Page 53 of Liar Byrd
I focus on his chin as I ask, “Because you don’t want to lose another maid?” My gaze darts to his, and what I see there confuses me.
“If that’s what you want to think, then yes.” His eyes tell me no. That isn’t why he was worried at all.
“Why are you being nice to me?” I ask, my voice small.
First, Makhi invited me to ride his bike after I dumped a glass of water on his crotch. Nash not only bumped up my pay, he gave me the exact job I needed.
Now Vonn is putting me back together after I fell to pieces in the middle of town.
I’ve been with them for nearly two weeks and, slowly, they’re dragging me into the light when all I wanted was to find a nice dark place and live in the shadows.
“I found Nash and Makhi when I had nothing but darkness. You need the same, and I want to be the one to give it to you,” he says, and I get the sense he’s leaving a lot out.
A small sound from the house pulls my gaze from his, reminding me of the errand I was supposed to run. Probably Nance yelling about incompetent maids who don’t return from the grocery with the flour she needed for bread.
Ashamed, I pull my hands from his. “I didn’t bring the groceries, and I left Nance’s car.”
With the key in the ignition, no less.
“No one will touch her car.” Still crouched in front of me, he continues before I can ask him why Nance’s car is so safe. “Do you know what a faint is?”
I don’t know what that has to do with the fact that I will no longer have a job when he passes through those black iron gates and Nance discovers I didn’t do the job she sent me to do.
My heart races as panic kicks in.
I can’t lose this job.
I need somewhere to hide, now more than ever. Nash said I would get paid biweekly, which means I will get my first paycheck soon, but leaving now after I just saw one of Jeremiah’s acolytes would be a mistake. I have to wait for the acolyte to return to New Mexico or look for me elsewhere before I leave.
“It’s blood flow.”
I shake my head. What is he talking about?
“Blood flow?” I echo.
“The reason for a faint,” he says calmly. “I’ve seen people take one look at a drop of blood and their eyes roll up to the back of their head, and that’s it. Game over.”
I stare at him, more confused than ever. “I don’t understand what that has to do with me.”
“Blood needs to get to the brain. When it doesn’t, you don’t get enough oxygen, and you faint. It could be that a person got hit on the head. Could also be that the person is seeing something their mind doesn’t want to—or can’t process. Fear can shut a brain down just as surely as a blow on the head.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“You are safe, Jessica. There’s no need to be thinking about where you need to run next. You aresafe.”
I’m staring down at him, trying to formulate a response when he continues, “Ain’t no one gonna put a hand on you, darlin’. Not while I’m breathing.”
“You’re not how I thought you would be.”
The corners of his eyes crease in a smile. “I’m taking that as a compliment. If it’s not, do me a favor and don’t tell me. Let me live in blissful ignorance.”
I almost smile at that.
He can tell because hedoessmile. “No matter what you believe right now, you are safe with us. No one under this roof will lay a hand on you.”
He tried to reassure me before, telling me he used to be in the army and protect people. I didn’t believe him then. I’m not sure if I believe him now. But I want to. Maybe that’s why I don’t startle or lean away when he pushes himself to his feet and reminds me in that one fluid action just how big he is.
And all the time he was crouched in front of me, I wasn’t aware of his size. I could focus on the tattoos on his thick forearms and use them to remind me that this wasn’t one of Jeremiah’s acolytes.
