by Nicole Helm
She did. As he held her there, hand in her hair, cheek on her hair. Soft and curling against his own skin. He wanted with an ache he didn’t fully understand because it was so deep, so wide, so nonsensical.
Still, he held her while she cried, and though time wasn’t in their favor he didn’t rush her. He let her have her moment.
Finally, she pulled away with a sniffle, wiping at her cheeks with her palms. “I’m stronger than that,” she muttered.
“Nothing weak about crying. I mean, I know that goes against Grandma Pauline’s code of badass conduct, but I’ve helped too many people in too many dire situations to not know crying is essential sometimes.”
“Eva always said so. More to Sarah than the rest of us.”
“Sarah tries too hard to be tough,” Gage returned, speaking of the youngest Knight foster.
“She comes by it honestly, between being Duke’s second hand on the ranch and helping Dev when he needs it.”
“Maybe we should lock her and Dev in a room and tell them we won’t let them out till one of them shows an emotion that isn’t categorized as pissed-off grumpy.”
Felicity chuckled, which had been his hope. She sucked in a breath and let it out loudly. “All right. We’ve got a long way to hike.”
“You’re in charge.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “Really?”
“You know where you’re going and, frankly, you’re better with that kind of map than I am. So, lead the way, Ranger. You’ll get us where we need to be.”
She blew out a breath and nodded. “All right. Follow me and be careful. One injury is enough.”
She was right about that.
Chapter Eight
The hike was brutal. The rocks were slippery, and they couldn’t find much grass to walk on instead. Added to that, no matter what Gage said, he was clearly not at 100 percent. He was slow and he’d stopped arguing about her being the only one carrying a backpack.
Felicity hated to admit it, but crying it out had certainly calmed her. She felt exhausted but determined. Worried but not panicked. They would get where they needed to go, even if Gage wasn’t 100 percent.
Because she was.
She eyed the sun, and how quickly it was heading for the horizon. Maybe they’d have to hike at dark for a bit. Dangerous, but so was surviving a tornado blasting through the Badlands. Which they’d done with only minor injuries.
“How you holding up?” she asked. Though she wanted to look back and get an idea for herself, they were in a particular slippery canyon area. One wrong step would mean a nasty fall. So, she listened carefully to his response and any pain that might be threading through his voice.
“Fine and dandy, gorgeous,” he said breezily.
She gripped the straps of her pack, trying to tamp down her irritation. “Stop that.”
“But see, now that I know it irritates you I can’t stop.”
She kept her gaze on the landscape in front of her. If he was joking around he couldn’t be that bad off. “This isn’t a joking situation, Gage.”
“Well, it’s not a joke. It’s me saying something true that irritates you for some reason,” he returned so reasonably, as if it was reasonable when it wasn’t at all. “Anything can be a joking situation if you’re funny enough.”
She knew there had to be a good response for that, but she couldn’t find it. Not even a lecture about jokes.
Both their phones began to chirp, and they stopped in their tracks.
“We should probably keep hiking and get to the ranger station before dark,” Felicity said. No matter how badly she wanted to check their phones, they were running out of good hiking time.
“People are worried about us, Felicity,” Gage returned.
When she turned around to lecture him, he already had his phone to his ear. She eyed the sun again, then took out her own phone.
She had fifty text messages, ten missed calls and five voice mails. She winced, then began to type out a text to everyone at the ranch that she was okay. Something quick, then they could be on their way again.
But Gage swore, so vehemently that Felicity stopped midtap.
“What is it?”
He shook his head, held up a finger and returned the phone to his ear. “Jamison. You’ve got to be kidding me with that message,” he said viciously into the receiver. He paused, his expression fury personified as he listened to whatever Jamison was saying in return. “Yes, we’re fine. What’s being done?”
He was silent for so long Felicity had to bite her tongue to keep from demanding answers immediately. He was getting them. She had to be patient.
“Stay put. Take care of your own. We’ll handle us.” He ended the conversation and shoved his phone into his pocket.
When he didn’t immediately speak, she stopped holding back. “Gage. Tell me what is going on.”
He shook his head, his jaw working for a few seconds before he finally spoke. “The tornado hit the jail.”
Felicity felt as if the ground fell out from underneath her and she was descending through an endless canyon. Though she was standing on her own two feet, the sound of the long-gone tornado roared in her ears. “What?”
“It hit the jail in Pennington. Ace is unaccounted for.”
“As in dead or as in...”
“Escaped. He’s not the only one.” Gage shoved a hand through his unruly dust-covered hair. “But he’s the one we have to worry about.”
“All right. We have to get back,” Felicity said, doing her best to sound calm and sure. “Back to the ranches, work out a game plan with everyone.”
“If our theory about Ace being involved in framing you for murder is correct, he’s coming for you, Felicity.”
That revelation hit hard, but she wouldn’t let it show. She straightened her shoulders and firmed her mouth. “If he’s behind this trumped-up murder charge, hasn’t he already hurt me enough? He won’t be after me—he already got me. He’ll be after one of you.”
Gage stared at her for a long time before finally inclining his head. “Fair point.”
It felt like a victory when none of this was a victory. It was only problem after increasingly threatening problem.
“Okay, we head back to the ranch,” Felicity said. “Someone can pick us up at the ranger station. It’s better if we’re all there, working together to keep everyone safe from Ace. Especially Brianna and Gigi.” Cody and Nina’s daughter and Liza’s half sister had already been through enough.
“If you show up at either ranch, you’ll be arrested.”
Felicity tried to play off the wince inside of her. “I...I can handle that. You should be with your family.” She tried to smile, though she knew it faltered.
She could handle jail. She could handle it because she knew she was innocent. It was fine. Okay, fine was an overstatement. But it would be bearable. She could bear it. She could. Because eventually the truth would come out.
Eventually.
“I’m not letting you go to jail, Felicity. Not ever.”
She blinked at his sheer vehemence. Her entire stomach seemed to flip over at the look in his eyes.
She didn’t know what that was. Didn’t want to know because it scared her. It...vibrated through her. Too big and too much.
“It wouldn’t be so bad,” she choked out.
“If they convicted you, do you understand how many years you could be stuck in there? Do you have any idea how long it would be before you could come out here?” He pointed to the land around them. “Think about it—you’ll come to the same conclusion I did.”
She looked around at the Badlands, at the vast gray, moody sky. At her heart, laid out in the world around them, even when it did things like throw a tornado at her. “I wouldn’t survive,” she murmured.
She didn’t need anyone to understand her, to see
her as the woman she’d become because she knew who and what she’d built herself into. Being a somewhat solitary person meant she didn’t need people to constantly validate her choices or tell her she was doing great.
But she hadn’t realized how nice it would be to have one person actually...get her. Not in some demanding way, not showing off how much. Just a simple, true understanding.
She didn’t know how to fully accept that it was Gage, who was nothing like her. He was all confidence, with a certain brashness that was charming but certainly nothing she understood.
How could he look at her and see...it all?
She didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to think about it, but all she could seem to do was stand here and stare at him, something big and bright and terrifying shifting in her chest.
Ace was free, and she was wanted for murder. That was her focus right now.
Or so she told herself.
* * *
FELICITY LOOKED AT him like his understanding was some kind of gift when it couldn’t be. When his father was on the loose, with everyone he loved a target.
Including her.
Not that Gage was in love with her. Liking and appreciating someone and being attracted to someone did not add up to love.
Besides, loving anyone while Ace existed was a pain and fear he didn’t intend to take on. He’d watched Jamison and Cody survive, barely, and maybe they were happier on this side of things, but how could that fear of Ace really ever go away?
It couldn’t. It didn’t. Not until the man was dead. Gage was half convinced he’d never die.
“All right,” Felicity said at length. She sounded shaky at first, then her voice strengthened as she spoke. “Still, you’re hurt. You need to go back and have that looked at.”
“Hey, I can still see. I can still walk. Cody did a lot more with a lot worse.”
“Because he had to,” Felicity said with a gentleness that made his skin tight and prickly.
“Are you suggesting I leave you out here on your own?” he asked, trying to keep the sheer volume of rage out of his voice. All that rage wasn’t directed at her—it was at Ace, and himself—but he was in danger of losing it anyway.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve hiked, camped and survived the Badlands on my own, Gage.”
“It won’t be this time, either,” he returned. “Listen to me. There’s no splitting up here. No leaving anyone on their own. That isn’t how you beat Ace. Haven’t Jamison and Cody proven that? We have to work together best we can. And whether you like it or not, you and me are together for this one.”
She didn’t respond as she chewed on her lip and mulled it over. He couldn’t stand the quiet, so he kept on her.
“Jamison and Cody are going to protect Liza, Gigi, Nina and Brianna in Bonesteel. The rest of my brothers will be at the ranches with Grandma Pauline and your family. It makes sense for us to keep to our plan. We have to prove you didn’t murder this woman.”
He took a step toward her, told himself at the last minute not to grab her hands like he wanted to. “Just think. If we prove this—we can go home to the ranches. Ace being on the loose makes things nerve-racking. But it doesn’t change our objective. It doesn’t change what we have to do.”
“I don’t want to be the reason you’re not working with your brothers on this.”
He didn’t understand the things she did to him. He’d avoided personal vulnerability all his life because, good Lord, life was too tough to be worried about weakness. She was tough, but she was also...this: the broken little kid underneath all that tough exterior.
He understood it too well.
“We’re in this together, Felicity. Now, how long will it take us to hike to your cabin?”
“Days.”
He knew it was long, but he’d been hoping doable. They couldn’t hike days. Especially after leaving one pack behind.
“Another park ranger would give us a ride if we get to the visitor center,” she said, though she sounded uncertain.
“Are there any park rangers you trust? That you’re willing to put in the path of both the police and Ace?”
She wilted. “No.”
He didn’t want one of his brothers making the trek, which had been the original plan. With Ace on the loose, they needed to stick together, protect Grandma and the Knights. Having one or even two come pick them up was risking too much.
“What about Cody’s group?” Felicity asked. “Nina said there was some woman who helped them, and Brady mentioned a doctor who video chatted him through patching Cody up. Call Cody and see if they can help. Even if they can just offer a ride if we can meet them a little south of the visitor center.”
“If they can’t, he’ll come himself.”
“Not if you remind him his job is to protect Nina and Brianna.”
It wasn’t the worst idea. Besides, what would it hurt to ask?
“We have to keep hiking, though,” Felicity insisted. “The minute we lose daylight, we’re in for trouble. I had to prioritize water over sleeping bags and dry clothes in the pack. We can eat and we can drink, but we won’t have any way to protect ourselves if another storm comes through.”
He studied the sky. Another storm seemed more likely than not. Hopefully, they’d survived their one and only tornado, but rain and lightning could be just as dangerous in the wrong circumstances.
“All right,” he finally acquiesced. Her plan was sound, and it was a compromise between what they both wanted to do. “I’ll text Cody, then we’ll get moving.”
“You text him. I’m going to change your bandage.” She dropped her pack and rummaged around in it while he texted Cody to ask for backup south of the visitor center.
She pulled off the bandage slowly, clearly trying to keep the adhesive from hurting his skin.
It was hard to focus on the throbbing pain when her chest was in his face and he had much more entertaining things to distract himself with.
“I’m worried about infection more than the cut itself,” she said conversationally as she used another stinging wipe around the wound.
He bit his tongue to keep from hissing or groaning in pain, then let out a slow, steady breath as she smoothed a new bandage over the cut.
“There.” She cupped his chin and tilted his head up as she examined the bandage. She gave a little nod, clearly satisfied with her work. She brushed at his scruffy jaw, presumably trying to get dirt and debris out of his whiskers, but her other hand gently traced the bandage.
He was sure she was making sure no dirt had gotten into the bandage, but it felt like a caress. Like she cared. And his libido certainly didn’t seem to know the difference between trying to stave off infection and trying to get in his pants.
Irritated, he squirmed. “If you expect me to be able to walk straight, you’re going to have to stop touching me like that.”
She pulled her hand away so fast her whole body jerked and she stepped back, landing awkwardly on a rock. She started to fall backward, arms windmilling, so he grabbed her and yanked her toward him.
Which sent her bumping into him, sending him falling backward. Luckily, he knew how to land after a blow well enough. Unluckily, she was now sprawled on top of him.
She was on top of him, breathing a little heavily, her eyes wide and her cheeks pink. He thought not kissing her might kill him.
But she wants Brady.
“I’m going to get you out of this mess.” He didn’t know why he had to promise her that, to vow it here and out loud. He just had to get it out. Better than kissing her, he had to believe.
She stared at him, green eyes dark and steady, still lying on top of him, soft and warm and wonderful. “I believe you,” she said quietly.
And he was doomed. So he went ahead and pressed his lips to hers anyway.
Chapter Nine
Felic
ity had never walked through fire before, but she was pretty sure it would feel like this. Completely enveloped by sensation.
In this case not burning to a crisp, painful and fatal, but melting into someone else entirely. Maybe it was fatal—she wasn’t sure—but she couldn’t help following it. The wild sensation of freedom like standing in the middle of grass and rock with no one else around. Just her and the wind and sky and utter glory.
Except it was Gage. Gage. Gage Wyatt. Kissing her. Kissing her.
She blinked her eyes open, trying to push herself off him. He stopped kissing her, but his hand curled around her arm, keeping her in place.
“We have to... Getting dark,” she croaked.
He did his raised-eyebrow thing, and all she wanted to do was run away from him, but his big hand was still curled around her upper arm, keeping her all sprawled out against him. He was very...hard and warm and... She had to get up.
“Hike. Before dark. We need to get moving.”
“You kissed me back.”
“I...” She didn’t know what to say to that. How to process any part of today. “L-let me go.”
He did. Immediately. She scrabbled off him and onto her feet. She was shaky and shaken, and God knew she didn’t have a clue what to say.
Gage had kissed her. Voluntarily. And...seriously. Devastatingly. Like he’d been waiting half a lifetime to do it.
Oh, boy. Oh, no.
If she went home she would be arrested for a murder she didn’t commit, and Gage Wyatt had kissed her.
She knew she hadn’t killed anyone, and as much as the world wasn’t always right and good, she simply had to believe someone could prove that.
What she didn’t know was how to deal with this...kiss.
She’d let Asher Kinfield kiss her when she’d worked at Mammoth Cave for a summer. It had been nothing like this. It had been kind of stiff and fumbling. Off-putting.
Not like fireworks. No, bigger than fireworks. A volcanic eruption. Destructive and totally altering.
All because of Gage Wyatt.
She looked back at him as he got to his feet. She’d jerked away not so much because of his words. More because she’d lost herself in touching him and had forgotten she was supposed to be bandaging him up, not caressing his wounds. She had been touching him like a lover, and she didn’t know what on earth had possessed her.
