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“Yeah, like us!” Vanessa snapped. “Get down!”
Seyla didn’t respond.
Vanessa grabbed her arm. “Hey, you’re the one who was worried about dodging bullets a second ago.”
Seyla hesitated.
Jax was capable of protecting himself, but would he be able to protect Rock? Would he even make an effort? She couldn’t take the risk. She shook off Vanessa’s grip on her arm and tossed a few rocks ten feet to her left. No response. She crept from behind the thickest section of vines. Her cousin’s censorious warnings sprayed her back as she wandered in the direction ofthe barking. Was it coming from the rock ledges ahead on the left?
An engine revved in the same vicinity.
Crouched low, Seyla scrambled toward the sound. If they were gone—great. If not, she needed to help in whatever way possible.
She clambered up a rocky embankment and peered over the edge. A pair of shoes filled her vision, kicking her heart into her throat. She scrambled backward, but hands grabbed her shoulders. With flight no longer an option, Seyla’s muscles tensed to fight.
“Whoa! Hey! Seyla, it’s me, Jax. Careful or you’ll tumble down the embankment.”
Seyla snapped her head up to meet the face from her past. A past she hoped he’d forgotten. Her cheeks burned with humiliation, but she refused to drop her chin. Studying his face, she searched for the pity she expected to find there. But only fierce determination stared back.
Was it possible he didn’t remember?
He let go of her shoulders, stood up, and jumped off the rocky ledge to stand next to her.
Her body instinctively shrank away. What had happened to the sweet boy she’d known in high school? In his place stood a man she didn’t know. A fierce, heavily muscled man. A man whose hazel eyes were pinned on her.
He wrapped his hands around her shoulders again. “Why didn’t you stay with Vanessa? You could have been killed.”
The wariness ebbed away. Irritation she could handle, but not pity. “I-I’m okay.” She knocked Jax’s arms away, brushing the leaves and loose dirt from her shorts and tank top. It was as much a test to gauge his reaction as it was to regain a shred of dignity. “Did you see them?”
“No. They wore a stocking cap on their head. But they drove away on a quad. That tells me it was an individual who knows how to operate one. No plates, though. Not much to go on.” Jax’s hand moved toward Seyla’s cheek but stopped when she stiffened. It flexed in a silent “backing off” sign and dropped to his side. He shifted, scanned the woods behind her. “Where’s Vanessa?”
Seyla whirled around, realizing for the first time that she’d lost sight of the path altogether in her haste to help Rock.
Vanessa was nowhere to be seen.
“I…somewhere over there,” she admitted in a faltering voice, one hand flicking in the direction of the endless span of trees behind her. She dropped both hands to her hips. “She’s hiding behind the vines you pointed out.”
Seyla’s breath hitched when she remembered why she’d abandoned the safety of the bush. “Where’s Rock?” She grabbed Jax’s arm and immediately yanked her hand away at the feel of warm, corded muscles.
Did he have any body fat at all? Seyla shoved away the thought. “We have to find Rock. He could be hurt.” She glanced up at Jax.
He seemed taller.
Jax shook his head and ran a hand over his short brown hair. “No, he’s okay. Rock! Come!” he shouted over his shoulder.
The massive Rottweiler burst through some brush behind Jax seconds later, coming to a halt in front of Seyla. She sank to the ground to hug the dog and check it for injuries. Finding none, she stood again and allowed her body to relax.
“We need to get Vanessa to a doctor,” Jax murmured, moving past her.
Even his voice sounded deeper. Stronger. It rumbled over her in a way she found a fraction too appealing.
Seyla followed him and Rock, the only sound that of their feet crunching through the underbrush in an old, unified rhythm. Too curious to keep quiet any longer, she blurted out, “So what brought you back to Lavender Creek? Visiting your uncle?”
Had she blinked she would have missed the slight pause in his step.
“Yeah. He had a heart attack, and I want to make sure he’s okay. That and… some business I have to take care of.”
Seyla stumbled over a broken branch. Or perhaps her own guilt. “How’s he doing? Is he okay?”
