Repossession (The Keepers Trilogy) by Rachael Wade Read Free Book Online

I wasn’t sure if it was morning. Kind of hard to tell when you’re buried underground. Judging by the chatter and shuffle of footsteps down the main hallway of the sleeping quarters, though, it was time to wake up. I sat up straight, stretching my arms above my head. My gaze fell on a bare, sleek, toned build with scars and tattoos in all the right places. I stilled, letting my arms slowly drop back down to my sides, my palms bracing me upright on the mattress.
    Jet was standing at the foot of the mattress, running a cloth through his damp hair. “Morning,” he said, his voice a tired rumble.
    Speech was caught somewhere between my throat and lips. It took me a second to remind it of its function. “Morning. Did you have another bath?”
    “Yeah. Traded an extra pair of shoelaces with some guys over there. Apparently they’re a hot commodity. Who’d have thought they have so many uses. Also grabbed this.” He swiveled on a hip and bent down to reach his backpack, zipping it open to show off a large canteen. “Clean water. No boiling necessary.” He tapped it and smiled, then rose to full height again, the definition in his stomach rippling with the movement.
    My gaze crawled up his torso and locked onto his. “How’d you manage that?”
    “Water in exchange for information. It helps to come from the inside.”
    “Doesn’t that put you in danger of the Invaders?”
    “No,” he shrugged. “Not unless they find me. And that won’t happen.”
    “You sound mighty sure of yourself.”
    “I took this out the second we escaped the prison camp.” He pointed to the reddened bandage on his left hip. It was surrounded by heavy bruising. “My ID. Implanted in my skin. They can’t track me.”
    I shot up from the mattress and moved in front of him, skimming my finger above the bandage. “You cut it out?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Jet, that can get infected. You need stitches … antibiotics. Something . You were running with that hole in your hip this whole time?” I gaped at the bandage, the sopping red stain looking heavy and in need of a change.
    “It had to be done.” His skin jumped underneath my touch. He stared down, watching my finger move over the bruise. “I disinfected it with booze from the bar. That’ll have to do for now.”
    I looked around, wondering if there were any nurses or doctors nearby. “There has to be someone who can stitch this up for you.”
    “If there is, I’ll have to pay for it. Nothing’s free. Speaking of paying, come on, we need to have a chat with Lil.”
    “Okay, let me wash up.” I used the toilet and borrowed a fingertip’s worth of toothpaste from Jet’s backpack stash for a quick brush, then tied my hair back and followed him to the front bar. My bangs fell heavy over my forehead, Jet’s black t-shirt now tied up at the corner into a tight knot at the side of my hip. My dark-blue jeans had seen better days, but my flat black boots were holding up good. Better than good. They’d get me through this journey, however long it lasted, straight to the end.
    We found Lillian hunched over the bar, studying a stack of maps, her round glasses sitting low on the bridge of her nose. “What can I do fer ya, darlin’? Want some breakfast? Got some hot oatmeal on the stove. Give yer a cup for some shoelaces, er toothpaste if yer got it.” She spoke without looking up at Jet.
    “I need some information,” Jet said, eyeing the map in her hands.
    “Oh? Whatchya got fer me?”
    “Information from the inside.”
    She looked up. “Is that so? How do I know yer tellin’ the truth?”
    Jet pointed to his bloody hip, then reached into his pants pocket and dug out a tiny silver cylinder. It was smashed and cracked along the center. “This was my ID.” He dumped it into Lillian’s palm and she adjusted her glasses, holding the chip up under the low light of a hanging lantern to get a better look.
    “ Hhhmm ,” she grunted. “Well, what do ya wanna know,