Page 20 of Betrayed in the Dark
“Huh?”
“You came in here saying my name.”
“Oh. Right.” I tuck my hair behind my ear. “Yes, I just wanted to, umm, well, see, I never properly thanked you for jumping in front of that bullet for me. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if you didn’t, so…thank you.”
He nods but looks down at his bag, continuing to put his clothes away. “It was nothing.”
“It was something to me.” The words slip from my lips so quickly and softly that I’m not even sure I actually said them.
But the look in his eyes, reflected in the dresser mirror, tells me he heard them.
I avoid his gaze. “I’ll give you some privacy. Sorry about just barging in. It won’t happen again.” Clearing my throat, I add, “My…bridal shower is tomorrow. We’ll need to be there at one.”
I don’t wait for his response as I quickly march across the hall, never once looking back. I enter my bedroom, shutting the door behind me.
Grabbing my phone off my dresser, I call Scarlett.
She answers on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Any chance you feel like coming over and splitting a pint of ice cream with me?”
I crouch down beside my bed, pulling out an old shoebox.
The shoebox that every girl keeps under her bed.
“Eli moving in is going that bad, huh?” she asks sympathetically.
I throw off the lid and reach inside for a specific envelope. Pulling out the piece of paper, I bring it before my eyes, reading the words over and over again to remind myself why I need to keep my distance from him.
The four words send a fresh stab of pain through my chest, doing precisely what I hoped they would.
“Let’s just say it’s a whole bottle of wine kind of night.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” she says before hanging up.
As the words from the paper sink into my soul, causing fury to boil inside me, I drop the letter back into the box and flop down on my duvet, staring up at the ceiling.
A tear crawls down my skin, soaking into the pillow beneath me. My heart thunders, my pulse racing as my eyes pinch shut, determined not to let another one escape.
Does he even think about our last moment together?
THIRTEEN MONTHS AGO
As I shove a handful of chocolate-covered popcorn into my mouth, my eyes glued to the TV before me, an alert on my phone lets me know that someone has entered past the gate at my driveway. I tap the screen and zoom in on the unfamiliar black vehicle, which is slowly approaching my house.
The tinted windows make it impossible to see the driver clearly.
It could be one of my brothers.
Or maybe even my mother.
But something in my gut tells me it’s none of them.
Pieces of popcorn fall from my lap as I rise from the sofa, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. I walk toward the front door, my gaze fixed on the decorative painting next to it. I take the painting down from the wall and press my hand against the scanner until I hear the metal door of the safe unlatch. Slowly, it swings open.
Reaching inside, I grab my gun and turn off the safety before facing the door. I glance down at myself, wondering if I havetime to change. It’s probably frowned upon to meet an enemy in a black silk nightie, but I don’t seem to have a choice, as the sound of tires crunching over gravel echoes just outside.
Standing on my tiptoes, I peek through the peephole and watch as the vehicle comes to a stop about fifty feet from my front steps. My heart races as the driver’s door opens.
