Page 103 of Tactically Acquired

“It couldn’t hurt to try.” I pulled out my phone and made the call. Fuck, I wasn’t happy about it, but here we were. I turned away from Rae and waited as the phone rang. I half hoped he wouldn’t pick up. Then I could say we just couldn’t get the plane. But I wasn’t that lucky.

“Slider, any news?”

“Yeah. She wants to go to the funeral.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that. You want the plane?”

“Yeah. Can you send Christa along?”

He was silent for a moment. “That’s some fucked up kind of torture. I can’t believe you’d even suggest it.”

“It was Rae’s idea.”

“Oh…yeah, it could work.”

I scoffed at how easily he agreed with her. “How soon can they be out here?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Good. We’ll let you know when we’ve got a solid plan in place.”

“Just my two cents, hold off as long as you can. The less time you’re out there, the smaller the window for anyone to find you.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll send you details as soon as I have them.”

I rubbed my eyes, tired as hell after being up most of the night and all day. I’d been through this plenty of times before, butit was different this time. I couldn’t stop staring at Audrey, wondering if she was doing okay. She was at the kitchen table for most of the afternoon with Spencer, talking with her mother’s husband. I had no idea what arrangements she was making, if any. Things looked pretty tense, and as much as I wanted to find out what was going on, it wasn’t really my place to ask.

Dinner had long since passed and now it was closing in on time to hit the rack. All I could think about was how much I wanted to sleep in the same bed with Audrey, even though I knew what a terrible idea that was. Sharing a bed with Spencer hadn’t exactly been the highlight of this trip. If I walked into her room and slid into bed with her, would I really be able to hold myself back?

Fuck, I needed to get my head on straight before I did something stupid. I headed out back into the cool night air, taking a deep breath. Out here, I could fucking breathe without feeling suffocated by the situation. Maybe I needed to pitch a tent and camp out here for the rest of the time.

A sound to my left drew my attention, immediately putting me on guard. We would all know if someone was on the property. Hell, alarms would be blasting all over the place if someone got within even a mile of this place. I pulled my weapon and slowly moved toward the side of the house, my eyes scanning the property for any signs of an intruder.

The moonlight made it easy to see and there wasn’t a fucking soul in sight. Butting up against the house, I peeked around the corner, exhaling when I saw what made the noise. Holstering my weapon, I slowly walked toward where Audrey was laying on her back, staring up at the stars.

With every step, I told myself just to go inside, to stay the fuck away from her. But as I got closer, I heard her faint crying and knew I couldn’t walk away. I made sure to make some noiseso I didn’t startle her as I approached. She quickly wiped the tears from her face, but didn’t bother to sit up.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked, taking a seat beside her, resting my elbow across my bent knee.

“Watching the stars. Wondering what the hell I’m doing with my life. Trying to figure out if I can somehow get out of my contract without destroying my life.” She sighed heavily. “Wondering how the hell I’m going to get Spencer to really leave and follow his dreams.”

Well, shit. “Is that all? Kind of a small list, if you ask me. I’m sure if we put our heads together, we could knock a few off that list.”

She chuckled, still staring up at the stars. “Yeah, no problem at all.”

“Why are you trying to get out of your contract?” I asked. That wasn’t what I was most curious about, but I figured I’d start small and build my way to the biggest question.

“It’s time,” she said after a pregnant pause.

“Time for what?”

“To end all of this.”

“Acting? I thought you liked it? The danger and the excitement…wasn’t that what all that pretend fighting was about?”

She rolled her head toward me, quirking her eyebrow at me. “Pretend fighting?”

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