Page 163 of Those Who Are Bound

She looked confused and turned to Lucy, then back to him. “And what could you do?”

“He wanted a blessing.” When she tilted her head in further confusion, he explained, “He wanted me to say a prayer for him.”

Now she blinked at him like he’d told her he shit rainbows. “So, you didn’t provide anything actually useful.”

The derision in her voice made Lucy’s pale eyebrows rise. His friend’s gaze ping-ponged between the two of them.

“It was useful for him,” Jonah answered firmly.

Elliott scoffed and looked away. “The man delayed medical attention for mythology, and you all fed into it.”

Lucy hitched her thumb over her shoulder, tossing him a look of disbelief and sympathy, but she was about to totally bail on him. “I’m… going over there. To help with dinner.” She didn’t wait for them to dismiss her before she turned on her heel and fled. Jonah couldn’t blame her.

“I’m sorry you’re upset, but there’s no need for judgment.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want… Of course, if someone is hurt, they should be a priority. I don’t want it to seem like I should matter more. But when you have to make those choices, you won’t choose me. Is that what you’re saying? Is that what Lucy’s warning meant? I’m second to your… flock?” Her look accused, and she wasn’t finished, so he let her get it out of her system. “Even when that priority isn’t necessary. A prayer. A wish sent out into the world that has no basis in reality.

“Not that I’m needy. I don’t need you; I just want to know…” She stopped suddenly, as though catching herself. “It really doesn’t matter.”

“It matters. Your feelings, your concerns, matter.”

She shook her head as though dismissing it all, still looking off.

He pressed, “Keep going, because it matters. My priorities, my responsibilities to these people, you don’t recognize as a need, but it’s a need.”

“It’s fine, Jonah.”

“Those are alarming words.”

“I don’t want to seem clingy or self-centered. That’s not me.”

He said sadly, “Opposite. You could do my ego a solid and act a little clingy.”

She gave an adamant shake of her head. Her gaze glanced off his, again with a touch of accusation. “I don’t get to sleep with you tonight. I wanted to be in your arms. What happened to being progressive?”

He wanted her in his arms, too. They had years ahead of them, he hoped, to do just that. One night… he understood her disappointment, but he wasn’t sure what her complaint was about—and whether it was actually with him. “This is about getting laid now?”

“Hasn’t the entire day been foreplay?” she snapped back. “You teased just as much, only you knew something I didn’t. And now, when I nee—” She stopped.

He tilted his head to catch her eye. “Need me?” Stepping up to her, he was at least heartened by the fact that she didn’t move away. “Now, when you need me? I’m here, Elliott.”

“Forget it. I had an expectation of how this trip would go. I’d built it up in my head. That’s my fault, for holding you to a standard I created. But it’s your fault, too, for not being honest with me from the start. You should have told me what to expect.”

He grasped her arms and pulled her to him. Her façade crumbled as soon as they collided; the backpack hit the ground. His hissing little kitten came out in those words; the hurt, the vulnerability. He dropped his head and ran his lips along her neck, eliciting a shiver from her. Again he said, “I’m here.”

“You’re not,” she countered, but she held tightly to him, her arms around his waist.

“I am. Talk to me about the rope.”

She stiffened.

“I know you’re upset about it; talk to me.” He dipped his chin and looked at her.

She shook her head, not looking back. “Moment’s passed.”

“What moment?”

“Nothing, it’s over. I’m fine.”

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