“We already looked back there for a day and a half,” he said as I passed on my way into the back storage room.
“I don’t think it’s possible for it to have gotten all the way in the front of the store from where we were,” I explained.
“If you guys want to go grab something to eat,” Christopher said, “we can take over for a bit.”
“Think I might take you up on that,” Leo said. “You wanna share a pie?” he asked Nero.
“Yeah, sounds good.”
“We’ll be back in under an hour,” Leo said. “We’ll lock up on our way out.”
I moved forward, determined to find the flash drive and get this situation moving forward. And, well, prove to the guys that they could, in fact, be completely useless with some things.
I paused just a foot inside the back room, though, my heart starting to flutter, my belly flipping.
Memories flooded back—the fear, the panic, the pain.
“You’re okay,” Christopher said, coming up behind me, his hand going to my hip. “You’re here with me.”
I sucked in a breath and exhaled it hard.
“No one can hurt you here,” he assured me.
A little voice in my head whispered that that wasn’t exactly true. That maybe the person in the shop with me was the one at risk of hurting me the worst.
I nodded and took another breath.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked, moving in closer.
His whole front was against my back, his face pressing into the side of my head.
“I thought I’d be stronger,” I admitted. “I’ve thought about being attacked a lot more than is probably healthy. But I’ve heard all of the stories from the Family. So, I’ve imagined what I would do. How I would handle myself. And I always thought I’d be stronger. More aggressive. That I would do more damage.”
“I think in our fantasies we can all lift cars, kick ass, save the day. That’s just how the mind works. But reality is, sometimes we’re caught off guard. Sometimes our attacker is bigger, faster, stronger. Sometimes we trip or freeze. There are so many ways a fight can go sideways. None of them are your fault.”
“I just really wish I’d hurt him. Clawed up his face. Broken his nose. Something.”
“I get that. It sucks to feel helpless. But most of your damage was from being sandwiched between the shelving units. Who knows how much you might have whaled on him if you hadn’t been pinned.”
“Yeah.”
“We both know your stubborn ass never would have given up the fight.”
“That’s true,” I agreed, giving in to the urge to lean slightly into him.
He didn’t pull away.
His arm slid around my waist, pulling me more tightly to him. His head shifted, and I felt the press of his lips against the side of my head.
I didn’t overthink the urge.
I just turned in his arms, pressing my face into the crook of his neck, melting into the way his arms went automatically around me. His one arm drifted up and down my spine, the sensation calming at first, but it quickly shifted to longing, a deep ache that spread until it overtook me completely.
I angled my head up to find Christopher already looking down at me. The look in his eyes had my breath catching.
“Alara—”
“Don’t overthink it,” I demanded, my hand sliding to the back of his neck, pulling him down toward me.
