“I know.”
“I’m still scared.”
“I know that too.”
His honesty should have made me uncomfortable.Instead, it made me feel seen in a way I wasn’t sure I could handle.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered.
His eyes softened, just barely.“Good thing you’re not doing it alone anymore.”
I breathed out a shaky laugh.“You say that like I had a choice.”
“You did.”
“I ran to you because I was out of options.”
“You still came.”
The alley was quiet around us.Too quiet, maybe, but for the first time in days, I realized I wasn’t looking over my shoulder every two seconds.I had scanned when we first stepped outside, sure.But now?Now I was standing in a back lot with a biker between me and the world, and I had stopped bracing for headlights.
I didn’t know what to do with that.
Wheels stayed beside me, silent and solid, letting me have the moment without trying to fill it.For nearly an hour, I realized, I hadn’t thought about running.
That should have scared me.Maybe it did, but not enough to step away from him.
Chapter Seven
Wheels
I was halfway up the stairs when Goldie’s bedroom door opened.
She stepped into the hallway wearing a clean pair of jeans, a fitted blue T-shirt she’d apparently managed to dig out of the bottom of her backpack, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail.The dark circles under her eyes hadn’t disappeared, but they weren’t nearly as bad as yesterday.
She looked...rested.
She tugged lightly on the hem of her shirt and sighed.“I really wish I’d packed more clothes.”
I leaned against the wall outside her room and crossed my arms.“I could ask Tempi and Britta if they’ve got something you could borrow.”
She wrinkled her nose.“I appreciate that, but...”She glanced down at herself.“I’d rather have my own clothes.”
Fair enough.
I rubbed my jaw while I thought about it.Twister had said if she needed anything from her apartment, we’d go.We just weren’t going alone.“I can make that happen.”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“You can?”
“Yeah.”
Hope flickered across her face.
“We’ll go get your stuff.”
“Really?”
