Page 15 of Pyre

Ruby paused, smile twitching. “Being knocked down?”

“Pegging,” he replied with an easy grin, his voice low and teasing.

Kavya gagged dramatically from behind the camera. “And that’s a wrap,” she muttered, cutting the feed as Ruby groaned and shoved him away.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE VAST DESERTstretched around them, bruised purples bleeding into dusky grays, the mountains dark, jagged shadows against a starless sky. Jonah’s white-knuckled grip on the truck’s wheel left Ruby fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

Today’s hunt was just the two of them, as Kavya had a meeting back at TCA headquarters. Jonah had thrown a fit when Lucas assigned them the hunt. It had been years since his last thermy, and Ruby’s joke about his rusty skills sent him storming out. This morning at the TCA office, he grunted, motioned to the door, and stomped to the driver’s seat of their issued vehicle.

If spending hours in awkward silence wasn’t enough, Ruby also had to ignore the barrage of messages Kavya and Lucas were sending her. Meme after meme, video after video, even a few Buzzfeed articles—all of her kicking Blakely’s fence down. Virality was not something she sought and yet millions had watched the most recent episode ofJustice with Jonah. The name lost points for unoriginality, but apparently people found it interesting. Especially women. She had glanced through the video’s comments section, but had to close it after reading one too many unholy comments about Jonah.

Ruby checked the case file in the dim light, ignoring Jonah’s glance.

A hot, thick wind slipped through the cracked window, carrying the faint smell of creosote and something sour that clung to the back of Ruby’s throat. Even at midnight, the NewMexico air pressed down, laced with a dryness that left her mouth feeling raw. It was different in places like this, sharp and dry in a way that set her teeth on edge.

A silence weighted with grudges hung between them. Her fifth attempt to strike up a conversation met a swift rebuttal—a hum of guitar chords as he turned up the volume and slurped at his energy drink.

“Have you looked through the file?” she tried, louder this time.

He turned up the music.

“So you’re just planning on going in blind? No clue who we’re looking for, what they’ve done, any potential hostages?”

A flick of his wrist sent the stereo to max. A flick of hers ensured silence as her fist shattered the radio’s glass.

His mouth gaped. She reached over, tapping his jaw and closing it for him. “Oops.”

“They’re going to make you pay for that,” he chided.

She gasped, her injured hand flying to her chest. “Oh no, however will I pay for a stereo system with my million dollar paycheck?”

If she could’ve taken a picture of the look on his face, she would’ve blown it up and hung it around the TCA on giant banners. She snorted and picked at the glass embedded in her knuckles as he bristled.

“You’re getting paid a million dollars?” He crumpled up his empty energy drink and tossed it in the plastic bag hanging between the two.

Grinning, she stuck up two fingers.

Jaw clenched, teeth clenched, booty cheeks probably clenched, he turned back to the road. “I only get $75,000.”

Her purse shifted at her feet and she grabbed it. “That’s a lot for an attention-seeking show boy.”

Jonah scraped his hand over his face and took a deep breath. A retort had been at the tip of his tongue, Ruby could practically taste it herself, but for some reason he held back, only looking away from the road to nod at the file in her lap.

He muttered, “Only so many ways you can say ‘possible thermophile’ before it gets old.”

With a scoff, she flipped the file shut, breaking the long, tense silence. “Our guy’s thirty-five. Hasn’t killed anyone yet. He’s either hesitant, or he’s waiting to go all out.”

Jonah’s face flickered with something close to interest. “Or he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to eat.”

“If he was turned by Edward, he knows. Edward practically pulls out a whiteboard to explain the process.”

“How lucky,” he muttered dryly, “like a little thermy preschool.”

“Funny,” she deadpanned.

From the depths of her purse she tugged out one of her herbal cigarettes and a lighter.

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