Page 138 of Promises in the Dark

Her green eyes were wide, alert, and damn if they didn’t make my heart do a stupid little flip.

“You wanna help?” I asked, the question almost catching in my throat. “Fine. But you stay where I can see you. You don’t move without my say-so. Got it?”

She didn’t back down. Not that I expected her to. Her eyes locked onto mine with that stubborn fire I got accustomed to. “I won’t do anything reckless. Just… don’t treat me like a liability,” she shot back, her words biting.

I wanted to throw an apology in there somewhere, but I bit it back. Not worth the breath. She was gonna do whatever the hell she wanted anyway, but I needed to hear her say it.

Despite her obvious irritation, she stuck close, just as I’d asked. The familiar scent of her shampoo—how did she always manage to smell so damn good out here?—was throwing me off. Focus, dumbass.

Pyro sidled up, grinning like the jackass he was. “So,” he drawled, “you two solve your little conjugal fight?”

I shot him a withering glare. “Very funny, asshole,” I muttered, not in the mood for his usual bullshit. Before I could tell him to knock it off, Red’s voice cut through the air.

“Does anyone else smell gas?”

Her words stopped me cold. The team shifted uneasily, eyes flicking toward the ground, the fuel, each other.

“Everybody freeze,” I barked, heart pounding, eyes darting around for any sign of a leak. “Nobody moves a goddamn muscle.”

Red, of course, had something to say.

“We need to clear the area. If there’s a spark—"

“I saiddon’t fuckingmove!” I cut her off, my voice sharp enough to slice.

She was right, but we didn’t know where the leak was, and one wrong step could turn this place into a fireball.

“One step in the wrong direction, and this whole thing goes up.”

Then it did.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glint in the sky, something small but fast. And my gut clenched in that split second as I realized what it was—a makeshift bomb, flying right at us.

“Shit!” I barely had time to react. “Bomb!” I yelled, my body moving before my brain could fully process what was happening.

I lunged at Red, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her down hard. We hit the dirt just as the explosion ripped through the air.

The blast was deafening, the force of it slamming into me as I shielded her with my body. Everything turned into chaos—dirt and debris flying everywhere, the smell of burning fuel filling the air. My ears rang from the explosion, the heat from the blast searing my skin, but all I could focus on was Red beneath me.

Time slowed down. My body was pressed against hers, her chest heaving under mine. I could feel every inch of her, her breath coming in fast and ragged as she realized how close we’d come to getting blown apart. My head was spinning—partly from the explosion, but mostly from the fact that I was this close to her, in the middle of all this danger. The intensity of it all was fucking with my head.

“Rogue,” she whispered, her voice shaky, barely audible over the chaos still echoing around us.

I lifted myself up just enough to look down at her. My mind, always running a mile a minute, stalled for just a second, completely fixated on the fact that I had her right under me.

Her green eyes were wide, her lips parted as she stared back at me. My breath was heavy, adrenaline tearing through me like a wildfire, but for a split second, all I could think about was how goddamn close we were—her body pressed against mine, the heat between us, the way her hair fanned out on the ground beneath her.

I shook it off, burying the thought deep. Not now. Not fucking now.

“You okay?” I rasped, my voice hoarse, fighting to get the words out over the ringing in my ears.

She nodded, still looking a bit dazed, her hand instinctively grabbing onto my arm. “I’m fine,” she managed, her voice unsteady. “But the others—"

I pulled myself off of her, reluctant as hell, forcing my legs to cooperate even though they were shaking from the blast. Around us, the rest of the team was scrambling to their feet, coughing, and wiping the dust and ash from their faces.

The vehicle Red and Pyro had come in was nothing but a twisted heap of metal, the gas they’d brought with them now a burning memory.

“Come on,” I grunted, extending my hand.

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