I obviously fall asleep because I wake with a start and jolt to a sitting position, scanning my surroundings only to realize I’m still in the cavern and Adrian is kneeling beside me. “Hey, sweetheart. Nothing’s wrong. We’re okay.”
Sweetheart. The endearment is wildly unexpected and remarkably calming. “What’s happening?” I whisper.
“My alarm happened,” he says. “I set it for sunrise.”
I throw away the blanket and pull my knees to my chest, my pulse leaping anxiously, the harsh need for more sleep gone in a blink. “That’s when Walker will come for us?”
“If they can. We need to be ready.”
My brows lift. “If they can?”
“Walker moves when it’s safe. We don’t know what’s going on outside the cave.”
Of course, he’s right, I think. We don’t even know if it’s still raining. “Then what?” I ask, my mind instantly on the pages of notes I took last night. “What happens when Walker shows up?”
“We get the hell out of these woods.”
“Right. Of course. Good.” I shift to my knees to get up. “I need to pee, brush my teeth, and get my brain connected before I interview Deleon.” I twist away from him, but he catches my elbow before I can stand.
The touch shocks me and if I wasn’t wide awake before, I am now. Our eyes collide, and Lord help me, heat charges up my arm and across my chest. That is until he says, “Deleon is going to have to wait.”
I blink. “Wait? What does that mean?”
“We’re going to New York City.”
“No,” I say, pushing back. “I’m not going to New York. I have a job to do.”
“And so do I.”
I jerk out of his touch as if burned. “And I’m your job.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Isn’t it?” I challenge.
He scrubs a hand through his tousled hair. “What do you want me to say here, Pri?”
“You got me naked last night and then this morning I’m a job.” My voice is pure contempt as I add, “I think you’ve said enough.”
“You are not just a job.” His voice is low, almost vehement.
“Okay,” I concede. “Then we’re friends, Adrian, but that doesn’t mean—”
“Friends?” he demands, a crack to his tone. “Is that what we are?”
“Do you have a better description?”
“Complicated,” he replies. “And catching Deleon doesn’t mean Waters doesn’t keep coming. He’ll just send someone else to kill us. We need to step back and regroup.”
“We need to end this,” I say. “That means I need to get in front of Deleon before he clams up. Now. Not later.”
“No,” he says, the one word flat, simple. To the point.
I laugh without humor. “No? You can’t tell me no.”
“And yet, I am.”
“And I’m telling you no,” I reply. “But thank you for proving your point from last night. You were right. We can’t be personally involved because it’s affected how you think.”
“I’m protecting you.”
“You gave up years of your life trying to take down Waters and every sin he forced on you, every person he hurt, doesn’t matter if we stumble now.”
“Ending up dead is a pretty fucking big stumble, Pri.”
“I get that. I chose to put my life on the line, not like you, but I have, or I wouldn’t be in a damn cave. I cannot, we cannot, back down now.”
“Regrouping is not backing down.”
“I need to interview Deleon sooner than later. And I need your input during that process. We have to be a team. We have to do this.”
He studies me, a muscle in his jaw ticking before he pushes to his feet, his chin lifting, face tilting to the ceiling. I haven’t looked at the ceiling, not really and I don’t want to know what’s up there, because it’s likely a bunch of bugs. Besides, I’m looking at him, just him, waiting on a response.
But it doesn’t come.
He just keeps looking at the ceiling, clearly tormented about what comes next. I decide to give him space. We’re suddenly masters of giving each other space when there’s none to give.
I hurry behind the sheet, use the bathroom, and wash up every way possible. That includes putting on my damp bra, but I’m stuck with the giant sweats. My pants are just too filthy and wet. I put on my bra but leave my mud-caked pants where they are.
A loud crash jolts me. Adrenaline surges and I whip around the curtain as Adrian draws his weapon and points it at the cavern entrance.Chapter ElevenPRI
A light flashes through the cave entrance and repeats three times. Adrian lowers his weapon at the obvious code, glancing over his broad shoulder at me. “That’s our team,” he says. “Stay put.”
This news delivers about ten seconds of comfort followed by a mental push back.
Stay put?
In a cave?
While he goes and gets killed?
I watch Adrian shrink down and squeeze through the hole and nothing about that feels right, especially the part where I wait for trouble. Darting into action, I retrieve my weapon, the heavy steel a cold comfort in my hand as I stand where I am, near the center of the cavern, ticking off seconds. A full minute becomes two and still, there are no signs of Adrian. Another minute passes and I start to pace. Another minute turns into two more, and I’m officially nervous. The cavern begins to close in on me, prickly energy starting to claim control of me. I decide Adrian’s right. The claustrophobia is about the sensation of being trapped. Until now, the cave actually felt safe, a shelter, but now it’s a prison. One I can’t escape easily, not when I don’t know what is going on outside, but what if that wasn’t Walker? Or what if Walker betrayed Adrian? Waters’ influence runs deep. Oh God. He might need my help.