Those eyes—warm and golden in the afternoon light. That little furrow between her brows when she concentrated. The way she bit her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth. The scatter of freckles across her nose that she’d always tried to cover with makeup.
Mia Thornton. After all this time, Mia fucking Thornton.
My chest constricted like someone had wrapped steel cables around my ribs and started cranking them tight. Every musclelocked rigid, fight-or-flight instincts screaming contradictory orders.
Run to her. Run from her. Protect her. Get her the hell out before?—
She looked up, and our eyes met.
The color drained from her face. Her lips parted, my real name starting to form?—
I moved fast, hand coming up sharply for silence. Three strides and I had her backed deeper into the stall, using my body to block anyone’s view from the main barn. She hit the wall with a soft gasp, camera clutched to her chest like armor.
“You can’t be here.” The words came out low, urgent, completely different from the lazy drawl of the Coop these guys knew. To her, I was Ryan, and hearing my regular voice after six weeks felt like breaking character in a performance where forgetting your lines meant death.
“Ryan? What are you?—”
“Don’t say that name. Please.” I glanced back toward the main barn. Diesel’s cigarette smoke drifted up toward the rafters. Tommy’s footsteps echoed from the loft above, heavy and careless. Snake had gone quiet—which meant he was listening. But then again, Snake was always fucking listening. “They can’t know that name.”
Confusion flooded her features, searching my face for answers I couldn’t give. “What’s going on? Why are you with those men?”
“There’s no time. You have to get out. Now.” Her vanilla scent filled my lungs, and I saw the pulse jumping wild in her throat. That spot I used to kiss first, every time.
Christ.Focus.
“I’m working.” That stubborn chin tilt that meant she was digging in. God, I had loved it so much once. Now it wasgoing to get her killed. “The real estate company hired me to photograph?—”
“I don’t care if God himself hired you.” Desperation bled into my voice. She needed to understand. Needed to be afraid enough to run. “I am with people who will kill you just for being here. For seeing their faces. Because it’s Thursday and they’re bored.”
Diesel’s laugh rang out, ugly and harsh. Mia flinched. Good. Be afraid. Be smart. Be alive.
“What are you doing with these people?”
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is you leaving. Back door, where you came in.” I nodded toward the corner where that smaller door waited, barely visible. “Your car?”
“Quarter mile down the access road.” Her voice had gone small, scared. Good.
“Go. Run. Don’t look back. Don’t stop until you’re three towns over.”
She reached for my hand, and the familiar warmth of her fingers sent electricity shooting up my arm, straight to a heart I’d thought I’d trained to stop feeling. “Ryan, I?—”
“Don’t.” The word came out harsher than intended, and she flinched. “Just go. Please, Mia. If you ever cared about me at all, go.”
Something in my voice convinced her—maybe the desperation, maybe the barely controlled fear. She nodded, already backing away, moving like a ghost toward that rear door.
I turned, forced myself to walk loudly toward the other section of stalls, scuffing my boots against the floor. Making noise. Being Coop, not Ryan.
“Nothing back here but rat shit and broken boards,” I called out, pitching my voice to carry. “If we store anything here, we’ll need new plywood. Maybe some poison bait stations.”
Her footsteps whispered across the old hay. Almost there. Ten more feet to the door. Twenty seconds to the trees. Two minutes to her car?—
“Hey! Someone’s back there!”
Fuck.
Diesel’s voice cracked like a whip from outside. Through the gap in the stalls, I saw him coming around the barn’s exterior—must have stepped out for a piss or to check the perimeter. He had Mia by the wrist, dragging her back through the door she’d almost escaped out of. She struggled against his grip, feet sliding in the dirt as he hauled her inside like a rag doll.
“Look what I found sneaking around outside.” Diesel shoved her forward into the open space of the barn. She stumbled, caught herself, camera still clutched against her chest with her free hand. “Little mouse made it about ten feet before I spotted her.”
