Navarro’s smile slid away.
“Aria’s my other sister. Younger than me, older than Sadie,” Lil explained to Devin and an only marginally awake Flix. The poor kid had all but passed out when they’d told him Marcus would be alright. Liliana laid down her fork and addressed Joe. “Aria isn’t living with us.”
“Stupid bitch,” Sadie said around a mouthful of corn.
Devin barked out a totally inappropriate laugh. He just hadn’t expected a little girl to talk that way. Hopefully Navarro didn’t think he was too much of an idiot.
“Sadie!” Liliana slapped Sadie’s arm, but Sadie kept right on eating. “Don’t talk about your sister that way.”
“Well she is.”
“Is she okay?” Joe directed the question to Liliana, though he kept glancing at Navarro.
“She has a boyfriend. Thinks she’s in love.” Liliana dabbed at her lips with the back of her hand. “She’s here in town, but we don’t see her much.”
“Why not?” Peter asked.
“’Cause her pencil-dick boyfriend keeps her on a chain.” Sadie made kissy faces.
Navarro rose. “I need to check on the Wonder Twin.” He ruffled Sadie’s hair and kissed Liliana as he passed.
Marcus was laid out asleep on one of the couches, visible from where Devin sat. With surprising care, Navarro knelt next to the sofa and laid his hand on Marcus’s forehead.
“Did you see the man with the gun when you were at my door?” Liliana asked.
Devin returned his attention to the table and nodded. Thinking about the man made him nervous. To cover it, he shoved an extra-large bite of eggs and corn in his mouth.
“That’s Sanders, Aria’s boyfriend.” Liliana lowered her voice like someone might be listening at the windows. “He and his friends protect the town, get us supplies.”
“Thank fuck.” Devin caught himself and tried again. “I mean ‘thank goodness.’ Sorry. Anyway, I was worried the guy might have seen the flyers.”
“What flyers?” Peter leaned around Flix, who had propped his face on his hand and closed his eyes, and peered at Devin.
Shit. Guess neither Joe nor Flix had said anything.
“Boggs released some flyers via drone,” Joe said. “He’s trying to get people to turn us in, though I don’t know how he’d get anyone to walk down to Austin to take us back.”
Navarro returned. He leaned the arm of his cane on the table between him and Joe, then sat down. “Up here, people would have ways. It’s not so primitive. I take it you didn’t leave on good terms?”
Joe shrugged. “It’s not a dinner table story, but no, Boggs is bound to be furious. I don’t know if any of us were ever really free to leave.”
“Not until he was through with us.”
Everyone else may as well not have been in the room. Joe and Navarro sure didn’t seem to notice anyone outside the line between their faces. The others ate on, but Devin couldn’t help but stare and wonder what made the men’s expressions so intense. Joe was a fierce guy underneath his cool exterior. Navarro seemed more relaxed. But something about the two of them together... It was more heated, maybe? That wasn’t quite right. Devin tried to think of a word Joe would have used. Potent.
Liliana seemed cool. She’d understand. Devin motioned toward Joe and Navarro and whispered, “But they never...” He made a fist and slipped the index finger of his other hand into and out of it a few times.
She scoffed. “That’s all teenagers think about. No. Not all friction has to do with sex. Navi doesn’t even care that Joe and I slept together.”
Surprise made Devin stupid. “You had sex with Joe?” Loud. Very loud.
Joe tossed his head back and sighed.
“Oh, God, we should have company more often.” Sadie laid her head on Joe’s shoulder and cackled. “You banged my sister? That is so gross.”
“That” — Navarro speared Devin with those sharp eyes — “is not a dinner table story. Jesus, Muscles.”
Devin shrunk in on himself. He really, really, really wanted Navarro to like him.
Joe didn’t even glance Devin’s way. “How would people from here get to Austin besides on foot?”
Navarro popped a piece of bread into his mouth. “A couple ways. Bicycles. Not too good for transporting prisoners, though. But across the border, they have these solar cars, kind of like the old SDVs. Remember them?”
“We had three solar cars,” Peter said. He leaned across the table and spoke mainly to Sadie. “My dad was going to let me have one of my own on my birthday.”
“Where are you from, kid?” Navarro frowned and tilted his head toward Devin. “You, too, Muscles. How’d you end up part of the freak show with this ass?” He pointed a thumb at Joe.
Joe chuckled softly and took his first full bite of food.
“I’m from Austin,” Devin said. He put his arm on the back of Flix’s seat and twisted so he could see Navarro better. “My folks didn’t leave when all the other white people did. My family died, and I needed some way to live.”
“He’s my partner,” Joe said. His face was tilted toward his plate, but he looked up at Devin, those chocolate eyes big and warm, and Devin’s pulse surged. Oh, yeah, those eyes did it for him. He and Joe shared a smile.
“Explains so much.” Navarro nudged Peter’s shoulder. “What about you?”
Peter’s face had slipped into a careful mask. He didn’t even try to flirt with Sadie. “I’m from Columbus, Ohio. New America. These men, um...”
Silence stretched around the table. Devin thought about jumping in, sparing the kid from having to say it. Peter relived what had happened to him every time he slept. That seemed more than enough.
A thick tear slipped down Peter’s cheek. “My parents, the men...they had guns and...”
Navarro covered Peter’s hand. “It’s okay.”
“He needs to talk about it,” Joe said softly.
Probably none of the others saw it, but because Devin was so enthralled with the way Joe and Navarro related to each other, so interested in every movement of Navarro’s hands, he caught the
