Page 60 of Far From Sherwood Forest

Which is why I’m currently on my way to the ranch where Robin lives. I don’t know what exactly my plan is, but maybe I can force Robin to give me answers since Ivy clearly isn’t going to be any help anymore.

Except I barely make it through the gate when I’m stopped by John. It looks like he was repairing part of the fence at the entrance, and the moment he spots me, he comes to block my path, standing in front of my truck and glaring at me through the windshield.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he shouts loud enough for me to hear him inside the cab.

I roll down my window and lean out of it. “I need to see Robin. It’s important.”

John moves around and stands by my door, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “You can’t see him today.”

“Why not?”

“You just can’t.”

Opening my door and forcing John to take a step back, I hop out and stand directly in front of him. He’s a big guy—a little bigger than me, and that’s saying something—but we’re about the same height. So I’m able to meet him head on, a battle of hostile scowls.

“Listen,Little John, I’m getting really fucking tired of all the goddamn secrets. Why can’t I see Robin?”

His glare hardens at the old nickname. “Other than the fact you’reyou?” He sighs heavily. “He’s sick.”

An uncomfortable weight settles behind my ribs. “Sickhow?”

“Cold. Flu. Ebola. Who knows,” he says with a shrug.

My eyes narrow. “That’s a joke, right?”

He snorts. “Yes, that’s a joke. But he really is sick. Flu, most likely. It, uh…It happens pretty often.”

I swallow hard. “How often?”

“Three or four times a year maybe. He’s been in the hospital a few times with pneumonia. It can get pretty bad.”

“He wasn’t like that back…there, was he?”

John shakes his head, frowning. “No. It’s something to do with this world, I think. Or thistime, whatever. Coming here from there was like a shock to his immune system. It wasn’t built for this place.”

“Why aren’t we like that then?”

“I have no idea. He drew the short straw?” His frown deepens as he peers back to the bunkhouse in the distance. “I’d take his place if I could.”

One nasty emotion twists at my insides for two different reasons.

Jealousy that they both have each other while I have no one.

Jealousy that John is thinking about Robin in that way at all.

But despite where my thoughts were leading me in the forest the other day, Robin isn’t mine. I don’t have the right to be jealous for that reason.

Of course, that doesn’t stop me.

When that feeling leads me back to the rage I had on the way over here, I change the subject.

“Did Robin ever tell you about the bear?”

John’s brows pull together, and he shakes his head. “What bear?”

“Never mind.” Turning to my truck, I get back behind the wheel and shut the door. “I’m going to see Robin.”

Just as I shift into gear, John’s hand slams down on thewindow sill of my door.