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“You’re not staying at your apartment alone tonight.” He hits the button for the ground floor and backs up to the opposite side of the steel cube. Tension weighs heavier than both of our bodies combined. Emotion and betrayal and what-ifs sit like one-ton anvils on the grooved floor. “I’ll take you to Minka’s, since Mia’s already asleep.”
“I don’t—”
“I already said I don’t give a shit what you want.”
His eyes are hard. Unkind. Nothing like the Tim I thought I knew.
“You already hate me, Emeri. You already think the worst. So at this point, I’m just gonna do whatever the fuck I need to do to keep you alive. Even if it pisses you off. Even if you spend the next hundred years telling your future husband about this one guy youusedto know and how much of a prick he was.”
When the elevator stops and the doors open, Tim grabs my hand and tugs me into the lobby, then he leads me toward the exit. “The damage is done.” He yanks me through the revolving glass doors at the front of the building and turns to the right the moment his feet touch the sidewalk outside. “So really,” he glances back with an angry glare, “what do I have to lose?”
“You act like I’m a bad person for being mad at you.” I try to shake his hand free. “You act like it’s my fault you were caught lying. Take responsibility for your screwup, Malone. It’s the least you can do.”
“First of all,” he reaffirms his grip on my hand and scours the street with his eyes. Scanning. Assessing. “I wasnotcaught lying. I never lied, I just never told you my every fucking secret. And second,” he yanks me around a dark corner that makes my heart skip.
It’s a straight line to Minka’s place from the George Stanley, so why the hell are we turning?
“Itriedto talk to you,” he growls. “To take responsibility for everything that’s happened. I tried to do this nicely, but you refused to listen. So fuck it.” He turns us again. “That train left the station. You’ve made up your mind about me. You’re pissed. You’re one of thosefool me oncetypes who won’t give a man a second chance, which means it’s done. I’m officially out of nice fucks to give. Now, my only objective is to keep you safe.” He pulls me around the next corner so we’re back on Minka’s street. “No matter the price.”
“Why are you circling the block?” I try to dig my heels in like a petulant child and peel his hand from my skin, but he’s too strong. Too powerful. “Tim?”
“Making sure we’re alone.”
He switches his grip so his fingers are no longer around my wrist, but linked with mine. A mere few seconds later, two police patrolmen wander by.
It’s like he knew they were coming. Like he knew dragging a woman along wouldn’t look good to the cops. But a couple strolling?Acceptable.
“I know you’re mad, Aubree. I know you’re hurt.” He leads me off the curb and into the street, then after crossing over, he releases me completely and lets me walk on my own. “But when you’re old and gray and thinking back to that guy you used to know,” slowing his steps to match mine, he drops his hands into his pockets, “I hope you remember I was only trying to keep you safe.”
“You didn’t trust me with the truth.”
“Chances are, I’llcontinuekeeping the truth from you if I think it’s what I need to do.” He glances across. “If we’re still friends after all this, and more shit lands in front of us, I’m gonna pick it up. I’m gonna push it aside. And the fact is, if knowing about that shit will hurt you, then I’ll keep it to myself to protect you.”
“I don’t need to be protected.” Now I reach out and grabhiswrist.Iyank us to a stop and step closer so he has to meet my eyes. “I’m not a child. I’m not your little pet to keep in a cage and drip-feed whenever you want to.”
“No.” Surprising me, he agrees. “But you’re a smiler.”
“I’m a…” Confusion slams me. “What?”
“You smile.” Slowly bringing his trapped hand up, he cups my jaw and sets his thumb on the middle of my chin. “You’re one of very few people alive who smile like everything is good. Like the world doesn’t fucking suck. So whenever those piles of shit land in front of you and try to screw things up, instead of risking your outlook on life, I’m gonna move it all. I’m gonna clear your way and make sure the world stays pure for you.”
His eyes are beautiful. Piercing and clear. His lips are thick, so annoyingly kissable, but they speak words I love and hate all at the same time.
“If you move past all this and we somehow end up friends again, I’m gonna keep protecting you.”
“I don’t want your—”
“It’s the way I’m built,” he breathes. “It’s the way it’s gonna be, whether you like it or not. It would be easier for you to ask me to tear off my own arm.”
I wrap my hand around his wrist. To run my thumb along his skin and watch as his eyes flicker to the movement. “I want to be treated as your equal,” I murmur. “I’m not to be coddled.”
“But you’re not my equal.” He brings his gaze back to mine at my shocked intake of air. “You sit far, far above anywhere I could ever hope to achieve, Aubree. You’re perfect, and I…” He shakes his head, once more scouring our surroundings and keeping me safe. “I’m the firstborn son of a dying mafia king. I’m about to walk back into my old world, where I’ll either right the wrongs they’ve committed, or I’ll join them.”
“You’ll jo—” I startle back as panic skitters in my blood. “You can’tjointhem. You left them!”
“I’ll figure out my role once I get there.” Setting his thumb in the center of my bottom lip, he leans closer. Closer. Torturously closer. But he doesn’t kiss me. He doesn’t cross a line I’m not sure either of us will survive. “I’ll figure it all out when I get there, but not once,neverwill I put you in danger. So if protecting you means killing them all, then that’s what I’ll do.”
A heavy tear springs free of my eye and sits in my lashes. “Tim—”
