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What?
Oh God.
He’d been behind her the whole time, and she hadn’t realized? She thought she would have sensed him.
Anyone could follow you at any time.
Without meaning to, she let out a small squeak of fear.
“Hannah?” Duncan queried in a concerned voice as she took a step back. “Hey, are you all right?”
Shit.
Get it together, Hannah.
“Yes, of course.” Crap. Even she could hear the way her voice shook.
“Hannah, come here,” Raid said in a low voice.
What? Was he nuts? She wasn’t going near him. He’d just given her a fright, pointed out how vulnerable and unsafe she was, and scolded her.
No way did she want to go anywhere near him.
“Hannah, baby. Come here.”
Baby? Why was he calling her baby? What was happening right now?
“Hannah?”
She glanced over at Duncan as he spoke. Somehow, she’d ended up pressed against his cruiser with her back to it. How had that happened? She didn’t even remember moving.
“W-what?”
“Sweetheart, you need to talk to me,” Duncan urged. “Why were you walking home in the dark? Why didn’t you take a taxi or tell your friends that you needed a ride?”
“They were all drinking.”
Both men shot her looks. Right.
“You’re telling me that Brye wasn’t there watching over Melody? Or that you couldn’t have asked Devon to call you a taxi or arrange a ride?” Duncan asked skeptically. “Sweetheart, you’ve lived here for years. You know the rules of the town. Putting yourself in danger like this . . . breaking the rules. This isn’t you, Hannah. You’re not acting yourself.”
“I’m fine.” Her voice sounded faint and wrong, but she knew neither of them would believe her. “I want to go home.”
“Hannah.” Raid took a few steps toward her and she stiffened.
There was a strange gasping noise. Shit. Was that her?
She needed to get herself under control.
Suddenly, Duncan moved closer to her. “Raid, maybe you should give her some space. She doesn’t seem to want you near.”
Shit.
So much for hiding her fear.
“Hannah, you’re not scared of me. Are you?” Raid asked in a low voice.
Crap. There was genuine concern in his voice. And she felt so awful. She wanted to hug him tight and tell him she was sorry. But she couldn’t do it. Not only because she couldn’t bring herself to touch him. But because she was scared to touch him. Worried it would bring down all the emotional armor she’d carefully erected.
Armor that was slowly crumbling.
But even though Hannah should say she feared him, do whatever she could to push him away . . . she just couldn’t. That would only make her feel even worse, and she already had enough regrets. And those regrets kept her awake at night. They ate away at her insides.
So, the last thing she needed was more.
“No.”
“No?” Duncan repeated skeptically. “That’s not the way you’re acting, Hannah.”
Crap. Crap. Crap.
She forced herself to stand tall, to push her emotions down. Far, far down. Taking a calming breath, she let it out.
“I’m good. Honestly, I’m not scared of Raid. I just don’t want to be touched.”
“You’ve never had a problem with people touching you before,” Duncan said.
Shit. She was a hugger. She’d always been touchy-feely.
Now, that was biting her on the butt, wasn’t it?
“And I’ve never known you to break the rules,” Duncan added.
She hugged herself tight. What would he say if she told him that she didn’t take a taxi because she had less than thirty dollars to her name and didn’t get paid for another week?
And that most of that pay would need to go to overdue bills.
All because she was so freaking stupid.
“I know,” she said. “It won’t happen again.”
Mostly because she didn’t intend to go out again.
“All right, sweetheart,” Duncan said. “We’re only upset because we care about you. You know that, right?”
She willed the tears to stay away. Icy. She needed to be an ice queen. When she thought she had herself under control, she nodded.
“I k-know.”
“She’s getting cold,” Raid said in a low voice. “I need to get her home.”
“You’re planning on taking her home?” Duncan asked.
“Yep. There a problem with that?” Raid straightened his shoulders as though he was preparing for an argument from the other man.
“Not from me,” Duncan replied calmly. “But Hannah has to agree.”
“Hannah is freezing and not making great decisions about her own safety,” Raid countered.
Wait . . . what? She took one walk home in the dark and suddenly she couldn’t make good decisions about her own safety?
You make crap decisions about your own safety.
Yeah. Right. She did.
But it still didn’t mean that Raid was taking her home.
“Hannah, you all right with Raid taking you home?” Duncan asked.
She opened her mouth to say that no, she was not when Duncan’s phone went off.
“Shit, I have to take this. It’s Laken,” Duncan explained.
He stepped away from them both, his voice lowering to a soft croon as he spoke to his pregnant wife on the phone.
