Page 83 of Death is Familiar

“True.” Jack kept his eyes on the road as he poked the furry dice. “And they’re fun.”

Todd rolled his eyes. “Because we need to be prepared. I always have a med kit. Always in the car, with sutures and a juice box.”

If I thought about it, I did notice him constantly tucking first aid kits into the rental cars we used. It made sense given Todd’s medic training. If we were in an emergency situation the car should always be near us.

In theory.

I turned the juice box over in my hands. “You going to keep watching me until I drink it?”

“Yep.”

Todd didn’t budge. Neither did I.

Guess we were doing this the hard way.

Not breaking eye contact, I grabbed the plastic straw and stabbed it through the foil. I brought my lips to the straw and sucked.

Now, what I had meant to happen, was for this to look like an act of rebellion. Maybe flip Todd off for good measure, before he turned around with a huff at my superiority. But with my lips circling the neck of the straw, eyes on Todd’s unwavering stare, there was a slithering in my stomach.

Perhaps a bit lower.

Todd didn’t turn around. No, he stared back with equal measure. Eyes only dipping momentarily, to where I sucked on the straw.

Oh god, this was a bad idea.

Orange burst on my tongue. I swallowed.

Todd choked.

My core clenched as I did everything in my power not to aspirate the liquid.

Juice pooled on my bottom lip as I released the straw. I should have used the back of my hand to wipe it away, but it was so covered in dirt I’d only be adding to the mess. My tongue acted on reflex, darting out to grab the droplet.

Something about the situation changed.

My heart thudded in my ears. A shiver skittered across my skin.

Neither of us was willing to concede. It was a battle of wills and I wasn’t going to lose.

Jack must have sensed that Todd and I were both too stubborn to step down because he waved a hand between the two of us to cut the tension. “Staring contest later. Todd, can you send an update to the team? Divert them to Huntington, while we get things squared away here.”

Todd, unfazed by Jack’s interruption, took a steadying breath, and raised a brow. “Was that so hard?”

Yes.

But I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a response. If I had, I most definitely would have said, “No.” Just to aggravate him.

Instead, I sipped my orange juice in silence, returning my gaze out the window and ignoring the feeling that it was exactly what I needed, even though I hadn’t known it myself.

18

The good news about Mads’ arrest was that most everyone seemed to think it was an open and shut case.

With the gun located, and temporarily back in Todd’s possession—since it was his gun, we checked the serial numbers—before being catalogued as evidence, there was sufficient proof for Mads to be placed under arrest for the murders in Monongahela.

What made things even easier was both Jack and Todd had heard Mads’ very vocal confession about killing his team in order to get to me. Toss in my attempted kidnapping, and it was a pretty easy sell.

So, Mads was locked behind bars. For now.