Page 54 of Hunt You Down

André placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before walking away.

“Thank you for meeting with me,” I said once André was out of earshot.

“It’s not a problem.” Mitchell looked down at the table, spinning around a cardboard coaster that had been left behind. “How are you doing after… everything?”

I tucked my hands under my legs to prevent myself from picking at my nails. “I’ve been better,” I admitted. “I’m assuming André told you about yesterday.”

“He did.”

André returned to the table then, setting a bright pink drink in front of me. “Where’s yours?” I asked.

“I’m not staying. I’ll let you two have your talk. I need to run a couple errands. Is that okay?”

André combed through my hair as he spoke, and I trapped his hand against my neck. “It’s fine.”

Underneath it all, my heart raced. It would be the first time I would be out in public without André. I could rationalize it all I wanted to, but the truth of the matter was that we just didn’t know what would happen.

I had no doubt that André could feel my carotid thundering beneath his palm. Still, he leaned down and pressed a passionate—way too short—kiss on my lips. I swallowed a noise of protest. He was busy directing his attention to Mitchell.

“I’m trusting you,” he said. Based on the tone of his voice, it was meant as a warning.

I waited until André had disappeared from sight before I began to speak. “Okay, before I get into anything else, what the hell is that all about?” I ripped the paper off the smoothie straw and stabbed it through the lid. “He’s always so confident—until it comes to you.”

Mitchell laughed, and launched into the story. “About three years ago, André and I spent a week in New York for our licensing exam. Every night we went out, and every night, I wound up leaving with the person that André had his eye on. It was sort of an unspoken competition—for me anyway. Back then, it was nothing more than a bit of fun between two friends.”

“What makes me different?”

Mitchell only shrugged. “He loves you. It’s as simple as that. I can see it. I see it in the way he looks at you. He might not have said it out loud, but he doesn’t have to. When André loves, he loves hard. When he saw that card, he got scared.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I blamed brain freeze.

“He got scary,” I confessed. “The last time a boyfriend shouted at me I…”

I trailed off and looked down at my lap. I knew I had to open up if I wanted to understand André, and if I wanted him to understand me. The vulnerable, splayed-open feeling that came along with it? That was one thing I didn’t think I’d ever get used to. I didn’t like feeling like a victim.

Mitchell watched me with a look that made me want to call this whole thing off and run straight into André’s arms.

“I don’t doubt that his reaction scared you,” he finally said, dropping his voice. I could hardly hear him now, but the change in his tone was comforting. “I do know that if you told him that, he would apologize profusely and spend the rest of his life making sure it never happened again. André doesn’t do anything with ill intent. Don’t tell him I told you this, but I once saw him tear up because he accidentally killed a bumblebee in his office.”

I smiled. “You’re kidding!”

Mitchell shook his head with a smile. “Nope. He’s a big softie. But he also fights for what he loves. The way he looks at you, there’s no doubt in my mind that he would kill for you.”

Heat prickled under my collar. “I don’t know if I should tell him.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you should, but you don’t have to. He already knows that he scared you.”

“I don’t…” I huffed, frustrated. “I’ve never…”

“Been in a healthy relationship?”

I choked out a laugh, but he was right. I was so used to taking the yelling, and the screaming, and the hitting, that the only thing I’d learned to do over the years was sit down and shut up. “I know you’ve known him for a long time. I’ve got a long way to go.”

Mitchell had given up on spinning the cardboard around and had taken to shredding it to pieces.

“I have known him for a long time,” he confirmed. “And in the time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him like this over someone. Yeah, he was pouty about the guys in New York, but he didn’t look at any of them like he looks at you. You don’t have anything to be scared about when it comes to him.”

I toyed with the lid on the plastic cup, reluctant to finish the thing. I’d walked into that place with so much to say, but hearing someone else talk about how much André loved me made me rethink everything.