HELPER12, Jack Blaine [reading in the dark .TXT] 📗

“Ah.  Yes, that floor is chilly.  Sorry about that.”

There’s silence.  Thomas’s breathing becomes slower and more regular.  I feel him relax against me.

He’s asleep.  Despite my fatigue, I really don’t want him to be asleep right now.   I heave a sigh.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

He’s not asleep.

“Yes,” I whisper.  I bite my lip, hoping he’ll touch me.

Thomas rolls over to face me.  He slips an arm around my waist and pulls me toward him.  “You must be so tired,” he whispers in my ear.

“I am,” I breathe, but I don’t feel tired anymore.  Every inch of my body feels alive; each time his hand brushes against me at the waist, or the hip, or the thigh, it sends a shudder through me.

“Do you think you can sleep?” he asks, and I can hear the smile in his voice.  I try to answer, but he covers my mouth with his.  I feel his tongue against my lips, gently opening them, licking them softly.  I moan.

“I want to taste some other places, too,” he whispers, and then, he does.

I sleep very well.  Later.

Chapter Thirty Two

As he promised, Deen arrived before the sun, knocking quietly on the door of the room. Jobee had awakened just before he arrived, and I was giving him a bottle.  He seems no worse for wear after his sleeping meds, and I’m relieved.  From here on out, it isn’t a problem if he cries, or makes noise.  We’re playing the part of a young family unit, now.

I turn that thought over in my head.  Are we playing?  I look at Thomas, helping Deen set dishes on the table.  If we are, this is a dangerous game.

“I don’t think it will too much of a problem.”  Deen is shaking his head about something.

Thomas looks dubious.

“I can’t ask you to do that, Deen.  It’s too risky.  We’ll take one of the public trams.”

“What if they’re already looking for you?”

“Right now, they’re both sleeping, and they won’t wake until late.  Helper knows better than to wake them after they’ve been to a party, and Driver certainly won’t.  I told Helper I was going out last night, so she won’t be looking for me at breakfast.  The only one who should be up and about is Benna, and there’s a note on her door that says Jobee was sick all night.”

Deen looks doubtful.  Thomas smiles at him and touches his shoulder.

“You’ve done enough, Deen.  Let’s make sure you get out of this with your skin.”

“What are we discussing?”  I get one of Jobee’s boggles and hold it up for him.  He giggles at it.

“How we get to the pier from here.”  Thomas gestures for me to sit down at the table.  He takes the boggle and then Jobee, and set a plate of soy links in front of me.   “Deen wants to take us, but I think we’ll be safe in a tram.  Nobody knows we’re gone, yet.”  He wiggles the boggle in front of Jobee, who reaches out with glee to try to grab it.

“I have to agree with Thomas,” I say.  “We can’t ask you to do more than you’ve done.”

“I just want to know that you’re safe on that ship.”  Deen looks worried.  “I would have taken Greg and Rob.”

“They wouldn’t have let you, either.”  Thomas twirls Jobee around.

Deen nods.  “You’re probably right.”  He snaps his fingers.  “Oh!  I forgot.  I wanted to give you some things I had ready for the boys.  I’ll be right back.”

When he’s gone, I try to eat some of the soy links, but I can’t.  I’m worried, more worried then I want Thomas to know.

“How far is it to the pier from here?”

Thomas sits down in the other chair.  He lets Jobee hold one of the soy links.  “It’s probably half an hour by tram.  Nothing too bad.”  He looks at my plate.  “You’re not hungry?”

I shake my head.

“You’re scared.”  He rocks Jobee.

“Yes.”

“Me, too.” He takes the mutilated soy link from Jobee and wipes his hands and face.  Then he gives him a boggle toy.  “We have to believe we’ll get through, Benna.”

I sit up straight.  “Thomas,” I say.

“Yes Benna?”  He smiles at me, ready to joke.

“I’m serious!”

“Oh.”  He makes a face.  “Is this serious enough?”

I am not amused.  “Listen,” I say.

He looks into my eyes, the way he does when he’s checking to see what I’m thinking.  “Okay.”

“If we do this—”

“If?”  He sits back in his chair, holding Jobee easily with one arm.

I hold up my hand.  “Let me finish, okay?”

He doesn’t look happy, but he nods.

“If we do this, I need to know that you’re not doing it for me.”

He stares at me.  “Of course I’m doing it for you.”

It’s what I was afraid of.  I start to shake my head.

“No.”  He stands up, and walks to the far side of the room.  “No, Benna.”

“No, what?”  I feel like crying.  I can’t let Thomas take this sort of risk.  “Maybe Jobee and I can just go—”

“No, Benna!”  He roars the words.  Jobee looks up at him, shocked, and starts to wail.

“Oh.  Oh, oh oh, Jobee, no.”  Thomas rocks Jobee back and forth, crooning his name.  He rubs his feet, soft like Jobee likes it.  Jobee stops wailing and stares at Thomas, as though something happened that he doesn’t understand.  Like something came and took Thomas, and then it brought him back.

“It’s okay, Jobee.” Thomas lays Jobee in the dresser drawer and lets him have his boggle.  Jobee is happy again.

Thomas isn’t. He scrubs his hair with his hands, and it looks like he’s ready to rip it out.  He paces back and forth in front of me, back and forth.  He takes deep breaths.  Finally, he comes to the table.  He sits down in the chair.

“I scared Jobee,” he says.

“I saw that.”

“We can’t keep doing this.” He says.

I start to talk, but it’s his turn to hold up his hand.  “Benna, I love you.  And I am doing this for you.  Because it’s wrong, what’s happened to