Page 103

After a few agonizing seconds, James gives me a nod and steps aside. “Go.”

Nigel takes a step forward, but then Ollie and Nathan grab him, stopping him. Nigel’s eyes flash. “You can’t let her leave. Ezra and Naomi will be furious with you.” Nigel waves a dismissive hand. “Never mind, I’ll call them myself.”

James slides over with just as much finesse as Micah would and grabs Nigel with ease, wrapping his arm around his back, covering his mouth with his other hand. Nigel withers and tries to scream, but he doesn’t stand a chance against the bigger hockey player, even if he is younger.

James looks at me. “Grab what you need. We’ll cover for you the best we can.”

I bite my bottom lip. There is hope for this group, yet.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

I take a few steps forward, but pause and turn back to them. They all stare at me in the dark, Nigel radiating anger. “You don’t have to stay here, you know. You have options.” I turn and run as fast as I can back to Ezra’s shelter, where I’m hoping Micah is waiting for me.

When I arrive, I freeze. He’s nowhere in sight.

Where are you, Micah?

My chest rises and falls, my breath filling the surrounding air. The sun is all the way set now, leaving only the outline of the shelters and the silky lake ahead of me.

Swallowing a pit in my throat, I carefully make my way to the cove under the moonlit sky, avoiding tripping in the dark. I just hope Micah is waiting for me when I get there.

But for reasons I can’t explain, I know he won’t be.

He wasn’t there when I arrived, and fifteen agonizing minutes go by, and I still have no idea where Micah is, or why he didn’t follow our plan. I sit on the flat rock and place my head between my legs, listening to the soft lap of the water in front of me. The silence is beyond unnerving, especially as it’s only my dark thoughts keeping me company and the deep veil of the forest behind me with branches that seem to whisper.

All my worst fears swirl in my brain.

They caught Micah.

Thomas will die.

Maison doesn’t love me anymore.

If Micah doesn’t come back, I truly don’t know what I will do. I suppose I’ll go back to the main camp and beg them. I’ll beg them till my knees are raw.

Finally, I sense him before I hear him. Every nerve fires when soft footsteps echo against the rock. I can barely make out his tall frame as he walks up to me, holding a bag in his hand. He’s tense and doesn’t look or acknowledge me. Annoyance quickly replaces my initial wave of relief.

I snap my head up and shoot to my feet. “Where were you?”

He ignores me and tosses the bag onto the ground and roots through it.

I step toward him, balling my hands into fists. “You didn’t follow the plan. You had me so worried.”

Silence. Just his brooding, dominating presence taking over the cove.

“Fucking say something, Micah!” I scream out.

He snaps his head up so fast. “You didn’t follow the plan, either. You got fucking distracted, London.”

I tilt my head, pressing my lips together.

What does he mean by that?

My voice comes out as a shudder. “I did what I needed to do. You got the kit, did you not? And here we are, together again… So what is your problem?”

He’s leaning over, inspecting the contents, pointedly ignoring my question. His hard eyes flit up to mine. “Maison’s not into Serena. You didn’t have to spend five minutes gawking at them.”

I let my arms drop to the side, my stomach in my throat. “I wasn’t gawking at Maison and Serena; I was distracting Nigel, and it worked.”