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“Why do you keep it all?”
She pulls her legs into her chest, hugging them close and dropping her forehead to her knees.
“In case I find out who it is and need evidence. In case something happens to me and the police need clues. Just…in case.”
“Nothing will happen to you.” I growl the words, pushing myself up and prowling across the room on my hands and knees until I reach her side. Not trying to dislodge her from her protective ball pose, I simply wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my chest. With my body, I attempt to convey a sense of security, but it’s almost as if the box gives off poisonous vapors that make the air in the bathroom toxic.
She can’t stay here.
“You can’t stay here.”
“Don’t you get it, Cole?” Summer looks up at me now, and I can see tears have snuck out from the corners of her eyes. “I move, but the crap keeps showing up. It doesn’t matter where I go. They find me.”
Despite the firestorm of anger in my chest, my thumb is steady as I brush away the dampness on her cheeks.
“Stay with me.”
“What?”
“Pack a bag. Come to my place. Sleep in my bed. Let me keep you safe.”
“This—this isn’t temporary. There’s no quick fix.”
“Then pack two bags.”
SUMMER
“I bought groceries!” I announce, hopefully loud enough for Cole or Jamie to come help me carry them. The plastic is cutting off the circulation in my hands. The front door hangs open behind me, and I hobble around, trying to close it with my foot, making sure Smaug can’t make a break for freedom.
That’s when I hear the voices.
There seems to be some kind of argument going on in Cole’s bedroom.
And the voice shouting the loudest is distinctly female.
“You’re an asshat!”
My hackles go up. No one gets to call Cole an asshat. Even if he’s being one.
I drop the bags on the rickety card table in the front room before storming through the half-opened door. The scene throws me.
Paige sits cross-legged on the floor, shaking a feathered toy for Smaug’s amusement. Cole sits on his bed, hands curled into fists on his knees as he glares up at a stranger. He doesn’t have to glare too far. The woman is around my height, but despite her average stature, she gives off an aura of hidden power.
Like a grenade whose pin just needs to be pulled for all hell to break loose.
The stranger swings her focus to me, and I find myself swallowing a couple of times to clear my throat.
She’s striking. I don’t know if she’s beautiful or just the embodiment of some goddess who could smite the entire city of New Orleans with a snap of her fingers. Strength is clear in the muscles that flex under her golden skin. Her features hint at Asian descent, and her onyx hair frames her face to perfection. She has one of those badass short cuts where the ends angle down to sharp points just below her chin. Coal-colored eyes trace over me, taking in every inch.
“You’re Summer?”
“Yes.” Damn it. I squeaked. But she’ssointimidating.
“Hi Summer!” Paige’s enthusiastic greeting has just enough pep in it to draw my eyes away from the stranger. The blonde grins up at me from the floor. “This is Luna. Dash’s sister. We’re here to teach you self-defense. How was work?”
“I—um—work was fine.” My wild eyes bounce between the three of them. “Self-defense?” Finally, I settle on Cole.
He nods in a resolute kind of way. Like he thinks I’ll disagree with him about the idea.
