Page 97 of High Water

“Let me see.” He drops to his knees for a better look, and I do as he asks despite how vulnerable it feels. “Oh fuck. You should see how pretty your pussy is dripping with me.” He presses his fingers inside me as the praise makes my clit threaten to flutter back to life. “Fuck. I’m gonna love putting in the work on this.” He kisses the inside of my knee and runs his hand up my thigh before he stands, leaving a glimmering line over my skin. “You like being marked like this, don’t you? I can already tell how much you do.” He licks what’s left of us off his fingers, holding my gaze with a satiated grin as I watch him.

A confident Bishop, one who takes control like this, is enough to make my whole world spin off its axis and make me question anything I thought I wanted. Never mind the rules. I just want the man who makes me forget they exist.

FORTY-ONE

Bishop

There’s no convincing Aspen to wait the next morning. Once Fallon’s off to school, we’re in the truck heading for Fool’s Gold Mine. She packed a bag and dressed like she’s going out into the field, and I did the same, but I have a feeling we’re woefully underprepared for wandering around inside a more or less abandoned mine. To my knowledge, and from the brief update she gave me this morning, no one’s been inside it in decades.

But she’s right that the symbols on the two pieces of paper match, and that, combined with the chunk of pyrite that tumbled out of the broken hilt of the sword, means we don’t have much of a choice about where to head for the next clue on this little adventure. The timing is what we’re debating.

“I still think we should wait for Levi or Rowan. Someone who’s got the authority to spend some money on experienced professionals with all the gear to do this.” I express my concern as we unpack ourselves and our things from the truck. We’ve parked on the road to the mine, but there’s still a decent hike up the mountain to get inside.

“Don’t tell me that, with everything you do for a living, this has you worried.” She flicks me a look, throws her backpack over her shoulders, and clips the chest strap.

“Used to do. You wanted me to quit because it was too dangerous, remember?” I try to get her to see sense.

“I just want to see what it looks like in there. If anything is risky, we’ll come straight back out. I promise.” She gives me a sympathetic look. “I’m not looking to get hurt or stuck in some sketchy situation. I just want to do a preliminary. We won’t know who we’re hiring or what kind of equipment we need until we have some information. Plus, I want to see if the map matches what we can see inside there.”

“There are drones that can do that kind of recon for you.”

“Do you have one?”

“No, but I’m positive Levi can get one.”

“You texted him, right?” She double-checks with me as we stand outside the entrance. I can already feel cooler air emanating from inside.

“I did. I told him we need him over here as soon as possible. That you found something, and it should be in his inbox from last night.”

“I’m surprised he wasn’t knocking at our door first thing this morning.” Her brow furrows.

“Maybe he spent the morning in bed with his girlfriend, having coffee after a long night.”

“Slackers. We had a long night and look at us.” She grins.

“I don’t know. A donut and coffee in bed sounds pretty good right now.” I look skeptically at the slope down into the mine. Even from here, it looks like it’s a mess of rotting wood where the cart path has aged terribly and warped with time.

“The Bishop I knew was always up for adventure.” She glances at me as we start to make our way inside.

“I’m always up for adventure. Just a little more cautious when I’m worried for your safety and not feeling as prepared as I like to be.” I flip on the flashlight and illuminate the space in front of us. I don’t mind a dangerous situation, but I like having all the plans laid out in front of me first.

“All right.” She pauses and looks at me, apparently acknowledging the apprehension in my voice. “We get to a point where you want to stop or go back, just say so. I want to check things out, but I don’t want to put us at risk. So you get to a point where you tell me you’re uncomfortable, and I’ll respect that. We’ll come back. Okay?”

“Okay.” I nod, satisfied that she’s serious.

We press on into the mine, a cavernous maze of old tunnels. While the snow has melted down in the valley where we were excavating the sword, up here on the mountain, it’s a different story. There’s still a lot of snowpack on the peak and surrounding slopes. Holes and craters above our heads lead down into the mine and have created avalanches of snow that show up as obstacles we’re forced to climb on and around. Huge swaths of the floor are flooded with frozen ice, and jagged icicles hang from the low ceilings in places where the snowmelt leaks through cracks in the rock and forms icy stalagmites on the ground that we have to dodge our way around as we head deeper into the mine shaft.

We follow the old rusty cart tracks deeper and deeper in, our flashlights guiding the way. But when the mine opens up, it branches off in several different directions, and I’m left wondering what the hell we’re doing in here without more people with us.

“Left, center, or right?” I ask.

“If I’m reading the map correctly, we go right.” She curves that way, and I follow her.

The air feels heavy, and as we round the corner, we create enough vibration to start a small rockfall from the wall to our right around some old, rotten beams that have seen better days. Beyond it is another break in the path with two paths diverting: one heading up, and another on the left, heading down. We walk toward it as she taps a spot on the map that seems to be similarly marked.

There’s a bright-red X on the wall that’s either a guidepost or an ominous warning. We have no idea which, and I can’t help but feel a little trepidation as we make our way down the curving path, which turns steep. My calf muscles start to burn from bracing against the slow pace as we go deeper. A bit of the earth under Aspen’s feet gives way, making her slide forward suddenly.

“Shit!” she curses, and I grab her arm out of instinct, keeping her from falling. But her momentum drags us both forward, and we stumble down several more feet before we hit an abrupt end to the path. I grab a giant beam of wood to my left and tighten my grip around her arm, pulling her close as the cavern opens up beyond us. Then there’s the flutter of dozens of wings over our heads that makes a whooshing sound.