Page 81 of Affair

Because they had to keep moving, Gamble headed to the front of his horse.

He faced the big, beast of a horse. He stared into his eyes, and he touched his forehead with nothing but love and tenderness.

It was almost how he’d touched Poe’s cheek, and the man knew it.

That made it even more special for Poe. This man loved Diablo.

“I need you to go find Honey, and stay in the orchard where you’ll be safe. Go have some apples and keep the other horses safe,” he said.

The minute he did, the horse’s ears perked up, and he whinnied.

Someone was a whore for apples. There was no doubt he’d listen and find more than he knew what to do with too.

“GO,”Gamble said, slapping him on the hind quarter, to get him to move.

The horse took off, instinctually knowing where to go. Now, anyone tracking them on horseback would be led away from their direction.

That was the other reason they parted ways.

To keep track of the space, Gamble pulled out a knife and went to the tree to mark it.

“Uh, where did you get a knife?” Poe asked, pretty damn sure he knew the answer to that.

Gamble had sticky fingers. He’d locked up anything that could hurt the man, but he’d been lax over the last month, when he saw he was no longer a danger to himself.

The man laughed.

“Well, despite you trying not to let me have anything sharp and pointy, I manage to find things that are sharp and pointy,” he stated, marking the tree with a symbol.

Poe wasn’t surprised.

He was infinitely thankful that Gamble was good at working around the rules. That might just save them.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the symbol.

Gamble explained.

“That’s code so if The Hunters do try to find me, Remington will be able to track me. He was CIA. He uses his own language in symbols.”

Oh, well, that was good to know.

Gamble continued.

“It’ll also help me find our way out of there. Twenty miles of woods is a lot of space to cross when the surroundings look the same.”

Yeah, it was.

With the canopy so high, he couldn’t see where the sun was, so that meant retracing his footsteps in the dark.

It wasn’t going to be fun.

That was for damn sure.

“Okay, Doctor, let’s get moving,” he said, pulling off his flannel. “Put this on for me.”

Poe was confused as to why the man would want him wearing his shirt.

Oh, don’t get him wrong, he’d love to wear his things, especially after rolling out of bed together, but Poe didn’t expect that to ever happen.