Chapter 36: 36

NADINE’S P.O.V

It was raining.

I stood on the porch of our current abode and watched the rain drops hit the ground in awe. I hadn’t seen the rain in well over a year, a part of me had forgotten the exact smell of rain, the smell of the damp grass, the chilly breeze.

I heard the back door open as Caine made his way out. He leaned against the doorway, watching me silently. It had been three days since we started moving and I wasn’t sure how much ground we had covered. The plan for today was to find a map of the area but the sky had darkened considerably and we took shelter in the first place we could find.

We were seated in the living room when he suddenly announced that since it was raining, it was the best time for me to brush up on my knife skills.

The last thing I wanted to do was drag myself out of the comfort of the house to train but Caine didn’t take no for an answer and that was how we ended up here.

He had drawn a bull’s eye on the tree in front of me. “Hit the mark.”

“You know I can,” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why are we doing this?”

“Hit it while sparring with me.”

My brows furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not always going to be lucky enough to meet just one monster. Sometimes they move in pairs. I need to know that you can defend yourself. Now, defend yourself.”

I didn’t know a lot of things for certain, but I knew that Caine was holding back or my sake.

His movements were fluid and easy and his expression was almost bored as he dodged all my moves. He didn’t touch me once, but he made sure to let me know all the times he could have.

A tap on my lower back.

A brush of his fingers against my throat.

A hand lightly wrapped around my throat.

I would have been dead at least five different times.

The only positive side of it all was that I had somehow managed to hit the target every single time.

“So you’re good with distance fighting but once they’re up close¸ you’re dead.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed my wet hair out of my face. “I’ll just stay away from them then.”

“It’s not always that easy. They are sneaky and can be quiet when they want to be. If you don’t know how to keep an eye out for them then-”

He trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence for me to understand.

I let out a sigh and retrieved my knives from where they were embedded in the tree trunk.

“Do we try again?”

He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “We’ve been at it for an hour now. Your clothes are soaked. You should rest.”

I should have taken the dismissal, should have gone in and peeled off my clothes but I didn’t. Instead, I just stood there staring at the dark sky.

“When I was little, I used to play in the rain,” I began softly. “Father hated it. He always said that it was unbecoming of a young girl. I didn’t stop though, I would sneak out of my room and stand under the pouring sky. It was the only place I could breathe.”

“The rain usually meant that I was sleeping in the cold. The basement was always fucking freezing but I loved the sound of the rain coming down on the roof. It was calming.”

I turned to him. “You never got to play in the rain? Not even as a guard?”

He shook his head once. “I have been out in the rain as a guard before. It’s actually some of my best times because we rarely see monsters.”

“They don’t like the rain?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I think they just go into hiding until it passes.”

I hesitated before making my next move. Yes, we were having sex but I wasn’t sure what that meant for our personal relationship. There was always the chance that he would snap and remind me that it was just sex and I had no right to butt in but it was a risk I was willing to take right now.

I grabbed his hand in mine and tugged.

For once, he didn’t fight me. The wind roared, the trees bowed from their raging force and lightning marked the otherwise dark sky but it all seemed to blur around me as I tipped my head back, my eyes closed and my hands stretched out.

I exhaled deeply. “It almost makes me forget that the world is a fucking mess.”

I heard him chuckle beside me and I peeled my eyes open a little to find him watching me. He had his hands crossed over his chest while the corner of his lips tipped up. His hair was flat against his head and his muscles bulged out of his soaked t-shirt but he seemed more relaxed than I had seen him in a very long time.

“You’ll catch a cold,” he warned me but I shrugged, unable to care.

“It’ll be worth it.”

I grabbed Caine’s hand, forcing him to spin with me. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something about me being a spoiled princess but I could see the small smile that he tried to hide. He loved it as much as I did.

He tugged me closer, his hands finding their footing on my hip while mine splayed across his chest. I could feel every hard inch of him through his clothes.

His fingers tangled in my hair, brushing it out of my face before leaning down to kiss me slowly.

“We have to go in soon,” he whispered against my lips but he didn’t make an effort to move. “It’ll take a few more days of rain before we can finally start moving again.”

I just hummed as his lips brushed against my forehead. “What are we going to do in the meantime?”

“Everything we can’t do without the rain.”

There was nothing sexual about his words and yet, my stomach flipped over on itself.

“Do you think that if we met outside of this epidemic that we would be friends?”

He laughed. “We would hate each other. I would think you’re a spoiled princess and you would think that I-”

“That you’re an ass?” I asked and he shrugged. “I still think you are one.”

“And I still think you’re a spoiled princess but you’re tolerable.”

I smacked his shoulder and his lip quirked. The dimple on his left cheek popped out against his otherwise smooth skin.

“So there is a chance that we could have been friends.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Unfortunately, we will never know for sure.”

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