That very idea sets me in motion.
With my gun in hand, I charge toward the cavern exit, but just as I’m on my hands and knees, about to crawl out of it, Adrian is crawling inside. And there we are, on hands and knees, facing each other, close, too close for all that is between us. The air crackles, the awareness we share thick like honey that is somehow sticky and bittersweet.
He motions me back inside the cave and I quickly scoot backward and rest on my haunches, nervous all over again. “What’s happening?” I ask again, this time urgently.
“Adam and Savage are here,” he says, fully entering the cave and before I can steel myself for the impact, he’s catching my arm and helping me to my feet. Once again, heat dashes up my arm, across my chest, and the air thickens between us.
As if he realizes what he’s done, his hand falls away, but he’s still close, so very close, staring down at me. “Grab anything you need. We need to leave.”
There’s a shuffling behind us and Adrian shifts to stand beside me as Savage hauls his huge body into the small space. “Hello campers,” he says, straightening, running big hands over his fatigues. “Are the s’mores toasty and ready for me yet?”
Adam crawls on in as well and in unison, Adrian and I take a step back, offering them space where there isn’t much to give. All three men are big, the sheer size of them shrinking the cavern, but still, I don’t feel freaked out, or claustrophobic. This isn’t triggering me. The fact that they are both wearing camouflage, ready to blend in and fight, isn’t either, but it likely should.
“You look like shit,” Savage says, giving me a once over.
“Thank you, Savage,” I say dryly, but I’m not offended. I have claimed to value honesty and I do.
Adam elbows Savage and tries to smooth things over. “What he means, Pri—”
“Is what he said,” I supply. “I do look like shit, but I’m alive. Thanks to Adrian,” I say, glancing up at him. “Thank you.”
He studies me a few beats and says, “But?”
“I have to interview Deleon,” I say, glancing between Savage and Adam. “If he’s alive?”
“Of course, he’s alive,” Adrian snaps. “I didn’t kill him, Pri.” His voice is utter frustration, pinched with anger.
“I know,” I say quickly, turning to face him, hands up. “I know. That was a stupid comment. I meant—I just, I need to interview him.”
Savage snorts. “Good luck with that one. He disappeared.”
I whirl on him. “What?” I glance around the circle of men. “How is that even possible?”
“Obviously, his people got to him before we did,” Adam supplies. “And they focused on clean-up rather than pursuing the two of you.”
“Clean-up?” I ask.
“Pitt’s gone, too,” Adrian supplies. “He took him.”
I huddle into myself, my arms folding in front of me with the blow of this news. “He’s dead then.” My gaze finds Adrian’s. “Right?”
“Yes,” he says, his jaw set hard. “We can assume he’s dead, but that is not your fault.”
I face him again. “It’s not yours, either.”
“Yes,” he says. “It is. I let Deleon live, just like I let Waters live.”
For me, I think. “Then it is my fault,” I say. “You did that for me.”
“He did it,” Adam says, “because it was the right thing to do. That’s what we do. The right thing. All of us.”
“Except me,” Savage says. “But don’t tell my wife.”
“He won’t walk away alive again,” Adrian says. “No matter how wrong that might be.”
I study the lines of his face, the sharp cut to his features that isn’t always present. He studies me right back, his gaze hooded. He told me this isn’t my fault, but I think he believes otherwise. He thinks I make him weak. He thinks I’m bad for him.
Maybe we’re bad for each other.
Hugging myself again, I face forward again and glance between Adam and Savage. “Now what?” I ask again.
“S’mores?” Savage asks.
In other words, he’s not even going to think about answering my question. “Right now,” Adrian replies, “we’re going to another safe house. Once we’re rested and showered, we’ll talk about what comes next.”
It’s not what I expect, it’s not a push to leave the city he’d given me earlier, and I can only hope that means I got through to Adrian. Or there’s something else I don’t know. I’m suddenly hyper-aware of the three giant men sharing a cave with me when Adrian seemed to think they’d wait outside. Adam and Savage took cover for a reason.
I don’t need to think hard about that reason. Deleon and his men know we went into the woods. They expect us to come out.
My eyes dash to Adrian’s hard, unreadable expression, but the hard edge of a sharper mood screams at me. “Tell me what to do.”