Something crawlsover my back and spooks me. My body jerks, and I sit straight up. Pain instantly shoots through my entire body, making every muscle and joint scream out in agony.
“Ow,” I murmur to myself as I look around, remembering where I am and what the events of last night led to.
Holy shit, that’s right, we almost fucking died.
I look down beside me, where I was cuddled up next to Roman, only to find no one there.
You’ve got to be kidding me. He wouldn’t just leave me out here like this, would he? Did he take my fucking shirt too? After I saved his ass? My face heats, and all of a sudden I’m not cold anymore.
That piece of shit.
I force myself to my feet and look toward the rocks and the forest. The sun is up but not yet peeking over the treetops. My hair is still wet, and there’s no sign of Roman.
“You dick.” I bury my teeth into my lower lip. That’s what I get for helping him instead of helping myself.
Does he want me to leave and is giving me my chance to escape? Is that why he left me here? No, because he took the vestand my tank top. No one would traverse the mountains in just a bra. So he ditched me?
For some reason that hurts a bit, even if it’s what I wanted. I guess it just feels a little like being abandoned. That’s so dumb though, because I knew he was a jerk. There shouldn’t have been any expectation, and yet I thought he might’ve actually appreciated me.
Stupid asshole.
There’s no sense in doing anything until the sun comes back out, so I decide to wait. I pull my knees up close to my chest and glare at the mist collecting above the lake. Once it warms up more, I’ll try to find the fire trail again.
I feel a bit more sensible today. Even though I’m exhausted, it dawns on me that I might be doing more harm than good if I try to hitchhike without a phone and no shirt… Yeah that sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Fuck.
Every time I shut my eyes all I hear are the gunshots. But instead of the fear I experienced last night, all I feel is the horror from the night Callum attacked me. The cold in my bones isn’t far off from the way it felt to be buried in the earth, left for dead.
I set my forehead against my arm and let a few tears fall.
I’ll never forget how Callum looked at me like I was less than a person, how he pushed me into the hole he’d dug while I had lain lifeless a handful of feet away. We never come back the same, do we? Not after surviving something as heinous as that.
The lull of the waves hitting the shore stirs me back from my memories. I glance up, and my breath catches in my lungs.
Roman’s expressionless, gorgeous face has never been such a welcome sight. He’s with John, who’s driving the same motorboat from yesterday.
I remain where I am, huddled with my arms around my legs and shivering.He didn’t abandon me.
John beaches the boat and runs to my side. He comes down hard and kicks sand up. “Jesus, are you okay, Briar?” His hands are warm on my bare arms as he checks my body. I shut my eyes with the peaceful knowledge that I won’t have to swim again or trek through the forest ?half naked. “Fuck. I knew I shouldn’t have left last night,” he says, flexing his jaw and giving me worried eyes.
I lean into him as he lifts me up and cradles me in his arms. He carries me to the boat. “I’m glad you weren’t here. You could’ve died—it’s a miracle that we didn’t. We were ambushed out of nowhere.” I cough a few times before shivering again.
John looks away with guilt before wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. “I would’ve been able to help.” He seems so sure. My eyes dip down to his waist, and I recall the handgun he was carrying yesterday and how paranoid they all were.
“Did you guys know they were out there looking for us?” My anger gets lost in my raspy voice. I just sound so tired—or on my death bed, more accurately.
John furrows his brow and helps move me to the rear of the boat without saying another word. That doesn’t exactly make me feel any better. Which means they must’ve known.Of course, why am I not surprised?
I almost forget that Roman is sitting here on the boat as well. His hair is wet and he has a thick grayish-green blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His face is covered in scratches from the chase last night, like mine probably is.
I’m so relieved that he’s okay.
“I’m almost sorry that you pulled through. I told John I thought we’d be picking up a corpse,” Roman says smugly.
Any confused feelings I had about him get thrown into the wind, and my cheeks flare with heat. “You left me,” I snap at him. “After I saved your worthless fucking life.”
Roman gets a cruel grin—it’s wider than his usual ones—and glares at me. “You saving anyone’s life is laughable. Don’t go giving yourself little awards, Briar.”
