Page 29 of Twisted Hearts

Someone had hurt her.

And while I didn’t know her, I hadn’t been lying when I told her I’d kill him for it.

I also wouldn’t push her.

No, whatever had happened between us as she finally gave me her name, willingly placed her hand in mine, and licked her lips in a way that had me fighting against pulling her to me so she couldfeelwhat that look did to me, we’d go at her pace for the rest of it.

A walk home?

I could definitely do that.

“You live close then?” I asked as she started walking down the sidewalk. This wasn’t a residential area by any means. Closed-down businesses left a street’s length of dark windows, but above them were areas I figured held apartments. At the intersection up ahead was a large, at least ten-story building I assumed was an apartment building, maybe hers.

She pushed her lips to one side like she was fighting a smile and stopped on the street. We’d barely moved at all when she pointed up.

“I live there. Above Stamped.” The building she pointed to was only a few doors down from the bar.

I glanced back at Dreammaker’s. At her. At the building. “Convenient.”

“Extremely. And temporary, but it hasn’t been so bad yet. I have to get there by walking behind these buildings, down an alley, and well…it’s dark and late and I’m not stupid.”

“And you trust me to get you home safe.” That she did made my chest swell with pride. Yeah, I kept people safe, but there was something about this woman, her skittishness and watchfulness, that told me earning her trust wouldn’t be so easy. Good thing for me I was persistent, and considering she’d asked me to walk her home, I figured it was working.

She ran her hand through her ponytail, either nervous or embarrassed. I couldn’t read all of her gestures yet, but she definitely seemed more wary. “Jillian said I could. Shannon Powell said something similar.”

“You can, you know—trust me.”

I didn’t expect her to believe me, but I’d prove it to her.

She walked this alley every night? In the middle of the night? Hell, it was close to three in the morning, and I was dragging on my feet. Work later would be a killer, but the idea of Addi—or any woman—making this walk alone made my teeth grind together.

“Is there another way to get there?”

“I can go through the back of Dreammaker’s, and that’s faster. Sometimes I do that and whoever else is closing with me makes sure I get up the stairs to my apartment safely, but tonight, I don’t know…I wanted to walk off the adrenaline from the night.”

Somehow, that made me feel better, though not completely.

“Are you new here then? To Raleigh?”

She’d said her apartment was temporary. She’d just started a job at a bar that wasn’t officially open, and I still remembered the tears and the athletic wear when everyone else was in ball gowns.

“Yes.”

She pulled her purse to her shoulder and fidgeted with her keys.

A vault. I didn’t know what secrets she held, but they wouldn’t be easy to discover.

At least, perhaps, unless I shared more about myself first.

“I was a police officer in a small town in Kansas until a couple months ago. I’ve only been here since January. Never thought I’d leave that town until Jaxon came to me with this opportunity.”

“Did you like it? Being a cop?” She glanced at me, tone soft and curious, interested.

She truly wanted to know, and not in the way some people asked, like they were hoping to hear some of the wild stories of the things we saw.

I slid my hands into the front pocket of my jeans. “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to help and protect people. Loved the town I grew up in, small as it was, and never wanted to leave there, either. Going to the police academy after college seemed like the best idea.”

“You’re a long way from home for never wanting to leave.”

---