Page 44 of H E R

She sighs tiredly and leans her head back. Her friend is already snoring lightly and Niki wraps her arm around her and tips her head further back until it rests comfortably on the seat. Her neck is exposed, and I almost steer off the lane from the sight of it.

I want to curl my hand around it and control the amount of air she takes in. I want her to understand that breathing her next puff of oxygen is in my hands. That's the control she’s seized upon me, and I need her to feel the same exact way. Once I allow her to take her next breath, I want to trail the length of her neck with my mouth from the tip of her chin until my tongue slides between her legs and I taste her. My dick stiffens and I move in my seat to adjust it. I look back and her lips part.

She’s asleep.

I try to keep my gaze on the road, but the look on Niki’s face while she sleeps is like an open gated archway to heaven. She looks beautiful and at peace. She whispers something and I lean back like a madman, desperate to hear the words that will divulge some secret she won’t even dare admit to herself.

“Dylan.”

I hold my next breath. She’s dreaming of me and calling my name. I smile like a fucking idiot and my dick jerks again. Her subconscious knows she’s mine, and it’s delivering that message to her in a dream. If only she’d accept and roll with it.

Instead, she fights it and stays with a man she’s been with for only a couple of months. Whatever she thinks she owes him, she’s wrong. Noah is a liar, and he’ll drag her down the same way his father did to his family.

I won’t allow it.

Twenty minutes later and I’m driving up the dirt road that leads to the lot. I turn off my headlights and park my car between our trailers. The sun hasn’t risen, and the early morning is quiet, lest the crickets and cicadas singing their tunes. Jasmin pops up and looks around, then rubs her eyes.

“Don’t wake her,” I say.

I open her door and hand her Niki’s bag, then reach in the car and scoop up my little fox in my arms. She looks so fragile while asleep, though I know she’s anything but. She’s snoring softly, and it reminds me of a kitten purring. She smells of tequila and oranges. I want to crush her against my chest and drag her to my bed, where she belongs. But instead, I take in a deep breath—that will come soon enough—and I carry her to her trailer. Jasmin fishes the keys out and holds the door open for me.

“She hasn’t slept in three days,” Jasmin whispers and points in the direction where she wants me to place her.

I haven’t had a good night’s rest since the first time I saw her. I can’t sleep knowing she isn’t in my arms where she belongs. I wonder what’s kept her from allowing herself to succumb to her exhaustion.

I have to keep my body low; the inside of the trailer is tiny. It’s literally a rectangular box. There are no rooms. I move to the left where two toddler-sized cots lay on the floor and gently bend down to lay Niki on the mattress Jasmin signaled. I’m sure she’d want a shower, but I also know she’s a feral, wild fox when woken up. So I set her down as gently as I can and move her hair off her face. I untie her sneakers and slip them off, then I lift her puffy duvet covers over her.

I move to stand and crouch so that I don’t hit my head on the ridiculously low ceiling. Jule is tall for his age; I wonder how the fuck he lives here, forced to permanently hunch in his own residence.

Jasmin follows me, and I take a quick scan of their living quarters. Jule sleeps on the opposite end of the trailer. It’s dark, but the small window in front of him allows the moonlight to shine over his sleeping frame. His legs are entirely off the cot and he snores loudly.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Jasmin whispers.

Of course I did.“Goodnight.” I step out and she nods and then closes the door.

Why are they choosing to live in these conditions when they have a massive house sitting emptyat a plantation they own? Then it occurs to me—is itempty?

I pull my cell phone out and send a quick text to Jason.

He responds immediately.

I hear the locks click behind me, and I rush over to let Max out. He’s coming with me on this next assignment.

The drive out to the police station holding Noah was a two-hour drive south. I had Jason email the release papers and called ahead to make sure it would be set by the time I made it there.

The drive out to the police station holding Noah was a two-hour drive south. I had Jason email the release papers and called ahead to make sure it would be set by the time I made it there.

Max waits in the front seat with the air-conditioning on, and I almost want to leave Noah here for a couple more days, but the torture wouldn’t sink in.

He’s not that easy to crack.

“Detective Montreal?”

I roll my eyes at him and hold back a snarl. “The one and only.”

Noah’s bloodied face stares at me stupidly from behind the metal bars of his cell. One of his eyes is swollen shut and purple, his lip is busted, knuckles raw. His eyes search behind me worriedly. “Did Justice send you?”

I laugh humorlessly and shake my head. “Please, you think Niki would even speak on your behalf if she knew who you work for?”

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