Page 9 of Rescued Faith

“Fine. I’ll help you over there. Then will you agree to let these guys take care of you?”

She didn’t need someone taking care of her. But if nodding meant he’d get out of her way, then fine. Emma had bombs. In Last Chance County. And Penny had let her get away. She had to fix this.

Every step sent a shock of pain through her skull. Her vision blurred for a moment and then cleared. She could do this. Shehadto do this. If she stayed focused on the job, she could forget all over again what it was like to be in Bryce’s arms.

She had to.

Okay, so she hadn’t been able to forget over the last year and a half, but still. It gave her something to cling to. She couldn’t let her emotions cloud her judgment again. It was too dangerous. She’d already lost so much.

She bit down hard on her molars as a wave of nausea rolled over her, but she made it to Emma’s car.

Penny pulled the sleeves over her fingers and yanked on the handle. It was unlocked. Thank goodness for some miracles. Jude would probably call it an answered prayer. She wasn’t sure about that, but she’d take what she could get.

She leaned on the frame of the car and opened the driver’s side door. Wrappers and loose papers littered the passenger side. Penny couldn’t touch anything, but a brief look over the mess found nothing helpful.

The trunk. That’s where she’d grabbed the duffel bag from. Penny looked for a lever or button to open it.

“What are you looking for? Can I help?”

Bryce was still there. Hovering.

Penny shook her head and immediately regretted it. Light flashed behind her eyes for a second. Bad idea, Pen. She collapsed into the driver’s seat. Hopefully it looked more graceful than it felt.

“Penny, seriously, let someone help you for once. What are you looking for?”

She leaned over again, just to catch her breath.

She needed Bryce to leave. In this state, she was bound to make more poor decisions based on feelings she had no business feeling. She needed to pull it together.

Her hand felt along the panel by the door. Aha. There. She pressed a button, and the trunk popped open.

Trying not to make it obvious she needed the car for support, she stood and made her way to the trunk.

Bryce followed.

“Come on, Penny. Let me help. You look awful.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She scanned the gray interior of the trunk.

“That’s not what I meant. You look like you’re going to pass out. Let me?—”

“There!”

“What?” He leaned over. Even masked in the scent of smoke, she caught a whiff of his aftershave, the clean beachy scent she hadn’t been able to get out of her head.

She didn’t let herself look at him. Instead, she focused on the small black object in the corner of the trunk. She took out her phone and snapped a picture of it.

“What’s that?” Bryce peered at it.

“Evidence.”

A police officer walked past.

“Excuse me, do you have gloves? And an evidence bag?”

“You can’t dig around in this car. It’s an active crime scene.” The police officer’s badge read Thomas.

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