Page 246 of Entangled

I hold his pensive stare, my stomach bubbling, but to my surprise, his chin dips.

“I’d feel better having you where I can see you anyway.” He gives me a wry look. “You get in too much fucking trouble when you’re left alone.”

He agreed.

Domagreed.

I braced for the leader... and got my friend instead. He knows how much I need this.

“No. Don’t do this,” Beau says, standing. His face pulls taut with worry. “You’re doing so much good here. Just stay back with Jayk—it’ll give you two a chance to smooth things over.”

“This is her fight too, Beau. She has as much right as Heather to come,” Dom argues mildly, not bothering to stand. Every inch of him is calm, careless confidence. “She can handle herself for the trip, we’ve seen that. And she’ll follow my orders.”

He doesn’t look at me as he says the last, but I know it’s directed at me.

“I’ll do anything you ask,” I agree easily.

Dom does look at me then, his eyes glinting in the morning light. “Will you?”

Lucky snorts, and what I said registers. My cheeks heat as I shoot Lucky a scowl, and he winks at me.

Jasper, on the other hand, looks as grim as Beau. Like I’ve announced some calamitous desire to end it all and they’re readying for a final death march.

I try to soften my expression as I look between them. “I don’t want to get in the way. I just can’t spend weeks here waiting, not knowing if you’re going to come home or not.” Just the thought of it has my palms sweating and my throat closing over. “I already thought you were all dead once, and it nearly broke me. I can’t do it again.”

“The waiting was... really shitty,” Lucky mutters. He’s not quite looking at anyone, but his sallow cheeks tell their own story. The weeks I was captured weren’t easy for him.

Beau sighs, turning away from all of us, his hands knitting over the back of his head.

I understand his worry. I feel it just as much.

But this isn’t a decision I’ll let him make for me.

“We leave in an hour,” Dom tells me, and I nod, dropping my pack beside his.

Jayk is going to lose it when he realizes I’m leaving, but I’m not sure what to do if he won’t talk to me.

My eyes drift to the wreckage of Jayk’s barn. People have slowly been clearing away the debris, but it hasn’t been a priority, and there’s still a lot there. Something sparks in my memory, and I frown, thinking. I wonder...

Maybe this is for the best. Jaykob doesn’t want to see me right now, and I don’t particularly feel up for an argument. He’s made it clear enough that he wants time to think.

Time I can give him.

And maybe I can leave him with something else, too.

Chapter54

Jaykob

Survival tip #259

Don’t let them die on your watch.

The couch time with Jasper ain’t worth it.

Sweat rolls down my forehead, and I swipe it away with my forearm. I stand back in the muddy ditch, staring at the finally un-fucked pipes.

“Try it now,” I shout out, and Jada ducks off to go turn the water back on at the valve.

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