Page 60 of Flirting With Forever
Man, he hated that saying.
He shifted his hands from her hips to her face, cradling it so that he could touch her skin and, hopefully, she would look at him. “Talk to me, sweetheart. Let me help you. Whatever this is, I can help.”
She sat on his knees with her legs curled beside his in the chair and leaned her head back. Face lifted upward and angled as though praying for patience or giving herself time to come up with the right words.
It took a few long, agonizing moments but finally she spoke.
“You can’t, Gage. I mean it,” she said when she opened her eyes and saw him about to speak. “You can’t. There is nothing you or anyone else can do to help me.”
“There has to be something. Why do they want you back so badly? Tell me that much. We can come up with a solution, Sloane. All this time you’ve been alone, yeah? Well, now you’re not. I know we haven’t known each other long, but you know me well enough to know I mean what I say. I will help you figure this out, but you have to trust me and tell me what’s going on.”
Some of the tension left her body, and she slumped a bit, the expression on her beautiful face one of…resignation.
“Noah was just passing along a message.”
“What message? Other than threatening you? I’m not going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips, sad and broken.
“My father wants me home. No matter what he has to do to get me there,” she said, stroking a hand over his bicep. “Noah says…my time is up, and I have to go back to Chicago.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. What did you tell him?”
“I said no. At least not yet,” she added, her gaze sliding away from his.
He tensed at her words. “Not yet? Does that mean you’re considering it? Why? Is this because of what I said about you staying until New Year’s Eve?”
Sloane avoided his gaze and sank her teeth into her lower lip.
“It’s because…maybe it’s time,” she said softly, shoving herself backward and standing. “I’m hungry. Are you going to feed me those leftovers or what?”
Chapter Eighteen
Noah hadn’t left town. Call it a sixth sense or gut feeling or whatever, but Sloane knew Noah still lurked somewhere nearby, and for the time being, she was safer staying put, waiting for him to drop his guard, before making a move. Whatever move it would be. Despite her words to Gage, she waffled between confronting her father and hitting the road again. Both held their own brand of appeal.
She could leave and get a head start to her next location—before Noah or her father followed through on the threat to Gage. Or she could give into the demand to return and try to come up with the courage to fight her father on his own terms.
Wrapping her brain around that possibility took some doing, which was why she thought it best to stay put instead of making a rash decision.
The rest of the conversation with Gage had been heartbreakingly frustrating. He demanded answers. She avoided giving them, other than telling him vague responses that her family was well-off and expected her to take her place in their ranks. She’d avoided responsibility at the time because she wasn’t ready.
It wasn’t a lie. She certainly wasn’t ready to do what her father expected of her then—or now. But she also wasn’t ready to fight for her freedom on his terms. To do that meant going to a place—being a person—she didn’t want to be. Never wanted to be.
What she hadn’t told Gage was that the bigger threat was now to him.
Remember what happened last time?
Like she could ever forget.
The comment about how their father would send someone else? She’d seen the flash of pain—or worry?—in Noah’s expression before he’d gone back to his usual smirk. That had scared her the most. Because it weighted the threat even more if Noah couldn’t hide his emotions.
Her back was against the wall. She either had to run—farther and faster than she ever had before—come out swinging—or concede and conform. Those were her choices.
The attack and beating given to her college boyfriend were child’s play in comparison to how far Grant Harrington would go to get his way. Her father’s desperation to do whatever was needed to secure her compliance bled through Noah’s expression. Took the seriousness, not that there was ever any lack of that, to another level. A worse one. All because he couldn’t keep his hands out of other people’s pockets. And she wasn’t so naive that she didn’t know what those types of clients were capable of.
Given the condition her college boyfriend was in when they were done with him, the only level left was…dead.
She couldn’t pretend it wasn’t a possibility. Didn’t mean someone else wouldn’t appear on Gage’s doorstep or catch him unawares somewhere. Someone who did such things regularly and knew how to not get caught.
