Titus stretched out on his bed, naked and still wet from his shower. Exhaustion rolled through him, yet sleep seemed to be eluding him.
He wished he could find it within him to feel some type of remorse for the torture and killing of Kermit, but he didn’t. He remembered what the Colonists had been capable of before he had been sent away from his beloved home. He’d watched his mother and father slaughtered before his eyes on the city streets. How he’d escaped himself, he didn’t know, but it had to have been sheer luck. As if a force had protected him because the Colonists had moved past him as he lay on the ground watching his family die before his eyes.
There had been nothing he could have done except return to the military, numbly realizing that his world as he knew it had ended and nothing would ever be the same again.
He’d never had time to mourn his loss as he’d left the next day and soon found himself under Micah’s command.
He and Simon had become fast friends, bonding to help each other survive Micah’s wrath. The sexual tension between them had grown and morphed until one night, it couldn’t be denied. How he missed Simon’s hard body against his and the way his strong arms embraced him, making it seem as if all would be right in the world, at least for a little bit.
He sighed, his thoughts returning again to the previous night. Never had he doubted that they did the right thing, but the female, Piggy, bothered him. She’d watched them try to get the information they needed out of Kermit, who’d refused. Never did she flinch. Her eyes had widened with glee when the final bullet had been delivered. He’d assumed fear would take over at some point and she would want to talk to save her life. She’d called their bluff and remained quiet, not offering up anything they hadn’t already known. Time had not been their friend, and they’d left her for the police. At least, they’d accomplished getting two Colonist offspring off the streets, so the night hadn’t been a total failure.
Shutting his eyes, he considered Macy. There had been something different in the way she’d looked at him, yet, he couldn’t place exactly what it had been.
Back in bed with nothing to occupy his mind, the pain returned full-force. He moaned as it twisted his heart and made his bones ache, as if they were on the verge of snapping in half. As sleep finally visited, he drifted off with thoughts of Simon, and a lone tear trickled down his cheek.
What he wouldn’t give for one last kiss.