As soon as the SUV rolls to a stop in front of the safehouse,I’m out of the car before the engine even fully cuts off. The door slams hard enough to echo. I don’t look back. I don’t say anything. I just start walking fast, like if I move quick enough, I won’t have to feel any of it.
“Cason.”
His voice is right behind me, but I ignore it. Then his hand wraps around my arm, and I snap.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” I yank my arm free, spinning on him with enough force that I almost lose my balance. “You don’t get to lie to me and make your own plans and then drop something likethaton me and act like…like…”
Like what? Like we’re fine? LikeI’mfine?
I’m not.
I’m so fucking not.
My chest is tight, my head spinning, my thoughts running in circles that all end in the same place I don’t want to go.
“What do you need right now?”
The question surprises me because, yeah, I have the right to be pissed, but I’m also kind of being a dick. And he’s not being defensive or dismissive. It throws me off more than if he’d argued back.
“I need…” I shake my head and drag a hand through my hair again. “I don’t fucking know. I need…”
I need to fucking forget that my own uncle killed my father, that he could have actually killed me today. I need something loud and physical, anything that isn’tthat.
“You were supposed to be a distraction, right?” I ask, my bottom lip trembling as I glare at him. “Be one now.”
His gaze darkens, and he raises a brow. “What kind of distraction do you need, Cason?”
I let out a short, humorless laugh. “The kind that’s a terrible fucking idea right now.”
“Is it a terrible idea if it helps?”
“It’s a terrible idea because I’m still fucking pissed at you.”
“Good. Means you’ve still got some fight left in you.” His mouth tilts, not quite a smile. Something more feral. “Now how’s your head?”
“It’s fucking fine.”
“Cason.”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, I swear.”
Oddly enough, I’m telling the truth. Either it’s the adrenaline or Malcolm didn’t hit me as hard as it felt like he did.
As soon as Reese seems satisfied enough with my answer, he moves, taking a step forward with that predatory glint in his eyes that I’m quickly growing familiar with. The one that makes the air around me feel heavier.
“Don’t,” I warn as I take a step back, electricity sparking faintly under my skin. “I don’t want to hurt you, Reese.”
He doesn’t listen, stepping right into my space. “Isn’t that beautiful?”
“What?”
He moves slowly, probably because he doesn’t want to get zapped. I don’t try to stop him as his hand wraps lightly around my throat, his eyes holding mine.
“That you could bring me to my knees,” he says softly, his thumb brushing over my pulse point. “Literally and figuratively. Right now, if you wanted to. But that’s not what you want, is it?”
Reaching up, I grab his wrist, sending a shock through my fingertips, scowling defiantly at him.
Even through a hiss, he smirks. “Yeah,that’swhat you want. You want to fight me? Show me what you got, little menace.”
