“I didn’t want to.”
Olin, still beside me, clears his throat. “Hey Briar, maybe we?—”
“Stay out of this, Olin.” Marcus glowers at him, sending Olin retreating.
I step closer to Marcus, tipping my chin up to hold his gaze. “Don’t bully him. He’s got nothing to do with this.”
The earth rumbles to life beneath our feet, a storm brewing in Marcus’s amber-flecked eyes. “I’m not bullying anyone. If you needed me, you could have radioed or come to get me.”
“How were any of us supposed to know you weren’t on a romantic getaway?”
I’m not proud of how bitter and petty I’m being. My plant connection is humming through my veins, because there’s no way I can keep my cool right now.
He inches closer, the ground shaking harder now. “Everyone here knows I’d cut my own goddamn heart out for you.”
The deep, husky declaration makes the breath still in my chest. This is the Marcus I’ve been aching to have back.
“Then why won’t you talk to me?”
The words are barely audible because it’s so hard for me to get them out. I’ve never been stripped so bare, and I don’t even care anymore who’s watching. I’ve needed this conversation for almost a month.
“What could I say? I’ve done unforgivable things.” His intensity has vanished, replaced by something that makes me want to throw myself into his arms.
“You could try. You could make me feel like we’re worth fighting for.”
His lips part with shock. “I’d do anything that would make you look at me like you used to. But the betrayal’s written all over your face, even right now.”
“Marcus, it’shurt.” My voice breaks. “It’s?—”
I lose my footing, stumbling as the ground beneath my feet cracks apart. Marcus lunges at me, pulling and then throwing me away from the growing fracture near our feet. People are yelling, but I just hear background noise as he waves his arms in the air, trying to get his balance while standing right on the edge of the jagged, two-foot-wide slash that runs the length of our camp as far as my eyes can see.
“Marcus!” My heart races into overdrive and I go to him, taking his arm to jerk him toward me.
The ground stills, both of us breathing hard. His eyes swirl with alarm and sorrow when they find mine. I reach up to cup his cheek.
“Breathe,” I say softly. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
The crack has stopped widening, but the damage is done. A fall into the deep split dividing our camp would kill someone. I creep closer and see endless darkness inside the rift.
Marcus turns to look around, Nova approaching us with a stern expression.
“I fucking did that,” he mutters, sounding stunned.
I go back to him and take his hand, holding it firmly.
“You guys okay?” Nova asks.
“Yeah, what about everyone else?” Marcus calls.
“I don’t know. No one around me was hurt, but we need to see how big the crack is.”
“It’s my fault.”
Nova shrugs a shoulder. “Maybe. Could’ve been an earthquake.”
“It wasn’t.” He releases my hand, scrubbing his palm over his face. “Fuck. I could’ve killed someone. I might have, we don’t know yet. Someone could still fall in and die.”
“I’ll put out a shelter-in-place order,” Nova says. “We’ll assess damages and make sure no one can fall in.”
