She choked out a laugh. “You didn’t just say that.”
“It’s true, though.” He glanced at her and gave her a small grin before returning his attention to their surroundings.
“I don’t remember you having this much of a sense of humor the last time a car tried to kill me.”
“The last one was trying to run you over. This one just tried to launch you into the atmosphere.”
One foot in front of the other. Putting distance between them and the smoldering car was a good idea. There was no use getting freaked out about him saying it out loud if she’d already survived it. “It’s worse when you say it out loud.”
“I didn’t until we were away from it.” His voice had gentled, a note of concern.
“I know.” And she bit her lip. “I’m sorry. It’s like I’m just saying anything crossing my mind right now. Words are just popping out left and right and there’s no stopping them.”
“Not a bad thing.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re experienced with this. Do you ever get used to it all?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer so she kept talking, keeping her voice low even though he’d have told her if he needed her to be silent. “It happened and I saw where I could’ve been sitting. Only I’m not and I am very glad to be walking here.”
“Absorb it all later,” he advised. “Here. Now. You act. Listen to what I tell you to do and trust your gut. You’ve come through this great so far. Keep doing it.”
“Really?” She had an inane moment imagining herself as the first victim to die in a bad horror movie.
“Yes.” He paused. “Don’t get cocky.”
She smiled. And tripped.
His hand around her shoulders kept her from falling flat on her face. She kind of wished she had, so she could hide her burning cheeks.
“All right? You didn’t hurt your ankle, did you?” He didn’t stop but he’d slowed down.
Last thing she wanted to be was dead weight. Ignoring the very minor twinge in her right ankle, she paced him. “No. I’ll try to keep a better eye on where I’m putting my feet.”
“This is far enough anyway.” He pulled her into the shelter of another tree. “We’ll wait for Lizzy to pull up.”
The tree line was closer to the road here, and she could see buildings through the trees all around them. A sound barrier picked up where the trees left off some ways ahead of them.
She took a good look at Gabe then, the tension in his jaw. “You are mad.”
“Not at you.”
“What, then?” She tilted her head until it rested against the inside of his shoulder. He’d told her to leave his arms free when they were outside. Even if he had one around her now, she didn’t want to hang on to it in case he needed to let go of her in a hurry. So she wrapped her arms around herself to avoid the temptation of holding on to him.
“I should have checked the car more closely before we got into it.” He scowled. “I didn’t anticipate them finding my car, tampering with it.”
His phone rang.
Chapter Fourteen
“Hello.” Gabe had an idea of who it might be, but since the caller came up as unknown on his phone, he’d wait to see if life would surprise him.
“Still ever so warm and charming when you answer your calls, I see.” Jewel’s voice came across the line.
Nope. Not this time.
“Still doing your dirty work from a distance,” he shot back. Gabe, one. Recent life surprises, zero.
At his side, Maylin stared at him with narrowed eyes. It wouldn’t take her long to figure out who’d called, if she hadn’t already.
“Oh, you enjoy my little present? I had one of my colleagues pop it into the tire for you as a teaser and leave the main gift right where you’d see it.” She laughed. “How far are you from the car at this point?”
Far enough away to have survived the blast, as she obviously knew. No need to give her any more detail, but he scanned the surrounding area for more gifts.
Seeing the damned second detonator hadn’t been a surprise after the initial blowout, but he hadn’t been prepared for the shot of fear that cut through him as he’d glanced up to see Maylin watching him from inside the car. Getting her out had overridden any other thought in his head.
“Did you have your new boy toy tamper with the car door and seat belt, too? Or were those personal touches from him?” It’d be good to know. Gabe planned to hunt the bastard down for this, but it never hurt to know exactly which parts had been the other man’s idea.
Maylin’s lips pressed together in a grim line. She motioned for the phone and mimed her talking into it.
He gave her what he hoped was a quelling look. Her eyes narrowed even further and he wondered just how badly he was going to pay for that later.