Bastian's Storm (Surviving Raine 2)

I inhaled deeply and watched the smoke flow out around my face.

“If I get out of this, I’m going to end up running that whole organization when Rinaldo retires,” Evan said. “I don’t want it, but the war has made it clear that his daughter can’t handle the pressure. Lia wants nothing to do with it. I’m going to lose her over the whole thing, and there’s no other path before me. I think I’d rather die on the edge of a mountain than lose her over that. I’d rather she just wonder why I never came home.”

“That’s fucked up,” I replied. “Raine would go bat-shit if I just didn’t come home one night. She’d drive herself to an early grave wondering what happened to me. I may be a dick, but I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“I don’t know what Lia will do,” Evan said softly. “She’ll be upset, but she’ll get over it eventually, right?”

I looked over my shoulder at him and raised my eyebrows. I didn’t know this chick, but she did sound a lot like Raine. Raine wouldn’t just get over it. I knew that much. I figured Evan’s girl wouldn’t either.

“Fuck,” Evan muttered. He took a long drag off the cigarette and stared out over the ledge. “I can’t leave her like that.”

“Well, why don’t you help me get out, and then I’ll make sure to let her know you’re dead when I’m done with you.”

“Thanks a lot,” he said as he glared over the burning tip of the smoke. “I’m sure having the dude who killed me tell her all about it would be a great comfort to her.”

“Just tryin’ to help,” I snickered.

“Yeah, I can do without that type of assistance.”

“Wouldn’t Moretti tell her what happened?” I asked.

“He doesn’t know where she is.”

“He knew how to find you, though,” I said after a moment’s consideration. “Are you saying he can’t find her?”

“Rinaldo has people who could locate her,” Evan said with a deep breath. “She’d be able to move on then, I guess.”

He didn’t seem convinced as I watched him drop his eyes to the ground. He blinked his frozen eyelashes a couple of times, and with a shiver, took another long drag off the smoke. I might not have been as perceptive as Evan was, but I could see it in his face—he didn’t have any hope left. He was done. I wasn’t even sure he wanted to survive.

The knowledge should have spurred me on. It should have encouraged me to listen to Landon’s voice in my head and get my ass moving, but it didn’t. For some reason, I didn’t want Evan to give up though I wasn’t sure at what point he became Evan in my head instead of just Arden.

“Landon’s always told me that victory is in your head first,” I said. “If you decide that’s how it’s going to be, then that’s how it will be.”

Evan took another hit on the smoke and tried to shift himself into a more comfortable position. He looked straight at me.

“Let’ go over the possibilities, shall we?” he suggested.

“Okay.”

“Most likely—we freeze to death right here,” he said. “No winner. I don’t know how this shit works when there’s a tie, but it won’t matter to us because we’ll both be dead.”

I didn’t agree with him—what happened to Raine and Alex mattered a fucking hell of a lot regardless of how things turned out for me, but I didn’t feel like arguing the point.

“Next option—one of us manages to get free, and the other one is still trapped,” he continued. “Easy enough kill for either of us.”

I had to concur with that one.

“They don’t know where we are at this point,” Evan said. “Neither of us has our cameras anymore, and they’d have to come looking for us. My guess is they’ve already decided to do that but are probably waiting until the wind dies down. I don’t know what the protocol is. Rinaldo only filled me in on standard procedure, not exceptions.”

“There aren’t usually any exceptions,” I said. “The tournament goes until there’s only one player left. I’ve never been in the situation where the investors don’t know what’s happening, but I can guess. There was a tournament once—not one I was in—where the last two people were fighting with knives. They both cut each other fatally. The investors waited to see which one died first and declared the other guy the winner even though he died a few minutes later.”

“What if they find us both dead at the same time,” Evan asked, “or if they find us both alive?”

“As far as I know, that’s never happened.” I thought about it for a minute. “They might decide to start the whole thing over again.”

My stomach churned a bit. The idea of having to do it all again actually sounded worse than losing. It would mean breaking one more promise to Raine. She’d never trust me again.

“How about we make a deal?” Evan said quietly.