I frown down at him. “Where’s your head today? That’s the fourth time I’ve pinned you.”
“This is a waste of my time.” His eyes flash dangerously. “I should be on surveillance. Do you know how difficult it will be to make up two hours of missed footage on thirty-seven cameras?”
I grimace. “How close are they now?”
“They stopped last night and set up camp,” he says in a clipped voice. “Last I saw, they hadn’t yet moved.”
Easing my grip, I soothe, “So it’s not an immediate concern. We can help you with the cameras later.” I hesitate, then add in an undertone, “But are you sure that’s what this is about?”
His face takes on such an unholy light that I back up fast and watch him warily as he shoves to his feet. With a chilling curl of his lip, he yanks down his rumpled, grass-stained shirt.
Beside us, Dom breaks Lucky’s hold around his neck, then throws him flying over his shoulder and down hard into the dirt.
Lucky wheezes.
Jasper fires a vicious glare at Dom. “Would you be careful? I was under the impression that we’re here to train, not to snap one another’s necks.”
He whips his towel off a low-hanging branch and swipes at his flushed forehead.
Dom catches me looking, then rolls his eyes skyward, and I cough to hide a laugh.
“Pulling punches in training is a fast way to get people killed in action. We don’t do that here. You’d know that by now if you didn’t keep skipping out on us.” Rubbing his neck where Lucky half-strangled him, Dom adds wryly, “And my neck is just fine, thanks for the concern.”
Jasper gives him a withering look.
Lucky groans good-naturedly as he sits up. “You know, the rear naked choke always ends differently in my head.”
Ignoring that, Dom nods at him. “It was good. You’re coming in faster. Much better than last week.”
Lucky shrugs one shoulder, but there’s a pleased glow to his smile as he grabs his bottle for a drink. Guy would roll over and show his belly for a compliment, I swear.
Dom reaches out a hand to help Lucky up, but instead of taking it, Lucky launches forward into a somersault, somehow ending up on his feet. He bounces on his toes with the same buoyant energy he’s had all morning, as if he’s burning extra bright today to make up for Jasper’s gloom.
“Don’t get too cocky.” Dom frowns. “Your offense is strong, but you leave yourself too exposed. If you don’t fix up your evasive maneuvers, you’re going to catch bullets sooner or later.”
Lucky re-ties his loosening hair, then waves his hand dismissively. “Don’t you know? Tragic hero is my aesthetic.” His dimple flashes. “Just like bossy jerk is yours, grumpy Hulk is Jayk’s, self-righteous sweetheart is Beau’s, and sexy nerd is Eden’s.”
I choke on my water. “I am not self-righteous!” I scoff. “I’m a doctor. I help people!”
Lucky inclines his head at Dom. “See?”
“Idiot.” I twist up my towel and whip it so it cracks against his ass. He yelps, cackling as he spins to face me, and Dom snorts.
“What does that make mine, then?”
Silky. Indolent. The words slice through the levity in a single, neat cut. Despite his still-pink cheeks, Jasper’s glittering eyes warn of poisoned waters and blackened, roiling skies.
Lucky straightens, and I don’t know why it strikes me now, but I realize for the first time how much older he is than when I first met him. There’s a seriousness and a hardness in him that seems suddenly obvious now he’s stopped smiling.
He looks Jasper over. “That makes you the one getting saved, I guess.” He shrugs and picks up his bottle again. “Especially if you’re letting yourself get pinned four times in one morning.”
Oh, shit.
I freeze, glancing between the two of them. Watching Jasper’s face is like watching an avalanche descend, wintry and ruinous. Lucky casually sips from his water bottle.
For the four years we’ve been at Bristlebrook—and years before that, even—the two of them have circled around each other with gravitational force. Now, within just a few days, they’re on a collision course.
Maybe Dom is right. Not about all of it, of course, but there’s no pretending that Eden isn’t stirring up a whole pot of emotions here.
“Did I or did I not see you writhing on the ground yourself just moments ago?” Jasper snipes.
Lucky tilts his head as if puzzled. “Which time? I’ve been rolling around all night.”
Dom and I exchange a loaded married-couple look.
I raise my brows, and glance at them without moving my head. Should we do something?
Dom lowers his chin, then tilts it in a negative. Not our business.
“Don’t test me, Lucien.” Jasper takes a sharp step forward, and I ease up onto the balls of my feet anyway in case I need to intervene. “You forget, I’ve been watching the cameras. What were you and Eden doing out in the woods? I saw the two of you leave together.”
Lucky smiles, maliciously innocent. “I didn’t forget.” He pauses, sliding a sidelong look at Dom that’s about three shades too casual. “Hey, did you spend much time in your room this morning?”
That catches the boss’s attention, and Dom narrows his eyes. “No.” When Lucky’s lips roll in like he’s trying to hide a grin, Dom demands, “Why? ”
Lucky’s eyes widen, and he shrugs. “No reason.”
I groan.
The man can be reckless to the point of stupid for a good adventure. One time he begged me to race him on a climb up the cliffside—only to realize it’s a lot fucking harder to climb down fifty feet without gear than it is to go up. We waited on a tiny little ledge, arms aching, for two hours before Dom and Jasper came searching for us, and another hour on top of that while they worked out how to get belay equipment up to us. And the idiot laughed the whole time. Of course, he wasn’t smiling overmuch after a livid Jasper got him back to Bristlebrook.
Point is, Lucky is not to be trusted.
“Lucky,” I warn, narrowing my eyes on him too. “Why were you in the woods?”
Mischief dances over his lean features. “Sorry, Doc, that’s need to know.”
I jump to my feet. “Where is Eden?” I demand anxiously . . . and immediately cringe. I sound like my ma after she learned a burlesque club was moving into town.
Dom snorts, and the derisive sound pricks at me like a thousand needles. It’s not enough to crap all over my chance at happiness, he has to mock me for it too?
“Eden’s inside. She came in through the caves ’cause she was afraid of—” Lucky stops, eyes sparkling with fiendish innocence. “You know what, never mind. She’s freshening up.”
Thank God she’s safe at least.
My eyes drift back to Dom, who seems to have lost interest in the conversation.
“Have you talked to her at all since we got back?” I ask him abruptly, apparently just as unable as Lucky and Jasper to keep my mess contained today.
He tenses but slings his towel around his neck like he’s unbothered. “I’ve been busy.”
“So make time.”