Page 7 of Tragic Ink
Rhys didn’t question it either, though, which only made it all the weirder. “I told him,but...”
He trailed off, and I caught his expression before he shifted away. Concerned. Hesitant. It set a warning bell off in my head, and I bit my lip as the pieces fell together. The police weren’t very fond of me, thanks to a childhood spent as a loner and, on occasion, as a troublemaker. I’d broken into a building in high school and set up shop, using it as a temporary tattoo parlor. I’d made a few thousand dollars before they’d shut me down. I’d also made enemies out of Havenwood Falls’finest.
Apparently, they held agrudge.
I braced myself and asked quietly, “Am I asuspect?”
The beat of silence that followed told me all I needed to know. “Notofficially.”
I cursed. A long string of them that would have gotten my mouth washed with soap had I been younger. Aelwyn would have lectured me even now if she’d been here. And suddenly, the emptiness of the house washed over me. I had to getout.
“I have to go,” I said, shoving past Rhys and crossing to the front door. I yanked it open, relieved now to see everyone else had gone, and strode out into the night. Overhead, Ethan circled.Just a few more minutes.I’d have to make a pit stop on the way home so I could put him away before I got back totown.
My truck was still where I’d parked it, but halfway there, I realized the headlights were off. They’d been on when I’d jumped out earlier. Before I could speculate why or who, Rhys was there, holding my keysout.
“I didn’t want your battery to die,” heexplained.
“Thanks,” I muttered, swiping the keys from him and heading for thetruck.
“Aren’t you forgettingsomething?”
I paused, one leg already in the truck. “What?”
Rhys pointed to the sky at the same time Ethan did a low loop overhead. I swallowed hard, debating whether to deny it. But what was the pointanymore?
I sighed. “How did youknow?”
“You shouldn’t leave him loose for too long. Too many risks in this part of the woods,” he said, ignoring myquestion.
I strode up to him until we were nose to nose in the darkness. Or nose to chin, since he was taller thanme.
“How did you know?” I repeated. The temper that rolled off me was a welcome distraction to the grief building in mychest.
His eyes flashed with a knowing that rocked me. It was a look that suggested he knew a lot more about me than I might think. More than I ever told him, that was for sure. And I wondered if maybe my soul was the traitor, opening for him so willingly when he looked at me that way, so that he could just read it all for himself somehow. Like my heart just willingly gave up whatever he wanted fromit.
I felt caught by his gaze, like a deer caught by oncoming headlights. One hundred percent of me was certain this was going to end with mewrecked.
“Let me help you, Gwen,” he saidsoftly.
His words were enough to break thespell.
I blinked, shaking my head to clear the fog that made it hard to remember why I didn’t want his help in the first place. But the moment I remembered, my jaw hardened, and I stepped back, no longer trusting myself to stand so close tohim.
“Aelwyn might have tied us together, but that common bond is gone now. Go home, Rhys. And leave me alone. For good thistime.”
I couldn’t help the sadness that laced my words, but I told myself it was exhaustion and the loss I’d suffered tonight. Rhys didn’t argue, and he didn’t call out to me as I trudged back to my truck. I slid inside and turned the engine over, gunning it out of the yard and onto the main road. Just before the trees obscured my view, I glanced into my rearview. But the darkness was complete, and I saw nothing but shadows of the past in mywake.
