She reached for my hand.“I know, sir.It was brave of him to stay behind and let us run.”
“Or stupid.”The laughter that left my lips was hollow.“Typical Baron, though.He always has been a heroic son of a bitch.”
“Maybe he just can’t find us,” she offered, swallowing as though she already thought it was a lie.
“He’d find us.”There was certainty in my voice.Trailing a target was practically the first lesson they taught us in training.“He’d follow the trail we left.”
Looking into her beleaguered expression, I sensed we both knew the answer to my unspoken riddle.Baron could be dead, taken out by another of Hawkins’ gun-wielding morons, but there was no way for us to know for sure.
“Whatever happens, we stay together.”Then and there, I made her the vow.“No more running away and no more being separated.”
She nodded, raising her wet sock to the hot fan as if resolved to my conclusion.“Sounds good, sir.”
“I’m glad we agree.”I meant it.There was enormous solace in knowing we were together.I just hoped to God that Baron hadn’t had to make the ultimate sacrifice to facilitate the reunion.“We’ll give Baron five more minutes.”
Chapter Ten
Silent Knowledge
Erin
Glancing out at the frozen countryside, I gripped the edge of my seat as the trees and bushes rushed past my eyeline.The road ahead in my peripheral vision was narrow and dark, perfectly symbolizing the unraveling energy in the vehicle.Eli had made the judgment to leave our hiding place a little over ten minutes before, the consequences of that choice looming over us like an overpowering tsunami as the tension amplified.
First, there were my nerves about our escape.Hawkins seemed to have an endless supply of men prepared to kill for him, and the last thing we needed was to bump into more of them during our departure, but by some miracle, there’d been no more assailants as we left.
That reality hadn’t eased the tangle of trepidation in me, though.The uncertain sense that anything could still go wrong at any moment.Perhaps Eli would drive over an ice patch, sending the car swerving into a tree, or maybe more shooters were waiting up ahead, laughing at the idea that we thought we were safe as they shot us off the road.
Worse than all of that anxiety, though, was the sense of loss blooming between us about Paul.The man Eli had credited for masterminding his escape had failed to show up, creating the worst kind of quandary for the man I was falling for.Either we continued to wait for him, every passing minute increasing the odds that we were found, or we left without him, acknowledging that, one way or the other, we’d abandoned Baron to a dreadful fate.
Eyeing the trees as they flitted past the window, I hoped he was already dead.I knew that sounded awful, but based on what little I knew about Hawkins’ guys, nothing good would come from being left there alive.
Poor Paul.
Dread furled inside me as I considered his plight.I didn’t know the man, but I could see how much he meant to Eli.Even in the limited amount of time the three of us had shared, the connection between Paul and Eli had been obvious.Eli had lit up around him in a way I’d never known before, and I noted that, when the chips had been down, he was the one Eli had reached out to.
Yet, for all of that, Eli had driven away.He’d given Paul the five minutes he’d promised, checking the time on the car’s dashboard, and then, even though it obviously pained him as much as the earlier bullet had done, he’d reversed the car from the lot.
He left Paul.
Even though the man meant a lot to him, Eli had been prepared to leave him behind to ensure we got to safety.
What does that mean?
My hand rose to my temple to massage the tension in my head.It meant Eli had chosen me over Paul.However many years they’d known one another, he’d selected our passion over their shared history.
Forcing out the air from my lips, I turned to appraise his handsome profile.His long eyelashes blinked over high cheekbones, reminding me just how attractive my captor-cum-hero was.His looks shouldn’t have mattered—theydidn’tmatter—but somehow, the look of him only ratcheted the knotting energy inside me.His aesthetics and our complicated chemistry had instigated the entire sordid extravaganza.It was my desire for him that had led me down the dangerous path to that moment.
Eli, for his part, was quiet, and he didn’t turn my way as I stared at him.He hadn’t said a word since we’d fled Hawkins’ terrain, and while I understood his silent contemplation, his silence worried me.He was always so calm and in control that the new, hushed tension seemed foreboding.
“How’s your pain, sir?”
I didn’t know what else to say.I’d watched him get shot, and even though he’d told me the hurt was manageable, I found that difficult to believe.It was true I’d never been shot before—a fact I was absurdly grateful for, especially in light of recent events—but I couldn’t imagine the outcome was anything other than agonizing and intolerable.
“I’m okay.”
I flinched at his clipped tone, hoping it wasn’t a reflection of his current discomfort.I’d offered to drive, but inevitably, Eli had refused my proposal.“I’m glad.”
Pulling in another long breath, I considered how to broach the unspoken elephant in the interior of the car.I had to say something about Paul.Someonehad to say something.
