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“Can you get your keys and meet me outside with it, then? Out back?” she questioned and started backing away. She was also gazing around the hall, and I didn’t know if it was because of nerves or because she was looking for someone.
Suddenly alarmed, I started to ask, but then, Red was gone. She headed down the hallway, and I was so thrown I headed after her. I already had my keys and my phone, but I failed to get a coat.
I didn’t care, and I lost Red when some traffic in the hallway hit. Some study group or some shit literally had all their stuff spread out in the hallway. I scanned above them. “Red—”
I lost her when she cut a corner, and by the time I did get through the traffic, she was gone.
Fuck.
My next move was to head outside. To get my truck and drive it around back like she’d said. I didn’t know what was going on and couldn’t move as fast as I wanted, but I got my Hummer as soon as I could. I got it around the back of the building quick, and when I did, I noticed only one person out there. Red had her coat zipped up, and she was standing in an empty part of the lot.
What the fuck?
She didn’t seem like she was in trouble or anything. She was just standing there, but her awareness spiked when I pulled my Hummer in front of her. A noticeable stiffness grabbed a hold of her, and I internally cursed myself for driving up on her so fast. She was scared of cars, so I quickly shut it off.
“What’s going on?” I rounded my truck, the cold shooting a laser through my body. I managed to grab a hoodie I kept in the back of my ride and put it on, but it was still cold as fuck out here. It was even worse because I was stiff. “You all right?”
She wasn’t acting like it, shifting. She kept transferring her focus from me to the truck, and I did something I probably shouldn’t have.
I focused her attention. I did when I put my hands on her shoulders. I started rubbing, and right away, she came back to me.
She came back.
Her awareness returned her, and I saw it well. I observed how the resistance left her body, and suddenly, I was the only thing in front of her. I became her sole focus, and that grappled me in ways that socked me. I loved being this girl’s center.
Which was stupid of me.
It was so stupid, and once I realized she was grounded, I let her go. I didn’t get a whole lot of feeling in my hands some days, but I still felt the heat of her. It vibrated through me, as well as that floral scent of hers. It was in the air and completely around me. She was around me. Everywhere.
“I want to drive your Hummer.”
She pulled me out of my tortured thoughts. She did when she started talking crazy. My mouth parted. “What?”
“I said I want to drive your Hummer, Ares,” she husked out. She was still focused on me, but then she glanced over to my ride. “If you’ll let me, I’d like to drive it.”
She was still talking crazy talk, and I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
Instead of answering, she stepped over to my Hummer. The thing made her look like a little kid it was so big, and that was why I’d gotten it. I liked big cars, and there was plenty of space for the guys and me.
It made Red appear so small, though, and despite stepping cautiously, she did move toward it. She gripped the handle, and the next thing I knew, she was getting inside it.
What the hell!
Again, I darted. My body was going to kick my ass in the morning, but I didn’t care. The last time this girl got in a car she’d told me she’d blacked out. Her phobia of cars was real, but for some reason, she was in my truck right now and behind the wheel. I reached for the handle to help her get out, but she locked the door.
Holy fucking shit.
I didn’t know if Fawn was losing her mind or what, and behind the wheel, she just sat there. Her hands were above her in tight fists, and I tugged crazy at the door. “Red, open the door.”
She didn’t. She just sat there, her hands up, her fists tight. She closed her eyes, and her mouth was moving. She looked like she was saying something, and instead of trying the door again, I headed around to the passenger side. I noticed she’d manually locked her door, and the passenger side was unlocked when I got there.
I got in, got next to her. I shut the door off from the cold, and right away, I saw what she was doing.
She was… counting.
She did one through ten, then repeated the sequence over. She did this with tight fists, and I watched her.
I couldn’t do anything else.
