He wasn’t lying. They left me… they really left me.
It takes a minute or two for the shock to wear off before I can bring myself to speak to James.
“Are they coming back?” I ask without turning to look at him.
I can’t bring myself to look at him again.
I can’t look at the man who rejected me when I was at my weakest.
It took some time, but I made peace with what happened between us that night. I still don’t understand why things played out like they did, but I made peace with it.
Things were said and done in the heat of the moment. Things I regret.
Now that I know who and what he is, I probably would have regretted it even more if he didn’t push me away like he did.
If anything, the entire situation makes me feel embarrassed.
I made a fool of myself by losing my head over a handsome man.
And being near him, even now, only reminds me of it.
“No,” James answers, and I turn to him in surprise.
Earlier, his expression was grim, but now there’s this strange intense look on his face.
He had the same look on his face before he kissed me that night…
As dead as I am inside, my heart still manages to skip a beat before I swallow and force myself to look away.
I sense James stepping closer to me as I try to figure out what the hell to do now.
My ride is gone, and I’m pretty sure I left my purse in Johnathan’s backseat.
I have no money and no phone on me.
All I have is this damp flag I’ve been clutching.
With no other choice, I start to walk toward the church. Maybe someone will take pity on me and let me use their phone.
“Sophia,” James says and grabs my elbow to stop me.
Just like his intense look, his touch penetrates through my numbed haze, affecting me in weird, unwanted ways.
And I know deep down I shouldn’t be feeling anything right now but pain.
Both alarmed and disturbed, I rip my elbow out of his grip and whip around to face him. “What do you want?”
What is he even doing here?
The last time I saw him at Johnathan and Beth’s house, he was a complete dick to me. In front of Johnathan, he acted like he didn’t even know me, and his demeanor was cold, bordering on nasty.
James stares at the hand that touched me for a moment before making a fist and dropping it at his side. I watch his nostrils flare as he takes a deep breath like he’s trying to steady himself.
Then his dark eyes meet mine. “I want to give you a ride home.”
What he said is so absurd, so damn ludicrous, I almost laugh.
He wants to give me a ride home? Now? After all this time?
Once again, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief.
Is this a dream?
Did I fall asleep?
Or is this a cruel joke?
“Thanks… but no thanks,” I manage to tell him with a straight face, swallowing back what I really want to say.
That ship has totally sailed.
It sailed so fast, so far, it crashed and burned months ago.
James frowns at my reaction, but that’s all I see before I turn my back on him again with every intention of walking away.
Unfortunately, he seems determined to bother me.
Grabbing my elbow, he pulls, forcing me to turn and step into his space.
“It wasn’t a request, Sophia,” he rasps down at me, that intense expression back on his sickeningly handsome face.
God, why does he have to be so damn handsome?
“I’m giving you a ride home to keep you safe.”
I find myself stiffening in fear, my entire body turning to stone.
What the hell is going on here? I wonder as I stare up at him, meeting his eyes.
Why does he look so angry?
And why is he insisting on giving me a ride?
I try to yank my arm back, but his hold tightens.
Jaw clenching, he steps closer to me. Looming over me and covering me in his shadow.
Making me feel small.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to fuck off, I’ll find my own way home, when it dawns on me.
This has nothing to do with the past and everything to do with the now.
Four days ago, my father was killed while he was off duty. He was shot in the middle of the highway after pulling over the Russian mobsters behind my kidnapping.
Every police officer I’ve spoken to since believes the Russians were behind it, that they did it to escape.
But his death is still under investigation, pending forensics.
And nothing is certain until the evidence proves it.
Thanks to a little eavesdropping, I know the Russians weren’t the only ones involved in what happened.
Up until yesterday, when Beth and Amanda came over to stay the night, I’ve had at least two officers staked at my house around the clock. During the few times I was lucid and not crying my eyes out, I’ve overhead a few hushed conversations.
Conversations full of anger over the Governor throwing his weight around and messing with the investigation.
The Russians weren’t the only ones there that night. There were also a few unidentified men that were there and let go. Men that are rumored to work for Johnathan and James’s boss, Lucifer.
It all makes so much sense, I feel like a fucking fool.
This is a setup.
With Beth pregnant and needing to get out of the rain, Johnathan probably called in James to keep an eye on me.
No doubt their little crime family wants to keep tabs on me for any information that may come my way regarding the investigation.
That’s why James looks so pissed. He doesn’t want to be around me any more than I want to be around him.
My empty stomach churns at the thought that my best friend’s husband is throwing me to wolves.
But what can you expect from a ruthless criminal?
James continues to stare hard at me, his dark eyes practically daring me to defy him.
Defying him and going for help would probably be the sane option. But who would help me? There’s no one around…
I could try to make a run for the church, but James will probably catch me before I make it very far.
He’s done it before, and I’m so not going down that road again.
We both know he’s bigger, stronger, and faster.
What other choice do I have?
He has me completely at his mercy and we both know it. Fighting him would just take energy. Energy I simply don’t have.
Hating him for doing this to me now.
Hating him period, I take a deep breath to steel myself.
Then I rip my arm out of his grip and say, “Fine. If you insist… Give me a ride.”
4
James
The entirety of my life has been me in a car racing to one place only to run from another.
I’ve been in a lot of tough spots in my life, but I’ve never been in a position where the atmosphere is so fucking tense and palpable that I could cut it with a knife.
Beside myself with seething anger, I want to wrap my hands around the closest throat and squeeze as hard as I can.
Not Sophia’s though. I’d rather do some sexy fun times with her neck. If she’s down for being choked, I can do that.
No, my fucking anger is because of all this shit she’s going through.
She’s too fucking pure, too fucking good for this world of shit and slime I crawl through every day.