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“Oh.” I huffed a laugh. “Yeah. Teenagers. No one tells you how difficult it’ll be at this stage. You’d think keeping them alive as babies and toddlers would be the toughest age. Nope, this is a thousand times worse. It’s like dealing with an emotional lion, never knowing if you’ll get mauled or ignored.”
Excitement zinged through me at the twitch of his lips. It didn’t seem like he smiled much, so that small twitch made me beyond happy.
“I’m sure it’s exacerbated by the unusual situation you two are in.”
My head bobbed on a nod of agreement. “Very true. So where is this vet anyway?” With Gracie in the truck, I didn’t want to dig too deep into her moods or why we found ourselves relying on the US Marshals Service to keep us alive. There was too much baggage weighing me down that I was eager to be free of. If he opened the floodgates, who knew what I’d tell him? “If there is even a veterinarian out here. Maybe you’re taking us to an undisclosed location to bury our bodies?”
Damnit. Why didn’t I fall back on all my training from those crime documentaries before I jumped into the truck? I had my knife, but with Shade’s bulk, it would probably only cause a minor paper cut, his thick muscles denting the blade, rendering it useless.
My pulse raced as I scanned the passenger door, ready to fling it open. But then what about Gracie? Great. I was officially the worst mother ever, allowing her daughter to get into a truck with a serial killer to be driven to her premature demise.
Shade’s chuckle paused my escape planning. “We’ll be there in a few more minutes.”
“When you say ‘there,’ do you mean the vet or the pre-dug graves you allotted for me and my daughter?”
“Mom,” Gracie complained from the back seat. “Stop being weird. He’s not a serial killer. Just like the last guy you accused of wanting to murder us.”
Shade’s full lips pulled upward in a grin, transforming his face and making him less imposing. With his size, I was slightly intimidated but not really afraid. Somehow, deep in my gut, I knew we were safe with him. My brain just needed to catch up with what the rest of me already knew. He had this presence about him that instantly put you at ease.
Though people said that about serial killers too.
You could never be too careful.
“Sorry about the serial killer thing,” I said with a dramatic cringe. “I’m a crime show junkie, so occasionally my imagination can get the better of me.” Especially nowadays. After realizing I lived the last couple years beneath a thick layer of lies and didn’t know made me suspicious of everyone. “Though you haven’t outright said no about the pre-dug graves and your evil intentions.”
“No?” he offered, still smiling.
“That sounds like a question,” I said, voice now shaking, attempting to hide my laughter.
“No killing, no pre-dug graves. Anne’s place, the vet, is just there.” I followed the direction his thick finger pointed, where a large barn broke the flat horizon. A house and other smaller structures scattered the property as well. “Anne is our friend.” His smile faltered. “Her boyfriend too.”
“You don’t seem happy about that.”
His broad shoulders rose and fell. He shifted in the seat like he was uncomfortable. “He’s new, and maybe I don’t trust him yet.”
I studied him. “Does that mean you don’t trust me?”
Again, his dark eyes cut my way just as the truck turned toward an already-open gate. My insides vibrated as we coasted over a cattle grate before smoothing out and continuing down the concrete drive. The view of the massive ranch transported me back in time to my family’s farm in Kansas, where I grew up. Longing for those easier times washed over me, making me homesick for a place I hadn’t visited in almost twenty years.
The muscle along Shade’s jaw popped as he worked it back and forth. It was obvious the man didn’t say much, and when he did, he struggled with the right words.
“You’re different,” he finally responded.
“And why is that?” I prodded.
“Haven’t figured that out yet.”
Bypassing the massive single-story home, he steered the truck toward to the large metal barn. A woman marched out of the wide opening, her long golden hair pulled up in a high ponytail that flicked in the wind, followed by a man who draped a fully tattooed arm over her shoulders and directed a laser stare through the windshield, right at me.
I swallowed as the nerves from earlier kicked back into hyperdrive, making my heart race. Intense didn’t scratch the surface of the man, or the word hot. Because holy fuck, he was like some tattooed, gray-eyed god.
“Yeah, I can see why you don’t trust him,” I whispered.
Shade froze, his hand hovering over the door handle. “What do you mean?”
“I wouldn’t trust myself around him either.” I shot him a grin, hoping to commiserate on how attractive this Anne woman’s boyfriend was, but all I found was confusion. “What? You can’t tell me you don’t feel his BDE. Even with Trap, you’re not blind to other hotties.”
His brow quirked. “BDE?”
