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He stared back at her, belligerent. Daring her to argue.
“Another thing,” she said quietly. “You just met me. You don’t know me, either. Not really. How long can you put up with this?”
He shrugged, dismissively. “I guess we’ll find out, huh?”
She shook her head. “No. Waiting to find out would destroy me. I appreciate your willingness to help, but I have a way better idea. Drive me to a bus station, lend me enough cash for a sandwich and a bus ticket to Anywhere, USA, and wish me luck.”
“I can’t do that,” he said.
She covered her face. “Oh, Bruno. For God’s sake—”
“You don’t understand, Lily.” His voice cut through hers. “I’m not just being difficult or stubborn. I literally cannot…do…that. I can’t cut you loose, put you on a fucking bus. Not an option. Sorry.”
“And if I just, you know, disappeared?” she offered. “Would that release you from this compulsion?”
“No,” he said. “I’d come after you. And I’d be sorely pissed.”
“I’ve had enough of pissed people coming after me lately,” she flared. “I don’t need it from you, too.”
“Fine. Shut the fuck up, and accept my help with no back-talk. You don’t have any choice.” He walked over to her, put his hands on her shoulders, looming. His energy overwhelming her. “I’m bigger than you.”
She stared up at him for a moment, eyes narrowing. “Don’t you dare try to intimidate me,” she said, through her teeth.
“Just trying to find out what works with you.”
“That won’t work, ever,” she informed him. “It’ll just piss me off. So, this compulsion to protect me, it’s because we had sex, right? So now you think you’re somehow responsible for me?”
His fingers tightened. “Don’t start, Lily.”
“That’s stupid, you know. And wrong. Antique bullshit.”
The dim room seemed suddenly smaller, hotter. She shoved his hands off her shoulders, and tried to stare him down. But she was falling in, getting lost in the fathomless darkness of his hooded eyes.
“Let’s not go anywhere near that,” Bruno said.
“Sorry, but I’m no better at keeping my mouth shut than you are,” she said. “You’re letting out a really scary godking-of-the-universe vibe, and it bugs me. Being bullied does not make me shiver with sexual excitement, Bruno. It just makes me say sarcastic things, which then escalate to screaming obscenities until the offending behavior stops.”
“Oh, man. I’m in for it, then,” Bruno said flatly. “Lucky me.”
He’d retreated behind some wall in his head. She hated the way it felt. So conscious of herself as a woman, and yet so incredibly alone.
“You can’t make these decisions for me,” she told him. “I owe you my life, and I’ll be grateful forever. But as soon as you turn your back, I’ll be out of here, like the whack job that I am.”
“So I just won’t turn my back on you,” he said. “Ever.”
She clenched her jaw until it throbbed. “You are hopeless.”
“And you are tired. You should sleep,” he said. “We can’t resolve this argument tonight anyhow. Go on, lie down.”
She glanced over at the bed, and bit her lip.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You get it all to yourself.”
Dismay congealed in a cold, gluey lump in her belly. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been counting on physical intimacy. Anything would do. A hug, a back rub, a cuddle. Or anything else he could dream up. Sign her up for that. She was strung out on the way he made her feel. Had been for weeks, ever since she’d started, well. Stalking him.
“Where are you going to sleep?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said gruffly.
