Page 62 of Right Number, Wrong Man
She’s paralyzed with terror. I’m sure she’d let me. Right now, I think I could get away with almost anything, but I don’t wanna take advantage of her.
That’s not who I am.
I brush away her tears and smile. Smiling still feels strange, but I need her to see how I feel. In this moment, there’s no room for misunderstandings. She needs to know that I’m here for her.
“I’ll protect you, but you gotta let me go for a second, okay? I ain’t going nowhere. I’ll stay right here with you,” I whisper.
Hailey’s hands slide from my chest and she crosses her arms like a shield, but she doesn’t move away. I’m still holding her face. She’s still close.
Close enough that if I bend my head?—
I nuzzle my nose into her hair. God, it’s so fucking silky and it smells so good. My chest hurts, the emotions warring inside it tearing me apart.
I’d give anything to freeze this moment in time.
It’s selfish to make her suffer through the fear any longer, but I’ll never get another chance to hold her without pretending to be somebody else. When the threat is gone, she won’t touch me again.
I take one last breath of her scent. Then I let go and my heart splinters.
“Come here.” I put a hand on the small of her back, guiding her to the dusty window, as far away from the door and the spider as possible.
“I-I can’t… breathe…” Hailey rasps, pressing a palm to her ribs.
Fuck, she’s turning pale and hyperventilating. She’shaving a full-blown panic attack.
I put both hands on her shoulders and bend down to bring myself to her eye level. “You’re gonna be okay, Spitfire. Breathe with me. Slowly in through the nose. And out through the mouth. In and out.” I hold her, talking her through a breathing exercise until a splash of color returns to her cheeks. “Atta girl! Much better, hmm? Can you stand by yourself?”
“Sure,” she stammers, brows scrunching.
“Don’t pass out on me. I’ll be right back.”
Hailey grips the windowsill and nods again.
Using my body to block her view, I approach the spider. I cup my hands, gently trapping it in them, and the eight-legged bastard holds still as if it senses that I’m not a threat. I don’t know if insects can be grateful, but when I set it free on a rock outside of the shed, the spider pauses to look at me. At least I think it does, and I nod in return, just to be polite. Then it skitters off.
“You let thatdisgusting thinglive?” Hailey’s thin voice comes from behind me.
I turn, blushing. Hopefully the moonlight is too dim for her to notice.
I lift one shoulder in a shrug. “I protected you like I promised, but I had no reason to kill it. It’s just a critter. Ain’t its fault it was put on this beautiful green earth as a hairy gross thing everybody hates just for existing.”
Hailey frowns, shivering as she rubs along her arms. She braces herself against the wall, knees knocking. “But you shot a lot of people, right?”
Why is she asking this out of the blue?
“Yeah.”
“How many?” she presses.
I’ve never talked about my kill count with anybody. Not even with Mike or my folks. Mike didn’t care and I don’twant Momma to know how brutal I am in the field. Dad’s a military man himself. He knows what it means to be a soldier.
“Many,” I bring out.
“So you’re okay with killing humans but not animals?” she asks.
“Hunting’s fine because it serves a purpose. When you hunt, you get food, and you try to use as much of the animal as possible. But I don’t like hurting animals when I don’t have a reason. They’re innocent. Humans are not.”
Like a switch inside her flipped, her expression hardens, turning fear into rage. “Well, don’t expect me to thank you for taking care of the stupid spider. It’s your fault I’m a mess like this!”
