She takes a deep breath as she thinks it through. “He’s gonna kill the person who set them up?”

“What do you think happens to people who get caught in Merc’s net, Smurfette?” She visibly shivers. And that pretty much says it all. I’d be shitting my pants if Merc was coming to kill me, that’s for sure. He might not be a trained Company man, but that f**ker has no scruples. He never blinks. “So here’s the deal, OK? You’re gonna keep quiet about what you just heard and I’m gonna ask Merc for proof that the job was done.” She starts to object, but I raise my hand and stop her words before they start. “And I promise you, everything I’m doing is good for us.”

“Who’s us?” she snorts.

“The three of us, kid. You, me, and Harper. We’re sorta stuck together. So I’m making you a professional promise right now. All right? Whatever I do from here on out, it will be in our group interest.”

“What if it’s in the best interest of the group that I die?”

Jesus, she has trust issues. I stand and walk towards the stairs. She never moves. I take each step slowly until I reach the top, and then I sit down and put my arm around her shoulder. She flinches, but that’s expected. “Sasha, if you trust me right now, I promise I will get you the proof you need from Merc and I will take care of you until you decide I’m an ass**le and you can’t stand to look at me for another second and walk away.”

Her shoulders slump a little and I can almost feel the sadness inside her. “I think you’re lying.”

“So tell me no deal.”

“I can’t. You know I can’t.” She turns her face up to me and she’s got tears streaming down her cheeks. “I think I need you, James.”

“I think I need you too, Sasha. So give trust a chance.”

She wipes her tears and hands me her gun. I handle the pistol, checking the weight, then the chamber—fully loaded. “You been carrying this the whole time?” I ask, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Yeah, that’s my gun. My dad gave it to me last year for my birthday.” She sniffs again. “He even put in a new barrel and got me a suppressor for it.”

“You ever shoot anything with it?”

She nods. “One of the guys who tried to kill me on the ranch. I picked three of them off with a rifle, but this last guy thought he got away.” She turns her head up at me and smiles through her tears. “I hid in his truck cab. Then shot him through the window.”

“Sounds pretty dicey.” I try to imagine that scene and make myself stop.

“It was.” She sniffs again but it’s not the wet mid-cry sniff like it was a few minutes ago. It’s an I’m-over-it sniff.

“So you’re pretty serious about this job stuff, Sasha? Because I really need your word that you will not talk.” I hold out her gun and she stares at it for a few seconds before taking it back. “I could use a backup, kid. I don’t like to get people involved in my jobs unless I have to, but I can’t have you doubting me. Or”—I put a finger under her chin and make her look me in the eyes—“making Harper doubt me. It’s gonna be hard enough to get this shit done without complications. I need you on my side, Sasha. And if you’re on my side, I’m on your side. Got it?”

She nods and swats my finger off her chin. “Got it.”

“Got what?” a wet-from-the-shower, fresh, delicious-looking Harper says from down below. She’s dressed in clean shorts and new tank top, black this time, and she’s got some cute sneakers on her feet. “What’d I miss?”

I stand up and walk down the stairs. “Not much. Just making sure Sasha knows we’re all in this together.” I look back up at the kid and wink. “Right, Smurf?”

“That’s right,” Sasha says as she gets to her feet and comes down to join us. She looks at Harp and produces a smile. And if it’s fake, I’m convinced. “He said we’re partners now. So you know, when we find that buried treasure we’re after, I get a cut. Right, James?”

“Buried treasure. Right, kid. You’re in.”

And then Sasha takes Harper’s hand and leads her towards the kitchen as she talks about food. Her crying jag is over, her sadness tucked away, her smile in place, and her attitude adjusted.

The relief I feel at procuring her cooperation is real.

Sasha Cherlin is not a kid you want to f**k over without a plan.

Chapter Twenty-Two - Harper

“I don’t think there’s any food in here, Sasha.”

“I bought us food at the visitor center, remember?”

“Ohhhh… I forgot. What’d you get? I’m so hungry!”

She goes over to her backpack and pulls out a plastic bag and then begins emptying the contents on the kitchen counter. Chips, those disgusting orange crackers, a half-eaten bag of gummy things, a chocolate bar that looks like it melted then congealed, and four sausage sticks.

Even though I have not eaten in two days, my stomach flips over just thinking about that food. “James!” I call out.

“Yeah,” he answers back a few seconds later. What’s he doing in there? I walk towards the living room and find him pulling on a shirt. “What’s up?” he asks.

“I’m hungry and Sasha only bought junk food.”

“Hey,” Sasha complains. “It was a vending machine, what do you expect?”

“Can we go get something real?” I smile sweetly at James because his eyebrows are all knitted together, creating some serious worry lines across his forehead. “Just some tacos or something? Please, I’m so hungry.”

His worry lines soften and he smiles at me. “Yeah, OK, we gotta eat, right?” He looks over at Sasha now. “Are we all in agreement that we’ll spend the night here?”

“This place is practically my home,” Sasha says with her new attitude. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay here while you guys go get food.”

“Negative, Soldier Smurf,” James says. “Get your shoes on, we’re sticking together from now on.”

Sasha laughs at her nickname and then runs off to grab her things, while James puts his hands on my waist. “You look… fuckable.”

“Mmm.” I place my palm on his perfectly muscled chest. He draws in a breath as I let my fingertip trace the outline of his nipple and when I look up his mouth is already there. His lips are soft right now. He gives me a small open-mouth kiss, and pulls away, then comes back to nip my lip the way he does. My hands automatically wrap around his neck. I am eager for more. Whenever he’s near, I feel a want inside me. I want to touch him, lick his beautiful body, wrap my legs around him, and never let him go. “Don’t leave me,” I whisper impulsively as he continues to gift me with his small, tender kisses.