"Actually," he said without any hint of artifice. "I really don't. I just got out of a program. I got laid off from my job right before that. I've got some savings, but—I don't even have a cat. There was my parents’ place but… you know, I'm all yours."
"Where's your car?"
"Oh, don't have one. I gave my last car away. Family down the street needed it more. Theirs died and it was just her and her kids. The dad took off. Deadbeat. Never liked him. I did everything I could for her, but it really made her uncomfortable." He frowned like he'd said too much. "Not that it's important, but no, I don't have a vehicle, currently."
Then where was he going? There was a hospital not far from here, but it was a private facility.
"I just want to make sure you're alright," Merrick said slowly. "I promise. Zero bad intentions."
I wasn't sure he'd know a bad intention if it walked up and bit him in the ass. In fact, cutting him loose might not do him any favors. Sorry, Dad. I know what you'd do, but I have a feeling that's not what he needs.
“Come with me, I can take you somewhere,” I murmured and jerked my head toward a side street. With any luck, he wouldn’t realize the circles we’d made around where he found me. If he didn’t notice, he wouldn’t ask questions.
I’d really hate to lie to him, or worse. Cutting my gaze to Merrick as he fell into easy steps beside me, I sighed. He was half staring at me, while trying not to make it obvious. There was so much open honesty in his expression.
I couldn’t lie to him, or hurt him. It just seemed wrong.
“So, are you from around here? My family moved to this part of the country about five years ago, and I couldn’t stand to not see them, so much so, I came with them.” He hoisted his duffle higher as he angled his shoulders to face me head on, not even trying to hide it now.
I bristled, even as I warmed from so much direct attention. Fuck. This was exactly what I didn’t want. Personal questions.
“Oh yeah, where did you come from before that?”
Without blinking, he grinned and answered my question as if I hadn’t just deflected my ass off. “We lived in Seattle before here. You know, a lot of people hate that state for all the rain, but it’s beautiful. If you’ve never been, I’d be honored to play tour guide sometime. I do know all the local spots.” He smiled, and I nearly tripped.
Damn, he was beautiful too.
Arms swiftly closed around me as I was whisked around to his other side. One arm banded around my lower back, as the other cradled the back of my head. I was practically smooshed to his chest, as his heart beat a steady thrum beneath my cheek. “Are you sure you’re okay to walk? I know that must have been traumatizing.” He softened his voice as if in an attempt to soothe me. “How far are you parked from here? I could carry you.”
Momentarily shocked, by both the proprietary hold and his words, I almost let him pick me up. Almost.
“Stop that! I’m fine.” I smacked his chest and he jerked his arms back.
“Sorry! I’m sorry.” He held his hands up, like he was ready to snatch me from my feet if the ground looked at me funny.
Snorting, I shook my head. “Don’t be sorry, let’s just get going.”
He wisely didn’t ask me any more questions for the last few minutes of the walk. When we reached my car, I sent a swift glance around the street. I’d already canvased it before parking here, but I could never be too sure.
“Get in,” I said as I slid into the driver's seat and stuffed the bag of clothes under my seat. I’d stick them in the secret compartment under my console as soon as we were away from the street, just in case there were eyes on us, even the unsuspecting kind.
Merrick fastened his seatbelt after adjusting his duffle at his feet, then slapped his hands on his knees. “Where to?” he asked with a ridiculously endearing grin.
Taking him along was so many different kinds of mistakes, I couldn't even begin to list all of them. Good looking. Affable. Sweet to the point of—well, not nauseating. No. That would be rather rude to compare him to eating too many sweets. I wasn't even a huge fan of chocolate. I liked it in small quantities.
Daddy limited my sweets consumption growing up. He liked healthier eating habits. Organic choices all the way. Even our meat had to come from farmers he got to know and checked out. A lump formed in my throat.
"Are you hungry?"
I blinked once, then cut a look at my companion. The man leap frogged from subject to subject. "Why would you ask?" Distance. Deflect. Distract. Determine.
Four of the five Ds. The fifth wouldn't apply here.
"Because you looked a little distressed," Merrick said in a tone that suggested he might be humoring me. I started the vehicle and cut a look at him. Who was he?
"You said you were in a program?" No one was around, but I eased down the street with no lights on. There weren't a lot of street lamps in this neighborhood and even fewer cameras. What cameras there were, none were aimed at this road.
"Yep," he said with an ease of those completely comfortable in their skin. He was so relaxed and calm. Had I not been in that alley, had I not seen him beat John Joseph Randolph III to death with his hands, I wasn't entirely certain I'd believe him capable of it. "Is that what has you worried?"
"Hmm?" We'd made it a little over a mile down the road and I eased the lights on as I drove across a parking lot and into the brighter area around the grocery store and then merged onto traffic.
"That I was in a program?" He rubbed a hand against his jaw, almost thoughtful. "I can see how that might worry you. I mean, you're gorgeous, not that being gorgeous is worrisome. But you're a gorgeous, single woman, who was just accosted in a dark alley and now you've got me, a perfect stranger, who just got out of a 'program' in your car."
He frowned.
Practice kept my expression in check. It probably occurred to him he wasn't doing himself any favors.
"I may have worded that badly," Merrick admitted.
"No, I think you summed it up beautifully." I kept scanning the area, out of habit. Shift change would be over in the next fifteen minutes and fresh patrols would hit the road. I turned onto the highway and accelerated up the on ramp.
He chuckled, the rich timbre of it almost decadent. There was a kind of freedom in his laugh that I hadn't heard in a long time. Daddy had that kind of laugh when something genuinely tickled him. It happened rarely enough that each time had been something remarkable.
Still, something he said earlier tickled at the back of my brain. Details. It was always about the details. "You mentioned moving here for your family, I'm surprised they didn't pick you up. You know, after your program."
"They absolutely would have," he answered me easily even if some of his humor faded away. "But they died in a car accident about a year after we moved here. Drunk driver. All very—tragic and sad. He walked away without a scratch, they were all dead."
An unfamiliar sadness twinged inside my heart, right next to the righteous fury of how the monster walked away when his victims didn’t. “What happened to the man?”
“He was convicted for manslaughter with a vehicle. Serving time at the corrections facility.”