Page 71 of Rescued

She went back into the bedroom and changed into dry clothes, and then got the phone out and left the bag on the closet floor. Leaving by the back door, she headed for one of the trails up the mountainside. She knew this one looped around through the woods until it hit the trail up to the overlook. No one would look for her there.

And she could call Kimberly. It seemed like it was time for them to make their move, Quentin or no Quentin. At least Kimberly would know she cared.

It seemed like forever before she got to the top, although she was in better shape than she had been when she got here, so the going was easier. Finally she reached the overlook, but she was too angry to appreciate the view.

She pulled the phone out of its case and booted it up.

She was expecting to see nothing, as usual, but this time there was a message from Kimberly, telling her to call.

She checked the date—it was from two days ago.

Breanna cursed herself. Why hadn’t she been paying attention? She called back, but there was no answer, so she left a voice message, this time telling Kimberly she had everything they needed, and couldn’t wait to share margaritas with her.

Then she texted the same thing, and shoved the phone in her pocket without its case. She was going to stay up here until Kimberly called her back.

She sat down on a rock and looked out over the valley spread below her. Now that her anger was draining away, the beauty just filled her with an aching sadness.

Somehow, without realizing it, she’d become attached to this place—its beauty and its rugged wildness.

And the people. Mikey, Boomer, Cisco, Sanchez. Dealer, and Boomer’s brother.

And Switch. Although, of course, he wasn’t staying. Bastard.

How could he just walk away from her, after the emotions she’d felt in him? How could he just pack her off to Seattle?

Because he cares about you, said a little voice inside her head. Because he thinks this is no life for you. He’s trying to get you what you dreamed of.

But really, what she’d dreamed of was him. She had just never known it.

Memories paraded through her mind—Switch holding her hair while she threw up in the field that first night. Singing along to her cowboy music while he built drones. Making her breakfast; teaching her to throw knives; showing her his dancing robot to make her laugh. Admiring her renderings of the community center, believing in her, telling her she was more than just a pretty face. Making love to her with passionate intensity.

Listening to everything she said, like it mattered.

Why didn’t he love her enough to stay with her?

Behind her, she heard a rustling of leaves, and footsteps. She turned around, and Switch was there, at the edge of the woods.

So he’d found her after all.

“Hey,” he said awkwardly, not coming any closer.

“Hey.”

“So, can I come over there and talk to you? Without you smashing my balls flat?”

“Depends. Do I get an apology for you going behind my back and treating me like a UPS parcel about to be mailed?”

He started to say, “That wasn’t what I—” He caught the look on her face and amended it to, “I’m sorry.”

“Okay. You can come over.”

He walked over and stood next to her, looking out at the view. He rubbed his thighs like he did when he was uncomfortable, and said, “I wasn’t going to send you anywhere. But Mikey has relatives on the dragon side of her family who own a big corporation in Seattle. I thought—well, you like cities. So I asked her to talk to them and see if they had any job openings. You’re so good at administration and organization and getting people to do stuff, I thought it might be a good fit, is all. And way better than Wal-Mart. I just didn’t want to say anything and get your hopes up until I knew if it was a possibility.”

That made her feel a little bit better. Less betrayed, anyway. But not less hurt. Because he still wanted her somewhere else. Not with him.

“So how did Sanchez know about it?”

Switch shrugged. “I don’t know. He was in the command center when Gunn came to tell me they had an opening. Maybe he heard us talking.”