AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Only on the outside.” He made it all sound so reasonable when Will was pretty sure he needed to snap at the man. “I had a feeling this wasn’t over.”
Will chewed on his tongue. He wanted to argue and shout about the invasion of his privacy and how he didn’t need Charlie spying on him, but it was very obvious that he did.
Charlie turned the wheel sharply to the left, flinging Will’s body into him.
“Are they in place?” Charlie asked, his voice once again changing as he spoke to whoever else was listening to them.
“What’s going on?” Will demanded.
“Next turn. Light. Light. Light!” Charlie continued with increasing urgency. Will looked up to see the light change from red to green just in time for them to race through the intersection. Charlie snorted and cursed under his breath. Were…were they controlling the traffic lights? How was this even possible? Who were they?
After another block, Charlie turned the car sharply to the right. Tires barked and squealed, complaining about the rough treatment. Will braced one hand on the dashboard to keep from getting flung about the car.
More tire shrieks echoed behind them from the other car, followed by a loud bang. Will jerked around to see the car wildly fishtail before flipping onto its side with an angry metallic crash.
“Nicely done,” Charlie rumbled.
“What the fuck?” Will whispered.
“We’re good now,” Charlie continued. “I’m bringing him to the house. We’re about ten minutes out.” As he spoke, Charlie squeezed the back of his neck, massaging flesh and muscle as if this were all the most natural thing in the world.
But it wasn’t. None of this was normal or natural. It was insane. He was in a goddamn action movie, not real life.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled out of Charlie’s grasp and leaned on the car door, trying to put as much room between them as he could manage in the sedan. Unfortunately, the only way to get a comfortable amount of space was to get out of the car completely, and that wasn’t an option.
“I want to know what’s going on. How did that car flip? Why did you put cameras outside of my place? How do you even know how to do that? Just-just…what the fuck, Charlie?” With each demand, his voice rose in volume and pitch. The panic was returning, and it sucked. Normally he was calm and in control, but he was so damn far out of his comfort zone that some hysterics seemed in order.
“West put a bullet in one of the rear tires as they turned, flipped the car. Kairo is a genius with surveillance tech and hacking. And the rest, we’ll talk about later. After you tell me what you’re doing that is getting you chased and nearly killed.”
Will crossed his arms over his chest and glared out the windshield. None of his world made sense any longer. Yes, he’d gotten himself into some of this mess, but it felt like it had all gotten worse with the appearance of Charlie in his life. Even if the man did save his ass. Twice.
“I thought you were gone already,” Will murmured in the silence that had settled over the car. “Ed said you were staying only a few more days.”
His former lover grunted softly. “Not yet. I didn’t want to leave until I was sure you were safe.”
Will wanted to say that he didn’t need anyone looking out for him, but that would have been the most ridiculous lie he’d ever told. Right up there with the ones he told himself every day, such as that he was fine and happy. That he didn’t need Charlie’s smug smirk to make his heart beat faster or the feel of his hands on his skin to feel alive.
Will leaned his head on the window and closed his eyes. He tightened his arms across his chest, trying to hold in some of his body heat. Now that he wasn’t terrified and running for his life, he could feel the cold air biting at his skin.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
A laugh lifted from Charlie, sounding as though he was surprised that Will would even say those two words to him. “Anytime,” Charlie murmured.
Will squeezed his eyes shut harder against the shaft of pain that cut across his heart. He didn’t believe that at all, but he wished it were true. He wished a lot of things were true when it came to Charlie.
But there was only one truth that mattered: Charlie didn’t love him enough to keep him.
9
CHARLIE SANDS
Will was okay.
Charlie was not.
In fact, he wasn’t sure he’d ever feel okay again.
Someone had gone after Will. They’d meant to take him, probably intended to kill him. That was not fucking okay.
Charlie had managed to keep his shit together while he was driving with Will. The attackers needed to be handled, and his ex needed his calm strength to gather his own scattered emotions.
