Unremarkable (Anything But) by Lindy Zart Page B

now. We have to get out of here.”
    She brushed him off, moving away. “I’m going now, Ryder.”
    “I know. Let’s go.” He was purposely being obtrusive, but what other option did he have? None. She would not be leaving without him. It was as simple as that.
    Her gaze roved over him, pausing on his eyebrow and halting on his shoulder. Muttering, Honor quickly tore off the sleeve of her shirt, ripping it into a strip and wrapping it under his armpit and over his shoulder, tightening it with more exuberance than was warranted. Ryder grunted at the pain, but said nothing.
    “You’re not going with me,” she told him, meeting his eyes.
    “ The hell I’m not. You don’t even have a gun anymore! Who’s going to protect you?”
    “ You know, I actually feel better around you without a gun in the equation.”
    “ Will no one ever forget that?” he demanded of the cracked wall.
    “ It’s kind of a big deal, Ryder.”
    “ Honor…I’m not—I can’t…” He swallowed, desperation clutching his heart and squeezing. “You don’t know what it’s been like…the months since you’ve been gone, thinking I’d…thinking you were dead. Please. Let me go with you. I know I’ve been an ass to you and I thought I had reason to be, but I was wrong, so wrong. Let me make it up to you. You can trust me. Please trust me. I am not the same person you met a few years ago. Let me prove it.”
    Honor blinked, her expression saying she didn’t know what she was looking at. “Ryder Delagrave…begging and stumbling over his words. I never thought I’d witness such a phenomenon.”
    “Now you’ve seen everything.” He tried to grin, but knew it came off twisted.
    Sighing, she said, “I do think you’ve changed, that you are different from the person I knew before all this, but I can’t chance that you’re not. I am sorry. And I have to go. You can tell them I attacked you and got away. Then no blame will come to you. Okay? You belong with the UDKs. I don’t. I never did.”
    “No. I don’t. I don’t belong there. I thought I did, but—” he croaked, grabbing her hand and squeezing.
    She was right. He knew she was right. Ryder had to go back, even though the thought of reentering that sterile facility full of lies and deception made him physically ill. He didn’t even understand all that was going on, but he knew it all had to be stopped. He had to finish what he’d put into motion. He had to stop August, somehow, or die trying. Dying didn’t seem so bad, not anymore. If he couldn’t have what he wanted, maybe he could at least have justice.
    Mind made up, he nodded grimly. “Fine. I’ll go back. But only because I have something I have to do. And Honor? One day, you will be mine,” Ryder said with quiet conviction, her fingers cool within his palm. She had to be. It was the only thing that made sense to him in the midst of all the pandemonium.
    A faint smile flittered over her lips, those luminous blue eyes of hers locked on his as Honor squeezed his fingers before tugging away.
    “Be seeing you, Ryder,” she said, tossing back words he’d said to her in a different reality so many months ago as she strode down the only other opening available.
    He hung his head, breathing heavily at the loss of her light. Honor had barely melded into the underground world when he heard them. He dropped to his stomach, quickly yanking the homemade tourniquet from his shoulder, grimacing at the burn, and shoving it into the pocket of his shorts. He groaned for effect as three UDKs swarmed around him, shouting and making enough noise to ensure any near knew they were not alone.
    “Delagrave? What happened to you?” Gina Howard, a tall blond, asked, dropping to the ground next to him. She was an officer like him, but she was a few years older. Most didn’t advance as quickly as Ryder. Most didn’t have a vendetta like he did.
    “ I don’t know. I was attacked in Lodi and somehow ended up down here. How did you find