Took Me Yesterday (book 2 of The Tomo Trilogy)

Noah

Argos huffed, as if to say obviously. I pet him in agreement. "So, now what?"

"Now we find you a place to stay," he said, taking the initiative to lead Lily and I deeper into the caverns. The further we went, the more I didn't like it. The rancid odor grew, and it didn't dissipate until we came to a circular room colder than the rest. A few couches lined the walls, and aside from the few boxes on the floor, it was mostly empty of objects. But people were everywhere. They moved soundlessly, passing boxes, disappearing into corridors, shutting gates behind them. There was a clear system in place. One for nights like these.

Bombs, apparently, weren't rare.

Broden searched the crowd, but kept within my reach. "We'll probably have to deal with the paperwork tomorrow since, you know, the air raid and all, but—"

"You never did follow up on that," I said, but before he could answer, Lily interrupted.

"Where's Miles?"

Broden blinked at her before returning his gaze to mine. "Listen, everything will be fine, but you have to know, the only reason I knew you guys were coming is because of—"

"Noah."

His name left my mouth at the sight of him. In fact, I practically screamed it. If I could've taken it back, I would've, but my face burned instead. It didn't stop burning when the blond looked my way. Him, in the same room as me. Close enough to touch. To talk to.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.

"Lilianne," he acknowledged. "Sophia."

His calm demeanor made my stomach drop. My hands curled at my sides.

"Sophia?" I repeated, numb. What the hell? Noah had always called me Sophie. Like Soph. E, he'd once explained, when he admitted to knowing my middle name—also my mother's name—Elizabeth. And now—

"Mind getting that box?" he asked, as he picked one up, then tilted his head at another one. His blond bangs shifted in front of his gaze. "We have to get all ten of these back into storage before twenty-two."

Military time. Noah was giving me orders.

"I—" I had no words. Only pure, sudden and uncontrollable rage.

Broden grabbed my arm before I could lash out and, without even noticing, Noah walked away, disappearing into the nearest corridor. I trembled beneath Broden's grip.

"You know him," he muttered.

"I thought I did," I growled.

Behavior like this might be explained with tomo use, but I didn't see cat eyes reflecting from drugs. I didn't see his eyes reflect anything. I saw sober ones. Sober indifference. It was like he didn't even know me. Like he didn't care. The bruise on my face had never hurt so much. But showing that would only make it hurt worse.

I yanked my arm out of Broden's grip and ignored his words of caution as I picked up the box Noah pointed at. When I turned around, my friend stared at me.

"What are you doing?" Broden asked.

"Helping." I adjusted the weight. "Where does this go?"

When Broden didn't answer, I walked off in the direction Noah went. I'd show him. I'd prove his utter indifference didn't matter. After everything else I'd been through, he didn't need to matter. He didn't have to. I could ignore everything. I could put the goddamn box in the goddamn closet, just like everyone else.

"Wait, Sophia," Broden said, catching up to me with his own box in hand. "You should know—Well, you know already." Tomo. Some of this had to do with drugs. "They give him a lot of it, and that was how I knew you were here. He saw you coming a few weeks ago, and—"

And one of the most common side effects was a lack of emotion when experiencing the vision in real time. I knew that. But that didn't stop the rest of the truth.

"He still sent you to pick us up after my face got beaten in," I said, filling in the rest. The words were harsh, but I couldn't stop myself. Not after weeks on the road. Not after leaving Lyn behind. Not after Louis City or Penelope. "It's fine. What happened between us didn't matter much to me either."

I came face-to-face with Noah right then. His green eyes and my gray ones. He looked the exact same as the day we met, down to the black T-shirt and sun-kissed skin. He even appeared worn out, like he hadn't quite slept or ate, but surprise in his gaze had taken over.

He might've seen me coming, but he hadn't seen this.

His cheeks flushed, and all of my anger simmered. All I wanted to do was ask him what happened to him. All I wanted to do was tell him I didn't mean what I just said. A girl like Jazzy might be able to do just that. But I wasn't coming back from anger. I glared.

"Where does this go?" I asked, hoisting up the box, hoping the action would hide my shaking, adrenaline-fueled hands.

Noah blinked. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "That room."

I brushed past him, hearing him mumble to Broden as I entered the space, but before I could care, I realized what I was carrying.

The smaller boxes from the train.

The ones with the weapons in them.

And the room was full of them.