JC Coldwell's Arc

Chapter 9 of 9

Hal held JC's hand across the card table. The coins sat between them, forgotten. But the room was too loud for what came next. Other players leaned in. The smoke pressed close. JC felt strangers' thoughts brushing his walls, hungry and sharp. "Not here," he said. He pulled Hal up by the hand and led him out. They walked until the card house fell behind them. A rough shelter stood alone, walls of scrap wood lashed with rope, a tin roof patched with whatever hands could find. JC pushed the crooked door open. Inside it was dim and quiet. He sat on an overturned crate. Hal sat on another, knees almost touching JC's. "Tell me the real reasons," JC said. "Not the short version. All of it." Hal rubbed his thumb over his knuckles. "You'll hate it." "Try me." Hal breathed in. "Last night I bet the ring. The one I bought for you. I wasn't going to give it yet. I got scared you'd say no, so I sat down at a table instead of asking you." His voice shook. "I told myself if I won big, I'd feel brave enough. I lost it in one hand." JC's chest went tight. The old instinct rose, the pull to stand up and leave, to shut the door in his own head. He gripped the crate and stayed. "Why gamble at all?" JC asked. "You knew what it did to us last time." "Because betting is the only time I don't feel it," Hal said. "The scared part. The part that swears everyone leaves. When the cards are down, my head's quiet. Then it's over, and I'm alone with all of it again." He looked up. "I didn't want you to see that. It's ugly." JC waited for himself to flinch. He watched Hal's wet eyes and his shaking hands. He let the words land. They hurt. He did not look away. "That's the truth?" JC asked. "That's all of it," Hal said. "No more locked rooms." JC reached out and lowered his walls, only toward Hal. The quiet came, that one soft mind he could always trust. He heard no hidden barrier. Just fear, and love under it. "I heard you," JC said. "Every word. I'm still here." Hal let out a breath that broke halfway. "You didn't run." "No." JC held his hand tighter. "But the ring's gone. Someone at that table has it now." Hal wiped his face. "Yeah. It is." JC stood. For the first time, hearing the worst had not driven him back. It had pulled him closer. He pulled Hal to his feet. "Then we get it back," JC said. "Together. You don't sit down at that table alone again." Hal nodded. They stepped out of the shelter into the dark, hands still linked, one ring lost somewhere behind them and a stranger holding it.