Page 60 of Run

She pointed at him. “Stop flirting with me.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Are you trying to gaslight me?”

“Just say the word, little sis,” Abasi drawled, his attention on his phone, “and I’ll put a bullet in this clown for you.”

David crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow at Abasi. “I wasn’t flirting,” he said to Elle. “I was playing. That’s what we do, isn’t it? Play?”

Damn it, he knew exactly what to say to make her heart melt.

“Not anymore.” She forced out the words and went back to staring at her screen.

What had she been doing? Oh yeah, downloading Linux. She tapped keys and pretended her full attention was on the screen in front of her when, really, she was aware of every move David made around the room.

What would Leia do in this situation?

Leia would jump him and force him to admit he was an idiot.

Sometimes, Princess Leia was no help at all.

There was a three-two tap at the door before it opened and Ryan slipped in. “Spoke to the olds,” he said as he sat on the single chair. “They’re driving down to Cornwall to visit my parents. Like I told them to after the office was shot up.”

Guilt made Elle’s stomach clench, which made the pizza repeat on her. Yeah, she wasnevereating pizza again. Ever. From now on, she’d always associate pizza with being on the run. And congealed cheese.

“I’m so sorry about your grandparents, Ryan,” she said. “Are they okay?”

“Physically, they’re fine. Mentally, they’re freaked out. Don’t apologize; you have nothing to be sorry about. It wasn’t you who held them hostage in their own home. That was this arsehole’s fault.” He cocked a thumb at Abasi. “You deserve a beating for what you did.”

“You only get one free punch,” Abasi said. “You had yours. Next time, I hit back.”

“Right.” Callum stalked back into the room. “Bedtime. Ryan, you’re on first watch. David can take second, and I’ll take third. Abasi doesn’t get a watch. He gets watched. I’ll take the middle bed. Elle, you stay where you are. David, you can sleep on the floor between our beds.”

Elle considered the space between the beds. It wasn’t very wide, and David’s feet would stick out beyond the end of the bed. Surely that was a tripping hazard.

“I’m shorter,” she said. “I think I should sleep on the floor.”

“No,” was all David said as he took the blankets Callum handed him and spread them out in the narrow space.

Elle looked at Callum’s bed—there was no way David could share it. Callum’s shoulders barely fit in it as it was. She glanced at Abasi, who was much slenderer.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said when he caught her eye. “I ain’t sharing a bed with nobody.”

“I’m fine.” David toed off his shoes. “This isn’t the first time I’ve slept on the floor.”

She noted that all the men had done to prepare for bed was take off their shoes, guns, and jackets. In fact, neither Abasi nor Callum had even bothered getting under the bedding. They lay on top of their beds, ready for action at any second. Even though they were tired. All of them. It’d been a heavy couple of days, and it wasn’t over yet.

“Hit the lights, Ryan.” David crawled between the blankets on the floor.

The room went dark, with only slivers of light from around the curtains and the light from Ryan’s phone to see by. Elle lay on her nice soft bed, which was plenty spacious for her small frame, and listened to everyone’s breathing. It sounded like Abasi and Callum were already asleep.

She quietly rolled over to peer down at David. Lying flat on his back, he had his hands clasped on his chest and his eyes closed. If he rolled over, he’d smack into one of the beds. That floor couldn’t be comfortable. And how clean was it really? There was no way to tell because the carpet was all red and brown swirls. Like they were trying to hide the dirt. It wasn’t reassuring.

Stifling a groan, she lay back down and stared at the ceiling. He’d be fine. He was trained to sleep anywhere. Right?

Her hands slid out until they hit the edges of the bed. For some reason, all she could see was images from the movieTitanic. The end scene played on a loop in her head—Rose lying on the board, floating in the ocean, while the man she loved froze in the water. All Rose had to do was roll over to make space for Jack. There had absolutely been room on that board for both of them.

Elle scrunched her eyes shut tight, trying to keep the logical conclusion out of her head.