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My heart pounded in rhythm with the dull throb in my head, the stress and anxiety starting to take its toll on me. But I couldn’t afford to collapse right now. Tristan needed me. He had risked his life for me, the least I could do was get rid of a phone.
I started digging with a stone I found lying nearby, sweat dripping down my brow as I scooped out handfuls of earth. It felt like hours before the hole was deep enough to accommodate the parts of my phone. Rain had started to fall.
Once I buried them, patting down the disturbed earth till it looked natural again, I staggered back towards the cabin. My head swam with fatigue and a dull pain, the world tilting sideways a little as I stumbled over a tree root. With a gasp, I righted myself and paused, taking a moment to collect myself before moving on.
The cabin was quiet when I returned. Tristan had dozed off on the couch, his chest rising and falling rhythmically as he breathed. For a moment, I stood at the doorway watching him, grateful that he was okay in spite of everything. The sight of him sleeping so peacefully gave me a sense of relief. The knot of anxiety inside me eased just the tiniest bit.
I dumped my jacket onto the floor and approached him, my gaze traveling from his tired face down to his bandaged side. I found myself reaching out, my fingers trembling slightly as they brushed against his forehead. He was hot, but I didn’t think he was running a fever.
“Where were you?” Tristan said, his eyes fluttering open.
“Getting rid of my phone,” I replied.
He nodded. “Good,” he said.
His voice was a little stronger now, his eyes clearer despite the effects of the painkillers. “And...and the body?” he asked, his voice dropping lower.
I swallowed hard. “Tomorrow,” I said, shaking my head. “You need to rest now. We both do.”
“They might come for us tonight,” he said. “I shouldn’t have let you leave the cabin. I…Fuck, Ade. We probably need to move.”
“The cabin is locked up and he didn’t know where it was exactly. If we move now, you might get worse. I was outside. There’s no one there. Not a sound. It’s starting to rain.”
“Adriana, I don’t want you to put you in danger.”
“You dying would put me in danger,” I replied. “Tristan, I can’t…I can’t face this without you.”
Outside, thunder roared.
“Fuck. Fine,” he said. “Make sure to close the whole house down. We might have bought ourselves a little time when you got rid of your phone, if that’s what they used to trace us. More people might come for us tonight.”
“He wasn’t at the cabin,” I said. “This weather is lucky, but…we’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
“If anything were to happen to you…”
I chewed on my lower lip. “Give me your gun.”
“What?”
“My dad taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” I said. “If anyone comes in here while you’re recovering, I’ll shoot them. No questions asked.”
He sighed, but didn’t protest any further, for which I was grateful. He took his gun out of his pocket, set it on the living room table. “I think you’re right about the weather,” he said. “It’s lucky.”
“Yeah.”
He reached out and took my hand with a ghost of his usual grip strength. His other hand came up and brushed a stray lock of hair from my face.
“Don’t stay up too late worrying about me,” he murmured as his eyes began to close again. “We’ll take care of everything else in the morning.”
All of a sudden, a wave of nausea washed over me. My stomach churned violently and before I knew it, I was doubled over, my hands braced against my knees as I retched onto the wooden floor.
Tristan was at my side in an instant, his hand warm on my back. It must have hurt him to move this quickly, I managed to think, as I retched on my knees. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice filled with concern.
Involuntarily, my hand drifted to my stomach. The baby. My baby. Tristan’s baby.
“Turns out morning sickness is all-day-sickness,” I said.
Tristan nodded. “You need some water.”
