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“Thanks.”
“You know, you could be a fucking martyr and take that car you drove her in, or…”
I look at him. “They won’t stop looking for her if I go.”
He sighs. “I’m a prick, and this will mean you owe me big. But right now, I can use favors like that.”
Everything in me stills.
“Remember that asshole in prison who died?”
I frown and he smiles slowly.
“It’s easy if you know how. You deal in death and destruction differently to me. I like a more subtle approach, the right weapon. I can make it like that. Like you got into trouble, orchestrate a situation where you both are incinerated in that car, with the phones. Take the car in a different direction, make it that the remains found are close to yours, and the rest? Dental records? I can make it all go away.”
“It’s not a guarantee—”
“It’s close. But…your decision. There’s more risk if you go with the girl, but…” He shrugs. “You have to decide if the risk is worth it.”
11
HELLIE
I’m not going to look. I’m not. He’s sacrificing a chance of us for me.
His friend is just as dangerous as him, just as good looking and he leaves me cold.
What I want, what I ache for is a future. One with Cal, as crazy as it seems, but—
The car door opens and my heart starts to beat hard and fast as he gets in next to me, the warm hint of clove and bergamot soothing my skin.
“You know, Hellie,” Cal says. “Somewhere between the moment you walked into the room and our eyes met I think I might have fallen in love with you.”
“Me, too,” I whisper. “I think I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”
We look at each other and that heat and bone deep truth of the connection, of love, blooms.
“You’d be smarter to go with Mercer. He’d make sure you’re never found. If we go together, they’ll look for you and me, not just you.”
“I still choose you, for however long it might be. You.”
Cal leans over and kisses me. “Happy for now?”
“Happy for now,” I say. “Because this ‘now’ might lead into a whole lot of other ‘nows.’ That’s better than forever in hell, which is my alternative.”
“Such sass.” Cal snickers. “I love you, Hellie.”
I smile.
Our “now” just might last a lifetime.
And there’s no place I’d rather be.
THE END
MEET KRISTEN LUCIANI
Kristen Luciani is a USA Today bestselling author of steamy and suspense-filled romance. She's addicted to kickboxing, Starburst jelly beans, and swooning over dark, broken anti-heroes. Kristen is happily married to her own real-life hero of over 20 years.
