“When you get inside,” Prime said quietly, “you stay there until I come back.Don’t leave.Not even to poke your head out.Got it?”
I nodded, even though my pulse kicked hard at the idea of him leaving at all.“Got it.”How had I gotten so attached to this man so quickly?I had been on my own since I left my ex, and I liked it that way.Now the thought of being without Prime upset me.
He shot me a look.“Say it.”
“I won’t leave Pearl’s cabin.”
His shoulders relaxed by half a degree.
Good grief.
We reached the small porch, and he stopped at the bottom step, turning to face me.His thumb dragged lightly across my knuckles, like he didn’t realize he was doing it.
“You’re safe here,” he said.“Wannabe is inside.He won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know.”
“And I’ll be back.”
I swallowed.“Okay.”
He leaned in slightly, not enough to kiss me, not enough to call it anything, just close enough that his breath warmed my forehead.
“Stay where I put you,” he murmured.
Then he squeezed my hand once, slow, deliberate, and let go.
I didn’t think I’d hate the feeling of my hand being suddenly empty as much as I did.
Pearl’s door opened just then, and her warm voice floated out.“Shay!Anchor said you were going to come hang out with me today.”She smiled warmly, but I could see the sadness on her face.
“Dammit, Pearl,” Wannabe called, “I told you not to open the door,” he scolded from further in the cabin.
Pearl rolled her eyes.“I saw Shay and Prime walking down the path, Wannabe.I wasn’t opening the door to the psycho.”
“Just let me open the damn door.You’re gonna get me in trouble with Anchor if he hears that you’re just opening the door.”
I stifled a giggle, but Prime seemed to agree with Wannabe.“Wannabe is right, Pearl.For all you know, something could have happened to us, and you were opening the door to the killer.”
“Fine,” Pearl huffed.“You guys are right, but I was finally happy for a second, and I just opened the door, okay?”Her voice cracked.“It won’t happen again.”
“Just be more careful,” Prime said softly, trying to avoid making Pearl cry.“I’ll be back later.Just stay in the cabin with Wannabe, okay?”
Pearl and I both nodded.Neither of us wanted to end up dead.
Prime waited until I was halfway up the steps before he turned away, scanning the treeline again, body slipping right back into the lethal calm he wore like a second skin.
I watched him for one heartbeat longer than I should’ve.
Then I stepped into the safety of Pearl’s cabin, and the door closed behind me.
The quiet hit first.
Not dead quiet, not eerie quiet, just… quiet.Warm.Lived-in.A little cluttered but in a comforting way, like nothing in here was staged or polished or meant to impress a single soul.
Pearl’s cabin smelled like coffee, cinnamon, and paint.
Homey.
