There was no hope. Not now.
How could I have screwed up my life so badly?
The same way everyone did. She'd listened to and trusted the wrong people. Had put her faith and energy into the wrong things, only to learn too late that she shouldn't have harbored hatred.
I'm so stupid.
Jess paused as they reached the trucks. He and Abigail searched the first one for keys while the others spread out to check the rest.
One by one, they reported failure.
"Hey!" Sasha shouted after a minute. "I don't have keys, but this one's open. Anyone know how to hot-wire?"
Ren gave him an arch stare. "Can't you use your powers to start it?"
Sasha raked him with an equally offended sweep. "Can't you?"
Abigail held her hands up. "Step aside, boys. I have the evil powers for this."
Jess smiled as she climbed inside the cab and vanished under the dash. "My lady got mad skills," he said, imitating the slang Sasha used.
Then he sobered as he realized what he'd done.
He'd claimed her. Publicly. But that wasn't what shocked him. The fact that he truly thought of her like that did. She was a part of him now. Even though they hadn't known each other long, she had breached his defenses and wormed her way into his heart.
Oh my God. The very idea terrified him.
He wouldn't call it love.
Would he?
It wasn't what he felt for Matilda by a long shot, and yet there were enough similarities that it left him wondering. When had he known he loved Matilda?
The day he'd realized he couldn't live without her.
Bart had told him that he wanted to move on. That it was time for them to find a new base of operations. Normally, Jess would have been packed up in a few hours and been ready to ride. Instead, an excruciating pain had ripped him apart when he thought about not seeing Matilda again. It'd been so debilitating that it brought him to his knees.
Nothing had struck him like that since.
Not until he'd seen the tsi-nooks going after Abigail.
I would die for her. That fact hit him like a punch in the jaw. He really would. She had a power over him that not even Matilda had possessed. I'm so screwed.
The semi started up, startling him away from his train of thought.
Blinking, he realized the other men were staring at him like he'd grown a third head. "What?" he asked defensively.
Sasha snorted. "I have never in my extremely long life seen anyone take so long to answer a question. It's like you went into your mind and got lost. You need a bread crumb, buddy?" He made a noise like he was calling his pet. "Here, Lassie, here. Come back, girl."
Jess shoved at him. "Shut up. What did you ask me, anyway?"
Sasha slapped himself on the forehead and groaned. "Really? Good thing I didn't tell you to duck a bomb."
He started to respond, but Abigail's frantic voice stopped him.
"Gentlemen. We have company."
The men climbed up the sides of the truck to see why Abigail had called them. Ren and Sasha on the passenger side. Choo Co La Tah and Jess on hers.