Page 16 of Delirium

My hand was outstretched, fist made, ready to knock. This was the plan. Knock, first. Then say thank you, and explain myself when she answered the door. She would be gracious, but distant, and then I would leave, debt paid, no longer reliant on any one person. Easy.

Except for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to knock on her door. My hand gave the slightest tremble, and I clenched my fist tighter, my jaw following suit.

Knock. Say thank you. Leave.

And yet I l couldn’t convince myself to make contact with her door.

“Shake it off, Hart. Pull yourself together, man,” I muttered to myself. This was ridiculous. I could build a bomb out of spare parts and set it off without blinking. But I was frozen over the prospect of speaking to a random woman I just met.

Perfect. This wasexactlythe situation I’d hoped to be in when I woke up this morning.

I sighed, closing my eyes. The manufactured gratitude was going to have to wait. As much as I wanted to force my body to do what I wanted it to do, giving gratitude wouldn’t be genuine, and I’d just be back in this situation tomorrow.

Just as I pulled my hand away, Scarlett’s door swung open. Her mouth dropped open into a quick “o” before she recovered, gifting me one of her perfect smiles. “Camp. Is everything okay?”

I jammed my hand into my pocket, hoping I looked more casual than I felt.

“Of course it is.”

She cocked her head to the side, her brows crinkling. “So, you’re just standing outside my door because…?”

I laughed, trying to cover up the nerves twitching my hand in my pocket.She was just a woman. One woman.

Which was bullshit, and I knew it. She wasn’t just a woman.

“Well, I actually just wanted to say thank you. I owe you one. Two, technically. You…you didn’t have to go to bat for me like that.”

Scarlett leaned against her door frame, looking up at me through dark lashes. “You really don’t need to thank me. You already have. But, really, I was just doing what I hoped anyone would do for me.”

Somewhere, behind the chemical composition of a bomb and endless years of schooling building up my brain, what she was saying made complete sense. But my heart still screamedreliantat me.

Reliant.

Reliant.

Reliant.

Reliancy was complacency, and complacency was dangerous.

Ergo, Scarlett was dangerous.

She shifted her weight to her other foot, popping her full hip out while she waited for me to respond.

I swallowed hard, following the curve of her body, down through her close-fitting pants, the muscular thighs I imagined beneath, finally dragging my eyes back up to meet her smirk.

She was just a woman.

Didn’t stop me from resting my hand on her door frame and leaning into her personal space, her scent of jasmine and vanilla far too alluring.

She was just a woman.

It didn’t stop me from meeting her gaze, daring her to be the first to look away, noting the way she subconsciously licked her lips.

I smiled, apex predator once more. This was a situation I could read. “I don’t think anyone has ever done anything like that for me before. So when I say I owe you one, I mean it.”

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips again, a nervous habit I wasn’t even sure she was aware of. “I’m suresomeonehas before. Your mom, maybe. Or your best friend.”

I shook my head, unwilling to take my gaze away. “No one. My parents realized I could handle myself pretty young and left me alone. As for a best friend…” I trailed off with a shrug, the words unspoken lingering on my tongue. Friends were a liability.

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