Rules of Survival(36)

Shaun reached up to scratch his head, tugging my arm a few inches to the left. “So…we need a plan for the plan?”

“Yes. We’re cold, dirty, wet, and hungry—not to mention beat.” I thrust my free hand into my pocket to check on the cash. It was still there, thank God. “Plus, I want you to try calling Patrick again.”

Shaun cocked a brow and tilted his head in my direction. “I thought you didn’t trust him.”

“I don’t. Not even a little. But he was about to tell us something when you hung up on him—something about Mick. We need to find out what that was. It might help us track him down.”

“It’s been a while. He should be close by now.”

“Be close by—” And then it hit me. I wasn’t sure whether I was impressed, or furious. It was probably an even mixture of both. “The call from Gerald’s phone.”

“The minute we hung up, Pat would have gone to get it traced,” he confirmed with an annoyingly satisfied smile. “He’s probably already been to Gerald’s.”

I stopped walking as we came to a clearing in the trees, fists curling at my sides. I should have seen this coming. I was an idiot to have trusted him. Even a little. And God… Spilling my guts to him earlier? I felt like the biggest ass on the planet. “You bastard…”

His grin faltered as a beam of light came barreling toward us. “I—shit. Quick! Get down.”

He pushed me hard and I lost my footing. Sneaker slipping on the slick leaves beneath my feet, I teetered for a moment, and then skidded out of control down the embankment. We tumbled through the leaves, rolling in a tangled mess until we finally stopped several feet from the road. The headlights from the oncoming car passed harmlessly by.

“Get off me,” I growled, trying to push him aside. “You f*cking liar, get off me!”

Grabbing my cuffed wrist, he also seized my free hand with his and pinned it in the bracken. “Will you calm the hell down?”

Calling him was one thing, but leading him right to us after I made my reservations known? No way. The money. It was all about the money. Maybe they wouldn’t fork me over to Jaffe, but the police had issued a reward as well. Some cash was better than none.

I kicked and thrashed. Rule of survival. Never make it easy. He wanted to double-cross me? Fine. I’d make his life a living hell in the meantime. I rammed my knee up, but Shaun was quick. He anticipated the move and twisted his body to the side. I connected with thin air. “I’m not a damn paycheck,” I shouted.

“I didn’t—” he started.

I brought my head up, uninterested in anything he had to say. Excuses and more lies. I didn’t need them. I kicked out again, this time connecting with his injured shoulder.

“Son of a bitch,” he cursed, doing his best to keep me pinned. “Kayla, I’m serious. Calm the f*ck down and listen for one second!”

Something about the sound of his voice, commanding and just a little bit panicked, froze me in place. I stopped struggling and lifted my gaze to meet his.

“I didn’t lie to you. I said I’d keep you safe, and I promised I’d help you find what you were looking for. I don’t go back on my word. Not ever.”

“But you—”

He bent close, face inches from mine. Even in the dark, I could make out the strands of green in his eyes. It was good. Another thing to focus on other than the fact that I wanted to beat him within an inch of his life.

Good—and bad.

It also made me think of the feed store. How we’d been so close. How he’d touched me, so gentle… How, for the briefest moment, there’d been this undeniable connection between us. A perfect moment in the middle of a thousand horrible ones. That scared me.

“I signaled Pat so he would be close by. Just in case. I think we were on long enough before I had to hang up… I know you don’t trust him, and that’s cool, but I do. If I’m in trouble…” He jingled the chains. “And since you are, I am—then I want him here to have my back if I need it.”

The question came out whisper-soft and, even though I hated the fact, was filled with vulnerability. “So you’re not going to screw me over for the cash?”

For a moment, I was sure he hadn’t heard me. He just stayed where he was. Staring. When he did speak, it was soft—but chilling. And not necessarily in a bad way, either. What I’d felt earlier when we’d had that “moment” back at the feed store was merely a shadow of what I felt now. Both warm and cold, thrilling and scary, all at the same time. It made my pulse race like someone had injected me with rocket fuel.

“Fuck the money,” he growled. “I don’t know nearly as much about your life as Pat seems to, but I know you were raised to distrust everyone. And I get it—I do. When life throws shit your way, you have to look out for your own. But I swear to you, Kayla, not everyone is out to screw you. Some people really just want to help…”

He moved forward until our noses touched. It was an electric shock of warmth against the cool night that sent static rippling through my body and made the tiny hairs on my arms stand on end. No. Not stand. Dance. They were dancing—and I wanted to dance with them. “I want to help…”

And then the most unbelievable—badly timed and terrifying—thing happened.