Page 29 of Corrupted Lies

How could this be her life?

Alannah could barely comprehend any of it as she allowed Jake to usher her into his house. Half a dozen men watched it, and she had a feeling that as soon as they got inside, Jake was going to tell her that things were about to change.

That made her terrified.

She absolutely got that he wanted to make sure she didn't wind up dead because of the people after his family, but she had no idea of just how he intended to try to make sure that she stayed safe.

The last thing she wanted right now was to be sent away.

Jake and his brothers were the closest thing she had to family. Sure, she had other friends, but now that she knew the extent of the danger, it wasn't like she would go and stay with one of them and risk the people after her setting fire to their homes.

Besides, even if she wasn't afraid of them getting caught in the crossfire, she didn't want to be around anyone else other than Jake.

Hemade her feel safe.

Hemade her feel protected.

Hemade her feel cared about.

No one else could give her the sense of security she needed so badly since her life had been flipped upside down.

But things were about to change.

Even if she hadn't known Jake most of her life, she would be able to sense the shift in him.

Although he’d comforted her after the fire in the parking garage at her building, by the time cops and firefighters had shown up he was already withdrawing. He’d been almost brisk with her, not rude, but the gruff, edge-of-annoyed way he spoke to other people he was now using on her.

Not something she was used to.

Jake was grumpy, but he washergrumpy, and he was always so sweet with her, softer and gentler. She liked that and didn't want it to change. The fact that itwaschanging told her that he was already shifting into Delta Force Jake and that meant he had stopped seeing her as his best friend and started seeing her as a problem that needed to be solved.

Only the last thing she needed was to be treated like a problem that had to be solved rather than a human being, his best friend, who had been through hell, was scared out of her mind, struggling to hold it together, and could do with comfort and reassurance.

Because she couldn’t wait a second longer, as soon as Jake finished talking to the man standing on the doorstep and closed and locked the door behind them, she blurted out the words that had been weighing heavily upon her since this last fire.

“Are you sending me away?” Alannah demanded.

There was a brief moment of shock on his face before he schooled his features into one of distance and borderline disinterest.

It was an expression she was used to.

One she’d seen a thousand times growing up.

The same expression her parents always gave her when they were forced to acknowledge that even though they hadn't planned on having her, and even though they hadn't wanted her and never missed an opportunity to make sure she was aware of that, they were legally required by law to provide for her basic needs.

That was how Jake looked at her now.

Like she was an unwanted responsibility.

Even though she knew he was doing it to protect his feelings it still hurt. For once she wanted someone to put her feelings above their own. She got that he felt guilty, but he didn't have to take that out on her. She was his best friend, and she didn't blame him. Together they could work out a plan that meant she was safe so he could focus on getting the answers she was well aware he and his family needed.

“Don’t do that to me, Jake. Don’t make me feel like a burden, you know how much I hate that.”

There was a flare of guilt in his dark eyes, but he shut it down quickly. “I brought this mess to your doorstep, made my problems your problems, I absolutely will do whatever it takes to make sure you don’t wind up paying the ultimate price for my mistakes.”

There was something in his tone she didn't like in the least. “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means I need you safe.”

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