Wilder

Penna’s forehead puckered. “I don’t remember where Zoe was…or Bobby, for that matter, but I know they didn’t make the initial hike up.”

“Bobby called for support,” Landon said. “I heard his voice, but I don’t remember when.”

“Who are we missing?” I asked.

Penna shook her head. “I don’t know. There were so many people there.”

“Whoever pushed her could have hidden off the trail,” Landon said. “I ran so fast that I didn’t look on either side of me. Shit, they probably could have made it back down before Leah hit the water.”

“Okay. Well, that’s way too many people to narrow it down. Fuck. What do you guys want to do? You want to kill the movie?”

“No,” they answered in tandem.

“We said we’d see it through for Nick,” Penna said.

“I’m not letting this take anything else away from him,” Landon added.

I knew that would be their answer and sighed. “Right, but you guys haven’t been the targets. I don’t care about me as much, but they went after Leah. She’s…” I swallowed, trying to get past the lump that formed in my throat. “I can’t let anything happen to her.”

“They used her against you. That’s the only explanation. Leah hasn’t hurt a fly.”

“Yeah,” I answered, unable to get out another word. I knew it the minute she said she’d been pushed.

Landon nodded and looked at Penna. “If they went after Leah to get to Paxton, you need to keep an eye on Brooke. She could be a target to get to you. Everyone knows how close you are.”

A slight panic rose in Penna’s eyes. “Who the hell would want to do this to us?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “But we’ll run two practice sessions from here on out. CTDs can have their own—we’re closing our practices to everyone but Originals and Little John. Fuck the cameras. Fuck Bobby. We’ll still do the stunts, but everyone handles their own gear, and we keep everything contained as much as possible. And guys, I don’t care how much we love Nick—the next incident and we have to call it. This isn’t worth any of our lives, and he’d be the first to agree.”

They both nodded and headed off to their rooms.

I crawled back into my bed, wrapped a sleeping Leah in my arms, and let her breathing calm me down. She was okay. Her wounds would heal. She would recover.

I wasn’t sure if I would. It was one thing to risk my life, but never hers. Not after I’d found her. I had to keep her safe.

Tell her why she’s really here, and she’ll leave.

My entire body tensed, my stomach rolling at the thought of what her face would look like when she realized what I’d done, what I’d kept from her. But the safest place for her to be was next to me, so I’d have to keep my secret a little longer.

Fear like I’d never known iced my veins, paralyzed my breath. Even if I could keep her safe—and I would—she’d leave eventually. I’d lose this peace, her arms, her love…everything she was.

It was ironic really. I’d finally found the one person I wasn’t willing to risk in my pursuit of landing a trick, and I was going to lose her anyway.

I pulled her closer and breathed in the scent of her hair, tried to infuse her into my lungs, my very being, and practiced every apology I could think of that might keep her with me when everything eventually hit the fan.

But for right now…I just needed to keep her alive.

…

“If you skid out one more time you’re going to lose pieces of your skin,” Penna lectured as I righted the bike again. The South African track was deserted except for a few of us. After the shit in Morocco, I’d gone through with our agreement and banned everyone from the training sessions the Originals were a part of, and I didn’t give a fuck if they were calling me a diva behind my back. Keeping the people I cared about safe was all that mattered.

“I’ve landed most of them,” I argued, ripping off my helmet. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck. It wasn’t too hot in Cape Town, but the protective gear was baking me.

“Most isn’t all,” Landon said, siding with Penna in both words and stance, their arms across their chests.

“Well, this is the last ramp we have before Abu Dhabi, so what the hell do you two recommend?”

“Call it off. Pull a less difficult trick,” Penna answered.

“We need it for the movie.”

“We don’t need another Renegade in a wheelchair,” she snapped, then rubbed her temples.

“All right, what do you guys want to do?” Little John asked as he walked over, Leah by his side. She’d given up a two-day safari to stay with me while I trained during our field time, and I hated that she’d done it as much as I adored her for it.

She put her hand on my arm and looked up at me with concern in those whiskey eyes.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “I’ve got it, but I don’t, and I won’t get another chance to practice until we’re in Abu Dhabi. What do you think?” I asked Leah.

Her lips parted, and she blew out a long, slow breath. “I think that I’m the last person who should be offering you advice on this. But I do know that you’re exhausted, and sleepy people are sloppy people. Seeing that you don’t exactly have the kind of job where sloppy is an option, I think you need to rest.”