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A furious blush blossomed in my cheeks. “Hilarious. No, I wasn’t looking for anything from you, but even then, for all your posturing and threats, a kiss is really very tame.”
He leaned in then, his mouth brushing my ear. “I didn’t saywhereI was going to kiss you, though, did I?”
Those words slid through me, sending heat trailing in their wake. God, it couldn’t be normal to be so turned on by someone so terrible. I had a problem. I was sick.
“Now, since I’m feeling kind, I’ll give you a ten-second head start. Ten…”
I pushed away from him, stumbling back a couple of steps.
He watched me with laser-like focus. “Nine… better run, unless you want to get caught.”
I turned on my heel and sprang forward. Racing back to the street, I considered my options. I could immediately turn toward home. I might make it before he finished counting. But then again, he’d probably suspect I’d gone that way. I needed to fool him. I turned right and headed away from home, adrenaline pounding through my veins. I ran up the street and then cut through a well-known shortcut to get to the next street over.
It was silent all around me, save for the pound of my sneakers on the street. Ahead, a porch light came on, and someone pulled into their driveway. It wasn’t late. All the lights on the street blazed in the windows, illuminating people hanging out with friends, watching TV, generally being normal and safe at home. A sanctuary I no longer had. Cayden had taken it away from me.
I ran like my life depended on it, adrenaline lighting up my nerves. Before long, my breath burned in my lungs. I wasn’t steadying myself; I was sprinting, and I couldn’t keep it up for much longer. I crossed the train tracks, my sneakers slipping on the rough gravel. Hade Harbor was a safe town, but if you were looking for trouble, you’d probably find it around the train station near Eve and Asher’s house.
I crossed the street opposite the station and into the neighborhoods that lined the tracks. Trash littered the streets here, and the cars were old and beaten up. The houses looked dilapidated, too, and some were missing windows. I pushed on, not daring to look back and see Cayden bearing down on me. A dog barked madly beside me, chained in a yard, scaring me into twisting and nearly falling.
“Careful there, pretty girl. Don’t be scared of Nails. He’s just excited to see you.”
I collided with a hard chest. I didn’t fall, that was one thing, but I seemed to have found trouble. A group of older guys hung around on the corner, and I’d stumbled right into them.
“He’s not the only one.” Another one of them laughed.
I took a step back, and the man I’d bumped into shadowed the movement.
“Hey, where are you going? You just got here,” he said, flashing me a creepy grin. His hand landed on my arm. “Stay awhile.”
“I have to go, I’m sorry,” I said mindlessly. Why the hell was I apologizing?
“You have nothing to be sorry for, because you’re not going anywhere, isn’t that right?”
The man’s smile had dropped. His friends crowded close to him. My mouth went as dry as a bone. His head was shaved in patches and balding in others. His brown-stained teeth hinted at drug abuse. His grip bit into my arm, pinching into the skin. I was terrified. This was it. Real terror, pure and simple. I vowed to never again roll my eyes at my dad when he cautioned against running alone at night.
I tugged my arm, but it didn’t budge from the man’s steel grip. He held my arm hard enough to cause bruises.
“Please,” I heard myself say. “I don’t want any trouble.”
The ringleader laughed. “Girlie, didn’t you hear? Sometimes trouble wants you.” He grinned at me, but then his eyes shifted over my shoulder. His grip lessened a touch on my arm, and he seemed to pull back.
“She said she didn’t want any trouble. You guys hard of hearing or what?”
Cayden’s deep voice slid over me, enveloping me in relief. Cayden was here. I wasn’t alone. I didn’t know when exactly the idea of him had become reassuring—especially since I’d just been running away from him, scared of being caught–but my relief was undeniable.
His huge body came to press against my side. The guys in the group eyed him up and down, clearly wondering to themselves how much trouble he would give them.
“We heard. We just don’t care. How about you?” The man holding my arm jerked his head up, an aggressive invitation to Cayden.
Cayden chuckled, a low, dangerous sound. “Me? I love trouble.”
He jerked me out of the ringleader’s hold before punching him square in the face. The fight that broke out was sudden and violent. Cayden was an explosive force of darkness, bending and ducking, delivering punches and kicks like a seasoned street fighter. The guys he fought rallied, taken by surprise but quickly recovering.
Cayden spared me a glance. “Home, now. Run!”
“What about you?” I was panicking. How could he fight off four guys?
“I’ll be right behind you,” he grunted, bringing an elbow down on someone attempting to take him around the waist.
