Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“Thanks.” His voice is thick with emotion.
I pull back and look up at his lean, freckled face. “Are you ready to learn more than you ever wanted to know about synthesizing chemical compounds?”
He grins. “Science class was always my favorite.”
I smile back at him, glad he volunteered for this job. “Let’s do it.”
Several hours later, Olin and I are walking from the Hub, where we took a lunch break, back to the lab to continue our work. A few people are clustered beneath a tree, and one of them locks his dark gaze onto me.
Marcus is back, and Zara’s beside him. An emotional switch inside me is flipped, waking up my connection with plants. Warm awareness courses through me, the presence solid and reassuring.
I exhale slowly. I don’t need a vine swooping in to strangle Zara, so I need to relax—which isn’t easy when Marcus stalks over to me, his eyes roving up and down my body. I’m wearing a formfitting tank top, canvas pants, and my standard work boots, and I don’t know what he finds so interesting about that.
“I didn’t ask her to come,” he says, his tone clipped and commanding. “She just showed up. Don’t look at me like I did something wrong, because I never laid a hand on her.”
I guess we’re doing this right out in the open, with people watching and listening. If he thinks I’m going to bow my head and apologize, he’s never been more wrong.
“Don’t assume you know what I’m thinking,” I fire back, even though he’s right.
“I know you. You’re jealous, and there’s nothing to be jealous of.”
He’s a sweaty mess, his light-gray T-shirt soaked and his hairline wet. Add several days of dark scruff on his face, and it’s all I can do not to admit how right he is. I miss him so much. He’s two feet away, but it’s still too much. I miss the Marcus who pulled off his T-shirt the moment we walked into our room every night. Who always kissed me good night and asked for my opinions on big decisions.
“Why did you leave?” The question bursts out of me, raw and vulnerable. “We needed you here. You’re the leader, you can’t just take off for several days.”
His eyes soften slightly. “I was doing surveillance.”
“You could have sent Niran.”
“I didn’t want to.”
Olin, still beside me, clears his throat. “Hey Briar, maybe we—”
“Stay out of this, Olin.” Marcus glowers at him, sending Olin retreating.
I step closer to Marcus, tipping my chin up to hold his gaze. “Don’t bully him. He’s got nothing to do with this.”
The earth rumbles to life beneath our feet, a storm brewing in Marcus’s amber-flecked eyes. “I’m not bullying anyone. If you needed me, you could have radioed or come to get me.”
“How were any of us supposed to know you weren’t on a romantic getaway?”
I’m not proud of how bitter and petty I’m being. My plant connection is humming through my veins, because there’s no way I can keep my cool right now.
He inches closer, the ground shaking harder now. “Everyone here knows I’d cut my own goddamn heart out for you.”
The deep, husky declaration makes the breath still in my chest. This is the Marcus I’ve been aching to have back.
“Then why won’t you talk to me?”
The words are barely audible because it’s so hard for me to get them out. I’ve never been stripped so bare, and I don’t even care anymore who’s watching. I’ve needed this conversation for almost a month.
“What could I say? I’ve done unforgivable things.” His intensity has vanished, replaced by something that makes me want to throw myself into his arms.
“You could try. You could make me feel like we’re worth fighting for.”
His lips part with shock. “I’d do anything that would make you look at me like you used to. But the betrayal’s written all over your face, even right now.”
“Marcus, it’s hurt.” My voice breaks. “It’s—”
I lose my footing, stumbling as the ground beneath my feet cracks apart. Marcus lunges at me, pulling and then throwing me away from the growing fracture near our feet. People are yelling, but I just hear background noise as he waves his arms in the air, trying to get his balance while standing right on the edge of the jagged, two-foot-wide slash that runs the length of our camp as far as my eyes can see.
“Marcus!” My heart races into overdrive and I go to him, taking his arm to jerk him toward me.
The ground stills, both of us breathing hard. His eyes swirl with alarm and sorrow when they find mine. I reach up to cup his cheek.
“Breathe,” I say softly. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
The crack has stopped widening, but the damage is done. A fall into the deep split dividing our camp would kill someone. I creep closer and see endless darkness inside the rift.