That was the door.
Thefrontdoor.
I’ve lived in this house for twenty-seven years. I know which steps groan and how the front door creaks a little when you’re trying to be quiet. When I used to sneak out to hang with my brothers, I always went out the back door until I realized my parents were too busy doing their own thing to give a shit what I was doing after hours.
No one in Harmony Heights would ever dare let themselves into a high-ranking Owed’s house without invitation, except for maybe the King. Even the normies—those who live outside of thesecret society—wouldn’t dare when they notice the Order’s logo branded into my mailbox at the end of the drive.
But what if there’s a frightened, traumatized Offering living in my house who doesn’t understand that this is a permanent move? Who might not realize how devoted to her I am, and how I’m here to do everything to help her get past what happened?
Leaving Adrian in the living room, I burst into the hall in time to see Haven standing in front of the open door. Her head swivels toward me, eyes wide in fright as she sees me suddenly appear to catch her latest escape attempt.
She gasps, and then she’s gone. Wearing nothing but the same old lacrosse shirt that I laid out for her yesterday because I’m an obsessive, possessive bastard who always dreamed of seeing her with my name printed across the back of her shoulders, she flees out into the night.
I don’t even hesitate before I’m running right after her.
TEN
RUN
CONNOR
Ishould’ve known better.
I should’ve fucking known better.
Haven Smith—no matter what happened to her—would rather die than give in to me. And I know I’m to blame for that. To keep her safe from the vultures in the Order, I could never be honest about my feelings. I had to let her believe that she wasn’t the most important damn thing in my life, and now I’m paying for it.
I told her I loved her. She didn’t believe me. I told her she could trust me. That didn’t happen. I told her that I’ll do anything to keep her safe… even from herself if I have to… and by the time I’m chasing her outside my house, I’m determined to do just that.
Between the trauma of her captivity and the double dose of sedatives, Haven has no chance. I’ll give her credit, though. Her flight of freedom takes her out the front door, down the porch steps, and around the back of the house. I would’ve thought she’d head straight down the long driveway. She didn’t. I caught a flash of the t-shirt out the corner of my eyes as she wentthat way, almost as though she’d rather face the dense woods bordering the back of my house than the side street that leads to the front of it.
Then I realize that Adrian’s car is the only one in the drive. I have three vehicles of my own, each one in the attached garage. Adrian’s been driving the same make and model of car since high school, only upgrading it to a later year when the whim suits him. I wouldn’t be surprised if she saw the car and recognized it, then ran in the opposite direction to avoid it.
To avoid Adrian.
Or, fuck it, avoidme.
No. I won’t let her do that. Not again. Never again.
She’s shoeless. Pantsless, too. I’m fully dressed, wearing a pair of running shoes just in case this exact scenario happened. I have no doubt in my mind that I’ll catch up to her before she can get away, and I’m almost disappointed by how easy it is.
Disappointed and heartbroken when I’m right on time to watch her stumble and collapse to the grass.
Pain lances through me. “Haven.”
She stays down, only pushing herself to her knees. I force myself to slow before I reach her.
I don’t want to. Every instinct I have screams at me to grab her, to haul her up, to carry her inside where I can keep her safe and hidden and protected. But, suddenly, she’s on her hands and knees in the grass, shaking so hard that my old shirt slips off of one of her shoulders, and I know that I’ll only scare her more if I do that.
Instead, I crouch low to the ground several feet away from her. I’m careful to move into her line of sight so that she know I’m here, that I’m with her, but I keep my fucking hands to myself as I call out her name a second time.
She shakes her head.
“Haven, look at me.”
She doesn’t. Her breath is too fast, too shallow, her fingers digging into the dirt like she can anchor herself there.
I inch closer to her. “Hey,” I say. “I thought we decided that you were going to stay upstairs. Come on, gorgeous. It’s too late to be running around with no pants on. If Adrian sees those legs of yours, I might have to gut one of my oldest friends.”
