Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

back to their tent, realizing only then his feet were bare. The damp grass stuck to his skin.

Dr. Howie waited for them with Korrie. “Good morning, Doctor,” Zach said. Howie wouldn’t desert them, would he? Like Torres, he had a duty to people. Like her, there were going to be two groups he had a duty to. Which would he choose?

“Good morning, boys,” Howie said. “Looks like we start the really tough hiking today.”

Relief washed over Zach, and his appetite for his breakfast increased when Korrie handed him and Adam plates of scrambled eggs, chunks of rather unevenly toasted bread, and apples. He ate too fast to even taste the food. His mind whirled a mile a minute, working on what he could possibly say or do to stop Jones and his followers leaving. Even at this point, he must be able to think of something.

But they’d heard all the arguments and remained resolute. He knew what would persuade them—the smallest sign he was right about the island. A quake, even a tiny one, showing the ocean floor had started to subside. It frustrated him to distraction not having access to the monitoring instruments to tell him the status of the fault line. He’d only know it had finally given way when the ground under his feet told him.

Catching himself praying for an earthquake, he lost his appetite again and sat passing his uneaten apple from hand to hand. He didn’t want to be right, he tried to remember. Best in the end for everyone if he was wrong.

But he wasn’t wrong.

He looked at Adam, smiling and joking with the professor. How could he have missed the chance to have sex with him again last night? However sick he’d been, however scared, it had been madness to lose any opportunity. Tonight, he vowed, he wouldn’t fall asleep before he made love to Adam.

Made love? Seemed a rather fanciful idea, but justified, he believed. Two nights ago, the night the island could have cracked apart and sunk unnoticed by him, it had felt like making love. He’d been in love three times in his life. The first time, he’d been fourteen, and the other boy only liked girls, so it had faded away, like his many temporary crazes in those teenage years. Twice more since then, loves which had also faded in the end, but before then the sex had eventually become like it had been two nights ago with Adam.

Eventually was the word. After weeks and months, not days. It shouldn’t feel so profound so soon. He looked over at Adam, munching the last of his toast. What did it mean?

Adam must have sensed his gaze, looked over and smiled at him. Zach felt as if his knees had been suddenly replaced with water. He knew for sure what it meant.

He loved Adam.

Chapter Fifteen

Zach was back in the middle of the group packing up to head back down the mountain. Pleading with Jones, begging him not to go. Adam couldn’t think of anything else to say and knew it wouldn’t help anyway. So he’d found a sun-warmed rock to sit on and look back down into the basin.

Perhaps he should be over there with Zach, supporting him. But he supported him by staying with him, going on climbing. Actions speak louder than words, his dad often said. Usually to annoy Mom when she accused him of having all the conversational skills of a stuffed dummy. Adam resembled the women of his family more in that regard; he was a talker. But today he felt silent.

“Hi.” Torres sat down on the rock beside him.

“Come to say good-bye?” He had no bitterness or accusation in his tone. She was just doing her job as she saw it.

“I have to go with them. Jones is a hothead. He’ll cause more fights than he prevents. He’s not really a bad guy, but he’s been in the cells overnight a couple of times.”

“I’m not blaming you, Barb.”

“Thanks. And your group will be okay. You’ve got some levelheaded people in charge. You for one.”

I’m someone in charge? Strange to think of himself that way. And “your group.” Suddenly, there were two groups. Their tribe had split. Shattered.

“The sheriff didn’t want you going off without a cop, but we’re going in different directions, and I’m only one cop. So I think I should deputize someone.”

He nodded. “Good idea. Simon would be ideal; he’s a rock. Or Zach himself, since he’s the leader.”

She shook her head. “Not Zach. The leader can’t be the enforcer too. Simon’s a good idea, but he’s got his family to focus on. You’re the best candidate.”

“Me?” He stared at her. “I’m just a grad student.”

“You’re smart, you’re not too excitable, and you seem to have the best interests of the group at heart.”

“I’m not sure about the last part,” he admitted. “I’m here for Zach.”

“Okay. But I still think you’re the one.” She rubbed her bare arms, didn’t have her jacket on, and the wind was colder this high up. “You’re not one hundred percent sure he’s right, are you?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m with him whether he is or not. He’s going to need my support either way.”

“Your loyalty is admirable, but don’t make a vice of it. Don’t let him lead you to disaster. You’re the only one he’ll listen to in the end.”

Adam didn’t answer. Would Zach listen to him if he started disagreeing? If Adam turned around and went back down the mountain, would Zach go with him? It hadn’t come to that yet. There was a difference between not being 100 percent sure and having actual doubts. He had no doubts about Zach.

“Will you let me deputize you?”

He shrugged. “Okay.” It didn’t matter much, did it? The group had been law-abiding so far. “Do I get to wear a star?” He smiled, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Be a grown-up. Raise your right hand.” He did. “Adam Gray, I hereby deputize you. Do you