Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Still breathing hard, I take off through the house. “Where is she?”
Justice, who just came through the door, moves through the kitchen until he’s planted in front of me. He looks me over, head to toe and back again.
Is he mute?
“Where. Is. She?”
“Out on the patio.” He glances toward the dining room. “You okay?”
“I’m fucking fine, but I’ll be better when I see?—”
He grins. “Take a breath, brother. There are no threats to her out there. You need to take it easy.”
“Fuck easy.”
He tilts his head, dark gaze boring into me. “I want you to do me a favor.”
“I want you to do me a favor. Get. Out. Of. My. Way. ”
“I want you to let her in.”
The line between my brows grows tight. “The hell are you talking about?”
“You’ll know.”
He steps aside, moving around me and leaving me staring at the space where he was standing.
Let her in.
No. He’s not talking about that.
No fucking way.
I give myself a mental shake and stalk through the laundry room-slash-mudroom and out the back door.
When I shove the door open, my stomach falls. It’s the relief on her face when she sees me that almost makes me trip over my own feet.
She rises, keeping her gaze locked on me as she wipes her palms on her pants legs.
Lips rolled in between her teeth, she takes a dozen steps and closes the distance between us. When she’s toe-to-toe with me, she tilts her pretty face up.
Ten beats of my chugging heart pass.
“Thank you for defending me.”
Swallow. Swallow. Breathe.
“Of course I defended you.”
Her gaze softens as she glances at my lips.
No. Fucking hell. Don’t look at me like that.
I’m not. I can’t.
I’ll never be the man that deserves for her to look at me like that.
With my chest constricted, I step back. Anger seeps into my tone. “He’s not diving with you.”
When I turn and walk away, her feet tap quickly on the patio stones behind me.
There’s a sharp tug on my shirt sleeve. “Scout! You can’t pull the plug on the mission.”
Against my better judgment, I turn around to look down at her. She’s fisting my shirt. But she is not touching my skin.
The fire in her eyes sets something inside me ablaze. A dangerous fuel that has no place in my life.
With color brightening her cheeks, she inhales quickly. “I’m here to do a job. That woman your team is looking for could be dying in that cave right now. She needs us to set personal bullshit aside. You heard the professor. We have to dive today or the chance to explore that chamber is gone.”
“I know.” My voice is rough as fuck.
Rife with confusion, my brain tries to lock onto anything that makes sense.
Worry tugs her brows together as she searches my face. “Griff is out for who knows how long. Brundage has to dive with me.”
Tension spreads through my body at lightning speed until I’m wound like a coil. “No. He won’t be getting into the water with you. I don’t trust your life to him.”
Shock echoes through her gaze. “But…”
“I’m taking his place.”