Page 61 of Healing Conviction
“Who cares if your truck is holey as long as our heads are hole-free?” She crossed her arms as he rolled into a poorly maintained gravel parking lot where the truck was the sole occupant. “I still vote no.”
“Too bad. We’re here.”
“‘Here?’” She looked around the empty lot. “Where is here, exactly?”
“Our destination.” He hopped out of the truck and rounded the hood before opening her door. She crossed her arms and stared at his outstretched hands. He gave her a cheeky grin, obviously enjoying her faux tantrum, and picked her up and set her on the ground. “We’re at a lesser-used entrance to the park. I can’t drive us straight up to the facility. We’ll hike a little bit and find a spot with a good view before nightfall.”
He turned around and gingerly climbed into his truck bed. She frowned. “Are you, um… are you sure hiking is a good idea? We’ve hardly had any rest and I sorta cut off your last exercise session. Guess I make a crappy personal trainer, huh?”
“I’ll be fine, Nora.” His face wrinkled into a frown as he searched through the silver toolbox in the back of his truck. He unloaded bags that looked chock-full with supplies, setting them on the ledge before getting down.
When he finally stood in front of her again, he handed her a duffel and took her Sketchers out of a smaller bag.
“It’s a good thing Jules convinced me to pack more of your shoes.”
Nora snorted and exchanged her heels for the flat sneakers. “Jules understands how important they are. The periwinkle pumps served their purpose. People think you’re easier to talk to if you’re wearing pastels.”
“I’ve got an idea of where I want to see those heels and nothing else, but talking wouldn’t be on the agenda.” He winked and joined her purple heels with the thigh-high combat heels and slung the bag into the back seat. Her lips parted and her heart raced. The way this man flirted with her was going to be the godsdamned death of her.
When he turned around and faced her again, he chuckled as he loaded the rest of the bags onto his back. “I’ve told you before, Pix, keep your mouth open like that and you might as well be begging me to fill it with my cock again.”
With that, he turned around and disappeared into the woods. It took a second of staring to realize he’d been swallowed up by the trees, leaving her no choice but to chase after his firm, muscular behind.
“Wait!” She heaved her bag onto her back and sprinted after him. When she reached him, she slowed to follow a few feet behind so she could watch and copy his footsteps over the brush and branches. “Dude, is this even a trail?”
“Except for the boulders, it’s relatively flat around here, so we won’t need to fight with the terrain. I checked a map to see the direction we should go to find the facility. We don’t need anything else. No point in following a trail if it leads you in the wrong direction.”
She sucked her teeth and kept walking, taking in the rustling green trees and inhaling the warm pine breeze to cleanse her chaotic mind.
A few hours ago, she’d shared more with Drake than she had with anyone in her life. Remembering her past, her abusers, and the people that helped her escape—in both good and bad ways—had been a cathartic moment in that cemetery. Shanna’s spiral into drugs, and Jasmine’s suicide were hitting her harder than she would’ve expected. Normally it was easier to keep those types of negative feelings in check, but she’d had a more difficult time hiding behind her smile lately.
The rhythm of Drake’s deliberate stride through the thick forest hypnotized her as she moseyed behind him. She trusted him to know the way, and let herself get lost in her mind, zoning out and copying his steps, soaking in the quiet rustling of the leaves and the way the large bags on his back shifted as they bobbed up and down with every step.
He was the reason for her emotional one-eighty. The brick wall inside her mind had hidden each painful memory of someone using her up, leeching off her for their own gain, and spitting her back out when there was nothing left. With barely any effort at all, he’d blown that wall up, and she’d given in and shared her broken past.
Would he leave her all alone to pick up the pieces? She hadn’t been able to stop that emotional takeover before. Had she learned the signs now? Or was Drake going to cause yet another tragedy of her identity? Deep down, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she lost herself this time, gave every piece of herself to him until there was nothing left, she’d never recover.
As they trekked through the forest, Nora noticed Drake begin to slow. She’d expected it earlier, but his stamina always surprised her and he’d been seemingly fine up until that point. But as they kept going, he tripped over little branches and had even picked up a larger one to use as a cane. Her heart squeezed every time he cursed under his breath in frustration, but she didn’t dare question his capability. He’d already made it clear when she’d asked the first time that this was something he was going to push through, whether it was beyond his abilities or not.
After a few more moments—or miles, who knew at this point since she was on autopilot—Drake glanced over his shoulder and laughed. “I just realized you’re not fighting me anymore. Finally run out of arguments?”
She huffed and shook her head from her musings. “‘Fraid so. Unfortunately, I’ve moved on from the objection phase and am now fully entrenched in the ‘this-is-my-life-now-so-suck-it-up-buttercup’ phase.”
“Ah, it shouldn’t be too much longer. From the map I looked at while you were napping in the truck, the facility’s back half is basically surrounded by the national forest and we’ve parked at the closest trail mouth. We’ll need to find a flat area of ground and I know where to look—”
“Oh my goddesses, is that a river?”
Drake halted in front of her and she bumped into him so hard she nearly fell, but he twisted and caught her with one hand on her shoulder.
“Shit, sorry, Pix. But this is where I wanted to stop. It’s only about a quarter mile away from the forest line on the facility side and this is a perfect place to set up camp.” His lightly tanned face was relaxed, even at his sharp jawline. It was lit up with a smile, seemingly entranced and excited as he gazed off at the small, rushing river.
This whole spy-on-CTI thing could be a bust, her shoes were most definitely not for hiking, and they’d just come from a freaking cemetery, but if she got to admire him like this, in his element, it would be worth every blister.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
“You make a pretty cozy campsite, Viking man.”
Draco stood beside Nora with his hands on his hips, taking in the tent and campfire he’d built. Before he’d left to sabotage Nora’s date, he’d reupped his camping supplies. He’d known they were only going on a fact-finding mission, but his stepdad and the military had always taught him to be prepared for anything. The prep had paid off this time.