Storm Watch(21)

“I know, but I have to get in there to make sure.” She turned to Sam, the softer of the two. “Please.”

He grimaced, torn. “Lizzy—”

“Look, I’ll come right back out again, I promise. But if you don’t let me in, I’ll just go in on foot.”

Not doubting her for a minute, Sam nodded reluctantly, but he held her gaze as he leaned in and pressed a warm, careless kiss on her lips. “You have my cell.”

“Yes.”

“Use it. If you find her or if you can’t—either way I want to hear from you. Ten-four?”

“Ten-four.”

They pulled away, Jason handling the road with much more confidence than she could have even faked. “You and Sam,” he said. “A thing?”

She was surprised at the question, but she knew she’d given him the right to ask when she’d crawled into his lap and nearly eaten him up. “We went out twice.”

“I got a fairly possessive, protective vibe back there from him.”

“No, you didn’t.”

He laughed softly. “Lizzy, the last look he gave me said ‘I don’t care that you’re Dustin’s brother, if you hurt her, I’ll beat the shit out of you.’”

She took in Jason’s broad-as-a-mountain shoulders, the sinewy arms that she’d seen without a shirt, the six-pack abs. Sam was built, too, but Jason had an edge that said he’d been to the bowels of hell and fought his way out and had no problem doing it again. “You’re not afraid of Sam.”

“No. I like Sam. I’m just trying to figure out if you like Sam, too.”

She’d had boyfriends. Lovers. Not all that many, and she’d never kept one for long because she’d always put Cece first, even when Cece hadn’t needed to be put there, and yeah, so maybe she’d used her as a guard against getting hurt, but whatever. She’d still been with enough men to at least know her own needs. And right now that need was to remain single. Besides, she refused to take a giant step backward just because the guy of her early fantasies was sitting next to her, looking at her, rendering her a teenager again with one slant of those slate eyes.

He’d known about her crush.

That was bad enough. She had no intention of telling him she’d apparently never stopped crushing on him. “Sam and I are just friends. And there’s no one else, either. I would never have kissed you the way I did if there was. I’m single if that’s what you’re asking, and I intend to stay that way.”

He looked at her for a quick beat before turning back to the road. “Me, too. Look, to be honest, I’m damaged goods at best.” Once again, he glanced over at her. “Screwed up in the head,” he clarified. “It’s not exactly conducive to a relationship.”

“Does that have anything to do with Matt?”

“I guess it does.”

“And he’s…”

“Dead.” His fingers tightened on the wheel. “And, Jesus, that never gets easier to say.”

“A close friend?”

“The closest.” His voice had lowered, and was laced with pain. “He died on a rescue mission in the Midwest floods six weeks ago.” He eyed the flooding all around them. “Try to appreciate the irony. I certainly am.”

“Oh, Jase.” She understood the pain. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“We were there pulling people out of a building that had collapsed. I was in the rescue boat and Matt was in the water, trying to reach the victims. There was a hillside, creating a sort of waterfall. We were working not to go over while trying to get everyone in the boat.” He was silent a minute. “Matt was shoving people up to me and I was lifting a badly injured kid when the boat got caught in the current and cap-sized. Matt was trapped beneath it, and drowned.”

His voice broke a little on the word, and her heart broke for him. “Were you hurt?”

“Cracked a rib, concussion.” He shrugged. It was nothing, the gesture said. Nothing compared to being dead.

“Shit. Hang on.”

She turned forward and saw the problem—two fallen power lines across the road, with the water rushing over and under them so that they writhed like snakes, and sparkled like fireworks.

Lizzy braced herself as Jason hit the brakes, but he handled the Jeep like he’d been born to it, and the vehicle came to a controlled stop right in front of the downed lines.

Staring through the howling winds and curtains of rain, he shook his head. “Not good.”

“Should I call the PUD?”

“Definitely.” He pulled out his cell and tossed it to her while he backed the Jeep up, away from the live wires. “I’m going to take a closer look.”