Page 126
“Your coffee?”
I pull out one pack, unzip it, and count bandages with more force than the bandages deserve. “Coffee’s fine.”
Parker’s gaze stays on me. I can feel it, and for some reason, that makes my shoulders crawl. We’ve known each other too long for him not to hear the lie sitting under every word, but today, his concern lands wrong.
He comes closer, boots quiet on the scuffed floor. “Luke.”
I hate that tone—the gentle one. The old friend one. The one that makes me remember being younger and stupid in this town with him, drinking gas station slushies in the parking lot and talking like life would wait for us to get around to it.
I shove a roll of medical tape back into the pack. “Parker.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Nothin’.”
“Yeah, and Sarah’s a ray of sunshine.”
From the front, Sarah calls without looking back, “I hear both of you, and I resent being dragged into whatever masculine constipation is happenin’ back there.”
Parker’s mouth twitches, but his eyes stay on me. “See? Even she knows somethin’s wrong.”
“I had a long night,” I say, because that’s true enough to wear as armor. “We found the hikers around two in the mornin’, one mildly hypothermic, one with a sprained knee, and enough bad decisions between them to fill a pamphlet. I’m tired.”
His expression softens. “Yeah, heard about that. Good work.”
I shrug. The praise hits the bruise from last night. Two people are home because we went out. Because I went out and didn’t let fear choose for me. But I keep seeing Onyx in my doorway, blue eyes too bright, hands loose at his sides.
He moved because I asked; because even terrified, he let me leave. I know that should matter. It does matter. It just doesn’t untangle the fact that he tried to stop me first.
Parker rests a hand on the table near mine, not touching me. “This about your mystery person?” My head snaps up, and he lifts both hands slightly. “Hey. You don’t have to say anythin’. I’m not pryin’.”
“You are literally pryin’.”
“I’m pryin’ gently.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No, but it makes me charmin’.”
I almost smile. Almost. Instead, I zip the first-aid pack closed and reach for another one. “I’m fine.”
Parker studies me for a beat too long, then lets out a slow breath and looks away. “Okay.”
Something about the way he says it makes my irritation falter. It’s too easy. Parker normally worries a subject until it bites him or gives up. This time, he lets it drop, and I should be grateful, but my gut gives a little twist.
I sigh. “Thanks. It’s just—”
“Ranger station?” The radio on the desk. “This is Jonah Miller. Can anyone hear me?”
My heart lurches, and the first-aid pack slips out of my hand and hits the table. I cross the room in three strides and snatch the radio off the charger, thumb jamming the button hard enough to hurt. “Jonah, it’s Lucas. I hear you. Where are you?”
Static spits back. “Uncle Luke?” Jonah’s voice returns, shaky and breathless. “I’m, uh, I’m near North Ridge. Lower creek crossing, I think. The split pine one. I fell in, and I think I messed up my ankle.”
My chest tightens so sharply I have to close my eyes for half a second.
North Ridge.
Fuck.
