Page 12 of Wilde and Untamed
She nodded and turned to stare out at the city lights. “He wanted to remind me that WSW’s presence might ‘complicate delicate arrangements.’”
Elliot’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t seem surprised. “Sounds like a threat.”
“I don’t know that it was.” She turned to face him and lowered her voice. “El, I think he was trying to warn me.”
“Warn you?”
“In his own way.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know.”
He scowled down at her, and she held up a hand before he could protest.
“Scout’s honor. I really don’t know.”
“You were never a Girl Scout, Trouble.” His scowl only deepened, an adorable line of worry forming between his brows. “You think they’re after something dangerous down there.”
She hesitated. “I think… I just dragged you into a situation that’s way more complicated than I realized.”
Elliot’s gaze met hers, steady and sure. “I knew what I was signing up for.”
“Did you?” She searched his face. “Because I’m not sure I did.”
He reached out to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, his hand lingering there in a way that made her heart do a stupid little flip. “You know we don’t have to go. We can walk in there and tell Frost to take his money and shove it somewhere very uncomfortable.”
Right. He still thought this was about the obscene amount of money Frost had offered her. After all, that was what she’d told her sister when Rowan questioned why she’d take such a job, but it wasn’t the whole truth.
And Elliot deserved to know.
But when she opened her mouth to tell him, she caught sight of Atlas watching them through the window. He lifted his glass slightly before turning back to his companion, and the words caught in her throat.
Her gaze returned to Elliot to find him watching her with those worried, all-too-knowing eyes. His knuckles brushed her cheek. “Rue, you can talk to me. What’s really going on?”
Was he safer not knowing, or was she putting him in more danger by not telling him the true reason she had to go to Antarctica?
Maren’s face flashed in her mind—laughing during their training session, then serious as she’d pulled Rue aside before leaving for Antarctica.
“If anything happens to me, don’t trust the official story,”Maren had said.
And then she’d vanished. Just like that. Swallowed by the ice, with only a terse report citing “equipment failure” and “extreme weather conditions” as the cause.
No, she couldn’t tell him. Yet. While she trusted him more than just about anyone else on earth—she hadn’t been lying when she told Atlas that—she needed more information before she dragged him deeper into this.
She drew a shaky breath and let it out, watching it cloud between them. “Can we get out of here?”
five
The last thingElliot wanted to do after three hours of playing fiancé to Rue Bristow was interrupt his brother’s evening, but work came first.
Always.
Instead of going up to his apartment on the second floor of his family’s brownstone, he stopped and knocked on Davey’s door. He was greeted by a growled, “This better be fucking important, El!”
“How do you know it’s me?”
There was some shuffling, then the door opened. Davey stood there, shirtless and scowling like he wanted to throw something at Elliot’s head. “Because Dom doesn’t work after midnight.”
