The Attraction Distraction by Jenn McKinlay

Author:Jenn McKinlay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMO Ink
Published: 2022-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“What?” I cried. He’d been pushed? “Who? How?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “I didn’t see them. I’d stopped to get some water, and was just taking off my backpack when they gave me a hard shove.”

I plunked onto the ground. My hat had slid off during our hug and was now hanging by the cord around my neck. I placed it back on my head and tightened the chin strap. A pasty redhead in this sun was just asking for skin cancer without a hat.

I stared at Liam when he sat next to me and took his water from his backpack. “Do you think whoever shoved you also put the rock viper near me when I was sleeping?”

Liam shrugged. “It occurred to me that it was a possibility. That’s why I slept beside you.”

“You left me this morning,” I said. “Without a word.”

I wondered if he realized that it had reminded me of our breakup. I wondered if he cared.

“Déjà vu?” he asked. So he did realize.

“A little bit,” I admitted. “Why did you leave like that?”

“I thought if someone had planted the viper then I could draw them away from you by leaving first,” he said.

I hadn’t been asking about this morning. I’d been asking why he’d left me seven years ago, but I didn’t have the ability to put it into words. Not right now when both of our lives were potentially in danger.

“We both could have been killed,” I said.

“I know you said you don’t want to form an alliance, but—”

“Let’s do it,” I said.

His eyes widened in surprise and I knew I needed to explain my change of heart.

“Someone is willing to kill to find the shrine first,” I said. “We have no idea where it is, or if it’s even here, and we have a lot of ground to cover. We can’t protect ourselves and search at the same time. As much as I hate to admit it, working together just makes sense.”

Liam’s smile was wide and warm. “I knew you’d come around. It’s my charm, isn’t it? You can’t resist me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you’re as irresistible as a plague.” I paused to meet and hold his gaze. “Seriously though, when Ren was injured on the boat, he told me someone pushed him. And the only person I know for a fact didn’t do it is you because you were with me at the time.”

His smile faded as the seriousness of the situation. “We’re going to have to be very careful, Sarah.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. I wouldn’t think about what would happen when we found the shrine, if we would turn on each other, or not. I’d worry about that if and when it happened.

“What’s that?” Liam was staring overhead, his eyes squinting against the bright sky.

I took the binoculars out of my backpack and focused on the object. It was very high tech, making minimal noise as it passed overhead.

“It’s a drone,” I said. “Oh, hey, they said there would be food and water drops at designated sites.

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