The Glass Man - Lila Gray Book 1

Chapter Two

I sat across from Liam at a small wooden table, devouring leftover meatloaf and canned peas. After the forest crawlers I'd been eating for weeks, it might as well have been prime rib and caviar. It was delicious, and I told him so.

Power became scarce after some paranoid zealots blew up one of the remaining power stations in the north-east, so Liam left the lights off. A halo of amber light encircled us from a hurricane lantern flickering in the center of the table. My like of him grew a small tick.

"Where did you get the peas?" I asked. Light and shadow played along the landscape of his face, darkening his eyes, highlighting his full lips. He was beautiful, if men could be called that. More than handsome, but not pretty—something in between. "Most of the grocery stores have been picked clean, and they only get new stuff in once a month, if they're lucky."

He'd put on a blue plaid shirt and shaved off his scruff. All cleaned up, he didn't look much older than me. Maybe twenty-three or so. His aftershave, or perhaps cologne, drifted across my nose now and then, a heady blend of earthy spice and man stoked an urge to get a closer sniff of him.

"I filled up the cellar when I saw where things were headed." Liam's fork hovered over his plate. "Got enough down there for a few more years if I eat light."

Every town had its gang of thugs who plundered and burned whatever house they happened across. How did Liam keep them from stealing it? Maybe they'd been trying, and that's why he had his gun out.

He looked up from his plate. "Momma said it wasn't polite to hug your knees at the table."

My feet slipped off the chair and settled on the hardwood floor. "Bad habit, I guess." I forced a laugh, hoping he wouldn't press.

"So..." He slid his large hands along the table and stared at me, squashing that hope. "Who you runnin' from?"

I had a moment of brain freeze, but continued to chew my mouthful of peas and met his suspicious stare without flinching. "What makes you think I'm running from anything?"

Liam wiped the back of his hand across his mouth as he shoved his empty plate aside. "You snuck across my yard like a trained mercenary. Dressed in a black getup, without so much as a pebble misplaced under your shoe, or a crinkled leaf to make a sound. Had the lay of the land within seconds too, I bet. Took down a man who outweighs you by fifty pounds, as if you done it before. You hardly flinched when I set my gun on you. Now, you're sittin' there all hunched around yourself like a rabbit in the grass. Definitely runnin', I just hope it's not from the law."

"No trouble with the law." It wasn't a lie as long as the one who hunted me wasn't a cop in whatever hell he'd crawled out of. I held up my hand. "I swear on my mother's spirit."

"Folks are dead, then?"

I looked away, crushing my paper towel napkin in my hand. "I appreciate the meal. If you can show me where your hires stay, I'll get out of your way." I found it best to avoid the question when I couldn't think of a good lie.

The sound of my mother's last cries echoed in my head, 'Run, Lilabear, run!' The memories hit me hard and fast. Warm blood dripping through the floor onto my face. Agony as I scraped my fingers raw to escape the hole she'd hidden me in so I could save her from him. My legs tensed, eager to launch me away from the table, away from the pain I carried with me like a second skin, but I forced my body still.

"Don't mean to pry. Just curious, is all."

Curious didn't cover it. Who was this guy? A cop? A private investigator? No career farmer, that's for sure. I shoved my wavy hair behind my ears and took a moment to calm myself. My energy boiled and surged with my emotional turmoil. Tiny sparks flickered to life in my head.