“Don’t care,” I mumbled as I blindly brought the bottle to my lips and tilted it up. Water went everywhere, all over my face and my chest. I didn’t care. I greedily swallowed down the mouthful I eventually got.
“You’re a mess,” the deep voice said.
For some reason, it made me chuckle.
“Ford,” I croaked.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he said, softly.
He sounded wrecked. Like he’d been put through the worst and was still dealing with it.
A second later, I felt the pressure of his hand on my thigh.
My strength was slowly returning. I wanted to look at him, but I was scared to open my eyes. What if we’d been captured? What if we were currently in a situation we couldn’t get out of? What if it was worse than I could even imagine?
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Currently, we’re in a stolen SUV driving to Reed’s safe house in Tennessee. We’re a little over halfway there. You were out for six hours.”
“Are we safe?” I asked, voice raw.
“As safe as can be,” he said, a slight tremble in his voice that could have been fear or an attempt at hiding laughter. I wasn’t sure. “I was scared.”
“Why?” I rolled my head in the direction of his voice and cracked an eye open. “I saw you. You’re a total badass.”
I gave him a smirk that was surprisingly easy to do. Though, it did hurt myentireface.
“Might be too soon to say this, but it was kinda hot,” I added, only to receive a snort in return.
“You were passed out for most of it,” he said, cutting his eyes in my direction. “And do you even remember what you did see?”
“No,” I admitted, wrinkling my nose and shrugging. “Not exactly. But in my mind, you were like one of those extremely hot dudes in an action movie. Nothin’ was gonna touch you.”
“I wish I could say the same was true for you.”
“Yeah, about that…” I closed my eye again. “Can we pretend that I didn’t lose and go down like a chump? When we tell people the story, we can just leave that part out and say that I took down all of them.”
“Whatever you want, Austin.”
I smiled at the hint of laughter in his tone.
Something flickered in my mind.
“Honey,” I said, then swallowed hard.
“What?”
“You called me honey,” I clarified. I’d been out of it, but I hadn’t missed that part. I’d hold on to that one for a long time to come. Now as I thought about it, something inside my stomach fluttered.
“I think you’re confused.”
“I’m not. You,” I lifted my finger and blindly poked it in his direction, “called me honey. Which could only mean one thing.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” He sounded amused, which was a lot better than the almost broken tone he’d had a moment ago. I felt like I could breathe hearing it, like maybe we’d be okay.
“You like me,” I sing-songed, and the sound made me cringe.
“I think we’ve already established that I like you,” he shot back, causing my lips to curl up in a smile.
