Page 34 of Coerced

As my mind shifted into panic mode, I skipped back. Gemma reached out one hand, but I twisted away.

“I’m not safe right now,” I said through gritted teeth.

“I understand.”

Her eyes were worried and I knew I’d hurt her feelings, but I was afraid for anyone to touch me right then. Still prickly from Spin’s foolishness, Clem’s little reminder of the bad old days sparked my temper.

“Oh, hey, Kerry, I forgot. I need to talk to you about something.” Jax motioned me to follow him.

Focused on my breathing, I started walking after him.

“We’ll be back soon,” he called to the others. “It would be a good idea to start moving our gear into the SUVs. ”

He trotted alongside me as I stalked along, my long legs eating up the ground until we hit the airport driveway.

“What do you want?” I ground out.

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “You needed a break, so I came to the rescue.”

I growled, half angry and half amused.

“Want to run?” He lifted one eyebrow in challenge.

“Think you can keep up?”

“Try me!”

#

Gemma

Gigi and I chatted as we waited for our boys in the shelter of the open hanger. After about half an hour, Kerry and Jax returned, winded and laughing. Jax collapsed onto the frozen ground, pulling Gigi down on top of him. She shrieked and smacked his chest, but he only grinned.

I breathed a sigh of relief to see how relaxed Kerry was. He ran up to me and looped an arm around my waist and swung me around. I giggled as he stuck his cold nose in my ear.

“I’m sorry, angel,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“I wasn’t hurt or angry, Lab Rat, just worried.”

“Oh, good, you’re back.” Clem had impeccable timing. “Come on inside.”

When we joined the others, Clem asked Kerry if he had a plan.

Kerry looked at Maddy first.

“Can you guide us to the place where Spin first found a Diabolical smell?”

“Sure. There’s a fire service road that gets us pretty close, then a short hike. Can’t tell from the topo map where there may be a good camping site, but Tara can help there.”

“Yeah?” He looked at Tara.

“I can scoop out a bowl in the earth to block the wind and clear away the snow,” she said. “We’ll be comfortable enough at night.”

“Sounds good. Once we get there, we’ll be able to plan more.” His expression turned thoughtful. “Maybe we can practice working together later today. Depends on how much light we have when we make camp, I suppose.”

“So,” Clem interrupted, “who wants to drive?”

Kerry looked at me and I shrugged.

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