Page 50 of A Wild Darkness

“Yeah.” He pauses for a beat. “I’m sure they know Andrew is dead, so it would make sense he wasn’t able to give you too many details about the group, so you wouldn’t know what type of things they could be asking you to offer.”

“That’s what we told them. We’re already on the same page. I’ve had to use that excuse a few times already.”

Not sure how this entire operation would be without a team.

“Now, for the goals of tomorrow night.”

“Ah, yes.”

I sit straighter in my chair. The rain is coming down harder outside, making the three sides of my office windows blurry with the evening storm. “Tomorrow night, Stevie and I need to focus on getting to know these killers.

“That’s right.” Christian’s voice lowers to a deeper tone.

The planning, the plotting—the hunt. His favorite part—and mine.

We spend the next few minutes talking out some key things to note at the dinner party tomorrow night, before I realize it’s been an hour since I left Stevie to her lesson with Sensei Clark, and that’s usually how long the sessions take.

I end the call with Christian and walk over to the camera wall and stare at the screens.

Scanning the screens, my eyes bounce from one room to the other, searching for Stevie. Then I spot her still in the gym, climbing from the bottom platform onto the second with her focus on the row of pull-up bars. Is she going to try the pull-up bars?

They’re difficult to master. I’ve got to check this out.

I sprint down the hallway with a lightness in my step in anticipation of giving her a hard time about them.

Only a few moments later, I round the corner through the double glass doors into the gym. Stevie is almost halfway across the set of eight bars. And from the looks of it, she’s stuck.

“Hi,” I call out to her, stepping onto the black mat. A quick glance around the room, I notice Sensei Clark has left. “How’s it going?”

With her arms extended, she’s hanging about ten feet off the floor. “Um, it’s going well.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I walk to the end of the row. “Looks like you might be stuck.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m relaxing.” Her focus is purposely trained away from me.

“Relaxing?”

“Yes.”

I slide my eyes along her outstretched body. But I’m quickly halted when I spot her reddened hands as her fingers struggle to maintain a grip on the metal.

“Would you like my help?” I ask.

She keeps her face angled away from me, hiding the pain she’s in. “No, I said I’m fine. I want to do it by myself.”

“I can help you.”

She turns back to me. “I’m trying to do a pull-up on my own. I can do it.”

Even though I’d love to watch her suffer, a protective urge suddenly forms in my chest. I ignore her decline of my offer and jump up to grab the metal bar. With force, I swing my body from one bar to the other until I’m hanging in front of her.

“Hi.” I smile.

Stevie’s hazel eyes flare, but the crimson shade that appears on her face tells me she’s blushing at our closeness. “What are you doing?”