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Silence had stretched on for the longest time, though it had felt like I was gaining her trust in it.
Finally, I’d taken the chance and spoke. “I’m glad you reached out to me.”
Raspy air slipped from her lungs. “I shouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not safe.”
My ribs had squeezed my heart in the most agonized fist. Because I’d known. Had known it the second that I’d seen her that she was in trouble.
I’d carefully formed my question, praying I wouldn’t scare her away. “Why aren’t you safe?”
“None of us really are, are we?”
“Not always, no, but some situations are much worse than others.” I’d paused, then pressed. “And your situation is dangerous?”
She’d glanced around like she was terrified she was being watched again before she let go of a shaky exhale. “Have you ever just…found yourself someplace you didn’t realize you’d gone? Has it ever felt like you woke up one day and you were in a completely different place than you thought you were?”
“Literally or figuratively?”
Caution had filled each word, forming them in a way that I’d hoped wouldn’t make her think I was judging her in any way.
“Figuratively, I guess, but now that I’m here, this place looks so different than it was supposed to, so it feels literal.” She looked over the waters when she added, “It was a trap.”
I blinked through the puzzle of what she was saying. “How so?”
From the side, I’d seen her gnaw her bottom lip. “He was supposed to love me, and it turns out I was only prey.”
Dread filled my chest when I looked over at her, and I murmured, “Who?”
I should have known that was what would send her running, but if I was going to help her? If she was in immediate danger? Then I needed to know who she needed to be rescued from.
But she’d jumped to her feet, terror holding her hostage, her attention darting everywhere as if she’d been terrified someone would see her talking with me. “I’m sorry for wasting your time.”
I reached for her. “You’re not—”
“I have to go.”
Without saying anything else, she’d disappeared into the trees.
I’d been torn between chasing after her and respecting her boundaries. In the end, I’d stayed put, knowing if she was ever going to trust me, I had to allow her to talk when she was ready. Otherwise, she would completely lock down.
I can only pray now that she gets to that point soon. Because I’m worried if she doesn’t, it might be too late.
THIRTY-FOUR
EZRA
I bolted upright with the noise that pulled me from sleep. A straight shock of adrenaline dumped into my veins, and I was instantly on edge as I strained to listen over my heart that ravaged at my chest.
The only sound was Savannah’s deep, rhythmic breaths that whispered from where she slept on the mattress at my side, her chest rising and falling where she remained lost to slumber.
My gaze narrowed as I peered through the darkness that held fast to her room. A bare glow from the moon barely lit behind the thin drapes, and it sent shadows scattering over the white walls.
The stillness was so thick that I could taste it.
Ominous.
Sinister.
I didn’t know if it was training or instinct, but I knew something wasn’t right. I could feel the disturbance that existed beneath whatever had awoken me, and I slowly eased out from under the covers that were tangled around my waist and stood on the plush rug on the floor.
I kept as quiet as I could as I crept across the room to the window that overlooked the backyard, wincing when the floorboards creaked beneath my feet. Still, that silence wept, a shiver that brushed over my flesh and incited a riot inside me.
Carefully, I pulled the drape aside and peered out.
Moonlight spilled from the heavens and cast the lawn in a sheen of silver. The limbs of the massive tree that stood proud in the middle of the yard waved in the breeze, the leaves rustling and shivering through the night.
My house beyond it was still, the porch light I’d left on illuminating the space. My attention hunted over the yard, and I struggled to see into the darkened corners.
That was when I heard it again.
A crunch.
But it wasn’t coming from the backyard. It was coming from the front of the guest house. I hurried over to where my jeans had been discarded on the floor. I shrugged into them, the same as I did my shirt.
Savannah stirred behind me, and she blinked in confusion, or maybe it was hurt, as she sat up. I had the imprudent urge to promise her I wasn’t going anywhere. That I wouldn’t leave her. That I was right there, and with her was where I was always going to be.
Only glass shattered and that adrenaline that had been riding through my veins pitched into aggression.
