Ryder's POV
After, we packed up our things near the hidden bunker entrance.
Bronc had already left with Kai.
Joshua was shoving a medkit into a backpack and briefly I watched him.
I saw the way he looked at Kai before. After he carried her out - with politeness and unfamiliarity. Like they didn't have a lifetime of shared stories together.
She was a stranger. Simply nothing to him.
But standing here, packing up this basted place, I envied him. Can you imagine having a clean slate like that?
But no matter how hard my life was right now without Kai, I wouldn't give up those nineteen years for anything. Not for the whole money in the entire world.
"You alright?" Joshua asked, not looking up.
"Yeah," I answered "Why wouldn't I be? Mission accomplished."
I bent to pick up a discarded water bottle, using the movement to stop Joshua from reading me.
He straightened, finally looking at me. His gaze was perceptive, cutting through the bullshit.
"Why'd you hang back?"
