My fingertips brush the raised skin, light as air, barely making contact.
He goes completely still like he's stopped breathing, like my touch has frozen him in place.
I trace the line of it slowly, feeling the way it cuts across muscle and tendon, feeling the damage that never quite healed right underneath.
"You saved my life that night."
"I did my job."
"Is that what you tell yourself?"
He doesn't answer, just pulls his arm away and stands abruptly, putting distance between us.
"We should go inside."
"Enzo—"
"It's getting dark and looks like a storm is coming fast."
He walks into the cabin and I follow because I don't know what else to do, the door closing behind us with a soft click.
He goes straight to the kitchen and washes his hands in the sink, and I watch the water run pink then clear as the blood from his split knuckles and the dead man's face swirls down the drain.
"I need to shower."
He nods without looking at me.
I go upstairs and close the bathroom door, turning on the water as hot as I can stand it.
I step under the spray and let it wash over me, trying to wash away the image of that man's face, the sound of those gunshots still ringing in my ears, the smell of blood and dirt and death.
But it doesn't work. None of it works.
I close my eyes and tip my head back, focusing on the water and the heat and anything except the last hour of my life.
Then the lights go out.
CHAPTER NINE
Everything goes black.
The water goes cold within seconds, shocking against my skin.
I can't see anything, can't see my hand in front of my face, just darkness pressing in from all sides like I'm being buried alive.
My chest tightens and my breath comes faster, shorter, no matter how hard I try to control it.
"E-Enzo?"
My voice comes out high and wrong, barely recognizable as mine.
"I'm here."
His voice. Right outside the door where he must have been standing guard without me knowing.
"The lights?—"
"Power outage. Storm rolled in faster than expected. You're safe."
