Something Wilder(74)

“What the fuck does that mean?”

With the sun passing its highest point in the sky, they were a sweaty mess by the time they managed to extract her foot enough that the knife fell to the ground. Leo worked to pick it up with his mouth and then grasp it with his hands, and maneuvered his way back up against her.

“Okay,” Lily said, blowing the hair from her damp forehead. She’d barely moved from her spot, but she was exhausted. “Take it out of the sheath, and carefully try to cut my tie.”

Shaking his head, he passed the knife to her. “You do it. Something tells me you’re way more proficient with a knife than I am.”

She took a deep breath before gingerly feeling along the restraints, deciding where to cut, and carefully working her fingers down to the spine of the blade.

“Hold still,” she told him.

He laughed nervously. “Trust me, I’m not going anywhere.”

A few minutes passed of her sawing lightly, checking the progress, trying not to cut him too badly while also trying to keep her fingers from going numb and dropping the knife.

“Lily, in case we don’t actually get out of here—”

“We will.”

“In case we don’t,” he repeated, “I really do love you.”

She bit back a smile but stayed focused. “You’re pretty great yourself.”

“Wow. Be still my heart.”

“Just be still.” He hissed in pain, and she froze. “Shit, sorry.”

“Keep going. It’s only a flesh wound.”

She drew in a breath and continued. “I think I’m… almost… there…” And with a small snap, the tension in Leo’s shoulders disappeared, his arms going limp.

“Oh my God!” He scooted himself around, shaking his hands out before grabbing her face, pulling her in for a kiss. “You did it!”

Adrenaline and elation flooded her bloodstream. “Quick, quick.”

With shaking hands, Leo cut the ties on his ankles and then hers. Blood rushed to her fingers like pins and needles. Her muscles ached as she pushed herself to stand, legs tingling, feet almost numb. Both of their hands were streaked with blood, but nothing looked serious. With a final burst of energy, they limped to where their bags lay, shoved everything inside, and jogged as fast as they could back the way they’d come, escaping into the shadow of the canyon.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


THEY SCRAMBLED THROUGH dry brush and jagged boulders, jogged along the riverbank, and—checking frequently over their shoulders—ducked into the cooler shadows, where Leo hoped they would be hidden away, out of danger, while they figured out what the hell to do next.

After several beats where they stood, bent at the waist and catching their breath, Lily straightened and collapsed back against a rock wall. Elation had clearly worn off, and what remained in her posture was only the heavy weight of defeat. “This sucks.”

If there ever was treasure, someone else had just taken all of Duke’s clues and their hard work and snatched it from right under their noses. For as much as his brain took the testosterone-fueled story line and ran with it—go after them, take back what’s rightfully ours!—Leo knew that was unrealistic. For one, there were two men back there, armed and clearly emanating that unhinged Terry vibe. But more important, Lily was on the verge of completely losing her shit, too, and at least one of them had to keep their head on straight.

Frankly, he only sort of cared about the money. Well, obviously he did—he wasn’t an idiot—but mostly he was fighting for them right when Lily looked like she had no fight left in her. Would a windfall of cash make everything easier? God, yes. But more than anything he was desperate to help Lily have a life that brought her actual joy. Few feelings were worse than hopelessness. He would know.

There was a wilting lean to Lily’s posture as she sat on the ground, half-heartedly eating a protein bar and staring blankly at the rock ahead of her. Leo didn’t need to be a mind reader to see that she was in the midst of a doom spiral. Not ten days ago, he’d been sitting at Cora’s graduation dinner, having his own spiraling realization that she didn’t need him anymore and he had absolutely no idea what it would even look like to live his life for himself.

“If twenty years pass before I see another protein bar,” Lily said, chewing and swallowing with effort, “it will be too soon.”

“Fair.”

Seemingly unconcerned with the dirty earth beneath her, Lily lay back and stared up at the crystalline sky, caged in by looming rocks overhead. “So, to recap, not only do I not have any money, not only did we just get robbed at gunpoint, but tomorrow I’ll have to call the police and deal with a dead body and I don’t even know where to start.”

“I really think it’ll be okay,” he said. “And at least we can just get it over with and move on with our lives.”

She closed her eyes, exhaling slowly.

“Is now a good time to remind you that I know you better than anyone?”

“Leo, I don’t—”

“Just hear me out,” he said. “I have a small but nice apartment in New York. I know it isn’t ideal, but this time, you could come back with me. Just for a little bit, until we can figure out what’s next for us. I’ve been good about saving money. It’s not enough to buy your land back, but I’m likely to get that promotion, and maybe if I work for another year and we save every penny, we can move upstate where we can get horses.”