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A soft smile crosses her face. It’s faint, but this time it’s genuine. “Thank you.”
“Is that why you tried to off yourself?” Max asks in his eloquent way.
Emily’s eyes widen. “I—what? No, I didn’t try to do that. Why would you think such a thing?”
“Then what the fuck were you doing drawing in a city full of rotters like that? In case you missed it two hundred and sixty days ago, when it was mentioned, they’re attracted to sound. Loud noises. Music.”
“I’m well aware of that, you stubborn asshole,” Emily fires back with her hands in the air, forcing Griffin on balance. “Which is exactly why I did that. I was drawing them all into that mall so I could have free rein to search the city without issue.”
Griffin’s jaw drops. It’s rare I see him speechless. It makes me want to shout at him I was right, but I’m not that kind of asshole. “Told you so.” Okay, so maybe I am.
Max scoots his ass across the dirt to get closer to her. He has the grin he gets when he’s up to no good. “I knew it. My girl’s a genius.”
“Your girl?” Emily snaps at him.
“Yes. I call dibs.”
“When?” I ask.
“Right now.” He grabs onto Emily’s calves, massaging the muscles and looking up at her.
I reach down to grab the bowls and then toss them at Max, forcing him to let go of her and catch them. “Clean up.”
Emily watches me with surprise. The order is out of character for me, but I know Max. He was hit far more deeply than Griffin and I were, and I know that look in his eyes more than I know myself. He wants blood, whether the blood is innocent, dead, or alive. It doesn’t matter; he wants to spill it. The story she gave us about someone betraying her like that isn’t something that any of us are going to forget, but it’s even worse for Max. Giving him something to do is the best thing for him right now, though I can guarantee he won’t rest until he hunts down this guy. Just another name to add to his revenge list.
“The food was good. Thank you for it,” Emily says.
“You’re very welcome. When was the last time you ate?”
Her eyes lift to the corner while she thinks. “Couple days, probably. I left with a bag full of food, but it wasn’t long before people who thought they deserved it more than me caught me.”
Her thumb pushes against the handcuff and I lift her hand so the metal cuff slides down her arm barely enough to expose the small burn mark on her wrist. “They did this to you?” She nods and I place a kiss on the wound. When I lift my head, I see Griffin glaring at me. The look he has makes me want to kiss her right on the mouth just to see how angry I can make him, but I won’t play with her like that. She deserves more than three broken men playing games with her. “We have a first aid kit that should still have something useful in it. I can grab it for you.”
“Don’t waste it on me. That would be pointless. It’s basically healed over already. It still itches a little is all and the cuff doesn’t help.” Her eyes narrow at the mention of the cuffs.
I chuckle. “While I can’t take that off of you without taking out Griffin in the process, I can apologize that it’s on there in the first place. I found it a few weeks ago when we scavenged an old prison. Thought it could come in use.”
“Well, it’s getting its use, alright. But seriously though, I can’t stay here for long. I need to find that medicine and get back to my friend.”
“Where is your friend?”
Her lips purse together, and she looks down at the dirt.
“Right. Well, since I can’t promise we’ll get you back to your friend, since I don’t know where she’s at, I can promise to try my best to help you find this medicine. The pharmacies in the city got wiped out early on, but we have a few other locations we plan to hit up. Maybe there’ll be something in one of those that could help.”
Her gaze shoots up to me, filled with hope. My chest swells. “You mean it?”
I hold up my hand in a scout’s honor, even though I was never a scout. “I promise to do my best.”
She wraps one arm around me in the tightest hug she can manage. She tries to wrap her other arm around me, but Griffin won’t budge. I return her hug, splaying my hands along her back. “Thank you,” she whispers into my ear. “That means more than you could know.”
I rub my palm in a circle on her back. “It’s the least we could do after kidnapping you, right?”
She slides out of my grip and I instantly miss her warmth, even though we’re sitting by the fire. She glances up at Griffin to see what he has to say about this, but he turns away, avoiding having to respond. He’s likely angry that I promised her something without consulting him first, but he put us all in this position. The least I can do is help her out as much as I can. So I stand up and go get the first aid kit.
4
EMILY
