Page 22 of The Hero Within
CJ shot her a faint smile. He'd been considerably more relaxed ever since Colton joined the party that morning. Maybe she'd be better off kicking them both off the edge of the Rim and continuing on by herself.
Maybe she was just pissed because the last man she’d ever wanted to see again was barking orders like a Confederacy general.
"Darlin'," Colton drawled, "Everyone needs me in their life. Especially the ladies."
Eden's eyes narrowed to slits.
"And you're the one who tried to blackmail me into doing this. I'm not here out of the goodness of my heart, so if you want me gone, then just say the word."
Somehow, the cage of her teeth caught the answer that sprang to mind.
"Just in case you need a little crash course on this entire situation:Youchased me down.Youdemanded I guide you. I'm doing exactly what you asked me to do. I don't get what the problem is," Colton said, then lifted his water skin to his lips, his face tilted toward the dying light of the sun as he drank. His throat worked and Eden looked furiously away as a splash of water trailed down his lips and chin.
This. This was the problem.
She wasn't impervious to him.
She'd seen his gaze drop to her breasts in the bar. She knew exactly what had been going through his mind at the time. Every now and then a spark of heat flared in his whiskey-brown eyes when they met hers, and while she ought have been disgusted, she couldn't help feeling the past flash between them.
The first time she'd ever laid eyes upon Johnny Colton had been the day he and his uncle rode into her small town when she was eighteen. She'd been running errands in town for Adam when she'd burst around the corner of the general store and seen a young man bent over the horse trough, splashing water over his face. Tall, lean, dressed completely in black, he'd straightened when he'd heard her suck in a sharp breath, leaving water tracking rivulets down his throat and the open collar of his shirt.
It had been an unguarded moment.
Wide eyes. A handsome stranger barely a handful of years older than her.
And then Johnny Colton had given her the shyest smile she'd ever seen on a man, and Eden's heart had started beating a little faster.
"Hello, angel," he'd said to her.
Eden hauled herself out of the memories. She'd been attracted to him the second she saw him. She'd let him use their washhouse and then stolen a kiss behind it. And it seemed—despite everything that had happened—that attraction hadn't completely died away.
Just admit it. You're not pissed at him because he's doing what you asked. You're pissed because you can't take your eyes off him.
"No problem," she managed to say between her teeth.
Colton smirked.
Ugh.
Turning around, he surveyed the small town nestled right on the edge of the cliffs of the Divide. "Welcome to Rimside. Location: Buttfuck Nowhere. Population: Scum of the earth. Don't drink the water. You might get syphilis."
"Cholera," she muttered. "You're thinking of cholera."
"Don't ruin my monologue."
"And stop swearing. You don't have to cuss all the time."
"I like swearing, thanks, Grandma. There are some situations where a simplegoshdarnjust isn't going to cut it." He gestured toward Rimside. "This place is a shithole filled with reiver scum. Unfortunately, it's also the only place within a reasonable distance that has access down into the Divide, without us having to pass through any of the Dead Zones around here."
Just the thought of the radioactive Dead Zones sent a shiver down her spine. When the meteor that caused the Darkening hit all those years ago, it had sent the world into an unnatural impact winter, and wildfires scorched the lands. Nuclear reactors had melted down, poisoning the area around them to this day, and everyone in the Wastelands knew to avoid them.
"Night's falling. How soon can we get down?" CJ asked.
"We stay in Rimside tonight—"
"Surely we can at least go down?" she blurted, glancing toward the sky. Evening slid across the blue expanse, a hint of shadow crawling across the horizon, like someone was drawing a blanket over the world. "We're tight on time."
"The last thing we want to do is camp the night at the base of Rimside. The bast...very bad menhere like to entertain themselves with a specific custom that attracts all manner of critters in the Divide."
