Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
I swear, I need a Scout decoder ring. Anywhere but here?
When he climbs into the truck after changing, I immediately try to find out. “What does that mean?”
Scout tears out of the gathered vehicles and out to the main road. He accelerates and takes a turn too fast, making me bump against the door of the truck. “Hey, speed demon.”
“It means I want you away from everyone.”
I wish that was for romantic reasons, but given the aura around the man, that’s highly unlikely.
Given that I want to get as far away from Keith, Adam, and Brundage, I should be pressing my foot on top of his boot to make him go faster. But instead I sit and watch him driving as fear slithers down my spine.
When Scout was tenderly cleaning the mud off my feet, I was lulled into a momentary reprieve. But my fear is back and his weird vibe isn’t helping.
It’s like a switch flipped and gone in the thoughtful man that was just taking care of me, back is the SEAL that’s built out of boulders and hard glares.
My fingers tingle and turn cold. I wish the lump in my throat didn’t feel like icy gravel. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Because I am.”
I look at him more closely, trying to decide if the tic below his eye is a tell of some kind. “That’s a non-answer.”
He glances at the side mirror and back at the road with his jaw tight, the trim scruff of his beard moving from the pulsing muscle below it.
“Who is Adam?”
Oh, Christ.
I am not ready for that conversation. Keep it light, Aria. “He’s my brother’s competition. I worked for him for a short time.”
Scout glances at me, those wintery knives slicing me. “And?”
Lungs locked, I try to sound normal. “And he’s a gigantic chauvinistic ass.”
“What about Keith?”
Palms sweating cold, slick perspiration, I look out the side window. “Keith is Adam’s wingman.”
The silence gets so thick, I roll the window down and close my eyes as the humid air washes over my face.
“Why did he call you, sugar ?”
Oh, the malice in that last word.
It’s probably eighty-five degrees outside, but a shiver tightens my muscles, making me cross my arms. “Because he’s a pig. ”
“And you know this because?”
I sigh, fighting for patience. “Scout, are we playing fifty questions?”
If his jaw was tight a moment ago, that was nothing. The cords of his neck stand out like highway overpasses. “My radar is going off, Aria. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“I’m safe,” I say. But I do not sound convincing at all. “I mean last night I wasn’t, but you handled that. You also handled Brundage. You took care of the crisis on the dive. But now there’s nothing to be worried?—”
He interrupts me and stops me cold. “I think someone cut the hose to your regulator.”
I open my mouth, but the only sound that comes out is a raspy wheeze as my heart drops like a stone to my stomach.
Scout swerves toward the ditch as a white SUV almost takes us out. “Mother fucker,” he shouts as he gets the truck back on the road.
Then he jams on the brakes.
An instant later we’re in reverse.