Chapter Eight

Maddox

Last night had been a disaster. After watching the lights from the window for more than an hour, he’d finally crawled into bed with the knowledge that there wasn’t any way he could get to Juno—even to tell her that their meetings might not be the best idea.

The worst part was that he wanted to see her. To ask her questions. To get to know her better. When he woke this morning, he felt twice as guilty as he had the night before. What if she’d actually shown up? What if she’d waited for him?

Maddox hefted himself out of bed and tried to shake the thought. It wasn’t like she’d had to go far, right? Her community was on the water.

But it was the risk she was taking, too. She was in danger every time they talked, but she did it anyway.

He scrubbed his hands over his face. God, this was why he should never have crossed the border in the first place. What made him think that he could change the world he lived in?

He wasn’t sure, but he still wanted to see Juno. And more than that, he wanted to apologize for not going last night.

Maddox hopped off the bed and snagged his shoes from the floor. He tied the laces and wandered outside. The day was already warm, rays of sun stretching down between the buildings to hit him on the back of the neck.

A bucket of water sat right outside the door, and he splashed some on his face to wake himself up, to give him clarity.

He wasn’t quite sure how he was going to find Juno in the daytime without walking straight into her territory and asking for her by name, but he’d figure it out. Waiting until tonight would take forever.

With his satchel over his shoulder, Maddox set off for the light post by the water. He’d start there and then sweep the entire border, back and forth if he had to, until he found her.

The smell of salt reached his nose the closer to the water he got. He walked slowly until he spotted a few men from her community at the edge of the road watching him. What were they doing out there? Especially during the daytime?

And it wasn’t just one or two. It was a handful, maybe more, all spread out along the road as far as he could see.

His heartrate picked up. Something had happened. That was his first thought. Something had happened or else they wouldn’t be out there.

He turned back to his community, trying to stay calm. What if something had happened to Juno? What if she’d tried to come over here and they’d caught her?

He had to see—had to make sure nothing had happened.

In the dining hall, he found his mom sitting at a table, a smile on her face. Theo was laughing with James at the other end. He went for his brother first. If anything had happened, Theo would be the first to know.

“Hey.” Theo nudged a chair out for him. “Thought you’d just sleep the day away?”

He sat, trying to keep calm. His mom looked over from the other end of the table with her same smile, the one that used to comfort him.

“I was tired. You were out late last night,” Maddox grumbled in return.

Theo shrugged. “Patrolling. Gotta make sure we stay safe.”

“Seems like there are a lot of them out there this morning.”

James nodded. “We saw ’em. They’ve been out there for hours.”

Why? The word was on his tongue when his mom walked over. She joined their small group.

“Theo let me know there are more than usual,” she said in a soothing voice. “No worries. As long as they stay on their side, we’ll be fine.”

“They’d better stay over there,” Theo growled. “Or else.”

Alice set a hand on his arm, always trying to keep the situation calm. “They have no reason to come over here.”

Maddox eyed Theo’s face, surprised by the sheer hatred he saw there. At that moment, he almost felt positive it had been his brother sneaking around last night. But what for?

Probably just hoping to catch someone so he’d have an excuse to be this angry.

“Still,” James said. “They’d better keep their distance.”

“Why are there so many so close?” Maddox asked.

Theo lifted his head to lock eyes with him. “Who knows with those cowards. But they’d better stay put.”

Alice nudged his arm. “Come on. It’s cooler today. Maybe we could get some extra work done in the garden.”

Maddox stood with a plan already in mind. One that didn’t involve anything in the garden. “I saw some extra pieces of wood halfway to the bridge. Figured I’d grab what I could in case we needed it.”

Alice nodded while Theo just stared at him. “Sounds good.” She tried a smile again, but he could read the worry on her face. “Just be careful.”

He nodded and left the room. More than once, he glanced behind him to see if Theo or James was following him. He doubted Theo believed his story, but what reason did he have to lie? Besides, Theo was so focused on defending their community from the other side, he had no time to follow Maddox.

He still hated it, but there wasn’t much he could do at this point. His mom would worry whether there were people at the border or not because it was in her nature. Because she was the leader, and she felt responsible for everyone.

He headed in the direction of the bridge. He just needed to make sure Juno was okay, and since she liked being away from her settlement, by the bridge was probably the best place to find her.

He’d check on her, see what happened. Make sure she was okay and find out what had happened on her side of the road. And then he’d apologize.

When he was far enough away from his community, he stepped onto the paved road so he could walk faster. He silently cursed himself for not being smarter and bringing water. But he worried that the longer he stayed back home, the more suspicious people would get.

Whether that was rational or not, the weight of lying was starting to hit him.

He’d only gone another twenty steps when he spotted a small figure on the other side of the road. It got closer and closer until he could see her hair, her short but purposeful stride. Something inside of him came alive at the sight of her, and the guilt kicked in ten-fold.

Juno looked up and then froze when she saw him. She glanced around as if searching for someone else, or maybe to make sure they weren’t seen.

He gestured to the nearest building and then ducked around the corner to wait for her.

After a moment, she appeared, lips pressed together tightly. Her hand snuck toward her belt where she kept her knife.

Damn. She wasn’t happy.

He gave a small smile and tucked his hands in his pockets. “Hey.”

She stalked straight toward him, her boots crunching on the gravel.

“You’re about three inches from getting stabbed,” she said, voice hard.

“Excuse me?” He watched her fingers twitch at her belt, and then his gaze traveled to her eyes again. By the fire he saw there, he almost believed she really would stab him.

“How dare you come out here acting like everything is just fine after what happened last night.”

“What happened?” Oh. That. He felt his cheeks burn in shame. “I know I said I’d be there but—”

“Not that. The nets.”

He blinked and wiped his forehead as a drop of sweat started to slide down. “Your nets? What do you mean?”

“Come on—”

“No, Juno.” Maddox took a step toward her, forgetting about her threat. “Tell me. What happened?”

“You really don’t know?” The way she looked up at him, a flicker of hope in her eyes, made him want to reach out, to touch her cheek and assure her he had no clue what was wrong.

“Tell me.”

“Someone from your side of the road came across last night,” she said quietly. She bit her lip before meeting his gaze again. “They destroyed all our fishing nets.”

He cursed silently under his breath. “Juno.” He reached out and touched her arm softly. “I’m so sorry. I—I…” He lowered his hand. “I thought I saw someone walking around on the beach last night.”

“You did?”

He nodded and swallowed hard. “But I had no idea who it was or what they were doing. All of your nets?”

“All of them,” she whispered.

Damn it. No wonder so many of her people were stationed at the border.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again, mind whirling with frustration and helplessness. He wished he could fix this for her. For everyone. But he had no idea what to do. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there last night.”

“You probably would have gotten caught. They would have thought it was you destroying the nets,” she said, voice bitter.

“Do you think it was me?”

She blinked against the sun in her eyes, looking completely vulnerable. Her eyes were the color of sea glass, a green deep enough that he felt like her gaze was drawing him in. Then she shook her head. “No. I don’t.”

Relief washed over him. He didn’t want Juno thinking the worst of him no matter what the rest of his community did.

“I’m tired of my people making this worse,” he said, almost to himself. “If I—we—can figure this out, who stole the fish and who’s been going over the border, maybe it will help. Maybe…”

Maybe things could be different between their communities. Between him and Juno.

“Maybe,” she echoed, but there wasn’t much hope in her voice.

“We’ll keep looking,” he assured her. He suddenly had more of a purpose to find the thief. To find a solution. But mostly, to help Juno in any way he could. “In the meantime—rat traps. I can show you how to make rat traps until we figure out the rest.”

“You still want to do that?” she asked, dropping her chin.

He reached out again and brushed his fingers on her jaw to get her to look up. Her breath caught when their gazes met. His eyes dropped to her lips for a moment before he nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “I do. Do you have some time tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“You know that last lamppost by the water?” he said, pointing back to the beach and the border of their communities.

“Yes,” she said again.

“If either of us can’t make it, leave a note there on the wooden post. Then we’ll know not to wait.”

Or to worry.

She smiled at him, the first real and sincere smile he’d seen from her, and it was aimed right at him.

“Good thinking.”

He smiled back. “Good. I’ll meet you at the bridge tomorrow morning. If either of us can’t make it, we’ll leave a note and try again the next day.”

“Okay, then.” She stepped back and nodded. “Tomorrow morning.”

“See you then.”

He watched her walk away, steps light and quick. He brushed his hair off his forehead and felt another smile taking over.

There was too much crap going on back at his community. He needed this. Yes, it was to help the communities unite. Yes, it was to figure out who was causing trouble between them. But it was also for himself.

Because Maddox was starting to think Juno could be the best thing that had happened to him in a long time.