“Alice, please, we steal from the rich for the rich.We’re not taking anything from people like you or your friends.”
“No.”She put her hands up, staving him away.“No.I’m sorry, Axel.This is too much.Lion shifters and now this.Thieves.You’re all freaking thieves.I thought I could deal with the shifting aspect, if it’s even real.At this point, I’m not sure if this is some kind of drug-induced dream, but thievery?You’re like the mob.No.I’m done.I’m leaving.”
She marched past him to grab her clothes.She quickly began to get dressed in jerky movements.
“Alice.”
“Don’t touch me.”She snatched her arm from Axel’s soft grip.
“I understand.I’ve pushed you too far, Baby Girl, in too short a time.I’ll drive you home.”
“No.I’ll call an Uber or a cab.I want you, no, scratch that, Ineedyou to stay away from me.”She shook her head.“I can’t think clearly when you’re around, Axel.”
“No Uber will take you into the city from here.This isn’t easy to find, and besides, it’s expensive.Let me drive you.”
“No.”
“Fine,” he growled.“Then, I’ll ask one of the girls to take you.Please, Alice.”
Alice clenched her jaw to hide the tremble within her.She didn’t think he was lying when he said an Uber wouldn’t take her back into the city.She couldn’t recall how long it had taken them to drive out here.Yesterday, it had all been a sweet dream.Today, reality came crashing all around her, breaking perfection into tiny shards of glass which cut deeply.She didn’t know where she was, and she clearly didn’t know who this man was.She needed to leave before she got hurt more.
“Fine.Just get me out of here,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alice glanced out thewindow.The countryside rolled by ablaze in red, orange, and yellow woodlands.Absently, she wondered how Axel managed to maintain his place, looking like a savannah when all around him were pines, maples, and oaks.
Axel.
Her insides twisted painfully.This time, though, it wasn’t the knot in her stomach, a new one had formed in her heart, and she couldn’t push it away.It squeezed with every breath, stealing her focus and forcing a keening sadness to the forefront.She would never see him again.
Daddy.Axel.
Frustrated, she wiped away a tear.How could she be crying over something which had never come to be?This had all been a mistake, a dream brought on by her own tendencies to make a mountain out of an anthill.She was weak.A mess of a person.
“Are you okay?”Scarlet asked, startling her.