Page 19 of Dirty Gambit

Lena tried not to feel the hurt and betrayal.

“Only a few minutes,” she muttered, edging back a few more steps.

Neither one seemed to be listening to her. Jaxon was murmuring something to her as he moved around the front of the car. His large hand swept gently up and down Jessie’s small back in a rhythmic motion.

Lena staggered to the picnic table and lowered herself down gingerly. Her head throbbed where it had collided with the ground, and the spot the gun had dug into her back pinched. She wondered if it was dangerous taking aspirin on an empty stomach, then concluded that an empty stomach and lack of sleep was exactly the reason she’d fainted in the first place.

Fainted. Christ. Not the best way to prove she was tough, but she’d brought it on herself. Pablo always teased her about being so focused on something she forgot all the other important things, like eating or sleeping. But she really had thought she could make it three days, then worry about all that basic stuff after she and Jessie were in the clear. Apparently, her body had other ideas. Well, she couldn’t allow for that to happen again. Next time, she could be driving, or holding Jess. She would have to be more careful.

Fifteen feet away, on the other side of the clearing, Jaxon was showing Jessie something on a leaf. Lena couldn’t hear what he was saying to the girl, but Jessie wasn’t crying anymore.

After handing Jess a branch with a few stray leaves hanging on for dear life, he set her down and let her toddle on her own, waving the branch wildly over her head. He watched her a minute, making sure she wouldn’t start fussing before starting towards Lena.

Lena stiffened. Her eyes narrowed. Her fingers tightened around the gun. She held her breath as he drew closer.

“Relax,” he muttered. “I want to see if you’re okay.”

That only fueled her suspicions.

“Why?”

“Because the life and safety of my sister—”

“She’s not your sister.”

He ignored her and went on smoothly, but with a steely edge. “Rests in your hands and if you pass out while you’re behind the wheel—”

“It won’t happen again.” She shot up to her feet and stood facing him. “Take a few steps back.”

Even with a full five feet between them, he seemed to tower drastically over her, an unnerving gesture that sent prickles of awareness all up and down her spine.

He didn’t budge, but he studied her with the same intensity one would show a difficult, but seriously ill patient.

“I’m fine,” she stated sharply.

“Are you a doctor?”

Lena blinked. “What?”

“You’re not fine,” he said instead. “You fainted.”

“I forgot to eat,” she snapped. “It was nothing.”

“Do you forget often?”

She shot him a glower. “It’s been a stressful few days, okay? Now, will you leave me alone? Your voice is giving me a headache.”

That wasn’t entirely a lie. Lack of rest and nutrients combined with a nasty head collision, and the walls of her skull pounded like a heavy metal concert. The migraine pinched at all the pressure points, making her stomach queasy and her eyes water. She needed food and water, and a minute to just breathe. Him standing over her like some Greek God of vengeance wasn’t helping.

“Where is it?”

Lena squinted up at him, mainly because he stood in the direct path of a ray of light, making it impossible to look straight at him without feeling like a million daggers were stabbing her in the eye.

“What?”

“Water,” he replied. “You brought some, didn’t you?”

Her annoyance with the situation amplified with the implication. “Of course I brought water!”

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