She was cold and hungry. And her mood was getting darker by the minute. She was seconds away from ripping apart the jeep to find something, anything, to forcibly gag the three of them. It was either that or risk giving in to the temptation and pure joy of beating them into silence with her bare hands. The only thing stopping her was an explanation. She'd have to tell Brenda something and she hadn't figured out exactly what she could say—but she was working on it and it was only a matter of time...

She closed her eyes and tried to tune them out. Forced herself to take long, deep, calming breaths while she considered her options. The calming part wasn't working —the harder she concentrated on controlling her breathing the faster her heart began to race. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened until her knuckles began to ache.

She didn't know how much longer she could restrain herself. The temptation to shut them up was getting stronger. It was at war with her promise to Brenda to never resort to violence—particularly lethal violence—unless all other options had been exhausted. The problem was, she'd come up with few options.

She needed to get away from them. Maybe Roxy was right. She could try to make it to the Lodge on foot. But that meant leaving them out here alone—and she didn't know who or what might be following them. If something happened to them, how would she explain her reason for leaving them to Brenda?

Leaving wasn't an option; staying cooped up with them in this Jeep wasn't going to be an option for much longer, either. What the fuck was she supposed to do?

For a second, the two men had stopped arguing. Something in Roxy's tone gave them pause. But they either didn't hear or didn't understand what Jolene was saying. So, rather than heed the warning it presented, they dismissed it and turned their attention back to each other.

When Jolene began banging her head on the steering wheel, Roxy felt the hair on the back of her neck prick. She'd seen Jolene lose it once and that had been enough. She hardened her voice and tried to connect with her on a more rational level.

*      *      *