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“You need to listen,” he said in a harsh whisper.
“No.” She tried to wiggle her wrist free so she could scratch. If he’d put just a bit of space between their locked bodies, she would knee him hard enough to send him rolling on the floor.
Lightning lit up the room and a crack of thunder came right behind. She remembered childhood tales about the time between them having something to do with the distance you were from the storm. Probably hogwash, but she needed something mindless to block the blinding fear.
He touched her cheek and moved her head until she faced him. He stared down, as if willing her to believe. “Men are coming.”
With that her body froze. “What?”
“Some people at New Foundations want to talk to you and I don’t think they care if you want to listen.”
A new wave of desperation hit her. Maybe he was there to warn her. Maybe he was there to help whoever was coming, if that threat was even true. Didn’t matter, because she refused to stick around and see.
Inhaling and trying to calm her breathing, she didn’t flinch away from his touch or try to get away. For a few seconds she put all her energy into convincing him. “I have to get out of here.”
“I need to keep you safe.” He nodded as the grip on her wrists eased. “That’s why I’m here.”
He broke in and scared the hell out of her. Those facts kept running through her mind and pushing out everything else. “You’re one of them.”
“Lindsey, no.” He shook his head. “I am not here to hurt you.”
The calm tone. The orders delivered in an even cadence. She’d experienced it all before, sometimes from well-meaning folks who promised they would help. But those other times weighed on her, had her skepticism snapping. “Why should I believe you?”
“Wish I had a good answer for that, but I don’t.” He hesitated and then lifted off her, inch by inch, until he balanced on his knees, straddling her. One quick glance down between his legs and he shifted to kneel to the side of her. “I’m only a few steps in front of them.”
She’d never been one to get dizzy or faint. Not her style at all, but the oxygen seeped out of her until the room spun and bile raced up her throat. “Let me slip out the back.”
“Would never work.” He held up his hands as he stepped off the mattress and stood in front of her. “They need to think you’re with me.”
She jackknifed into a sitting position, ready to make a second grab for the nightstand depending on what he said next. “What?”
“Trust me.”
That was never going to happen. Not for him. Not for anyone. Those days were long gone for her. “No way.”
She barely got the words out before a crack sounded at the front of the house. A new surge of fear whipped through her.
He glanced behind him as he kept that hand out, gesturing for her to stay down. “Do not move.”
From the bed? That wasn’t happening either. “I will kill you first.”
“And that would be your right if I tried to hurt you, but I won’t.” The words sounded good, but he started unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” But she knew. Knew and would throw every single thing in the room at him, nailed down or not.
He left his blue long-sleeve shirt open over a T-shirt and reached for his belt. A few quick moves and he had the zipper down and the jeans on the floor. “Making it believable.”
Her hand inched toward the lamp. The heavy base right to his skull might stop him. “Okay.”
But he didn’t come at her in his boxer briefs. He bent down and slipped something out of...a gun. With a touch of a finger to his lips he turned toward the doorway.
“Who’s there?” His deep voice echoed down the hall.
She had no idea what was happening. Shadows moved outside her window. She assumed branches, but she didn’t know. Everything blended together and morphed until the walls pounded in on her.
He kicked off his shoes and stepped into the hallway. The floorboards creaked under his weight.
She thought about diving out the window but had no idea what lurked out there. Forcing her mind to focus, she grabbed for the nightstand drawer. Punched in the lock code and had the gun loaded and in her hand as she crept out behind Hank.
“I am not going to let you touch my girlfriend.” He kept his back against the wall as he slid farther down the hall toward the family room. “Leave now and this ends fine.”
My girlfriend? Her mind stuck there and refused to unstick. The most she could do was stand up and get to the bedroom doorway.
She stopped in time to see the collision. Hank took one more step and a body smashed into him. She aimed her gun, but only darkness greeted her. The two men were locked in battle, rolling like a ball across her floor. She heard grunts and saw arms rise and fall. One back thumped against the hallway wall, then another.
