Connor isn’t going to budge.
Not a centimeter, not an inch.
Whatever he’s thinking, whatever he’s planning, it is going to happen one way or another, and I’m just along for the fucking ride, whether I want to be or not.
“The easy way”—I point a finger at him—“because you don’t ever touch me.”
He issues a dark chuckle. “Believe me, Raven, the last thing I want is to touch you.”
I flinch as he stalks past me and tugs open the door, then glances back.
“Grab your shit.” His eyes dart down to my feet. “I hope those are good hiking boots.”
“Hiking?” I grab my bags and scramble after him as he steps onto the porch just as the night reaches its darkest point and the stars start to come out above the mountain. “Connor, it’s the middle of the fucking night and I don’t hike. Not even in the daylight. You know this.”
“Yeah.” He peers over his shoulder at me. “I also know that you have zero regard for your life.”
“Excuse me?”
He trudges down the steps, but instead of making his way toward the truck, he starts to move around to the side of the cabin.
“Where are you going?” I follow him. “Connor! Answer me!”
This is getting really old, really fast.
Whatever he thinks he’s doing, keeping me in the dark about it isn’t going to get him any cooperation from me.
He whirls to face me, anger etching lines across his handsome face. “If I told you where we were going, that would defeat the entire fucking purpose!”
I recoil slightly. “Which is what?”
“To keep you safe.”
My footsteps falter. “What?”
His chest heaves, anger making the little lines around his eyes even deeper. “You’re trying to unleash a story that’s going to put a target in the middle of your fucking back.”
“And you think you can stop me?”
He scowls but doesn’t answer, just turns and keeps stalking toward the treeline.
“Connor!”
With my backpack over my shoulders and my computer bag draped over the right one, I follow him into the dark woods. I’m barely able to see in front of me more than a few steps, but I can make out a narrow trail that he must have walked enough that the branches don’t hang over it too low and the leaves beneath our feet are pounded down somewhat. “Where are we going?”
Again, silence.
Just the sound of our boots slamming against the ground and the night animals rustling in the trees around us. Until Connor finally stops at a small opening in the trees where an ATV sits.
“We’ll take this as far as we can, but the rest of the way is on foot.”
“You are serious…”
Part of me prayed that this was all an act on his part to try to scare me into killing the story. Deep down, that tiny flame of hope that he would end this game and let me go flickers out.
“I am.” He tosses his bag on the back of the small vehicle, then comes over and grabs mine, jerking them off my shoulders and again, tossing them unceremoniously into the back. “Get in and buckle up.”
“And if I say no?”
