Page 92 of Burned in Stone
They stay like that. Stone clutching his daughter like he’ll never let go, Emma letting him.
She pulls back, wipes her eyes. Lee hugs her fiercely. “You had us worried there, little sis.”
Emma turns to Bones, who’s leaning against his bike, arms crossed, looking like he just got back from groceries instead of whatever the hell actually happened.
“You,” Emma says, and before anyone can react, she punches him hard in the arm.
Bones doesn’t even flinch. Just grins. “You’re welcome, swan.”
“Don’t ‘swan’ me.” She hits him again, harder this time. “You promised you’d stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Tracking me without telling me!” She’s somewhere between furious and relieved. “Where the fuck is it this time, Bones? They smashed my phone and tossed it at the airport.”
Bones’s grin turns sheepish. He mutters, “Shoulder blade.” Then Emma’s face goes bright red.
“YOU PUT A FUCKING TRACKING DEVICE INSIDE MY BODY WITHOUT MY CONSENT!?!”
The parking lot goes dead silent.
“It was for your safety?—”
“MY SAFETY?!” She lunges at him, and Steel catches her around the waist. “YOU PUT A GPS CHIP IN MY BODY!”
“Technically it’s between your shoulder blade and your?—”
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE TECHNICAL LOCATION!” She’s struggling against Steel, who holds her back with that resigned expression. “When did you even—oh my GOD. Last year. When you just ‘happened’ to be in town and that giant-ass ‘bug’ bit me.”
Bones has the grace to look slightly uncomfortable. “You stopped wearing the necklace?—”
“Because the clasp broke!” Emma breaks free and stalks toward Bones, who still hasn’t moved from his bike. “Are you telling me that necklace was a tracking device too?”
Bones shifts his weight, calculating whether honesty or deflection will get him out of this alive. He settles on honesty.
“Maybe.”
Emma’s shriek could shatter glass. “MAYBE?!”
“It had a five-year battery life, and you loved that necklace?—”
“I LOVED IT BECAUSE I THOUGHT MY—” She stops suddenly, takes a calming breath. “I thought it was a thoughtful gift from afriend. I had no idea it was being used to keep tabs on me.”
Her face crumbles, and something in my chest twists. She’s not just angry—she’s hurt. Betrayed. This is about more than a tracker between them. There’s history here.
“Emma,” Bones says, and his voice has gone soft in a way I’ve never heard before. “It’s not like that.”
“Then what’s it like?” Her voice breaks. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’ve been spying on me for years. Treating me like—like some kind of asset instead of a person.”
“I kept you alive.”
“AT WHAT COST?!” She whirls on him. “Do you have any idea how creepy this is? How much of a violation?—”
“I know exactly how it looks?—”
“DO YOU?! Because it looks like you’re a controlling psychopath who’s been stalking me!”
“Wrong. It looks like a man who knows exactly how dangerous this world is keeping you safe,” Bones fires back. “Which, by the way, worked out pretty fucking well tonight, didn’t it?”
