“We’re okay,” I tell her.
Lie.
But she nods anyway.
Trusting me completely.
The weight of that trust presses painfully against my ribs.
Because I almost died yesterday.
Because if I had—
These kids would’ve watched it happen.
A shadow settles beside me again.
Russ.
Always Russ now.
“You good?” he murmurs quietly.
“No,” I almost say.
Instead: “Yeah.”
His eyes stay on my face a second too long.
He knows.
Of course he knows.
But this time he doesn’t call me out on it.
He just stays close enough that warmth radiates off him through the cold.
Close enough that my body immediately remembers exactly how it felt pressed against his inside that rock shelter.
Stop.
Focus.
Lucas motions us lower again.
We move carefully along the cliffside in tighter formation now, shoulders nearly brushing as the trail narrows dangerously.
Loose gravel shifts beneath my boots.
Pain pulls sharply through my side when I step wrong.
Then suddenly my foot slips.
A startled breath leaves me as the ground shifts beneath my boot—
And a hand catches my waist instantly.
Russ.
