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“Listen, you have a lot going on,” Raylin is saying, and I blink, forcing my mind back on track. What is she talking about? “You don’t need my shit, too. No need to do anything, pay anything. I’ll just run. I’m used to running. They’ll never catch me.”
What the fuck?
“The hell, Ray. I’m doing this. We’re doing this. Those sons of bitches won’t stop at anything to get their money, and I’m not leaving you at their mercy.”
“You saving damsels in distress now, Storm?” Rook is leaning back on a kitchen counter, hands in his pant pockets, as the technician unscrews something from inside the broken, melted mess that was my stove.
A stove I never used in the months I spent here. Not once. It could have exploded any time I puttered in my kitchen, opening take-out containers and taking down dishes from the rack.
“That’s my business.”
“So you really don’t think she’s here for your money, then?” Rook blinks innocently. “That she spun a story to get a couple millions off you and vanish?”
“Fuck off.” I glare at him, daring him to keep acting like an idiot. “She didn’t know who I was.”
“Sure she didn’t. And she will forget again, the moment you give her what she wants.”
Fuck. I push to my feet and kick the chair across the kitchen. “Shut. Up! She’s not like the stupid girls you like to date, moron.”
“Stop.” Raylin backs away, but her face is not frightened. It’s sad. “Just stop.”
“Ray…”
She spins around and heads back into the bedroom. I follow, limping, because I somehow managed to fuck up my leg again. From the sex or curling over her the moment of the explosion? Who knows?
Fun.
She’s opened the walk-in closet and is pulling pants from the hangers. I stand by the bed. “What are you doing?”
“Leaving. I need pants and shoes. Can’t walk out only dressed in your shirt.” Her voice is clipped, her movements jerky.
“You can’t go.”
“I can’t stay.” She grabs a pair of dark pants of mine and pulls them on. I stare at her creamy legs. She’s naked below my shirt, and despite the anger and what feels a lot like panic welling inside me, my dick stirs, interested in what is going on.
“Yes, you can. At least until the debt is paid and you’re free.”
“I’m not free. God, Storm, don’t you see?” She turns to look for a belt. The pants hang dangerously low over her hips. “I never was.”
I rub the back of my head and my back throbs, stitches pulling. “You haven’t told me everything, have you?”
“Trust takes time.”
“Really?” I reach for her, grip her wrist. The belt she took falls from her fingers to the floor. “I trust you.”
“Are you sure about that?” Her dark eyes still look wet when she looks up at me. “I wish we could go back to the beach house. Back in time. Before I knew who you are, and you…”
“What is it? What haven’t you told me?”
“I should go.”
“No.” My throat is tight, with anger, with fear, with something I can’t name. “Not letting you go like that.”
“Like what. What am I to you? A friend with benefits? A fuck-buddy?”
“Please, Ray…” I thought I still had time with her. Thought I’d be fine without her. “Rook’s an idiot. Ignore him. Just talk to me.”
“Can’t.”
