Page 88 of Resolve
“Yeah, but he won’t spit out how,” Alice grumps.
“If he won’t teach her, we should just ask him to do it. At least he’ll be quiet,” Dane murmurs. He grabs and spins us. A shoe slaps to the floor.
“I heard that, asshole!”
“Dane,” I admonish, pushing away from him. “Stop antagonizing her. Alice, can I try talking to Sam?”
She shrugs, flapping her hand at the door. “You can try.”
A quick glance at Jackson shows he’s still sitting on the stool at the kitchen counter, one foot up and the other dangling while he leansinto his fist and watches the room. The amount of patience he must have had working with these two all day is astonishing. I’m glad I didn’t walk in to find bodies instead. Unless letting them fight it out is somehow part of his training plan.
The corner of his lips lifts in a secretive smirk, and I realize I'd been staring.
I head to the bedroom door and knock lightly. “Sam? Can I come in?”
There’s no answer.
“You’ll be standing there all day if you wait for him to give you permission,” Alice remarks.
Right.
Turning the handle, I poke my head in. He’s not at all what I expected. Alice did say he’d been spying for a long time, but I still pictured a kid. This is a grown man—maybe mid-twenties—based on his size. His hair is a shaggy white-blond, as if he chops it off himself without a mirror every few months. It covers most of his eyes like a curtain, so he has to look through the small slits where his hair isn’t. He’s skinny, too, making me wonder how often he ate while undercover.
Sam sits against the headboard with his knees to his chest, his eyes staring at the television, reminding me of a child. He doesn’t look up when I enter.
“Sam?”
Nothing.
I move inside slowly, then sit on the corner of the bed furthest from him. Dane follows quietly and stops just inside the doorway. Glancing at the screen, I recognize the movie and smile. “Oh, this is a good one. Have you seen it before?”
He blinks at me suddenly, as if just now realizing I’ve been talking to him. His cheeks flush, and he nods once, casting his ocean blue eyes downward.
It’s then I notice there’s no other sound in the room. The movie is quiet. “Do you want me to turn the sound on?”
No reply.
Dane and I look at each other.
Did he mute it on purpose?
“I heard you haven’t left your room much. You know it’s okay for you to leave it, right? We could go with you downstairs to meet some people, if you want. Or maybe with Alice if that’d make you more comfortable.”
He gives a tiny shake of his head.
“Okay. We can stay here, too.”
Sam stays frozen. Like a frightened animal hiding from a predator. It makes my chest ache.
“I’m Raegan. I don’t know if Alice told you, but I’m your half-sister.”
His gaze slides to mine. Or, my nose, maybe. It’s not quite eye contact, but it feels like this is as close as I’ll get right now.
“Do you know sign language?”
Sam shakes his head at the same time as Dane scoffs and goes, “Do you?”
I shoot him a look, catching his teasing smirk. “No, but I could learn it, asshole.”
