Page 24 of Protecting Josie
“You have no idea,” Nate told his brother.
“I’m thinking you might even be able to choke down the beef sticks,” he said with a chuckle.
Nate huffed out a breath. “No one isthathungry,” he said, then looked at Josie. “The beef sticks taste like dog food. And before you ask me how I know what dog food tastes like, Tate and I dared each other to try it when we were around twelve. So trust us, we know.”
Amazingly, Josie found herself smiling.
Nate stared at her for a beat with something close to awe on his face, before clearing his throat and looking down at the plastic pouch in front of him. “Meatballs are almost done.”
The smell coming from the bag was absolutely amazing. It was so good, Josie actually felt kind of nauseous, which made no sense to her.
Nate opened the pouch and steam rose between them. He picked up a fork and stuck it inside. When he removed the fork, there was a decent-size meatball on the end. Josie restrained herself from grabbing his hand and stuffing the whole thing in her mouth.
He brought the fork to his own mouth and bit off half the meatball. It seemed incongruent from all the other things he’d done for her, making sure she had water first, not wanting to take the breadstick from her.
Then he opened his mouth and breathed in and out rapidly, saying, “Hot, hot, hot!” in a muffled tone. He swallowed and brought the meatball back to his mouth, but instead of eating the rest, he blew on it, trying to cool it off. Then he held it out to her. “That whole thing was too big for you to eat, but I had a feeling you’d try anyway. I also wanted to make sure it wouldn’t burn your mouth.”
Josie wanted to cry again. He wasn’t being selfish bytaking the first bite, he did it to save her from herself—because once again, he could read her mind.
She lifted her hand, curling her fingers around his on the fork. Without breaking eye contact, she leaned forward and wrapped her lips around the meatball.
The spices immediately hit her taste buds, making her eyes snap shut as she moaned deep in her throat. Oh my God, it was so good! Josie had never tasted anything so delicious in her entire life. She could die right now a happy woman.
Opening her eyes, she found Nate watching her like a hawk. “Okay?” he asked.
She nodded immediately.
“Good.”
They took turns, him eating half of each meatball to make the rest easy for her to eat in one bite. Josie was shocked to find that after only four bites, she was completely stuffed. She put a hand to her stomach—then gasped and quickly raised her shirt, even more shocked to realize her belly was distended, sticking out as if she were a few months pregnant.
Frowning in alarm, she looked at Nate.
“It’s normal,” he soothed. “You’ll be hungry again in an hour or so. It’ll take a while to work back up to regular-size meals. Instead, you’ll need to eat small snacks several times a day.”
She had no idea how he knew that, but she trusted him.
Pyro and Kevlar had returned by then, and Josie watched them and Tate open their own MREs and eat without fanfare. By now it was almost dark, and her eyelids felt as if they were made of lead.
“Lie down, Spirit. Sleep. We’ll make sure you’re safe. Nothing will happen when we’re here. Promise.”
Nate’s words settled into Josie’s soul. She hadn’t even known she needed to hear them, but she had.
But before she went to sleep, there was something she needed to do.
She reached for the accessory packet that came with the MRE and pulled out the little plastic knife. Leaning over, she used it to write something in the dirt on the floor of the cave.
Nate looked at it, then up at her. “Josie?” he whispered.
She nodded.
“That’s your name? Josie?”
She nodded again.
A small smile spread across Nate’s face. “It’s beautiful.”
Josie wasn’t sure about that. It was just a name. She’d never given it much thought. But not having a name made her feel like…less. Like a non-person.
