Page 42

Eve

The Thrill of the Chase

“We don’t have a lot of time to wait, kid,” Monty said, as she stuffed one last thing into her pack, then hefted it onto her shoulders. “I hate to say it, but—”

“She’s coming,” I said firmly. “Just a few more minutes.”

I caught Monty shooting Ruby a concerned look out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn’t budging on this.

“Eve,” Ruby said softly. “Waylon just told me he’d spotted Jensen’s crew out near the train station. They’re close. And with another storm…”

Periodic drops of rain were already starting to fall, and the dark clouds gathering at the horizon appeared ominous at best . The air was heavy with electricity, hot and humid, and I was so nervous I was all but vibrating where I stood.

I forced a smile for my concerned aunts. “I’m not leaving without her. Have a little faith.”

Monty winced. “It ain’t Harper I’m worried about.”

She was right. We had bigger problems, namely that Jensen and his team had ratcheted up their efforts here in Forks over the past twenty-four hours.

They were moving so quickly, and digging so fast, it was only a matter of time before they stumbled upon the coordinates we were headed to today, even if it was purely accidental.

It was impossible to know how the coordinates had come to be, but Ruby thought that Harry or Eugene might have known a local surveyor at the time who could have assisted in the matter.

Regardless, all three of us had sprung into action as soon as we’d realized what we’d found.

We called in a favor from Waylon and his husband, who were our cheerful lookouts out here, keeping an eye on our competition’s movements.

And I’d summoned up every bit of courage I imagined Priscilla and Adeline must have felt—with stolen diamonds and dreams of heading West—and I asked Harper to come with us.

She had every reason not to answer me. But I realized now the mistake I’d made the day that she’d left.

I didn’t fight for her.

I’d turned around and done the same thing my family had, all those years ago, letting me walk out the door to a new life like they couldn’t have cared less. And I’d probably never know if they regretted that choice. If they wished they’d said the messy, vulnerable, honest thing instead.

I know I did. And I wished I’d done the same thing for Harper.

The piece of paper I’d spent hours working on last night was now burning a hole in my pocket. But I’d poured my own messy hopes and vulnerable dreams into it and could only hope she felt the same way.

“Evie,” Monty said again, a warning in her tone.

The sound of a car racing down the single road near Monty’s campsite interrupted whatever she’d been about to say.

It was a black Jeep, built for off-roading, and for a few terrifying seconds we all thought it was Jensen.

Or worse—another treasure-hunting team descending on us out here without warning.

But then it braked to a hard stop in front of the trailer, sending up a burst of dust. The driver’s door opened and suddenly there was Harper Hendrix, hanging out the side with a cocky smile.

For the first time in my life, I felt my knees literally go weak.

“Hi, Eve,” she said breathlessly. “Thanks for not leaving me behind.”

My fingers flexed at my sides, the urge to pull her close almost overwhelming.

Monty cleared her throat. “I’m happy to see ya, Harper. But we, uh…got some company.”

Harper twisted at the waist to peer behind her, and I followed her gaze. Spotted not one, but two cars, heading our way.

“It’s Jensen,” Ruby said. “Per Waylon. At this point, he’s only going to follow us to the coordinates.”

Dread pooled in my stomach. But this only seemed to boost Monty’s spirits.

“Well, hot damn , we got ourselves a chase now,” she cheered. “Harper, can you off-road in that thing?”

She arched an eyebrow. “Not sure, but I’d love to try.”

Both cars were getting closer by the second.

“Then we gotta go. Now,” I said, grabbing the rest of our things and jogging over to the Jeep with Ruby.

All three of us tossed our things inside the back and then I was swinging myself into the passenger seat and slamming the door.

I tossed Harper a wink and watched two spots of color appear high on her cheeks.

I wanted to make her blush everywhere. Wanted to make her laugh, wanted to hear every single thing she’d thought about and learned during our week apart.

Because I’d thought about and learned a lot, too.

She chewed on her lower lip, her blue eyes bright and playful.

In another world, at another time, I would have hooked a finger through the top of her shirt and dragged her mouth to mine.

Would have replicated the night we’d spent fucking in the backseat of my car over and over, until we were one shared breath, one shared heartbeat.

But was she only here for the diamonds and Priscilla’s story? Or was she here for me, too?

Harper started the Jeep and rolled down the windows. When she glanced in the rearview mirror, she said, “Shit, they’re right on us.”

“Go, go, go,” Ruby chanted. “Monty and I mapped out three different ways to get to the coordinates just in case.”

“That was smart,” I said, impressed.

Ruby smirked. “Not our first time doing this.”

Harper had pealed out onto the road, following Monty’s directions, the engine roaring as she sped faster and faster.

Behind us, I clocked Jensen’s craggy face in the driver’s seat of the other car.

A light rain began smattering the windshield as Harper raced along the outskirts of Forks.

It was nothing but flat, empty grassland on either side of us, though we were nearing a hilly, wooded area that bordered the edges of the Santa Fe National Forest.

“Turn left here,” Monty said, directing us off the road. Harper sent me a questioning look.

I nodded my approval. “Let’s fucking go, Hendrix.”

With her lips twisted to the side in a smile, she yanked the steering wheel to the left, and the Jeep tumbled off the road, onto packed dirt. It jostled all four of us, but Harper laughed delightedly.

“Thatta girl,” Monty called. “You’re a natural.”

I turned in my seat and spotted Jensen again. “Fuck, he’s doing the same thing.”

Harper hit the gas, and we jumped forward.

“To the right, to the right, to the right,” Monty yelled, pointing at a second narrow trail leading into the trees. The thick forest growth forced Jensen and the second car back behind us. Branches whipped past, scraping and knocking against the windows.

“Did you think Jensen was going to be such a problem?” Harper asked, her knuckles white where she gripped the wheel. “Per his last update on X Marks the Spot, he and his team were offline, following another lead.”

Monty snorted. “My guess is that he figured out me and Ruby were back and was tailing us somehow. We’ve been cautious since Eve found the coordinates, circling the location but never going right to it just in case he had eyes on us we didn’t realize.

But the man’s not opposed to playing dirty. Clearly .”

Harper glanced at me sideways. “You said he’d always held a grudge against Monty and Ruby. Because of La Venganza , right?”

The car dipped and jerked as we rode over rocky terrain. I winced, reaching for the grip by my head to steady myself.

“It started when he wasn’t on the team we assembled,” Monty said.

“I’ve never had a problem with the guy, really.

That pissed him off, though, because I brought in people who weren’t local.

But I wanted to find it with a community of women like me.

All the outcasts doomed to live life in the margins.

They made me feel like we could do anything. ”

Part of the trail ahead was slightly washed out. I opened my mouth to warn Harper, but she barreled through the flowing water without hesitation, smiling like she’d never been so happy.

I wanted to make her smile like that. Hoped like hell I’d get the chance to do it again.

“He wasn’t the only one,” Ruby added. “Everything we found was extremely high value, and we didn’t keep it. We returned it to the Bahamas. Jensen was one of the treasure hunters at the time who really didn’t like that. He kept running his mouth back in the day, saying it wasn’t how we did things.”

“They had a real finders-keepers mentality back then. But what we found wasn’t ours to keep,” Monty said. “It hadn’t been the Spanish government’s to keep, either. Theft has never been what me and Ruby are about.”

Harper narrowed her eyes at the windshield. “Well, now I only wanna beat him more.”

Monty chuckled. “If that’s the case, hang a sharp left where you see that canyon wall.”

I gulped at the sudden rise of rock ahead of us. “Monty…you sure? It looks too narrow.”

“Don’t ask me. Ask our driver,” she chided.

But Harper couldn’t be deterred. She just barely avoided scraping the side, and then the Jeep was crawling along what appeared to be an old fire road hidden behind the trees.

And as she did, she rolled down her window and raised a middle finger directly at Jensen’s car.

Monty and Ruby burst into laughter. But I could only gaze at the gorgeous daredevil next to me with a deep admiration, my body filling with a riot of butterflies. Our car was surrounded by earthy-red canyon walls and wild, green forest, and yet I only had eyes for Harper.

Monty leaned forward between us, breaking my focus. “Now up here,” she said, pointing, “there’s a quick fork that takes us to the coordinates that were in the locket. Jensen’s behind us still, so as soon as you brake, follow Ruby’s instructions and get to shovelin’. I’ll hold everyone else off.”

Adrenaline surged through me, sending my heart rate into overdrive. Monty and I shared a quick, glorious look, just as Harper squealed to a stop. She was out of breath and grinning like a fool. Monty reached behind her and placed her cowboy hat on top of Harper’s head.

“For good luck out there,” she said. “Now let’s get it done.”

With a hearty whoop , she and Ruby dashed out of the car, grabbing gear and getting situated. Headlights flared behind us, meaning Jensen was right behind. We had this tiny pocket of privacy—ten seconds, maybe less—and I was surprised when Harper held out her palm.

In the center was the small piece of turquoise we’d found last time. She’d kept it, even after everything.

“I brought this for good luck, too,” she said, her voice shaky with emotion. Our eyes stayed locked together as she raised the pretty stone and kissed it. I grasped her wrist, bringing the stone to my mouth and letting my lips graze her fingertips.

“For Priscilla and Adeline,” I whispered.

She blinked back tears. “And tiny revolutions.”

The litany of things I wanted to say to Harper in this moment was as long as my arm. Apologies, promises, gratitude. But I forced myself to pull away instead.

And then we were off, jumping out of the car and running through the rain toward Ruby. She was sweeping the metal detector back and forth at a spot near a cluster of rocks. With every pass, the clicks grew in volume, louder and stronger than I’d ever heard them.

Ruby peered up at us with a slow smile. “Sounds like treasure to me, doesn’t it?”

The sound of a car pulling up and then raised voices had us spinning on our heels. Monty was facing off with Jensen, who looked pissed as he slammed his car door shut. Both were gesturing wildly, and I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but she was holding them off like she promised.

“We gotta dig,” I said, tossing Harper a shovel. “As fast as we can.”

I wasn’t sure how much time passed after that—twenty minutes, maybe thirty—because it was a whirlwind of feelings and sensations.

The rain on the back of my neck. Harper’s heavy breathing.

The look of pure optimism on Ruby’s face.

The thick weight of dirt in my shovel and the endless, rhythmic sound of it hitting the ground next to us.

So when I finally raised my shovel and hit something solid, the shock of it affected all three of us. I froze in place, all of us staring at each other.

“Do it again,” Ruby urged.

I did—and we all heard the same thunk.

I whirled around and yelled Monty’s name. My hands were trembling so badly that Harper linked her fingers through mine and squeezed.

“Jensen finally drove off,” Monty called out, racing toward us. “He wasn’t happy about it, but he knew he’d gotten here two minutes too late. Did you get something?”

Before I could answer her, Monty was leaping into the ditch, her thick braid flying.

She crouched down immediately, working to gently clear the surrounding mud away.

Beneath her fingers was a rusted metal box.

I fell to my knees next to her and touched the metal, fingers still shaking.

“Careful, careful,” Ruby was saying from above. “We don’t want to break anything.”

Monty looked at me. “We pull on three, okay?”

I nodded, lifting the heavy metal as dirt and rocks tumbled off the sides, covering us in a fine layer of dust. Monty swiped her hand across the top to clear it. In the center was a large, engraved H and a large, engraved B near a rusted-over lock.

Monty and Ruby were a blur of happy chaos, laughing and dancing around us, but Harper and I were totally still, our hands still entwined. In my utter astonishment, my eyes locked on Harper’s.

And they were spilling over with tears.