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“Not my business.”
“Because of you.You.”
He shoved open the door before the weight of his words settled on me. It slammed, and I jumped before sagging against the wall.He didn’t deny it.
It was always because of me. I just couldn’t figure out why I drove men to do horrible things.
I shivered and resisted the urge to go after him. Instead, I hugged myself harder and rocked until my heart slowed to a normal pace. I couldn’t go home. Not after that.
I couldn’t face if he didn’t come home, either. I was afraid to find out that he didn’t.
The shelter.
Mrs. Quinn wouldn’t mind if I spent the night there again. She’d welcome me. I closed my eyes and settled a bit more at the thought of somewhere familiar. Safe. Somewhere without Holt.
No. That felt wrong.
I straightened, picked up my head, and squared my shoulders. I’d promised myself I was ready to live out in the real world. When I’d agreed to be Holt’s roommate, I’d known it wouldn’t be trouble-free. Nothing in life was . . .and I’d learned that the hard way. But I wasn’therany more. “When you accept you are the strong woman who tried to do the right thing and started a new life, you’ll know. You’ll have the strength to take another step forward.”Another step forward . . .
Was I going to tuck tail and run every time I got scared?
Absolutely not.
Just like Mrs. Quinn had told me I’d be able to do, I was going to take another step forward.
Chapter Six
Holt
Water.
I guzzled down half of a cold bottle and nearly spit it out with the sound of the lock on the front door turning.
Baker strutted in on her sex-kitten heels, her hair disheveled and her dress wrinkled from the night out dancing. She flicked a glance my way and kept moving straight toward her bedroom.
I’d rather she’d slapped me.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she sashayed past. Yeah, I was pissed at the accusations she’d hurled my way, needed some space to breathe. But more than that, I was relieved she’d come home. Truth be told, I was angry at myself for leaving her in that crowded nightclub to not only fend for herself, but find her own way home.I was raised better than that. But coupled with that guilt? What if she hadn’t made it home safely?
What if she’d hooked up with another handsy guy after I left? And she didn’t come home because she was with some ass—
Shit. I’d done that to her last night.That’s what she meant.
She and I didn’t have any obligations to one another, but there was something simmering beneath the surface. A little more heat and it was going to boil over. Both of us were already burning.
I couldn’t shove that word out of my head, either.Brainwash. Whoever had tried to do that to her, I wanted to kill. Teach them a lesson for hurting her. Because in that club, there was a moment where she’d been scared. Not of me. She hadn’t even been with me for a minute. Her fear was so real, I’d felt it too.
This wasn’t what I signed up for. I couldn’t care about anyone else. There was just no room for it in my life. I wasn’t willing to let another person leave me. She was supposed to be something new. A little bit of fun.
Except, I was unsettled. Desperate to go to her, take away her hurt. Make her smile.
Baker might need some space. Hell, I probably did too. No, maybe that was the problem. There was too much space between us.
I tossed my empty bottle in the recycling and headed down the hall. Instead of veering into my bedroom, I knocked once on her door and went on in without waiting for a response.
I nearly tripped. She was wearing one of my T-shirts, long, bare legs going on for days. Her hair was up in some sort of messy knot, a few pieces already loose in her face. And that face. It was free of makeup. She looked younger, innocent even.
She’s beautiful.
