Page 91 of A Light in the Darkness
It only takes a few minutes—just like when I had her on my boat for the first time, her fears fade, and I can feel her relax against me. She still holds tight, just the way she was told to, but I can feel the tension disappear, and a tension of another kind starts to grow as she leans her head between my shoulder blades, her cheek flush with my back. No interest in watching the path we’re creating, no fear of us careening over a cliff—just implicit trust. And as she giggles when we bounce over a large rock,joy.
It shouldn’t surprise me that my girl is a secret adrenaline junkie. I’ve seen what she’s capable of. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy killing, it comes with a massive rush of adrenaline, and that at least, feels good… though maybe not as good as flying through the night with her at my back acting as my wings, carrying us both.
Kent follows the path he’s laid out in his head, and I keep my eyes on him the whole time, even while my head is in another place entirely. It’s hard to focus on what sordid shit we may run into when I’m carrying a little piece of heaven with me, but when the little town unfolds before us, Kent goes dark. One by one, each of us follows suit, driving through the darkness on faith in a greater purpose… or trust in Kent’s ability to see at night.
We don’t go far in the dark before Kent cuts his engine and slides off his bike, readying his gun instead. When I stop beside him and climb off to help Claire down, her face is lit by the moon and I’m not sure she’s ever looked more ethereal.
“So, youarea secret biker.” She says, looking me up and down. “You’re a surfer, a biker, a billionaire. Is there anything youcan’tdo?”
“I can’t make a good cup of coffee to save my life,” I tell her honestly.
Claire only stares at me a moment, trying to decide whether that was a joke. After a moment, she laughs.
“Don’t sound so impressed,” Michael says, hopping off the back of Rook’s bike before it’s even come to a complete stop. “Billionaires have lots of time to practice their hobbies.”
“He’s right.” I admit, wrapping my arms around her without pulling her off the seat just yet. “Besides, just because I can do those things doesn’t mean I do themwell… though I’m willing to continue to do them for you. I get the sense you enjoyed the ride?”
“Yes.” She bites her lip, and suddenly I want to take her on a ride of another kind. Jesus, she’s got me fucked up. We’re in a potential life or death situation, and all I can think about is getting inside of her.
In that single moment on the plane with her banter, all of the worry that I lost her to depression or PTSD was gone. In that moment, she promised me that she’s still in there even after everything, and that gives me all the hope in the world. I know that healing isn’t a linear path, and I know that there will be bad days, bad periods, depressive days. But I know now that we can coax each other out of them.
And now that I know that, I’m more full of hope for the future than I ever have been.
“I sure as fuck didn’t enjoy the ride.” Rook grumbles, stealing me from my thoughts of waking up to Claire’s face every day for the rest of my life. “Michael’s dick touched me.”
“What?” Claire snorts, so taken aback by the confession that shecan’t help herself.
“I can’t control the monster,” Michael defends himself. “It’s not like Iwantedto be pressed up against you. I should have fucking walked.”
I hoist Claire off the back of the bike, and when she’s on the ground, can’t resist planting a kiss on the top of her forehead.
“Youwillbe walking on the way back if you don’t figure out how to reign that fucker in. Don’t you wear boxers?”
Michael’s scoff tells us all we need to know. “You can’t cage a wild animal.”
For a minute, I think Rook may punch him. But then Rich clears his throat, tipping his head to where Kent has already taken off walking toward the town.
He hasn’t said, exactly, what we’re supposed to say if anyone spots us. I’m fairly certain that a group of men and a single, gorgeous woman dressed in tactical gear showing up in their tiny town in the thick of night would raise some questions. But I guess that’s a problem we will deal with when we come to it, so we take off after him, resuming the previous formation.
“Safety off.” I tell Claire, giving her the exact opposite of every firearm safety guideline ever. “If you don’t feel safe, you shoot first and ask questions later. Got it?”
Next to me, Claire nods her understanding.
Chapter fifty-three
Claire
I’ve heard of one stop-light towns, but as we approach this one, I’m not sure whether they have any stoplights at all. This town is tiny, consisting of just a few buildings against the dark backdrop of mountains. It’s honestly unfathomable, and even weirder is to imagine that anything sinister is taking place here.
But as Kent navigates us to the town, I realize maybe it’s because what’s sinister isn’t actuallyintown at all. He leads us along the dirt path, past the little wooden sign welcoming us to town, and through.
The weirdest thing about walking through it is the quiet. It’s unsettling, but Remy’s arm brushing against mine grounds me. I’m not afraid of the people—I don’t blame anyone who would want to live in a place like this, removed from the shit that is the rest of the world.
But something about walking through a practical ghost town feels… wrong.
At some point, I realize where we’re going, even though Kent didn’t tell us exactly what he suspected. But he filled us in thoroughly on the town history—an old mining town where gold was once discovered. The mine’s closed now, but I suppose that doesn’t mean it’s entirely abandoned.
Really, though, could anybody live inside a mine? I have severe doubts about that, although I guess I don’t really know what mines look like. I have a feeling I’m about to find out.
