Page 99 of Silent Shadows

“There’s a road about three miles southeast,” she says after a second. “Meet us there?”

I glance toward the window.

Morning light filters pale gold through the trees now while fog hangs low between the pines from last night’s storm.

“Yeah,” I say. “That works.”

“Cool,” Jax says. “Also, if Daisy kills you first, Taylor owes me $20.”

I lower the volume on the walkie, and silence floods the cabin again.

Then, very slowly, I look back down at Daisy as she peers up through thick lashes.

Her mouth twitches immediately. “Good morning.”

The words land soft and warm somewhere beneath my ribs.

“Morning,” I say quietly.

Neither of us moves.

That feels important somehow.

Outside, wind brushes softly through the trees while sunlight creeps slowly across the cabin floor.

And for one suspended second, everything feels strangely peaceful.

Then my brain restarts.

“Okay,” I say immediately. “Right. We should probably⁠—”

“Hey, just chill. You’re allowed to have a minute here,” Daisy says sleepily, resting her head back on my leg.

“Am I?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she laughs, then stands to sit next to me. She takes a breath, her shoulder bumping mine. “Thanks for last night, by the way. You’re… a good guy.”

“It was nothing,” I shrug, very aware that I don’t want to be just a good guy with this woman.

She grins. I’m in so much trouble.

The hike out starts easier than yesterday. The storm scrubbed the forest clean overnight. Pine needles glisten with leftover rain while sunlight breaks gold through the trees overhead.

Everything smells sharp, green, and wet.

Daisy walks beside me instead of behind me now.

“You know,” she says after about twenty minutes of comfortable silence, “you’re significantly calmer in the woods.”

“I like it out here.”

“You like being useful.”

The observation catches me off guard enough that I look over.

Daisy keeps walking beside me casually like she didn’t just hit something dead center.

“I think,” she continues, stepping over a fallen branch, “you feel safest when people need you.”