Page 126 of Stay Scared

Ash tries immediately.

His balance shifts.

I catch his forearm, and his other hand closes around the back of my hip before he falls into me.

Heat comes through his shirt. His forehead nearly touches mine before he catches himself.

He breathes too hard for a man who’s spent the entire night making his voice sound untouchable.

“Not yet. Stay down.”

His eyes sharpen. “I am not remaining on the floor while Rook moves through my property.”

“You can sit for thirty seconds without surrendering the company.”

His mouth tightens. “The company is currently being held hostage by a man I buried ten years ago.”

“Then thirty seconds will not ruin your streak.”

Cade makes a sound that might be a laugh until his ribs punish him for it.

Ash glares past me.

The anger looks more useful than the empty control he was trying to rebuild.

Owen checks the opening with the remaining utility light and finds a small device near the pulley frame.

“No active signal.”

He turns it over. “Independent uplink relay.”

Ash turns toward it. “It can transmit without the park network.”

His attention drops to the broken mask near his thigh.

Rook struck it deliberately.

Owen looks at Ash. “He wanted your face visible.”

Ash’s hand closes against his thigh.

Disabling the Voice wasn’t enough for Rook. He wanted Ash exposed.

I open the first-aid pouch clipped to Cade’s vest and pull out a clean pad.

“Hold this against your temple.”

Ash takes it.

His fingers shake once, barely enough to notice.

Our eyes meet.

“I am not accustomed to being blind inside my own property.”

His voice is lower without the mask.

I crouch between his knees. “You’ve been blind all night.”