Page 200 of Five Brothers
“So the treasure is real?” I ask, remembering what he just said to Trace. “They’ll rip the place apart, you know.”
He holds me tight. “It’ll take more than that to get me to leave this bed tonight.”
We kiss, our arms circling each other tightly, and I can’t tell which limbs are mine and which are his. I love this with him. I love that there’s nothing better than tonight. I love—
A boom hits the air, followed by another one, and we jump, pulling away from each other’s mouths.
Still holding each other, we turn our eyes out the window and toward the bright glow of an explosion somewhere behind Mariette’s. On a road? In the swamp, maybe?
“Oh my God,” he mutters.
The fire burns big, and I stop breathing for a second.
Trace.Dallas, Army …
I look at Macon. “We have to go.”
I pull the hood of Liv’s raincoat over my head as Macon and I dash out into the street. We climb into one of the trucks, water streaming down his face and onto his black T-shirt as he turns the key.
He spins the wheel to the left, and I grab the dash and the door as he swings around the street and charges down the road, towardthe bar and the motel. The door to the firehouse is up, the small truck inside gone. Some of the volunteer fire department must’ve already sped out to the fire.
But instead of veering left, past Mariette’s and toward the explosion, he slips into a muddy parking spot and leaves the engine running. “Come on.”
He jumps out of the truck, and I push open the creaky door, hopping out.
Heading up the steps before me, he opens the door, and I walk in behind him.
People clamor and shout inside the restaurant, and we look around for familiar faces, but all I see are staff, tourists, and a few people from the Bay.
But then I see them. Army, Dallas, and Trace push through the kitchen door and charge through the dining room. I let out a breath, relieved.
Macon dives behind the lunch counter, pulls out a pistol, checks for bullets, and slips it into the back of his jeans. My heart leaps into my throat.
The gun.The one from his nightstand. I haven’t returned it yet. I guess it’s a good thing he didn’t think to grab it before we left the house.
He pulls his T-shirt over the weapon and moves toward the door again, his brothers following.
The others slip out the door, but I move in front of Macon before he can leave. “It’s a diversion,” I tell him.
He just murmurs, “Stay here. I don’t want you at the house alone.”
He doesn’t even look at me as he tries to leave again.
But I repeat, “It’s a diversion.”
Whoever they are, they’re keeping the Jaegers’ attention occupied while something else goes down. They’re not here to start a fight. He doesn’t need the weapon.
He reaches around me to push open the door, and I take his hand in mine, coming for his mouth. “Be careful.”
But he pulls his hand out of mine. “Not here.”
He brushes past me, leaving Mariette’s, and I look after him, watching them all climb into their trucks. They speed off, and I feel the heat of peoples’ eyes on my back, but when I turn around, no one is looking.
Okay, maybe like three are.
I look around to find Jessica smiling at me. Summer looks but doesn’t smile.
I search the room.Where’s Aracely?