“Didn’t invite you the first time.”
Anger flashes in her face.
“And I don’t invite twice.”
Worry forms a line between her eyebrows. “What is this? Some kind of house rules thing?”
I rub a hand over my face, insides in tight knots. God, I wish she’d just go away.
But no Jeep. No luck.
I stand there for a long moment. Just breathing.
Just thinking.
Dammit.
I pull the bar and open the door. She’s closer now than I expected, not moving back or betraying she’s startled. She is, though. I see it in the swirl of her eyes.
“Back inside. Won’t say it again.”
Her eyes go hard, hollow.Hiseyes. God help me. I don’t know how to do this.
“Got it.” She slides past, too close. Close enough that my body notices hers before my brain can shut it down.
I haven’t allowed anyone this close in a very long time. And I shouldn’t let this happen.
But somewhere deep down, I think I knew it was inevitable from the moment Phoenix looked me in the eye and told me to leave him behind.
And I already know that’s not what she came to hear.
Chapter
Six
SLOANE
Come prepared.
Rule one of being an investigative journalist.
But how do you prepare for rivers of mud swallowing entire vehicles?
I rub my hand over my face, trying not to panic. I have to remain calm.
But the cabin feels smaller by the minute. I’ve never been claustrophobic before. Now my skin crawls every time I look at the walls.
Pull it together, Sloane. Come on. You’ve been through worse.
I have. Bombings. Ambushes. One kidnapping. There was always a way out. I just had to stay open to it.
It’s the same with this.
“You worried yet?” he grumbles from across the room, where he heats water over a camping cook stove.
“Should I be?”
He shakes his head. “Might take a bit to get a bird up here. Only way now the road’s washed out.”
