Page 9 of A Rebel's Shot

“I’d be very careful with what you are about to say right now.” Merritt leaned back in the chair and stared down her stepsister with all the frigid emotion she’d always given Merritt.

“I—”

“Your next five seconds decide your future, Rachel.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You wouldn’t.”

Merritt lifted her eyebrow in challenge. Rachel’s eyes narrowed, and her chest heaved. Finally, she spun and stomped to her office down the hall. The door slammed, and Merritt barely contained her flinch.

The silence in the room settled heavily on Merritt. A palpable bubble that shrank around her, threatening to suffocate her. Knowing that her father was truly gone and that all she had left in the world was a family who hated her and a business she had no clue how to run would crush her.

Surely it would.

She looked up and was met with dark-gray eyes assessing her. Exposing her for the fraud she was. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

“Sorry, Mr. Rebel. I’m afraid your introduction to Harland Global Resources hasn’t been the best.” Merritt scooted forward on her chair and forced herself to hold his gaze.

“It’s one that’ll be hard to forget, that’s for sure.”

Tiikâan tipped his head and raised his eyebrows in an expression she couldn’t place as entertained or surprised. Maybe a bit of both.

“And it’s Tiikâan. Alaska’s just one small community spread across a lot of land. Formalities don’t have much need among friends.”

Friends? When was the last time she had one of those?

Colleagues, yes. But friends? She honestly couldn’t remember.

He was just making a point about the chasm between his world and hers, not actually offering friendship, but her eyes stung with tears nonetheless. She nodded, kept her smile small, and blinked a few times so he hopefully couldn’t see the emotion building beneath the surface.

“Merritt.” She cleared the roughness out of her voice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tiikâan.”

Something crashed from down the hall. Of course, Rachel wouldn’t quietly stew. No. She’d want the world to know she was upset.

There’d be no escaping her, not with the house being their workspace and living quarters. Merritt would be stuck in this prison for God knew how long.

The feeling of suffocating was so overwhelming she wanted to beg Tiikâan to fly her to Fairbanks so she could get the first flight out of Alaska. She didn’t even care where it flew to. She just needed to be far from there.

Yet she couldn’t.

Not if she wanted to figure out how her dad died.

Andwhy.

Another crash, and Merritt had to get out of there. She stood so abruptly the chair rammed into the windowsill behind her.

“Can I buy you dinner?” It was an awkward invitation and not the words she wished to say.

Now that they were out, she realized just how much being with someone normal somewhere other than there called to her.

He pressed his lips together, glancing out the window behind her like he wanted to escape, and she knew she had to talk fast. “We could talk about the details of the job, and even if you decide not to take it, you’d get a good meal out of it.”

His gaze slowly came back to hers. The unwavering sense that he was measuring her and finding her lacking filled her. Or maybe that was her own doubts speaking.

She held his stare, even though all she wanted to do was disappear. Vanish from the life she’d pretended didn’t exist and reappear in the life she enjoyed.

The left corner of Tiikâan’s mouth tipped into the first genuine almost smile she’d seen from him. “Sure. I’ll drive.”

She grabbed her purse from the desk drawer and the folder with the information he’d need and followed Tiikâan back out through the house. As she watched him confidently stride through the gaudy living room, she realized it was a trait she’d noticed in the little interactions she’d had around town. Everyone seemed to know who they were.

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