Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 100

NADINE’S P.O.V

For a long minute, no one spoke. They stared at me like I’d grown a third head and Rowan squeezed my hand in his.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I’d never had to bare myself open to strangers before. I could feel the judgment in their eyes, the suspicion, and even the pity. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it had to be done. We needed them.

"Let’s see the papers."

"Make the deal first," Rowan cut in. "Give us protection and you can have whatever you want."

Solomon frowned. "You haven’t kept up with your end of the deal."

"Actually, we have," Joshua spoke for the first time. "We told you what we had. Tell us if it’s good enough or let us leave."

Solomon’s lip curled into a sneer. "You’re Pickett’s son, aren’t you?"

Joshua hesitated before nodding slowly. "I am."

"Where’s your father, boy?"

"Dead."

"Good riddance."

I could tell Joshua wanted to respond to that but I grabbed his arm. This was neither the time nor the place. Unfortunately, we needed them and that meant we had to play nice... for now.

"You can stay here," Solomon said finally. "But everyone here earns their keep. We don’t run a bunker or a charity service. We don’t kill each other. We watch out for each other, we keep each other safe and when there’s an attack, everyone fights. Even the women."

He spat the last part at Amy and I.

I knew he was trying to bait us so I kept my face impassive. "Are you questioning my fighting skills?"

"I am. I can’t imagine that Tyler’s daughter will know how to."

He fell silent when my knife landed right between his outstretched legs with a thud. There was an outcry as people drew their weapons, pointing it at us but Solomon didn’t move. He just stared at the knife that was a few feet away from what I assumed was his favorite part.

He raised a brow. "You’re already breaking our rules."

"I didn’t kill you."

"You tried."

I laughed. "If I wanted you dead, you would be. You don’t have to worry about my fighting skills or Amy’s. We are more than capable of taking care of ourselves."

He just hummed and pulled out the knife. He threw it to the ground at my feet and without breaking eye contact, I picked it up and sheathed it.

"Put your weapons away," he ordered his people. "Get them a place to rest. Tomorrow, you show us those papers.’

I nodded. "Tomorrow."

He waved us away and I finally let out a heavy breath.

We stood to our feet, following Jennifer who led us away from the fountain and down the road. She didn’t say a word, not until we were a bit of a distance away.

"That was the most stupid thing you’ve ever done," she hissed. "What the fuck were you thinking? If you’d hurt him-"

"You were praising my skills earlier today. Why doubt me now?"

She stared at me for a long minute before shaking her head. "You’re fucking crazy."

"I suppose." I shrugged. "Do we have to be quiet here?"

"Not really. We live normally. If monsters show up, we kill them. They rarely do, and we’ve never had more than two attack at once."

"That’s comforting."

She hesitated for a moment before asking. "Is what you said true? The part about being pregnant." I nodded slowly. "I’m sorry."

"It’s okay. I’m good now."

She turned to Rowan but he shook his head. He didn’t want her apologies. She respected that and turned back to us.

"We can keep you all in one building or if you’d like to be split up then-"

"Split up please," Joshua groaned. "I cannot stand to hear these two going at it like bunnies."

Jennifer’s lip curved into a small smile. It was refreshing to see something on her face other than a scowl. But as quickly as it came, it was gone and replaced with a scowl.

"I’ll get you houses next to each other. Try not to get into any trouble. A lot of people already don’t like you."

"Are there any rules?" Joshua asked but she ignored him.

It wasn’t until Amy asked the same question that she shook her head. "Just help out where you can and stay out of trouble."

"Help? How do we help?" Joshua asked once again but she ignored him.

He reached out to grab her. I wanted to scream at him to stop but it was too late. She grabbed his wrist, twisting it hard.

"Don’t you dare touch me," she spat before releasing him more harshly than necessary.

I’d have loved to say I was surprised by her outburst, but the truth was, I wasn’t. Jennifer didn’t get along with anyone. She was hard to like sometimes, but she was just very guarded. She liked to keep her cards close to her chest and she didn’t trust people easily, especially not people like Joshua and I.

"Do you have a problem with me?" he asked but she ignored him. "I’m talking to-"

"Don’t," I stopped him. "Just let her be."

"We’re here," Jennifer announced as she stopped in front of two simple bungalows. They looked identical to every other house in this estate. "Choose either. I don’t care."

Joshua shuffled closer to me as we walked, and once he was within earshot, he turned to me. "Why is she so rude?"

"She has issues with our fathers."

"That doesn’t give her the right to treat me like crap. She doesn’t even know me. How did you even meet her?"

"We were on the road together before we found the bunker."

He stared at me then back at her. "She doesn’t seem like the type of person you’d get along with."

"We didn’t get along," Jennifer cut in without even glancing our way. "I hated her guts the same way I hate yours right now, Both your fathers are responsible for the deaths of all the people in the bunker. A lot of here lost families because of your parents."

Joshua’s jaw clenched. "My father died in that bunker. He tried to get everyone out."

"Is that what he told you?" she drawled, her tone mocking and dripping with sarcasm. "They knew who they were going to take out. They gave orders to kill everyone else."

"That’s not true."

She turned to him. "Isn’t it? They had four tanks, two buses and a bunker filled with people. Do the fucking math. They left those people to die. They let us be food. He’s close to Trent. Do you think he didn’t know?"

Joshua’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing. He couldn’t defend his father, couldn’t say that he didn’t know what they were doling because the truth was, he wasn’t sure, I wasn’t either. After what we’d just learnt, I couldn’t say anything with a clear conscience.

Even if they didn’t know the extend to which Trent was going, they must have known something and they went along with it.

"My father was a good man."

She laughed. "Both your fathers are cowards. At least I know Nadine isn’t like her father. But you- I don’t know anything about you. You’re only here because of her. Remember that."

"You’re a bitter bitch," Joshua hissed finally and all she did was laugh.

"Better a bitter bitch than a coward who was complicit in the death of thousands." She gave me a tight smile. "Goodnight, you better rest up. You have a long day tomorrow."

She walked away without another word, leaving us standing in front of the houses. Once she was gone, I turned to Joshua.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"She was being a bitch," he defended. "I was defending myself. Something I thought you’d do seeing as you know her."

I exhaled deeply. "Jennifer is difficult, okay? She has preconceived notions about us. Was she rude? Yes, but you have to remember that we are on their turf."

"That doesn’t change the fact that you should’ve had my back."

"What did you want me to say? That your father was innocent? If she’d insulted you, I would’ve fought for you, but she didn’t. She called both our fathers horrible people and I can’t even defend that because she’s right."

He scoffed. "Just because your father allied himself with Trent doesn’t mean my father did. My father got me out of my bunker. Yours left you to die. We’re not the same."

His words landed like a physical blow.

Rowan tried to step in but I held up a hand to stop him, this was not his fight and I didn’t want him getting involved.

Joshua realized what he’d said too late, but I saw the defiance in his eyes. He wasn’t going to apologize.

Before I had the chance to speak, Amy cut in. "You’re unbelievable."

"My father is good," he emphasized.

"Maybe, but you’re not exactly making your case right now. You want to prove that you’re a good guy, but all you’ve done is be an asshole. That’s low, Joshua, even for you. Grow the fuck up."

She turned to me.

"Can I stay with you guys? I’ll stay out of your way, I swear."

I nodded. "Of course."

Joshua sighed. "Nadine-"

"Don’t." Rowan cut him off. "Goodnight, Joshua."