I nod slowly, taking the last bite of my own sandwich and balling up the paper wrappings to pack away for recycling back in town. “Are you pissed at me as well then? Because I’m finding safety here too. My mom couldn’t keep my being here a secret forever. I’m sure now that Aurelia is gone, my dad and Peter have figured out that I’m here too. They’d have found me and killed me if I weren’t here. I know exactly nothing about building houses. I’m a security risk for joining a TacTeam, so I’m only allowed to go if I’m your protector. Other than my knowledge of the Resistance, I have nothing to offer this place, and even my knowledge is starting to run out. There’s not a huge amount of intel left to tell North and Gryphon. I’ve gotten all of the important shit out already.”
She frowns and bumps my shoulder. “There’s a million things you can do here. The best I can do is wash dishes in the food hall, which is fine! That’s work that needs to be done, but it also makes me feel like I’m letting everyone down. Gabe is literally building houses. He was tiling a bathroom while we were gone. We’ll have more space for people soon.”
I nod. I’ve been impressed with what he’s been doing as well. I’m probably going to go over there to help out in the next few days as well, but my building knowledge is at a zero. I’m not great at taking instructions from surly, asshole men who think I’m an idiot, so I’m not expecting great things.
When I say this, Oli giggles and hands me the last of her sandwich. “Elliot is pretty great. He let me use a nail gun, and it’s definitely the highlight of my building career so far. Is there a job where that’s all I do? Just nail things?”
It’s so cheesy, but I can’t help it. “Yeah, nail me. That’s literally the only job you really need to do here, Sweetness.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes, the tiny dimples at the edge of her cheeks deepening beautifully, and I feel like I’m a fucking hero for getting them out of her like that.
“You’re playing your cards right. If there’s a comfortable bed in that bag of yours, I might even be tempted to second base.”
Fuck second, I’m getting her naked and begging underneath me. Fuck, then I want to have her naked and begging on top of me. I want every variation of my Bond fucking me that I can get right now.
Her eyes flare and I know I’m doing a shit job of keeping my thoughts off of my face, but she’s mine and it’s impossible to not want her. Every part of her was made for me in a way that I’ve never really experienced before.
None of my family act like that.
My dad barely tolerates my mom’s presence. Thomas is the same way. Three out of four of Aurelia’s Bonded treat her like a power source and a pair of tits. It’s why I hated them all so much, even before I figured the Resistance shit out for myself and realized that my family are the bad guys in every superhero movie ever.
None of them act with the worship I feel when I look at my Bond.
I take her hand and help her off of the ledge and back over to the cave. I get her settled on one of the small boulders there with a bottle of water and get to work unpacking the bed rolls and pillows I’ve brought out. There are solar lamps in there as well, and I set a couple of them up to light up the space for us. I do a quick sweep of the place just to be sure that no animals or creepy-crawlies have set up camp since I was last here because I’m not sure how Oli would react to a furry friend creeping up on us.
She watches me with a little smile, glancing over her shoulder at the view and the cameras every now and then. “Are you sure we’re not going to be giving Sawyer a free show? He’s a little too interested in all of my Bond’s dicks for my liking, and I don’t really want him getting an eyeful.”
I shoot her a grin over my shoulder and nod. “I’m sure. I made him go through all of the cameras to map this place out. Is he still talking about us like that? I’ll kill him for you.”
She scoffs and slides off of the rock. “No. He hasn’t in months, but you never really forget that sort of thing. We also can’t kill one of our most trusted friends over a small amount of voyeurism.”
I could.
I would, but I let it drop.
“How do you know so much about camping? I thought the Bassinger’s were the type of filthy rich that comes with ski resorts and hotels on the water in the Bahamas.”
“They are, but Jericho, Aurelia’s one decent Bond, grew up on a farm. He took me camping a lot after they Bonded, mostly as an excuse to get away from my family. He’s probably the only one of them who is actually missing her. I don’t exactly feel sorry for her. She was at the camps and there’s only a few things she’d be there to be doing, but she followed everything our parents told her to. Then she did everything her Bonds said. I guess… meeting you, knowing everything you’ve done, it’s made me judge her a lot more harshly. You would never have let any of us talk you into joining the Resistance. You’d… break your own heart to do the right thing. I know it. We all do.”