Kick at the Darkness (28 page)

“Yeah. I have a lot of questions, and he said he’s happy to help.”

“I bet he is. Just tone down the eye-fucking, okay? Or whatever that whole intense staring thing is.”

Adam laughed, and he seemed so much lighter. “Deal.” In a graceful movement, he rolled off the bed and to his feet. He stripped off his jeans and underwear and padded into the bathroom. The tap ran. “What do you want to do today? Just you and me.”

Parker stretched his limbs and yawned. “How about a nap?”

“How about I go down and get us breakfast to go?”

“Mmm, breakfast in bed? Yes please. In the meantime I’ll lounge here. Naked. Thinking of you.”

“I’ll see if they have any grapes I can peel you.”

“I like the way you think.” Parker grinned to himself as Adam redressed and left. He closed his eyes and splayed out on the soft sheets, feeling better than he had since everything went to hell at the Desert Retreat Motel.

He heard the door close sometime later, but didn’t open his eyes. He listened to the clink of plates and silverware and inhaled the delicious aroma of… “Is that sausage? And something sweet. Pancakes? No—French toast. Am I warm?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Parker opened his eyes to find Adam filming him with a thin, square silver camera. “What are you doing?” He laughed, but didn’t move to hide his nakedness. “Where’d you get that?”

“Angela. She has a box of them, so I took a few. Extra batteries too. It’s Samsung’s new HD camera. Smaller than a smartphone with a terabyte of storage, and the battery lasts a year. It hadn’t even come out yet. She got samples to give to the rich and famous.”

Adam was positively glowing, and Parker loved every second of it. “What was your thesis going to be? A documentary about what?”

“Found families. The bonds people can create without blood ties.” He turned off the camera and laughed sheepishly. “I know. Don’t exactly have to be Freud to dissect that one. Come on. It’ll get cold.”

Parker wanted to say something profound or insightful or comforting. Instead he said, “We can eat at the table. I don’t want to get syrup on the sheets. I prefer to get them sticky with other substances.” He rolled out of bed and pulled on his boxers and a tee before sitting down across from Adam at the table by the windows. “Had you done much research yet? For your movie?”

“A little. Mostly on confessional techniques—talking head camera angles and that kind of thing. It’s not that interesting.”

“Tell me.”

So Adam did, and Parker poured maple syrup over the stack of food on his plate and listened, letting himself be utterly content as the snow fell.

“PARKER!” EVIE APPROACHED the table in the main dining hall, wearing a too-big parka and ear muffs. “Are you coming with us? There’s a good hill behind the west parking lot. The snow’s starting to melt. I’d ask Neil too, but I know he’ll say no.”

Neil shrugged. “Sorry, little lady. Duty calls. I’ve already been gone twenty minutes.”

“Dr. Yamaguchi’s working you to the bone, huh?” Parker asked.

“Nah. I want to do it. For all we know it’ll be useless, but we have to try.”

Parker gave Evie a smile. “I’m not much for tobogganing, but have fun.” A complete lie—holy cats, he
loved
tobogganing, but he needed to get Neil alone. “Snow’s melting, huh?” It had been two days since the blizzard, and as luxurious as the Pines was, he was getting antsy.

“Yep,” Evie replied. “Ramon says we’d better get while the getting’s good.” As if on cue, the man himself appeared and headed toward them.

With effort, Parker smiled.
Don’t be a dick. It’s not Ramon’s fault he has a bond with Adam
. “Hey. I hear you guys are hitting the slopes.”

“We are indeed. You’re welcome to join us.” Ramon wore a red ski jacket and a headband that should’ve made him look ridiculous, but was rather dashing in a sporty way. “Adam’s coming along.”

“Oh, cool.”
By which I mean not cool at all, because I’m still irrationally jealous even though I know you can help him
. “I’m good. Have fun!” Parker focused on sounding enthusiastic. He waved to Evie as she skipped off with Ramon.

“What’s the deal with that?” Neil asked.

Parker pushed around a tortellini with his fork. “With what?”

Neil snorted. “That was convincing.”

“Okay, okay. That guy just bugs me. I have no good reason.”

“Fair enough. Plenty of people bug me.”

“So, you were saying, about the virus? You don’t think it’s possible for someone to carry it and be asymptomatic?” Parker had been trying to get Neil alone for two days, and this was the first time he’d even seen him. He’d tried to casually approach the lab after sneaking out during a movie the night before, but Angela had spotted him and briskly herded him away.

“Doubtful.” Neil swallowed a bite of garlic bread. “This thing is a beast. You should see the way it takes over the cells. It’s a steamroller.”

“How do you know? Do you have live virus in the lab? Like, samples?”

Neil focused on his plate and took another mouthful. “Yeah. We’ve got samples.”

“Huh. I thought the creepers hadn’t been up this way? How did you get cells or blood or whatever from them?”

“Dunno. Not my department. Man, Chef is amazing, huh? Wait until you taste his chocolate cake. He calls the chocolate in it some fancy French word—ganache. But it’s basically cake. So good.”

Parker smiled. “Look forward to it.”

Neil was clearly lying—Parker didn’t need to hear his heartbeat to figure that much out. But it wasn’t as if he was rolling in choices for friendly scientists. He cleared his throat.

“Hey, could you take someone’s blood and test it for the infection? Like to see if they’re a carrier?”

Neil swallowed his bite of pasta. “Sure. It wouldn’t take long. Are you worried about yourself?”

“No, it’s Adam. He got scratched a few weeks ago. It was nothing, but he’s been really paranoid ever since that he’s Typhoid Mary or something. He’s afraid he could pass it to me if we even kiss. And honestly, I really need to get laid. It’s stressful enough nowadays without blue balls.” It was partly the truth.

Neil laughed. “I hear you, man. I hear you. No prob. I’ll swing by your room before lights out and take a sample. I only need a drop.” He leaned in. “Just don’t mention it to anyone. Especially not Dr. Yamaguchi. He’s getting really intense. He’s practically sleeping in the lab, and every time I leave he gives me a guilt trip. I mean, we’re way out of our league here. But he’s convinced we can crack this thing.”

“Hey, maybe you’re underestimating yourself. Thanks for helping me out. It would be great to put our minds at ease.”

Neil chugged the rest of his glass of water. “Sure. I’ve gotta get back.”

Parker was just finishing his lunch when Ramon appeared at the table, his red jacket unzipped, and headband looped around his wrist. Parker swallowed. “Um, hey. I thought you were tobogganing?”

“One of the kids landed hard. Just a bump on the head, but I brought him back.” Ramon pulled out the chair across from Parker and plopped down.

Awesome
. “Sorry to hear that.”

Ramon smiled easily, his very white teeth also very straight, and his lips plump. “No worries. Better safe than sorry. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. We haven’t really had a chance to get to know each other.”

“Right. Yeah.” Parker tried to think of something to say. He gestured to the dining hall. “This place is amazing, huh? Would have been a great resort.”

“And now it’s a great home for all of us.”

“Yeah. I hope the creepers don’t come up the mountain and you guys can stay safe.”

“You can stay safe too. You’re already part of the community. Evie and Jaden were waxing poetic.”

Parker chuckled. “They’re sweet kids. But we have to get going now that the snow’s melting. Probably tomorrow.”

“Why?” Ramon raised his hands. “Sorry if I’m being too nosy. I guess I just don’t understand why you’d take the risk out there. Especially since Adam wants to stay.”

Um, excuse me?
“I need to find my family. Or try at least.”

“Man, I totally understand. I’m worried sick about my folks and my friends. But getting myself killed out there won’t help them.” He lowered his voice and leaned in. “Parker, I can count on one hand the number of weres I’ve run into in my whole life. Adam told me his family died when he was a kid. Most of his life he’s been without a pack. You can’t imagine what that’s like. The pain and loneliness—it’s visceral. It is for humans too, but for us it’s even worse. I got my sister and cousins jobs here so we could be together. They were supposed to start this week, and I have faith they’ll make it in the end. There’s strength in numbers. In community. In a
pack
. Adam can be part of that. So can you.”

Looking at Ramon’s earnest, open face, Parker had to admit the man made good points. “It’s something to think about. I hear what you’re saying.”

Ramon leaned back and smiled ruefully. “Sorry. I don’t mean to pressure you. I understand being torn, believe me. Not knowing is the worst, isn’t it?”

“It really is. It’s like…” He hesitated, but Ramon was looking at him so understandingly. “I feel like I’d always wonder. I’d always hate myself for not trying hard enough.”

“I get it, man. It’s still hard to believe this is even happening. It’s like, a month ago I was planning resort activities. This was my dream job, and now…” His nostrils flared. “I hate thinking about it. That all this could have been caused by religious freaks.”

“The Zechariahs, or something? Angela mentioned that.”

“To destroy so many innocent lives. I can’t wrap my head around it. To take something written in the Bible and twist it into
this
?” He hitched his shoulders. “It’s mindboggling.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t a regular at Sunday school, but I seem to remember a lot of talk about loving thy neighbor and not throwing stones.”

Ramon smiled humorlessly. “I looked up the passage someone on the radio in Oklahoma mentioned. Zechariah fourteen-twelve: ‘And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.’ Cheery stuff, huh? I kept reading it over and over like I’d find some answer there. Some reason.”

Nausea rolled through Parker. “If that’s what they were aiming for, I have to say they’ve done a bang-up job.”

Ramon briefly squeezed Parker’s forearm. “Don’t go out there again without really weighing the pros and cons. Okay?” He stood and zipped his ski jacket. “I’d better get back out there and make sure no one’s breaking their necks. See you soon.” He turned back, hesitating. “You and Adam seem to care about each other a lot. I shouldn’t stick my nose in, but like I said…there aren’t many of us around, you know? I’d really like more time to get to know him better. Know you both better.” He lifted a hand and hurried out.

Mind whirling, Parker watched him go. Adam talked to Ramon about him? Did Adam want to stay at the Pines? He thought they were on the same page about leaving when the snow melted. Was he being selfish for wanting to go? He thought of what Adam had said about found families. Maybe Adam really did want to stay.

Parker gazed around. There were certainly worse places to live. What if his parents weren’t there? What if he was risking their lives for nothing?

His mom’s voice echoed in his mind.
We love you
. Parker’s stomach churned, and when one of the chef’s assistants offered dessert, he shook his head.

He found Adam at the top of the makeshift toboggan run with a sled at his feet. “Hey. I ran into the kids and they said you were still out here.” Parker took in the view of treetops and distant peaks. The sun beamed out from the scattering clouds. “I can see why.”

“It’s peaceful.”

Parker had second-guessed himself the whole walk in his borrowed, too-big boots, and now he faltered.
Maybe I shouldn’t say anything. I’m going to ruin everything. No. I’m being mature. We can discuss this like grownups
. “Are you…if you want to be alone, I can go.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, already hoping for a temporary reprieve.
Super grownup, Parker
.

“Why would I want you to go?” Adam frowned. “Your heartbeat’s all over the place. Are you sick?” He reached for Parker’s forehead.

“No!” Parker batted his hand away. “I’m just…” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Do you want to stay here? I wouldn’t blame you. It’s a good place with good people, and it’s safe and insanely comfortable. And you’d be able to bond or whatever with Ramon.”

Adam stared for a long moment, his face blank. “What are you talking about?”

“Ramon understands you in a way I can’t. I know that must mean a lot to you, after all these years without your family. Without another…” He waved his hand and thought of the word Ramon had used. “Without another
were
. I don’t blame you, and I don’t want to pressure you.”