You’re at home. I guess I should be grateful for that.She’d turn, miffed, flipping her hair before stomping off to grab her purse.Too bad you’re not spending any time with me.
Look, I’m almost done.
Right. Uh-huh.She’d slam the door, get in her car, drive off someplace. Even now, he didn’t know where she used to go when she was pissed.
“How far is it to Schink’s Station?” Leo’s voice startled him and his foot skidded off to the side before he righted himself.
“Huh?” His brain was vague and tired of battling memories he’d worked hard to eradicate. He focused on the landscape.
“How far?”
He grimaced at the mountains ahead. “’bout seventy miles, maybe eighty, as the crow flies.”
“Okay.” Seemingly unfazed, Leo took a long pull at her water, swallowing several times before she came up to breathe. His attention snagged on the beads clinging to her lips. It was a relief when she wiped them away. “Howlong, then, since I’m guessing you’ve not got a jet pack hidden out here someplace.” She threw him a side-eye. “Even if you are Mr. Prepared to within an inch of his life.”
“Six days, if we’re lucky and the weather holds. Maybe seven.”
“Too bad you don’t have a phone we can use. We could call my team in. Be out of here in no time.”
“I don’t.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “How long’s it take you on your own?”
“From here?” He shrugged. “Four.”
“Then we’ll do it in four.”
“Ground’s tricky right now. Never hiked it this close to breakup. Snowmelt’s a mess…” He eyed the earth warily, unhappy with the sign they left behind with every step, then allowed himself another quick glance at Leo. She looked like crap. No, that was a lie. She looked freaking magnificent. Just tired; sunken in or something, like already she’d lost muscle mass from this trek. “We’rea mess.”
“Four to six days, then. A lot can happen in six days.”
Another a series of sensory images blasted through him—experiences, feelings, flashes of emotion.
Six days.
It had taken less than six days for them to destroy his life.
Less than six days for his fiancée to leave him.
Six days to become America’s most wanted.
Six days for them to kill him off.
Or so they thought.
“Hey. You okay?” He shivered when she touched him, his mind switching to a different kind of countdown, in which six days wasn’t nearly enough time. Only six more days with Leo, whose presence had completely upended his existence. He’d found inner calm before she’d arrived. He’d been fine alone. And here she’d come and made it not enough. Madehimnot enough.
“Come on.” He trudged on, used a young alder to pull himself up a low rise, turned to offer his hand, but she was already beside him, already pushing forward, leaving him with nothing but a quick flash of her eyes, crinkled at the corners. His gaze dropped to take in the sway of her ass.
Only six days before Leo left and he went back to being alone.
He stumbled, righted himself. Stumbled again. “Dammit!”
“What? What is it?” She was so much smaller than him, but didn’t hesitate to come in close, invading his space with her concerned eyes. “Elias, what’s…” She looked him up and down, stepped back, and made an angry noise. “You’re bleeding again. Why didn’t you say something?”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine, dummy.”
