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He straightened and turned his attention back to the crowd, keeping an eye on Dean and the others as he started mentally working through their situation. He needed to come up with a plan— an escape route was out of the question for now. They had supplies in the form of gift shop snacks and water bottles, but those would not last indefinitely. The other issue was keeping everyone calm and maintaining order. Panic could easily lead to disaster in such a tense environment.
A sudden tremor had them all frozen in place, eyes wide, breaths held. Pierce watched as a thin trickle of dust drifted down from the ceiling, and dread tightened in his chest.
Aftershock.
Just an aftershock.
He steadied himself against a nearby shelf, the tremor subsiding as quickly as it had arrived, leaving a residue of fear. He scanned the faces around him and saw the panic that danced in their eyes. His instincts were screaming at him, nagging that something was wrong, something beyond just the landslide trapping them. The hair on the back of his neck prickled.
Rhiannon moved closer to him. He noticed she’d handed the boy off to Brooke.
“Do you think there’ll be more?” she asked, signing as she spoke.
He looked up at the small cracks spider-webbing across the plaster.
“Likely,”he signed.“We need to prepare for the possibility. Keep everyone away from areas where the ceiling looks weakest.”
She followed his gaze, her expression darkening with concern. “How do we keep them calm if this keeps up?”
H glanced over at the huddled group again before turning to her.“Unity calms nerves. Show them we’re not panicking, and they’ll stay calmer.”
She drew a sharp breath and let it out in a rush. “And if I am panicking, too?”
He looked at her in surprise. She didn’t look like she was panicking. She looked as composed as ever, but her eyes… yeah, her eyes betrayed the fear simmering just beneath the surface. Pierce knew that look—it was the same one he saw in the mirror on his tougher days. He’d lived in a constant state of fear since he lost his voice.
“Just like you’re doing with Michael,”he signed.“Show confidence, even if you’re not feeling it. They need to see us strong.”
“I don’t feel strong,” she whispered.
He knew better than to touch her, knew better than to bridge the space between them, but still, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out. He took her hands in his. Her fingers were cold, and a slight tremor of apprehension vibrated through them.
Jesus, why was he touching her like this? He should be keeping his distance, maintaining that boundary he had so carefully constructed around himself, but the instinct to reassure her overpowered everything else.
He’d intended to give her hands a light, reassuring squeeze, but instead, he held the connection a moment longer than necessary. When he finally released her, Pierce felt the loss of contact more acutely than he expected. He quickly stepped back, re-establishing the space between them. His heart thumped painfully against his ribs—a warning sign that he was letting his guard down. He couldn’t afford that. Not now. Not ever.
chapter
three
“I don’t like that guy.”
At Brooke’s voice. Rhiannon looked up from Michael. She’d finally calmed the boy enough, and he’d fallen into a restless sleep curled up beside Raszta, who took his job as nanny very seriously. She smiled at the dog and rubbed a hand over his lopsided ponytail, then followed Brooke’s gaze to where Pierce and some of the men were gathering supplies from what remained of the store’s shelves. At first, she thought the girl was talking about Pierce and frowned. Sure, Pierce St. James was a little intense—okay, a lot intense—and she could see how someone as young as Brooke would find him intimidating. Pierce was a towering figure, even when he wasn’t trying to be imposing, his intensity overwhelming, his silence louder than words.
But Rhiannon found him fascinating. She wanted to know more about him, more than just what little her brother had told her. What made him tick? What haunted him so deeply that his scars seemed more than just physical? What had caused the panic attack that had forced him to pull off the road at this rest stop? Where had he been going before he stopped? It was clear he carried a great burden, one that made her heart ache for him.
But then she realized Brooke was staring at Dean, who was shoving packets of snacks into a backpack with more force than necessary.
Rhiannon turned back to the girl. “Dean?”
“Yeah. He’s just... scary,” Brooke said, her voice dropping to a whisper as if afraid he’d hear them talking. “He was on the tour bus, too, and I kept feeling him looking at me. And it wasn’t like he was checking me out. I know what that feels like.”
Of course she would. Brooke was classically beautiful with that small-town girl-next-door charm, all sunny smiles and sun-kissed hair that made it impossible for anyone not to notice her. She was the kind of girl Rhiannon had always wanted to be growing up. The kind of girl who seemed to move through life effortlessly, who never had anything bad happen to her. The kind of girl who didn’t talk with her hands and needed hearing aids.
Rhiannon shook off the unwanted prickle of old envy. She’d learned long ago she was more than any perceived limitations and had stopped comparing herself to others. And she was happier for it. ”What did it feel like then?”
“It was more like…” Brooke trailed off and exhaled hard. “I don’t know. It made me feel like he was… sizing me up or something. Like maybe I was a problem he needed to figure out how to handle. It was creepy, and now he keeps looking around like he’s expecting something to happen.”
Rhiannon followed Brooke’s gaze again, trying to see Dean through the girl’s eyes. He did have a restless energy about him, his glances darting from shadow to shadow. There was a hardness in his movements, a deliberate force that spoke of barely contained frustration. His actions painted him as someone always on edge, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation. The sense of anger he broadcast waspalpable, completely at odds with the calm efficiency Pierce exuded as he organized their supplies.
