Sage shook Kaydon’s hand, but his eyes didn’t leave hers.
“So, this is the famous woman my man left civilization for,” he said, eyes dancing with humor.
Adria raised an eyebrow. “I suppose so.”
“Not that he was doing fuck all before you,” Sage added with a chuckle.
Adria noticed Eric’s jaw tighten and his hands flexing on the steering wheel. Without taking his eyes off the road he said, “Sage served with me. He’s here to help, not talk.”
A huge grin broke out on Sage’s face. “In all the years I’ve known Whiskey, I can count on one hand how many times he has asked for help. There was no way I was going to miss it.”
“IsWhiskeyEric in this conversation?” Seth asked, amusement in his voice.
“How about everyone stops talking,” Eric bit out.
Silence fell, punctuated only by the rumble of the engine and the soft scrape of gravel against the tires. Adria pressed her lips together, trying to hide her smile—she had never seen Eric this riled.
Minutes stretched before?—
“You can pull in over here,” Sage said.
Eric swung the truck off the highway onto a narrow service road, its edges choked with tumbleweed. If it wasn’t for Sage pointing it out, Adria wouldn’t have noticed it.
A mile or so down the road, Sage pointed again.
They pulled off next to an SUV and a sedan.
“It was all I could get on short notice,” Sage said.
“We’re ditching the truck?” Kaydon asked, and Eric nodded.
When they were out of the vehicle, Adria found Eric and pulled him aside.
“You’re worried?” she asked.
Eric stared over her shoulder down the dusty service road they had just come from.
“It’s a lot more unknown than we are used to,” he said matter-of-factly.
Adria nodded. “You’ve never brought in people from your past before.”
Eric sucked on his cheek. “We’ve never been wanted by the Nine before. I needed someone that couldn’t be bought.”
Trust.
Eric trusted this guy. It wasn’t something people like them gave very often. Adria knew if Eric trusted Sage, that she could trust him too.
“Sage will stay in town. He will be our outside eyes and ears. And if we need assistance…” Eric trailed off, but Adria knew what he wanted to say.
If X screws us over, we have a backup.
She took a deep breath. X wasn’t going to screw them over.
Her mind wanted to believe it, but her body felt unsure. The closer they got to X’s compound, the more the nagging in her gut intensified.
And it wasn’t just her life on the line anymore.
CHAPTER 42
