“No fucking way, Princess.”
Thay shut the door with an uneventful thud, reclining back into the seat without so much as a glance in my direction. Instead, he lifted his chin to the open roof where the warm Maine sun broke against the leather.
“What happened to Christopher?” I turned, catching Wolfe’s interest in Thay’s behavior. How long had he been this way, and why didn’t he tell me?
“Blade was shot last night during a job, but he is okay.”
A sickly thing curled into me at the sound of his words, because this was the reality we could never speak of, not to each other and not to ourselves; you couldn’t survive otherwise.
“We removed the bullet and stopped the bleeding, but I am afraid worse things are happening.”
I peered at Thay, who only tensed at the neck, bracing for what felt like impact.
He was falling…
I felt it in my body. In the curdled way, his throat was screaming! The flailing of his arms suspended in the air.
He was angry… with me.
Wolfe’s news would have to wait.
Without thinking, I curled my fingers under the loose-fitting tee I was wearing and shrugged it off to expose my naked chest and the baby pink bra I had slept in the night before.
“Not that I am not loving this, but this might be a little too hot for Maine,” Wolfe bit out with a smirk, perching a brow whenI climbed over the partition to straddle the ticking time bomb behind the steering wheel.
Thay’s body went taut when my thighs swept over his, catching my gaze in a dark accusation. He was sick and famished, but then again… so was I.
Carefully, I moved and hooked my fingers at the hem of his shirt, but he caught my wrist, holding it in place with a snarl. I could sense Wolfe’s unease, but he did not say a word under the shadows.
This was between Thay and me.
“You left me,” Thay broke the silence, squeezing my hand into compliance. I pushed against it, lifting his shirt a bit more before he snapped it back into place. “You,” his molars ground together. “Left. Me.”
“I did not want to go. You put me on that goddamn plane!”
He leaned forward, pinning my spine against the wheel.
“YOU! LEFT ME!” he shouted, fire hitting my chest like a feverish spear when a punch landed into the side of the dashboard. But I didn’t flinch.
“You told me to stay!” I recovered my fists, only to unleash them against his ribs. “Ordered me to see if Maine fits,” I raged, plowing into him. “Caged my face when I tried to kiss you. Said you were mine, then almost got yourself fucking killed!” I cried out, the water from my eyes flooding into my mouth.
“To SAVE YOUR life,” he ground out, taking the punches and doing nothing to make them stop. I shoved against the fabric, finally getting my fingers into position to rip it free. I needed to get to his heart.
“But what is the one thing you ARE supposed to do, DAPHNE?”
I sneered, ignoring the way he used my name like a loaded gun, and tossed his shirt onto the floor.
“Answer the goddamn question.” Both of his palms clasped my face, and I leaned into his lethal stare. “I save your life andyou…” He waited until a broken cry slipped into my throat. “You, what?”
Everything went quiet.
Heartbeat quiet.
Death quiet.
It was just lungs, fear, and air.
“Save yours,” I whispered into his breath, cracking down the center.
