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“Just Marissa?”
“Marissa Nichols.”
“Where ya from?”
“Originally? New York. Upstate, not the city.”
He eyed her with the same suspicion from the rest area.
“What are you running from?”
She twisted her lips. It was an odd question. “What makes ya think I’m running from something?”
Caden sighed and rolled his eyes. “’Cause people don’t stay in places like this unless they got no other choice or they need to hide out.” He stared back at her, waiting.
She huffed a breath and rested her arms back against the mattress. She was well aware the movement jutted out her breasts, making them the focal point for Caden. He shifted his stance. She bit back her smile. Something about his face.
“Marissa.” She recognized the graveled tone as the one he used with Kase. It was a warning.
She shrugged. “I’m running from my old self, I guess.”
He folded his arms. Her answer didn’t seem to appease his suspicion.
“Got anyone looking for you?”
She pushed up to a seated position. Her shoulders sagged, her heart slowed, and her body melted into the mattress. “Nope.” It was of her own doing. She had alienated everyone who tried to get close after the accident. It was a hard fact, but it stung a bit when she allowed herself to feel. She stared down at her toes, avoiding eye contact with Caden. The sadness of the truth threatened to overwhelm her. It was a pitiful life she was living, but she’d live it until she didn’t have to anymore.
He cautiously stepped forward. He was glancing down at her as she craned her neck to look up. “The law?”
She smiled. As if. “Nope.”
He wasn’t buying it, and with good reason. If she were in his shoes, she probably wouldn’t believe her either. A world full of billions of people, the odds were in her favor at least someone out there gave a shit about her whereabouts. But her truth was a hard pill to swallow; she had no one. Not anymore.
“You gotta have family. Friends?”
She did at one time. But again, not anymore. She came from a long line of only children, her parents, and their parents, who had all since passed. No aunts, uncles, or cousins. She had lived in her town her entire life. She had planted roots. But after the accident, she had forced everyone out. Even those who didn’t immediately give up on her eventually did. It was her intent, and in the end, she succeeded.
“Just me.” And Janelle. She tilted her head, surveying the man in front of her. He looked slightly scary and incredibly intimidating, yet she didn’t feel any fear. She originally pegged him in his late twenties, but taking a closer look, he must have been a bit older. Caden had small thin lines by his eyes and a deep wrinkle between his mouth and cheek. She smirked. Laugh lines. Caden laughed a lot. Maybe not tonight, but in his life, he had laughed, and for some strange reason it gave her a bit of happiness.
His brows tensed and squeezed together. “What?”
Marissa smiled and shrugged. “You have a nice face.”
His cheeks tinged a light shade of pink. Even beyond his tan skin, she caught it. He was blushing. He licked his lips and rubbed his chin. He was back to being suspicious.
He scanned the room, his lips twisting in disgust, but she assumed it had more to do with the accommodations than her. Or maybe he was just avoiding eye contact. “You can’t stay here.”
She released a soft giggle, which got his attention back on her. “Sure I can, I paid for it.”
He drew in a sharp breath. “I’m not fucking leaving you here.” His tone was firm and without budge.
She drew in a breath and glanced down at the bed.
“Okay. You want the right side of the bed or the left?”
“What?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have a preference.”
