“No,” he said slowly, as he let out a breath. “But you ordered my specific burger that I get every time. Down to my customizations.”
My hand froze with my glass halfway to my mouth.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Did I? I did, didn’t I?
Like a deer in headlights, I stared across the table at him. A cop. He literally could have arrested me right then and there for stalking and had a solid case because that man had the strangest burger order.
I was so fucking screwed.
“I, umm, I can explain.” Yeah. Sure, I could. But the explanation wasn’t going to be any better than anything he could come up with on his own.
His face shuttered. Fuck. I hated that.
“Just like I’m sure you can explain the bird figurine you left on my porch.” He ran his fingers through his hair and choked out a brittle laugh.
“Aiden.” I tried to figure out something to say, but there was nothing. Nothing could make any of it better. I wasn’t equipped for this. I should have just left him alone and I was going to pay the price for my greed.
“I—” He held up his hand to silence me and I snapped my mouth shut. It was fine. I didn’t really have anything to say anyway. Not really. Platitudes. Excuses.
From across the table, his wet eyes met mine. “Is showing up at the same club I was at, at the same time I was there, also something you canexplain?”
I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat, but I felt like I couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t enough air in the room.Everything I had worked toward, I was about to lose it all because of one stupid mistake.
Isn’t that what brings down all serial killers?
My breathing was ragged, fists clenched tight on the table.
I had to fight every instinct because I wouldn’t fighthim.
The scraping of his chair jerked me back to reality. But instead of coming toward me with cuffs in his hands, he stalked off, away from our table. I wasn’t sure where he was going, but there was a war raging inside of me. One part of me urged me to run, to flee, to survive. The other part of me screamed to go after him, to protect him. There weren’t even any dangers nearby. But the urge to protect him would always be there, and it would always win.
Resigned, I stood and went to take a step, but he spun back toward me.
“No. You sit back down until… Fuck. Just sit back down.” There was fire in his eyes. Worse, under that a hurt I had caused, and I was sure I wouldn’t get the chance to fix it. But fuck, I would if he gave me even half a chance.
I put my hands up in defeat without a word. He eyed me as I sat back down and waited for him to decide my fate.
When he walked out of the room, I still had the opportunity to flee, to activate one of my escape plans. But the thought of leaving him behind was worse than any punishment he could come up with.
My hands on the table, I sat back and waited for my little bird to come back with his judgment.
13
AIDEN
Fuck my life. I hated when Victoria was right. I should have let her look him up like she had begged me to. She was never going to let me forget this.
I resisted the urge to look back at the table where I’d left Nate, as I stormed away. There were only a few people in the diner and I refused to meet any of their eyes as I passed their tables in my attempt to make my escape.
But where was I really planning on going?
Up ahead, there was a sign for the restrooms, so I veered to the left and hid in the men’s room, making a beeline for the sink. I hadn’t even known I was shaking until my fingers tried to grab ahold of the sink and slipped the first time.
Shit. I needed to pull myself together.
I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the wild man who stared back at me. My eyes were too wide and my pupils were blown, with a glassy sheen that spoke of way too much alcohol and nowhere near enough food. No wonder Nate was adamant about feeding me.
Nate.
