Page 156 of Rangers Mountain Rescue
But it’s not uncomfortable.
Not really.
It’s… something else.
“You always do that?” he asks after a moment.
“Do what?”
“Take control of everything.”
I let out a small breath.
“Only when no one else does.”
He nods slowly.
Like that answer makes sense to him.
“It suits you,” he says.
My chest tightens.
Just a little.
“Yeah,” I reply softly. “Well… someone has to keep you alive.”
That does it.
He looks at me then.
Really looks.
And the air shifts.
“You’d do that for anyone,” he says.
It’s not a question.
It’s a boundary.
I hold his gaze.
“For someone who needs it? Yeah.”
Something flickers in his eyes.
Something complicated.
“Right,” he says quietly.
And there it is again.
That wall.
Tank.
The past.
