Page 36 of Finding Peace
Everything hinges on that damn word.
The truck slows as we turn off the main highway onto a narrower county road. Trees grow thicker here. Taller. Darker.
Beau kills the headlights without being told.
The sudden dimness makes my pulse spike.
“We park a half mile out,” Lawson says. “Approach on foot.”
Jasper leans forward slightly. “I’ll circle wide left with Beau. Lincoln and Lawson take the front.”
“And me?” I ask.
Four pairs of eyes shift to me at once.
“You’ll stay behind cover,” Lawson says immediately. “I don’t want you in the truck alone, but you’ll be close to us where none of them can find you.”
I sigh. “I knew that was coming.”
“It’s not about us thinking you’re incapable,” Lincoln says gently. “It’s about keeping you alive.”
“I can keep myself alive.”
I’ve been doing it for years.
“We know,” Jasper says softly. “But that’s not the point, Abbie.”
Beau glances back again. His eyes meet mine in the mirror, and something unspoken passes between us.
Fear.
For me.
“You being there changes our priorities,” he says quietly.
“How?”
“You become priority number one.”
My throat tightens. “Isn’t that already the case?” I ask, attempting to lighten the mood if only ever-so-slightly.
Jasper smirks faintly. “Yes. But I can’t focus on beating some low-life ass if all I wanna do is look at your pretty face.”
He plants a quick, wet kiss on my cheek, and I let out a small breath of laughter, despite myself.
The truck finally rolls to a stop beneath a cluster of trees. The engine dies, and silence rushes in. Thick and immediate.
For a moment, none of us move.
I can practically hear my heartbeat.
I watch as Lawson reaches for his door handle. As Jas checks the chamber of his gun one last time. And as Lincoln pulls his jacket closed and adjusts something at his back.
When I step out last, the cold air hits hard, biting at my cheeks and stinging my lungs. Snow crunches under my boots, and the forest ahead is nothing but dark shadows and trunks–dense pines packed tight enough to smother the sun.
Beau walks around the front of the truck and stops in front of me. “You will stay behind one of us. When we tell you to hide, you hide,” he says quietly. His voice laced with unfamiliar authority coming from him. Which only reminds me how serious this is.
“I will.”
