Page 44 of Moth
My heart sinks in grim agreement. One of the officers draws my notice more than the others, tall and dark-haired. Liam.
“Tony!” Rafe flags down a figure racing from the club. “Take her home,” he gently pushes Mara toward him.
“Wait!” She reaches for me. “Hannah—”
“Go,” Rafe snaps. Then he grabs my hand, tugging me down the sidewalk and through an alley that cuts between the club and the adjacent building.
“What are you doing!” I pull at his grip only for him to tighten it, dragging me closer to him.
“Do you really want your boyfriend to see you here?” he hisses without turning around. “Dressed like that?”
My gaze falls to my borrowed dress, its neckline plunging unattended, and I don’t say anything. Together, we move so quickly the streets become a dizzying maze, and his grip is the only thing guiding me forward. We eventually reach a part of the city bustling with nightlife where the foot traffic becomes too thick to run. Forced to slow, he pulls me beside him, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
My initial impulse is to resist, but then I realize how heavily he’s leaning against me. I look up to find him gritting his teeth, his forehead glistening in the glow of a passing streetlamp.
“Rafe…” My nostrils flare, catching a distinct, coppery scent that makes my steps falter.Blood.“You’re hurt.”
“Not here,” he says near my ear. “I’d rather not get arrested, bunny.” He inclines his head in the general direction of his shop, but I doubt he can even make it that far.
With every step, he seems to slow, and I find myself having to support more of him. As we round a corner, a familiar street sign draws my notice, and I realize that one other destination is within just a few blocks. My heart pounds as I wrestle with indecision. Taking him home would be a bridge too far, with or without Branden’s paranoia to contend with.
I shake off the idea, letting him pull me along, but as we descend a curb to cross the road, he groans. “Fuck…”
And something in me breaks. I hook my arm around him, pivoting on my heel. “This way.”
It’s his turn to resist. “You wouldn’t be leading me toward your boyfriend, would you, bunny?”
I brush off the suspicion. “Trust me.”
My initial impulse was right, and not even ten minutes later, we reach my apartment building.
Rafe eyes the front of it warily, not that he’s in any shape to argue. He sags against me with every step until my knees are buckling beneath his weight, and I have to pry open the heavy front door one-handed. The moment we cross the threshold, my stomach drops through the soles of my borrowed heels. I can’t shake the overwhelming sense that I’ve made a mistake.
