He turns, his eyes a glossy dark. “Are you cold?”
It’s strange, this distant concern from him. Is this how he treats all his lovers? Does sex smooth some of his rough edges, make him more gentleman than criminal? “I’m okay.”
“We should get back soon.”
“Probably.” I hate thinking about how worried my mother would be. That’s what bothers me most. Not leaving Liam and my friends at prom. Not even my father. I don’t know what to believe about him. “I don’t want this to end.”
A shadow passes over his face. “It’s already over.”
There’s a hitch in my breath. In my heart. In the swell of hope that said somehow this could last. Of course he’s right, but it’s still hard to speak. So I don’t. I take a step closer, standing near enough to feel his body heat in the cool night.
He wraps his arms around me, pulling me close. I can feel his heartbeat; it becomes my own. This kind of intimacy, it’s almost deeper than when we had sex. Taking comfort. Giving it.
“Who was she?” I ask softly. “The woman you loved?”
Even after all this, I’m not jealous of her. Well, maybe a little bit. Mostly I want Stone to find peace in his life. I’m not sure he could find that with a secretly broke debutante, no matter how many times he takes me hostage. I don’t have what he needs, but maybe someone does.
“It doesn’t matter now.”
I pull back, a little shocked. “Love always matters.”
“Does it?” he asks, gently mocking, tracking a finger down my cheek.
“Yes. Sometimes I think it’s the only thing that matters.”
“I love someone who lied to me,” he says with a half-smile. “Someone who betrayed me. So what does that make me, little bird? Pretty fucking stupid, but it doesn’t make me stop loving her.”
That explains why he’s not with her, then. He might love her until he dies, but he can’t be with someone who betrays him. Loyalty means everything to him.
Even if I hadn’t seen that basement, I would know that about Stone. He’s like some kind of rock, to have survived that. An avalanche of strength and honor when it comes to protecting his crew. He seems like he’s made of something other than flesh, but I’ve touched him in his most private moment. I know the truth. “It makes you human,” I say softly.
Chapter 22
Stone
She’s snuggled up on the truck seat next to me, head on my shoulder, wrapped in a blanket. The headlights illuminate trees and the dirt road and the occasional startled animal, there and then gone. Soon it will be dawn and she’ll be out of my car. Out of my life, because I can’t trust her. I don’t believe she would fuck with me this way, but I also can’t ignore what I heard.
“You’re gonna put on that seatbelt once we get to the road,” I say.
She wiggles closer. “If you want,” she whispers.
I pull her tight to my side, because I’m weak. I’m stupid, like I told her, but that doesn’t stop me. I brought one of the blankets from the cottage to put around her. She said she wasn’t cold, but I like it around her, like her pressed so close to me. I worry about whether she’s cold or hungry. I worry about whether she wants any fucking thing that pops into her head. I’d hunt down a fucking tiger and bring it to her, if she wanted striped fur.
Which means I need to get away from her. Need to get some perspective.
That all has to end. We’ll be down the trail soon. Out in the world soon. In reality.
I keep turning her words over and over in my mind. I don’t want to think about that. About the Innkeeper.
I tell myself it could mean anything. She was half-asleep, after all. I think about pressing her on it, but I won’t. I can’t. Not as long as it could be meaningless. I need to get perspective, and that means returning to my roots. To my crew. They are my rock.
She fell asleep after saying the words that changed everything.
She slept hard and deep, the sleep of the innocent, curled up in my arms, unaware of the world spinning out of control. Unaware of my eyes on her lips, on her light brown eyelashes. Unaware of my attention on her every breath, or of my heart thundering in my chest.
“Really, you can drop me anywhere.” Her words sound drowsy. “Some random gas station and I can call an Uber. You could drop me at Chelsea’s even.”
“You think I’m not going to give you a proper ride home after prom?”
She smiles at me, a little uncertain, a little sleepy. “I’m your girl?”
“Yeah.” For better or for worse, and I’m thinking this might be the worst situation of all. I kiss the top of her head just as we stop at the end of the dirt trail, ready to head onto the two-lane highway heading back to Franklin City. I told her it was already over, but I don’t think this is the end. It should be, for her sake, but it’s not. “Buckle up, baby.”
She shifts over and puts on her seatbelt.
I check my phone. Just after four in the morning.
“There’ll be cops there,” she protests. “Seriously.”
I pull out onto the road. “It’s handled.”
We go over what she’s going to say. I took her out of there. She was scared and went with me. We drove past Mooresville and out to Prairiefield. We stopped at the scenic overlook and talked. I asked her dumb stuff about her high school.
We go over how nobody can make her say things she doesn’t want to say, or do things she doesn’t want to do.
“Nobody can make you do anything. You’re in control,” I tell her.
She smiles over at me, sweet in the dashboard light. “I’m in control.”
I frown, wondering if she’s using that same logic on me, but then I put the thought aside. Nonsense mumbled by a sleeping girl. That’s what I tell myself.
Fifteen minutes later I’m heading into the hilly section of Franklin City, all the mansions looming above the rest of the place.
The truck whirs into high gear. We pass a white mansion with a gate around it. Another one that looks like a fucking fort. I pass a beat-up Jeep—wave to Cruz. He pulls out some distance after me.
Grayson and Calder are already in place up near her house, ready for showtime. There are two unmarked cars out there. Calder’s going to drive all suspicious and lead them away on a chase. Calder is our best driver; he has nerves of steel. Grayson’ll ride shotgun—literally. He’ll shoot some shit if shooting needs to happen.
I grab her and kiss her. I don’t have words.
“When will I see you again?”
“I don’t know,” I say.
Police lights fire up ahead. Calder. I slow in front of her place.
She jumps out. I watch her run up her fancy walk, lit like a fairy path by flowers and tiny lights. Watch her reach the huge, elaborately carved door to her mansion.
I peel out just as a cop car pulls out from the darkness. I jam on the speed, take a few quick turns. I lose him with the help of Cruz, who was lying in wait, ready to play the bumbling driver, blocking any kind of pursuit if need be.
Still, getting away clean is hard, considering they have my plates. I had the element of surprise because they didn’t expect me to drop her, so they weren’t really prepared. But it takes luck and help from my guys to get out of the area. I breathe a sigh of relief as I travel deeper into South Franklin City. Better still once I hit Gedney with its boarded-up buildings and ruined hotels, one of which is the Bradford.