Page 4 of Faith
Leaving the engine running, Zeke got out. He went to the door, pulling the handle. Hope was a motherfucker, but Zeke was full of it.
The door creaked open, and there she was in the dark hallway. Standing in front of him like she’d been twelve years ago. She was older, but no less gorgeous. Her figure had filled out, giving her curves, curves, and more curves. The possessive alpha in him roared with desire, wanting to throw her over his shoulder and never let her out of his sight again.
“You came,” she whispered, looking up at him. Until he saw her eyes, he had his doubts, but that gaze was seared into his brain. It was the gaze he saw in his dreams, the one he’d been chasing for most of his life. The one he never thought he’d see again.
“Holy fuck, it is you.” Zeke reached for her, ignoring the flash of panic in her eyes. He couldn’t wait another second to have herin his arms. He lifted her off her feet, holding her to him until she melted in his embrace and sank into him.
She sighed, then inhaled a shaky breath.
He pressed his nose to her neck and whispered, “Don’t you ever fucking walk out on me again.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
Zeke let out a breath and stepped outside, checking that no one else was there. “We need to go.”
She nodded and followed him, startling when she saw his SUV. It was shockingly similar to the one parked in front of the building.
“It’s mine. Get in. Lie down in the back so no one sees you.” He opened the door for her and waited, praying she hurried up but knowing he couldn’t rush her.
She took two steps forward, then threw her arms around his neck.
He inhaled deep, closing his eyes and ignoring her body odor. She was alive. Not just that, but she was back. She called him. She was going to be okay.
“Thank you for coming to get me, Zeke.”
Zeke cupped her cheeks and got a closer look at her in the bright light of the parking lot. She’d lost her childish features and grown into a beautiful woman. Curves in all the right places and that same red hair that always hinted at the spark she hid from most people.
But that wasn’t all that was new. She had a black eye, handprints around her throat, and more bruises on the skin exposed by her way too small dress.
Zeke’s blood boiled. Someone put their fucking hands on her. Beat her and hurt her and she was so scared, she called him in the middle of the fucking night.
He had half a mind to pull around to the front of the store and put a knife in the throat of the man who was waiting for her.But one look in her eyes, that gray-green that mesmerized him when he wasn’t supposed to be in love with his best friend’s little sister, and he knew that wasn’t the answer.
“Let’s go,” he whispered.
Nina nodded and crawled into his backseat. She laid down on the floor, curling herself up tight and making it impossible for her to be seen.
Zeke closed the door, then slid behind the wheel. He watched his mirrors as he navigated the city, making more turns than necessary to confirm no one was following them. When he was confident, he breathed a little easier.
“Who was that?”
She was quiet, but he knew she understood what he was asking. “He was the driver. I don’t know his name.”
“Is he the one who did that to you?”
“No.”
Zeke wanted to ask more. To demand she tell him everything, but the quiet answers she gave him said she wasn’t ready to talk yet.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To my house. Let you shower and change, then we’re going to see your brother.”
“He’s here?” she gasped, as though she expected something different.
Zeke glanced in the mirror, but he couldn’t see her. He looked at the floor where she laid and hated he hadn’t been able to provide her with more than the floor of his SUV to hide.
But she was alive.
