Page 44 of The Vigilante's Lover
“You should learn to swim,” he says.
“You should ask before throwing women off cliffs,” I snap back.
“We need to stay in the water as long as possible,” he says.
“Do you even know where the car is from here?” I ask.
“Of course I do.”
We float along another minute. I try to catch my breath. Above us, the sky is bright blue. Birds flit over the river, as if the people below them are simply going for a swim after a romantic picnic.
I’m freezing, my teeth chattering, and the dress is so heavy I almost want to take it off.
“Nearly there,” Jax says.
He guides us toward the riverbank.
I pull away from him. “I can swim,” I say. “Just not when I’m surprised.”
“Doesn’t matter now.”
I understand what he means when my feet hit bottom. The edge of the river is littered with leaves and bramble. I fight my way through it to get to solid ground.
Jax stops me with his hands.
“We should stay cold enough to escape detection as we get to the car, but they may have already confiscated it. Be prepared to be captured. I have no communication devices. We’re out here on our own skills.” His blue-gray eyes pierce mine. “If you have any special training, now would be a good time to tell me what you can do.”
I don’t know what to say. “I can make sailing knots.”
His face flickers for a moment with some unreadable emotion. “Fine. We’ll see how it goes.”
He takes off at a loose run.
I grab the dripping base of my skirt and hitch it up over my knees so I can keep up. “We’ll see how it goes?” I ask. “That’s all you’ve got? The big tough Vigilante with all those fancy gadgets?”
“That’s all I’ve got,” he says, his voice cold.
I want to jump on his back and pummel him, but the situation is too dire. If they take us back to the silo, what then? Will I still be special? Or a fugitive like him? The crystals still tinkle on my wrist.
Jax hears them and halts. “Damn it,” he says. He snatches the bracelet and splits it apart. The crystals fall all over the leaves.
Of course. They can track me with it.
He takes off at a sprint now and it’s all I can do to keep him in sight ahead of me. When I think I can’t go another step, I see the car ahead. Thank God.
Except, the tire is still flat.
Jax stands by a tree off to one side.
I come up next to him, sucking in air. “They took your keys, didn’t they?”
“I’m not that foolish.” He emits a high-pitched whistle.
“Do they come when you call them?” I ask.
The key chain falls from the tree neatly into his hand. “Something like that,” he says. “Now get in.”
I wrench open the passenger door.
