Page 44 of One Good Crash
"The hell you will."
"What?"
"You think I'm gonna go inside and leave you standing here? Likethis?"
Through gritted teeth, I said, "Like what?"
Dirty and disheveled? Half-crazed? Freezing? And sweating too?
I could only imagine what I looked like.
Even more maddening, I couldn't help but notice that I'd felt a whole lot better when I'd been in his arms. Now, I felt cold and lost – rudderless in a storm of my own roiling emotions.
He neverdidanswer my question. Instead, he reached for my hand and said, "Come on, let's get you inside, and we'll talk there, okay?"
His hand was warm, and his voice was a soothing balm to my jangled nerves. Like an idiot, I might've melted right then and there if it weren't for the sudden appearance of that cursed light, coming from somewhere behind me now.
I gave a silent curse and tried not to scream in frustration. I just prayed that flashlight was nice and huge, because I swear to God, I was going to shove that thing up Jaden's ass.
Jax glared past me to say, "Shut that thing off, will ya?"
Jaden replied, "But you told me to keep it on her."
I gave Jax an annoyed look. "So that wasyouridea?"
He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. "I didn't want to lose you."
The stupid light was still on, and I turned around to yell, "Are you gonna shut that thing off or not?"
"I dunno," Jaden said, sounding almost amused. "You're looking a little crazy. I'm not sure I should."
I wanted to strangle him. If he thought I was crazy now, just wait 'til I got ahold of that flashlight.
From behind me, Jax said, "Shut that fucking thing off before I shove it up your ass."
Well, at least we agreed on something.
And yet, the light was still on.
With my free hand, I shielded my eyes, trying to get a sense of what Jaden was doing. Under the glare, I could barely make out his silhouette as he said, "Gee, you try to do someone a favor…"
Obviously, the "someone" wasn't me. It wasn't hard to guess what they'd done. From what I could tell, Jaden had watched from the rear of the house while Jax had approached from the front.
It was way too devious, and I didn't like it.
Not one bit.
I looked back to Jax and said, "Did it ever occur to you to just call out my name or something?"
His voice remained calm in the face of my wrath. "I didn't want you to run off."
What a joke.Where would I run? I had nowhere to go. And yet, Ihadbeen running – or stalking or stumbling, anyway. By now, everything was a blur, and I had no good reply to what he'd just said.
So I said nothing. And this time, I didn't argue as he led me toward the front of the house. Together, we mounted the front steps and then walked inside, using the very same front door we'd used however many hours ago.
Unlike earlier, the house was mostly dark and utterly devoid of people. Even Jaden had melted away to somewhere in the night.
Whether Jaden had used a back door or left entirely, I didn't know, and I didn't care. I was just glad he wasn't here, because I just knew he'd be mocking me, and I wasn't sure I could take it.
