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But these are ridiculous thoughts to be flurrying through my mind. I should be screaming, concerned that this man’s lying to me or he’s going to hurt me. I don’t know him.
And yet even if I know, on one level, a reasonable personwouldthink that, my instincts won’t let me.
I trust him, this stranger, even if I shouldn’t.
“Where are you taking me?” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, trying tothink.
Keeping my thoughts clear feels like an impossible battle.
“Somewhere safe,” he says.
“No, Felix.”
He tightens his grip on the steering wheel. Moonlight and street lights shine into the car as we drive, turning his hair into an even deeper shade of silver.
“No,” I say again, louder this time. “You can’t tell me somebody’s trying to….”Kill me, but I leave the sentence unfinished. It all seems like a joke, and at the same time, it’s not even remotely funny.
“Felix.” I touch his forearm, his bare skin, my body responding when I feel how taut his muscles are, just like I imagined. “You can’t kidnap me. If there’s an issue, fine, but you can’t do this. I don’t believe you’re that sort of person.”
He glances at me, his intense eyes swimming.
I expect him to askwhyI think that about him since we don’t know each other. But he doesn’t. It’s like he already knows.
“I can’t let anything happen to you,” he says.
“Why?” I whisper, wondering if this is possible or if I’m wishing something into existence.
His intensity, his strength, all aimed at me. And not just because he wants to save me from whatever’s happening here.
No, it’s because there’s something here, clearly.
Strangers don’t just kiss like that with so much passion.
Do they?
It’s not like I have enough experience to compare.
“You don’t deserve to die,” he says after a pause, leaving me to imagine if there’s more there.
“You have to take me home,” I tell him. “If something bad is happening, okay, I get that. But what do you expect me to do? Leave my best friend and my mom to deal with it?”
He slows down, glancing at me, his expression faltering.
“I don’t know exactly what this is,” I say. “But first Julie calls me, telling me something bad’s going to happen tonight. And thenyoutell me….”
I trail off, realizing a sob is trying to crack my resolve, trying to turn me into the Freya I was not too long ago…before I had to be strong for Julie, supporting her as she always supports me.
“Whatever’s happening,” I go on. “I know bad people sometimes target your family, right?”
He swallows. “Yes.”
“So, do you really expect me to abandon them?”
He pulls the car up at the side of the road, sighing, shaking his head slowly. “No, I don’t. I just…if something happens, you have to doexactlywhat I say when I say it. Do you understand?”
He stares at me fiercely, his gaze holding me in place. It makes me think of some ancient warrior staring at his woman, pledging himself.
Forever.
