Page 111 of Entangled

As I look at Jasper, he pauses, his attention caught by a bush of yellow flowers.

I purse my lips as I glance back at Dom, my dread and guilt creeping back in. Is this just going to be another way I hurt people?

With Dom and I not talking much the last few days, I haven’t had to look him in the eye. It’s hard to hear him talk and walk with me so casually, knowing that I went behind his back. I’m not a good liar. If he asks me outright if I let the captives go, I’m not sure I could do it.

Dom bumps his arm against my shoulder again. “Just talk to them. A lot. Then keep talking.”

I nod, drawing a shaky breath. It’s hard to look at him for an altogether different reason right this moment. Guilt swirls inside me.

“Are you excited to see Beau?” I ask, needing the distraction.

His smile warms, and it’s like seeing light glimmer in an ocean cave, an unexpected beauty in its dark and deadly home. It’s so disarming, so close to boyish happiness, that my worries vanish, just for a moment.

“There’s a bottle of whiskey with our names on it. As soon as we get the civs set up, we’re pulling an action flick marathon—because apparently that’s all Jasper’s parents ever used to watch apart from the K-dramas, andthat’snot happening.” He rolls his eyes, but the glint in them tells me he knows just how many nights I stayed up watching them.

“Sounds like you have him all booked up,” I say, laughing.

With him smiling like that, I can’t find it in me to be put out. I rarely see Dom as anything less than serious and laden with responsibility. He clearly needs to see Beau as much as I do.

I’m the one to bump his shoulder this time.

“Just let me say hello before you cart him off.” Just the thought of getting a hug from him is enough to thicken my throat with longing. “I’ve missed him.”

His smile fades a little. “You need to see him.” He shakes his head. “The marathon can wait. I have a lot to do anyway.”

“No, Dom, no.” I lay my hand on his arm. It’s large and solid as steel under my gentle fingers. “It’s fine. You need a break.”

A break is the least I can give him. Between getting kidnapped and setting his prisoners free, it’s a wonder I haven’t turned his hair snow white.

He falls silent for a moment, looking at me sideways. Slowly, he says, “You could join us. If you wanted.”

I almost skip another step. “Join your marathon?”

Dom lifts one shoulder, and that droll smile begins to curl his lips again. “I’ll remove the ‘No girls allowed’ sign just for you.”

I laugh, enjoying this side of him more and more. We walk in companionable silence for a while, until I pause to gather some cuttings of wild lemon balm. I should be able to replant those when we arrive, and it’s a handy plant to have around.

“You haven’t been sleeping,” Dom remarks as he watches me, and I tense.

Standing, I tuck the cuttings in my borrowed pack. “How much farther to Bristlebrook?”

Dom is quiet for a long minute as we walk, then he sighs. “Above afriend’spaygrade?”

I bite my lip, peeking up at him, not quite able to make out his tone. I just don’t want to get into this. Not now and maybe not ever.

He meets my gaze, brooding and intense. “You don’t have to talk to me, pet, but you do have to talk to someone. And thatisan order.”

That look. That name. Thattone.

My brain short-circuits, and it’s only when I’m staring at his back that I realize he stopped me in my tracks. And it’s the strangest thing, but for some reason, the idea that he might take this—all the decisions about this awful, confused way I’m feeling—out of my hands... is a relief.

With a sudden surge of lightness, I call to his back, “Or what?”

My pulse strikes against my throat when he pauses and throws me a heated look over his shoulder.

“Or I’m giving myself a promotion—and I won’t befriendlyabout it.”

It takes me a moment to restart my steps, and another half an hour trailing along behind him, trying to pull apart every hidden meaning in his words before the solid thump of music starts to register.

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