Page 15 of Second Goal

I’d gone numb from it. That primal part of my brain that’s only focus is survival had kicked in. It was days later when I’d woken up in Blake’s apartment that I’d truly comprehended what I’d done. Months later when I found out what it had actually cost me.

The memory paralyzes me now. And that blindness comes back. I can’t see. Can’t breathe. I hear horns honking, dogs barking, the smell of fuel mixed with the freshness of snow. I try to take in a breath, but it’s no use.

“Kiley.” A deep voice booms, close but so far away.

Large hands are on my arms. Warm. Inviting. I blink and see Blake’s face, dark brows drawn down. Something licks my hand, then nudges me with a cold nose.

Pax.

“What are you doing out here?” he demands.

I blink again, the world coming back into focus. I’m less than half a block from the apartment, and the light snowfall has turned to sleet.

“Where’s your coat?”

“I...”

He shrugs off his jacket and places it around my shoulders. Pax whimpers, looking up at me with those big brown eyes that seem filled with as much concern as Blake’s.

“Come on. Let’s get you inside.” His arm is wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me tight against his side as he walks me back to the apartment.

Even in the elevator, he doesn’t let me go.

It isn’t until we’re in the hall, and I start to search frantically for my keys, that he takes a step back.

“What’s wrong?”

I groan, realizing that I’d left my keys in my coat pocket. “I gave my jacket to a woman outside the supermarket and my keys were in the pocket.”

Those gray eyes narrow and he opens his mouth like he’s about to lecture me, but then he shuts it and lets out a long sigh. “Was there anything in your jacket, any ID, that she could use to find out where you live?”

“No.” I frown up at him.

He rubs the back of his neck. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll call for someone to change the lock.” He doesn’t wait for my response, just walks across the hall and opens his door.

I follow him in, the yapping commencing the moment I walk into the living room.

Lady, Blake’s twelve-year-old cocker spaniel, wags her tail and barks until I lean down and pet her.

“Hey pretty Lady,” I say, scratching behind her ear, still feeling the numbness that I’d been trapped in. A cold that goes deeper than my bones, that cuts straight to my soul.

But here, in Blake’s apartment, I feel safe. Which I know is stupid, because there’s nowhere in this world I’m safe from myself. Nowhere that Cruz’s threats can’t find me.

Pax nearly knocks me over when he nudges my side, wanting attention.

“Okay,”I murmur, accepting the unconditional love like it’s oxygen. He keeps licking me as I pet him.

I glance up and see Blake watching me. “Here,” he says, helping me stand and handing me an extra-large hoodie.

Our fingers linger on one another’s for a brief moment before he releases my hand.

He clears his throat, then pulls out his cell. “I’ll make the call to maintenance. If you’re hungry, there’s leftover pizza in the fridge. Unless you want something else. I can order—”

“Pizza is fine.”

That line between his brows is still creased. “Kiley—”

“I know what you’re going to say. That I shouldn’t be so irresponsible. And you’re probably right. I should have checked the pockets before giving her the coat, but...”

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