Sinners 01 - Branded (27 page)

But I can’t deny how I feel toward Cole. Nothing and no one could ever compare to
him. All I can think about are his honest brown eyes, the scar on his lip, and the
intense expression when he kisses me that sucks me in like a vacuum. I feel drunk
on him—just crazy about his face, his hands, and his body. Too crazy.

“Lexi, you awake?”

I push up on my elbows and see the door cracked open with light pouring in from behind.
He stands there squinting his eyes into my cave-like room.

“Yeah, what’s up? Is the lockdown over?”

“Nah, I can’t sleep. Figured if you couldn’t be in my room, then I can at least sneak
into yours.” He slowly walks over and plops himself next to me with his head leaning
back against the wall.

“He really freaks me out… makes my stomach uneasy. I hope he doesn’t come back.” I
motion toward the door and he knows exactly to whom I’m referring.

“Baby, I hate to break it to you, but everything makes your stomach uneasy.”

“No. This unease is different. There’s nothing I can do about the uncontrolled puking.
It just happens. But now it’s more like a sickening nervousness.”

“Right. Whatever that means.”

“If he’s second in command, then where’s the commander?”

“Well, Wilson usually oversees the transformation center and lab while the commander
controls the Hole itself… but rumors of the revolt have changed that, I guess.”

“Hmm, well, they’re both disgusting.” I lean my head against his shoulder, staring
into the shadows.

“I’ve seen them both abuse their power. It’s sickening, really.” He wraps his arm
around me and pulls me close.

I savor the heat rolling off his body and fall silent for a moment.

“You okay?” he asks.

“I guess… just a lot on my mind. Nothing new really.”

“I hear ya.”

“So what are we going to do about Sutton and Bruno?”

“Well, they’d never turn us in, that I’m sure of. But neither of them are fond of
the idea of ‘us’… for good reason. The last thing they want is for us to be executed.
Believe it or not, I’m not the only one around who cares about you.” He takes my face
in his hand and reassures me. “So outside of these walls, we can’t stand each other.”

“This sucks.”

“Sure does,” he says.

“All right. Give me something to think about that would repulse me. So when I look
at you, I can be totally disgusted.”

“Like what?” He contorts his face in confusion.

“I don’t know, anything. Want me to give you one?”

“Nope, I have one in mind already.”

“That’s so not right… It can’t be anything from my—”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not. All I have to do is picture you taking a dump, and I’ll
be fine,” he says with a sly smile.

I playfully smack his arm. “Ew, seriously! Now that’s just wrong.”

“It works… Try it.”

“
No
. Come on, think of something else. There’s no way I can be around you if I know you’re
thinking about me—”

“See, there you go.” The moonlight glints off his teeth as he smiles wide.

“What?”

“Now you’re disgusted that I’m thinking about you pooping. So it all works out.”

“Oh my God, I give up.” I scoot away and pretend frustration.

“Ha. Good, because we have to go back to the important stuff.”

“As in, Sutton seems to know a lot of stuff,” I say. “He warned me about the order
to hunt down Keegan—well, not specifically, but he knew. I know he did.”

“Being that he’s a doctor, he sees and hears a lot from his patients and even the
staff. And he might carry some weight with the commander as well, but of course, I
don’t really know… just speculation, really.” He reaches up and plays with a lock
of my hair, twisting it around his finger. “If he wanted to hurt us, he could’ve by
now… so I’m not worried about him.”

“True,” I say. I lean against him and let him cuddle me. My thoughts are muddled from
lack of sleep and being on constant overdrive. Zeus lies on my other side and pushes
my hand with his nose so I pat his head between yawns.

*   *   *

The siren blares us awake, startling Cole. He jumps up and sprints back to his room,
willing everything to be normal. Next thing, he has his uniform on, guns strapped
into his holsters, and he’s shoving me out the door.

“Let’s go! We have to run today.”

“Why?”

“Bruno needed the Jeep.”

I follow behind him, past the tanks hogging the road and the guards at the checkpoint.
The humidity chokes me as I struggle to keep up with his stride. Once in the alleyway,
his shoulders relax a little and he turns to speak to me.

“That was edgy…”

“What?”

“The checkpoint. They’re making it permanent. Didn’t you notice the barricade they
put up overnight?” he says.

“No.” What I don’t say is that I never look for fear of the guards.

He shakes his head and motions me forward. We cross the crowded street to the hospital
and squeeze our way up to the eighth floor since the elevators are broken again.

Nurses breathe hard while lugging stretchers with marked patients up and down the
staircase. I duck out of the way when a stretcher tips and an older man with a blue
brand tumbles onto the cement stairs. His groaning, coupled with the cursing of those
around him, grabs my attention.

I attempt to help, only for Cole to rip me away. His eyes give warning as a troop
of guards march up the stairs.

“Move out of their way!” he orders under his breath.

I let the nurses struggle to roll the man’s body back on the stretcher without me.
The eighth floor isn’t any better. The halls teem with bodies, nurses, and supplies.
Cole signs me in and immediately the nurses beg me to help. By the end of the day,
my hair is matted to my forehead from sweat. My slippers smell like upchuck from stepping
in puddles of human waste. My knuckles bleed from washing my hands, and my lower back
aches. Cole barely recognizes me when he picks me up. It takes him two glances to
realize it’s me.

As we push through the exit, Wilson waits with his men. Cole stiffens by my side with
his fingers steeled around my bicep.

“There you are!” Wilson says with a smirk. “I was beginning to wonder if we missed
you.”

Cole salutes. The hair on my neck stands up with fear.

“She’s coming with me,” Wilson says to him.

Instantly, my body responds to his words and I start shaking uncontrollably. Cole
releases his grip on my arm and steps in between Wilson and me.

“Sir?” Cole says. “My orders are—”

“To go back to your quarters and wait.”

“Wait for what, sir?”

“Now that’s something I can’t answer for you, Cole. Simply because that all depends
on Lexi.” Wilson shoves Cole aside. Zeus bares his teeth and Cole’s nostrils flare
as his right hand moves toward his pistol. Zeus won’t budge. Instead, he sits on my
feet so I’m unable to move.

I have to get Cole out of here before he gets himself killed.

“Let’s go,” I say. “Zeus, get up.”

The other two men grab my arms and haul me toward the black SUV parked on the curb.
The tinted windows make it impossible to see anything inside.

I don’t even have a chance to glance back at Cole as they shove me inside the vehicle,
but I hear Zeus barking ferociously as they slam the door shut. Wilson slides in next
to me, and the guards sit in front. They watch the road as they drive and leave the
talking to him.

Immediately, he reaches over to pat my hands and thoughtfully traces the ring on my
left finger. My back goes taut and my muscles constrict in terror.
Tell me this is a nightmare. Please wake me up.

“Keegan seems to have a knack for eluding my men.”

Already, I don’t like the way this conversation is heading. I pull my hand away from
his and bite my lower lip to keep from saying anything that will give away my terror.

“All right, let’s make this plain and simple. I have questions, and you’re going to
help me get the answers I need,” he says.

But I’m too afraid to meet his gaze. I’m afraid his hardened eyes will see right through
me and see how vulnerable I am.

“Where is he?” Wilson grabs my chin and makes me lock eyes with him. His sickening,
sweet façade fades with the violence of his movements. “Talk! And don’t try to lie
to me. I’ll know… and if you think life is miserable now—trust me, things can always
get worse. Much worse.”

“I—I have no idea where he is,” I say.
Dang it. I wish I didn’t stutter.
I glare back at him so he can see I’m not lying. “Please, sir, believe me. I had
no idea he was even here until a few days ago.”

His hand releases my face as he weighs my words. “I believe you… for now.” Then, sighing,
he goes on. “It’s such a shame. First your father, who you have a remarkable resemblance
to, and now your brother… Seems your family is determined to piss off the commander.”
He doesn’t wait for me to speak. “I don’t like chasing squirrels, if you know what
I mean. I’d much rather spend my time at the lab. So you can see how this is a great
inconvenience to me.”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. Sweat pours down my back and sticks to the black
leather.

“I can make your life very, VERY easy if you cooperate with me.”

I drop my eyes and fiddle nervously with my fingers. “What do you mean?”

“You find out where your brother is, inform me, and I’ll reward you. Then you get
a nice little place in the commander’s residence and I go back to the lab to experiment.”

I can’t even entertain the thought of betraying my brother or anyone, for that matter,
but I try to act like it. I’ve never been a good liar, but lives are at stake. “All
right, I’ll do it,” I say as I dig my fingernails into my palms.

“Thought so. Wouldn’t want you to end up like your dear Alyssa…” His voice drips acid.

Before I can ask what he means, the door flings open in front of my building and a
guard pulls me out. “This is your stop. Nice talking to you.” Wilson waves me away,
and they disappear down the block.

I feel like I just made a deal with Satan himself, although I have no intention of
following through.

Cole appears from the courtyard and nods his head discreetly in my direction. My body
feels numb as I follow him into the familiar dark of the hallway. Our entire trip
to our rooms is a blur as my mind digests what just happened.

The first thing I do is take a shower in his bathroom. I kick off my nasty slippers
and peel off the scrubs while standing in the tub.
Afterward, I scrub my clothes down and watch the dirt flow in circles down the drain.
I cry while remembering the faces of the people, dying in their indignity, and releasing
the fear I pent up while riding with Wilson.

When I step out of the shower, I wrap Cole’s towel around myself and gaze at my reflection,
inspecting the blue brand on my neck. I pull away my hair, remembering what I looked
like without it. Instead, I place my hands over it as Cole walks in.

“I hate that whenever I look, it’s there,” I say. Tears stream down my face and I
don’t bother wiping them away. “Those poor people at the hospital today… dying from
simple infections… and then Wilson—I feel like a target everywhere I go.”

He wraps his arms around me, and I turn into him, burying my face in his chest.

“I know. I know, babe. I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this, I’ll find a way to get
you out of here, I promise… I just need—”

“No. You won’t. You’re already risking too much just being near me.”

“I’m ready to do whatever it takes if it means I can have you.”

I push him away for a minute and rest my hands on his chest. “We shouldn’t even be
here in the first place… I just don’t understand how—”

He wraps his hands around my wrists and leads me into the kitchen. “Get dressed. Then
we’ll talk. That towel’s calling my name and making my head spin. If it falls off
we won’t be talking—trust me.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“After we talk, I promise I’ll kiss every inch of your skin until you’re on your knees
begging me to stop.”

And with that, I hurry and put on the one other pair of scrubs I own and place the
slippers on the windowsill to dry. Then I sit at the table, tapping my fingers, and
stare at him, waiting. He tosses me a granola bar from his bag and leans against the
wall.

“The Hole exists because people were stupid.” He takes a large bite out of his granola
bar, leaving only half.

“That’s a little vague, don’t you think?” I say.

“You saw it in the video. It’s too late to stop
him
now.”

“More like propaganda, really. Tell me. How’d this happen?” I take a bite out of my
snack and chew slowly while waiting for his response.

He pauses for a minute. “Well, society was all up in arms about the crime rate and
unemployment that they failed to see the first commander rising through the ranks.
He had a way about him—all charming and sly at the same time. Of course, he used it
as an advantage—brainwashing people left and right. That alone should make you puke.”

“I just swallowed it.”

“Perfect. Thanks for the visual.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“All right, let me finish before I—”

I lean back in my chair, put my feet on the table, and lick my lips.

“You’re evil.”

“Okay, sorry… go on. I’ll behave.”

“Thank you. Here’s the most disturbing part—he killed whoever questioned his reasoning
or opposed him. He had no morals or values. He worshipped the power of control. Supposedly,
he grew up in a household where he was severely punished for bad behavior. But either
way, his predecessor is no different. Rumor has it that he’s sick, Lexi—mentally sick.”
He takes another bite and wipes his hands on his pants. “I’m betting that’s what happened
to your dad. Anyone who gets as vocal as you say your dad did is put away. Sad part
is… this commander is probably already training a successor.”