Read Online The Way Home by Shannon Flagg - Free Book Online Page A

sleep.”
    “I will, when I'm done. I've wasted enough time in here.” Susan tied off the gauze, not her best work by far, and pulled up her jeans. She headed for the sink, but Houdini blocked her way. “I need to wash my hands.”
    “You need to tell me what's going on in your mind. Normally, I'd wait it out a bit, figure it out on my own, but we don't have time to be distracted.”
    “You're right,” Susan tilted her head back to meet his eyes. “You are one the best men I have ever met or ever will meet. You're strong and tough but also so kind and gentle. You've always been gentle with me, never pushed or forced an issue, and somehow you don't even seem to resent me for it. You should.”
    “I should resent you?” He cocked an eyebrow at her, his expression somewhere between confusion and amusement.
    “You should probably hate me.” Susan had known when she started speaking that she couldn't stop or back down no matter how much it felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest by her own hands. His expression had lost all the amusement; now there was anger mixed with the confusion. “I think we made a mistake, no, I know that we did, and it's on me. I should have been clear from the start what it meant when I vouched for you.”
    “Baby, we've talked about all this already. I have no problem with...”
    “You should! You should have a big problem with it, with me!” Susan stepped back from him, held her hands out so that he wouldn't try and touch her. “And I'm sorry that I didn't put a stop to all of this before it became something, before you started to feel the way that you feel.”
    “You're saying that you're sorry for us happening. That you're sorry I fell in love with you? Is that what you're saying, Susan?”
    “I'm saying that with everything that happened and what's happening now, it's made me think and realize that no matter how much fun we might be able to have together, there's no future for us.”
    “You're ending things with me?”
    “I will go to Shepard and tell him that we cannot remain mated because I broke the union. It will keep you in the clear.”
    “And it'll get you killed.”
    “There's too much going on for them to kill me.” Susan hoped that she was right. “More likely, I'll just be penalized once all this is over. There will be no repercussions for you.”
    “This is bullshit, all of it. And you know that, or you'd be able to look me in the eyes while you talk this shit.” His voice carried the hard edge of his anger. “You're delusional because you've been awake for so long. You need to sleep, and then we'll finish this bullshit conversation.”
    “I'm being serious. The sooner that you understand that, the better for both of us. The better for all of us.”
    “Despite the fact that no one seems to believe it, I can read. If someone breaks a union, it's a death offense and their mate is given an option. They can ask that the sentence not be given, volunteer to pay an alternate price.”              
    “You're not like us, Houdini. The alternate price would kill you.”
    “Right now, do I look like a give a fuck about that? You tell about your so-called indiscretion and I'll volunteer to save you. So get ever going to him out of your mind. I don't know what happened, what shifted the way that you're thinking and I really can't be bothered to give a fuck. We're together, Susan. I love you.”
    “You shouldn't! Haven't you been listening?”
    “I hear a woman, my woman, who has been awake over twenty-four hours, with very little food and probably not enough to drink. I hear my woman feeling a little vulnerable after watching a truck blow and having to patch up her friends, and herself.” Houdini replied. “Now, suck it up and let's go find somewhere to sleep.”
    “I said that I had things to do. You don't want me to go to Shepard, fine. I won't, but that doesn't mean that things are going to stay the same with us. I won't do that to you,