Page 134 of The Night Shift
“Okay, now what?”
He exhales. “I’m not really sure, but I found a cozy spot back there. If you want, we could make out until this person decides to leave.”
Heat blazes my cheeks. “Do you have no sense of time and place?”
“Don’t blame me. Blame science. I’m in a dark building with a drop-dead gorgeous serial killer who gets my heart rate up just by breathing. My amygdala is confused.”
“And your first instinct is to propose a make-out session with her?”
He shrugs. “It’s biology. When we’re in high levels of fear, we have a higher urge to procreate.”
My blush turns violent. “I will bite your tongue off.”
Theo just smiles.
Okay,think, think, think.
I frown. “Wait a second,” I whisper. “Why are we hiding?” I reach into my back pocket and pull out my garrotte. “Let’s just go outside and kill him.”
I take a step toward the door.
Theo’s hand shoots out, grabbing my arm, and he pulls me back in. “Nice plan, Chucky. But how do you even know it’s ahim?”Translation: You don’t hurt women.
He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. His fingers graze the side of my neck.
“Because now Idowant to kill someone. And if it’s nothim, it’s going to be you.”
Without waiting for his response, I push open the door and head outside. Theo curses under his breath and follows, sticking close to me with one finger hooked through the belt loop on my jeans.
“There’s no one here,” I mutter, scanning the empty street from the alley.
“Do you see another car?”
I squint down the block. “No — wait, yeah! There it is.” I point toward a red car parked a few feet away from Theo’s Prius.
Theo gently tugs on the loop in my jeans, sliding his hand around my waist in one smooth motion. His grip is firm and protective. “I don’t have a good feeling about this, love.”
Me neither. Though, the feeling of his hand around my waist is doing wonders to ease my nerves. And I hate it.
His thumb draws lazy circles over my hip. “Holly?”
“What is it?”
“There’s a safe under my bed with thirty grand in it. The code is your birthday.”
I stare at him like he’s lost his mind. “Are you having a stroke?”
“Bail money,” he says.
I blink. “Huh?”
Theo rolls his eyes. “It’s for you, Hollister. Did you honestly think I’d get involved with someone like you and not have a contingency plan in case you ever got caught doing something illegal?”
I honestly can’t tell if he’s joking or not. Thirty-thousand dollars? Forme? Murder isn’t even a bailable offense. He’s such a stupid fucking loser. Something warm and soft settles in my chest. I want to carve the feeling out with a knife. “And why are you telling me this right now?”
“Just in case something happens to me.”
Before I can respond, he snatches the garrotte from my hand and leaps out of the alley onto the main street.
