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A familiar face scowled back at him. Pierce St. James shook off his grip and signed, “I knew you were doing something really fucking stupid.”
Cal glanced at Ellie as she stirred in bed and waited until she settled again before whispering, “You followed us?”
Pierce looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Of course I did.”
“Why?”
“Ellie looked like she was going to the gallows when she dropped Puzzle off at the rescue. Knew something was up.” His gaze strayed over Cal’s shoulder to where Ellie was still sleeping. “How is she?”
“Worried. Scared.” Cal crossed his arms over his chest. The half-veiled concern in Pierce’s gaze was puzzling. It seemed that there was something more to his presence here than he admitted. Was it possible that he was worried about Ellie? A sharp sting of jealousy caught him off-guard, and he immediately squashed it down. “Why are you really here?”
The former soldier shrugged. “I was bored. Nothing much going on around the rescue.”
“You were bored, so you followed Ellie up the mountain?”
Pierce didn’t respond. Whatever his real reasoning, he didn’t intend to share. The man was a vault when it came to his personal feelings.
Cal shook his head. “You need to leave.”
Pierce’s gaze strayed to Ellie again. “You shouldn’t have dragged her here.”
“If you think anyone can drag Ellie anywhere, you don’t know her,” Cal hissed, pausing when she shifted in bed. He waited until she settled again before continuing. “She wanted to come and was going to whether or not I agreed to go with her. What else was I supposed to do?”
Pierce gave him a dry look that clearly said he thought Cal’s decision-making skills were questionable at best.
“Look, if you’re just here to criticize, then leave.”
“I’ll leave when I know she’s safe.”
Cal shifted uneasily at this, a sick feeling coiling in his gut. “She’s not your responsibility.”
“No, she chose you for that.” Pierce’s signs were sharp, pointed. “But she’s my friend, and I won’t abandon her when she’s in danger. Something’s not right about this place. I can feel it in my gut.”
He opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. He couldn’t deny that this place was wrong, a twisted version of the peaceful commune they claimed to be. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of what could be lurking behind the faux tranquility, waiting to bare its teeth.
“You’re not wrong,” he finally admitted. “But she needs this closure.”
Pierce exhaled a long slow breath and glanced at Ellie again. Then he signed, “This is about Hope?”
“Of course it’s about Hope. What did you think it was about?”
Pierce didn’t respond. But he didn’t need to. Cal was starting to see the whole picture.
“You thought I was trying to win her back by… what? Bringing her to a cult to be brainwashed into loving me?”
Pierce merely grunted. Not confirming, but not denying it either.
“Wow. You really don’t like me, do you?” And that realization strung. He’d thought they were friends.
Again, he got no response and let the silence stretch between them. As always, Pierce was a fortress of stoicism.
Razzy, unbothered by the tension between them, gave a soft whine and nudged against Pierce’s leg. Cal glanced down, his annoyance softening at the sight of the faithful dog.
Realizing he wouldn’t get any more from Pierce tonight, he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “You can’t go back down to the rescue and tell Zak we’re here. Zak will tell Ash, and you know that grumpy bastard will find a way to shut this all down. Then, Ellie won’t get the answers she needs. Her sister was here long enough to have a child. We know that for sure. The girl is here, and Hope could still be here somewhere, too.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Pierce finally signed.
“You can’t stay here. It’s dangerous.”
