Steel Hearts

Chapter [ 12 ] "F"

Ethan made it past the barricade. Sanders, our captive, moved along slowly, as if time had stopped.

"What's taking so long," I said impatiently. Intertwining my fingers, I nervously fiddled my thumbs together. "This isn't going to work..."

Chase grabbed my hand, stopping my nervous reaction. He grasped it firmly, looking down at me.

"What's changed between you two?" he asked.

I don't look at him, staring straight ahead, watching Ethan walk into a possible death trap.

"Mila," Chase said, moving to stand in front of me. He took his finger, and lifted my chin so I would look straight into his blue eyes.

"I don't know," I said. "He's complicated."

"He's an ass."

I laughed. Now that I could agree with, even though I knew something had changed between us. Maybe it was back at the village. The moment we were alone, it was intimate. Then, before he decided to risk his life and gave me a free ride to Juno. Yes, something had changed. I couldn't admit that to my first love, though.

Never.

"He's risking his life for us, Chase."

He nodded. There was no disagreement. How could there be?

"I have to give him some credit," he said. "He's got balls." His eyes flickered down to mine. I smiled, trying not to laugh. How could I be smiling and laughing at a time like this? I had to blame it on nerves.

"Guys!" Inara ran over to us. "He's gone."

"What?" I said looking in the direction Ethan headed. Sanders and Ethan both were gone. How had I missed them?

Tank jumped up from the ground where he sat. "That jerk really made it through! Holy shit!"

"Where did he go?" I asked, still searching for any sign of him beyond the barricade.

Tank pointed. "Pretty boy and our bottom-feeder went down a side street. I can't believe he was right."

Inara stood next to me now, smiling. I never had seen her with a genuine smile. "He's so hot. I can't believe he really did that. I for sure thought he would chicken out, but...wow."

My stomach flip-flopped when she talked about him with such admiration. I couldn't possibly be jealous. What was wrong with me?

I looked over my shoulder at Chase, crouched down, staring ahead. Just by the look in his eyes, I knew he was lost in thought. That moment, I've never felt so much love for him. Granted, he didn't brave the bottom-feeders, but he stayed by my side.

I walked toward him while fiddling with the ticket inside my pants pocket. When I reached him, he still didn't acknowledge me.

"Chase," I said, waiting for some kind of response. His eyes stayed focused ahead of him, anywhere but at me.

"Show it to me," he finally said.

"Show you what?"

"The ticket, Mila. Show it to me." He looked up at me, his face stern and expressionless.

I shook my head, looking away at the dead trees. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Not once did I take my hand from my pocket, until Chase stood, pulling my hand free.

He took me further away from Inara and Tank. We stood for a moment, glaring at each other.

"Don't lie to me," he said, still gripping my arm. "I saw him hand you a ticket."

I pulled free from his grasp. "Yeah, I lied! This ticket is Ethan's, and he wanted me to hang onto it until he returned."

Chase threw his hand in the air. "Oh! How sweet of him, the hero, running off and giving my girlfriend a ticket to Juno!" His face turned red with fury. I have never seen him so mad.

Inara and Tank moved toward us curiously. I looked over at them, rolling my eyes. Now we had company for our blow out.

I turned back to Chase, reaching out to him, trying to calm the storm brewing inside him.

"It was never mine," I said.

He lowered his head, and spoke softly, "Would you have gone?"

I wanted to cry. How could he dare ask me that? He thought I would leave him alone, while I had a second chance someplace else.

He turned his back on me. I couldn't stand the animosity between us, so I stepped close behind him, and wrapped my arms tightly around his waist.

"I love you," I confessed for the hundredth time during our relationship, but this time felt different. This time, it felt pure and true. "I would never leave your side, like you've never left mine."

He turned so fast I almost lost my footing. Scooping me up with his strong arms, I wrapped my legs around him. His lips crashed against mine, full of lust.

"Chase - I -” My words could barely be spoken between each kiss.

His lips ended at the side of my neck. Finally, he looked up at me with plumped lips so red I couldn't help but smile.

"He's back!"

I heard Inara yelling from afar. Breaking away from Chase, I turned and found Ethan jumping the barricade, alone.

He ran fast, his black hair wildly bouncing with each step. My heart rapidly beat watching him. He lived. They didn't get him.

Ethan approached me first, out of breath, he looked at me.

"I'm sorry," he said. "They got him before I could. He was dead."

It felt like my heart shrank into a small pebble. Our one chance to possibly find out what had happened to all the missing people back from the village vanished.

Dead.

Gone.

My vision was clouded by tears. Although I had people around me, especially one that I loved since childhood, I've never felt so alone.

"Mila," Ethan's voice coaxed me out of the momentary haze of disappointment I was trapped in.

I held out my hand. "Here." The ticket blew gently with the breeze, wanting to escape my fingertips. "You should go before it’s too late."

Ethan wrapped his hand around mine, crinkling the ticket between our hands. "I'm staying. Please hold onto it for me awhile longer." His sleeve pulled up, revealing his forearm. The mark that he was one of the chosen to go to Juno seemed to disappear, gradually fading away.

I nodded once, and whispered, "Sure, Ethan. But you will use it eventually, right?"

He forced a smile, trying not to meet my eyes. "Eventually."

That moment, I knew he was an excellent liar.