinging him into the far wall.

    
I twisted
away to avoid getting blasted by bits of wood and glass. The sound of the explosion
rang in my ears in the sudden silence that followed. I took two gulping
breaths, then lowered my hands from in front of my face and looked for Zack.

    
He was
lying on the floor. Not moving. From where I was I couldn’t tell whether or not
he was breathing. A scream rose up in the back of my throat but I choked it
back down. I didn’t want whoever was outside to know where I was.

    
“Everybody in the cabin, come on out now.” A vaguely familiar voice with
a southern accent called out. “You won’t be hurt unless we have to come in
after you.”

    
“A little
late for that,” I muttered. My mind raced as I tried to think of some way to
get both myself and Zack out of this situation without getting us killed or
captured. Nothing was coming to me.

    
“Abigail?
I know you don’t want a fight,” the man said. “And you don’t want your friends
getting hurt. So talk Zack down from whatever he’s thinking and come on out.
Let’s talk face to face.”

    
I dropped
my head back against the wall. I knew going out there would be stupid, but all
I kept thinking was how this guy might have a fire dragon with him. And the
idea of having the cabin set on fire with me and Zack trapped inside was worse
than anything else I could imagine.

    
“Okay,
I’m coming out.”

    
“Zack
first.”

    
“That’ll be
kind of hard seeing as how your air dragon blasted him into the wall. He’s
either unconscious or...” I had to swallow past a knot in my throat. “Or dead. Either
way, he’s not going anywhere.”

    
A few
seconds passed in silence. “What about the rest of your friends?”

    
I
silently debated whether it would be better to lie or tell the truth. I really
wished somebody smarter than me was around to tell me what to do. “They’re not
here. They went into town. It’s only me and Zack.”

    
“Fine.” I
thought I heard a hint of hesitation in his voice, but I wasn’t sure. “You come
out then. But don’t try anything.”