“What?”
“The vial,” she cries. “Did you even ask her if—”
“Oh,” I say.Shit.The vial. Shit.
“You’re unbelievable!” Nazeera cries.
“I mean, no,” I say quickly.Shit.“No, she didn’t take it.”
More than one person needs to punch me in the face. I need people to line up. Take turns.
Fuck.
“You sure?” Nazeera narrows her eyes at me. She’s sorting through some of the gear, and she tucks a couple of things in her pocket before glancing at Rosabelle. “Because the accusations are wild right now.”
“Yes, I’m sure.” My brain is becoming slowly operational, my instincts reviving—and with it, my urgency. “And I need you to get her back to the house so I can get out of here.”
Nazeera takes her time checking the magazine on a rifle. “Look,” she says casually, “I really don’t understand why I’m the one who has to stay behind. I’m a much betterasset than you are at the moment.”
My temper is back. “Are you joking?”
“Nope, dead serious,” she says, glancing meaningfully between me and Rosabelle. “You should see yourself right now. Your head isn’t even fully attached to your body. You should’ve seen yourself when I walked in here. You weren’t living on this planet. And while I wouldn’t normally advocate for leaving the two of you alone together, you’re an idiot right now. You’d be nothing but a problem in the field. Given the risks, I think you should stay behind. Besides, you’ve been nothing but a liability lately—”
“I won’t be a liability if I know she’s back at the house!”
“I’m not going back to the house.”
Nazeera and I both turn at the sound of Rosabelle’s voice. It’s the first time she’s spoken since she single-handedly ruined my life.
She kissed mychest.
She steps into a shaft of light, and she looks clear-eyed and angry. Gorgeous. Unreal. I want to be alone with her again. Now. Right now. I want to cross the room and get her, then get the hell out of here. I want—
“I want to know what’s going on,” Rosabelle says. “I need to know what’s happening.”
Mentally, I punch myself in the face.
“Look, I’d love to tell you what’s going on,” Nazeera says to her, “but you haven’t earned that right yet. You’re going back to the house one way or another, and you’re going to stay there.”
“You’re going to have to make me,” Rosabelle says softly.
“Fine,” says Nazeera. “Do you want to choose where I shoot you? Or should it be a surprise?”
I bristle, alarms going off in my head as I stare between them.
“Look, Rosabelle,” I say, trying to sound normal, “we can’t let you loose in the middle of a manhunt across the city when you’re already the number one suspect. You’d be putting a target on your back—”
“A manhunt?” she says, recoiling.
“Nice job, genius,” says Nazeera.
“Shit.”Fuck.My brain is shit.
“What did I say?” Nazeera says. “Liability.”
“I’m still waiting for someone to answer my question,” says Rosabelle. “Is the vial missing or not?”
I realize then that Rosabelle has moved. She’s now standing perilously close to the exit.
