The men spent a good half hour poking around the area searching for us. Eventually they stopped just in front of our cave’s vine curtain.
“Nah, they must have slipped back into the bush. We’ll get ‘em eventually.”
I looked between the leaves and spotted two pairs of black army boots standing in front of a quad bike tyre. Both of the men held guns. I could see their points aimed at the ground, held casually by the men as they discussed their next move.
“We better catch them. Hemi‘ll kill us if he finds out someone’s discovered the crop. Didn’t Mutt say he saw one of ‘em with a GPS? If they get away, we’re screwed.”
“Yeah, we need to find out what they know.”
“Can’t we just kill ‘em?”
My heart lurched and Eli squeezed me tighter.
“Yeah, but what if they’ve got cell phones or something. We need to find out what they’ve done before we knock ‘em off.”
The other man grunted.
“Let’s head back, maybe Mutt’s found ‘em in the bush.”
“And if he hasn’t?”
“Just don’t tell Hemi.”
The stones crunched and sent out a spray of pebbles as the quad bike lurched away from us.
We both let out our breath. I sniffed at a few quiet tears, trying to deny them, but unable to hold them in a moment longer.
A steady thumb brushed over my face and wiped them away.
“We’re safe now. They’re gone. And the good thing is… they think Lexy and Tom are with us, which means they’re safe too.”
I felt my insides calm and my wells of liquid fear soon dried up.
“I’m sorry I kicked you.” I tentatively rubbed my hand over his shin and felt his calf muscle tense at my touch.
He dismissed my apology with a soft chuckle. “Let’s just call it one of the hazards of big brotherhood.”
My heart sank as his comment swiftly brought me back to the reality of our relationship. He was only holding me for protection, just like he would Lexy. I was just his other little “squirt.” Nothing more. I tried to focus on the fact that we had just survived a close encounter of the killing kind and not dwell on the point that I was never gonna get this guy.
Minutes ticked by with painful slowness and despite the fact the gun wielding druggies had gone, we stayed where we were until our legs were screaming to be straightened. Edging out of our hiding place, we tentatively looked around before stretching and letting our bodies enjoy the warmth of the sun.
Dropping my arms I looked over as Eli extracted our packs from behind the vine. Yanking out his cellphone, he held it up to sky then marched around like an idiot. “No reception.” He threw it back in his bag and rattled off a string of expletives.
I let him finish before clearing my throat. “So what do we do now?"
Eli ran a hand through his hair and looked at me. “We find Tom and Lexy and then get the hell outta here.”
Pure Blood (Time Spirit Trilogy, #3) Page 21