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I tugged her closer to my body. "Yeah, but it still wasn't smart on my part bringing you here tonight with all of this going on."
"You won't come here without me, will you?" She questioned me with concern. I knew she was possibly worried about me being with someone else, but there would never be anyone else for me but her. It's something I'd known for awhile now, but just didn't want to admit.
"What do you mean?"
As she stood there looking between Seth and I, she answered. "We'll talk about it when we get home."
"Okay." I shook Seth's hand and gave him Kelsey's email, telling him if anything else happened with the search for the redhead to call me immediately. Sloane and I walked out of his office into the club, and I could feel her instantly stiffen. Looking around, she seemed to be searching the room for the red head, or the masked man, or maybe both. But I knew one thing was for sure, if he did in fact see her, it made her a prime target for this guy and that scared the ever-loving shit out of me. As I opened the car door for her, I stopped her before she got in. "Are you okay? I mean, really okay?"
She looked down at her feet, then back up at me. "I'm not going to lie to you Archer, that whole thing I witnessed tonight and that guy possibly seeing me really freaked me out. But what I'm most upset about is you, yet again, not trusting me enough to just be honest with me and tell me what was going on instead of it coming to a point where you're forced to have to tell me. Again!" she said, sitting down in the car and slamming the door shut, making me feel like she was shutting me out all over again.
CHAPTER
20
Sloane
Archer stood by mydoor for a moment, seemingly trying to gather himself before getting into the driver seat and shutting the door. Staring straight ahead, he asked. "Are we okay?"
I let out a long sigh before I looked over to him. "I think maybe it's best if you just take me home, Archer." Jerking his head in my direction and looking into my eyes, I could see the fear he held in them of losing me all over again and I knew I needed to reassure him that he hadn't lost me, I just need some time to think things over. "I'm not running away from you, Archer."
“Then why does it feel like you are?” he mumbled back.
"I just need some time to think about things, like what happened here tonight. Us."
"What is it about us that you need to think about? Whether or not you want to be with me?"
"It really hurts me the way you repeatedly keep things from me. I feel like I'm constantly having to prove myself in order for you to just open up to me and trust me and then you show me yet again how much you still don't trust me enough to tell me the truth. My God Archer, you took me to the very same club tonight that women are being killed in and I might have seen the murderer. Why would you not warn me that something was going on there before we went? What if I would have gotten separated from you and something happened?" I watch him stare straight out the windshield, gritting his teeth so hard his jaw ticked under the pressure. Starting the car, he drove us away from the club without another word.
When we pulled up in front of my apartment, having made the long drive in silence, he turned off the engine and looked over at me. "You're right about everything you said tonight. But in my eyes, it was done to protect you, not because I didn't trust you. It was terribly irresponsible of me to take you to that club tonight, and for that I'm sorry. This case has me losing some of my common sense lately. I put you in danger tonight Sloane and that's unacceptable. I think that until this case is solved, it's best if we just keep our distance so I don't make any further mistakes that might endanger your life."
The dread of losing him and the anger of him bowing out on usyet again,fight for top position in my heart and I decide I have nothing left to say. Opening my door, I got out, slamming it behind me and started off towards my apartment when I heard his car door shut and footsteps moving quickly behind me to catch up. Running beyond me a bit, he turned around to face me, grabbing my arms to stop me. "You have nothing to say?"
I pulled my head up, and the tears that had gathered in my eyes began to stream down my cheeks as I looked straight into his hurt expression that mirrored my own and gave him my one-word answer. "No."
Running his hand through his hair, he let out a heavy breath. "What the fuck do you want from me, Sloane?!"
