Page 15 of Risk It All
Shemight have put Stuart from her mind, but Kavenski was still watching him with suspicious eyes. “What’s your connection with him?” he finally asked, turning to face her again.
Cara started to automatically answer but snapped her mouth closed just in time. “Nope. I asked first.”
“I told you. To return the pills.” He studied her for a long moment, his arctic eyes unreadable. “Good thing I did. You have a tendency to find trouble.”
“I do not. Well, I didn’t used to.” She couldn’t argue that she’d managed to find her share of dangerous situations over the past couple of weeks. Still, a bail jumper and suspected murderer was callingherthe trouble magnet? “Until I met you, I was trouble averse.”
The tiniest upward quirk of one corner of Kavenski’s mouth immediately drew her attention, just because of the rarity of what had—possibly? maybe?—just happened. Did Mr. Hard-Ass actually smile? Was it actually possible without cracking his stone mask of a face? It was almost annoying how much more attractive that hint of a smile made him, especially since he was breathtaking even while cranky. That tiny smile was just overkill.
“Also,” she pushed on, needing to keep her mind focused on the conversation, “what do my nonexistent trouble-finding skills have to do with anything? My actual question was ‘Why areyouhere?’”
He made an impatient gesture, which she thought was entirely unfair, because he was the one being weird about answering a simple question. “I just told you.”
“Okay,” Cara said, not letting the way his forearms flexed as he moved his hands distract her. “Let’s try this again. Whatexactlyare you doing here in this campus parking lot, just as I happened to arrive?”
That bare hint of a smile was long gone, and a fierce scowl had taken its place. “There’s already been one attempt to kill you.”
“So?” She shook her head when he stared at her. “I don’t mean that my near-death experience wasn’t completely scary, because it was, but that doesn’t explain why you’re lurking behind a Subaru, ready to grab random low-level burglars and dangle them in midair.” Her knee gave a dull throb, and she opened her driver’s door and tossed her backpack into the passenger seat before plopping down sideways, needing to sit. Once she got comfortably settled, she continued. “Also, isn’t it pretty dramatic to say someone was intentionally trying to kill me? I think it’s more likely that someone was drunk and dumb, and we were just the unlucky ones in the way at that particular moment.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it, glowering at her.
“Well?” she asked when he didn’t speak. “What’s your answer?”
“To which part?”
“Why are you here?” she asked, finding her patience returning now that she was off her knee and Stuart had disappeared in the distance.
“You’re not taking this seriously, and it’s going to get you killed.”
She couldn’t hold back a huff of laughter.
“What?”
Raising one shoulder in a shrug, she looked up at him. From her position, he looked extra-enormous standing there in front of her, and she marveled at how comfortable she’d become around him. “That’s the first time I’ve been accused of not taking something seriously. Usually, I’m the Negative Nelly of the family, always thinking about possible consequences.”
From his renewed scowl, he didn’t find this as amusing as she did. “The consequences will be death. Your death.” He made a strange face that she couldn’t translate—baffled resignation, maybe?—and added in a mutter, “And probably mine.”
“It’s okay, Henry,” she said, his name feeling odd on her tongue. She generally thought of him as Kavenski, but his concern for her safety—as exaggerated as she felt it was—was sweet. Too sweet for an impersonal last name. “I’ve confessed all to my sisters, and I’m firmly back on Team Research. There will be no more lurking in dark booths at Dutch’s for me.” That last part almost made her sad. With Henry there in the booth with her, she had felt safe.
His glower finally eased slightly. “Good. Your sisters shouldn’t be involved with these people, either.”
This time, she laughed outright. “Don’t worry. The ones doing the actual chasing and tackling love a heaping helping of danger with their skips. It’s the adrenaline rush, something I’m sure you know all about. Me, on the other hand… Well, fear just makes me want to run away.” When he looked as though he was about to start lecturing again, she hurried to add, “It’s okay. My sisters are smart about it.”Unlike me.She didn’t say that part out loud, since there was a soft, squishy inner part of her that really wanted him to think she was smart and brave.
Well, it was too late for the brave part—and probably for the smart part, too—but she couldn’t quite admit out loud how dumb she’d been for chasing after him half-cocked. She was just lucky that he seemed to be fairly decent, as bail jumpers went.
“Why’s Powers following you around?” he asked, shifting forward until he could rest a muscular forearm on the top of her door as he bent toward her. His right hand was braced against the car, so it felt as if he surrounded her. Instead of feeling claustrophobic as she would have if anyone else—especially a skip she’d been chasing—had trapped her inside the car with his ginormous body, she felt safe, protected from the outside world. It was probably because he’d saved her life the previous night, but Henry Kavenski didn’t set off any of the alarm bells he should’ve been ringing.
“Powers? Oh, Stuart!” He’d never shared a class with her, so up until a few weeks ago, she’d barely known him. They’d never even exchanged a nod in greeting until he’d broken into her house. Now, she felt as if she couldn’t escape him. For a moment, she was sad that her kick had missed his smug little face. “He’s after the necklace my mom stole.”
Kavenski’s expression changed, going from startled back to his usual impassiveness. “You have the necklace?” There was an intensity to the question that he couldn’t quite hide, and disappointment flooded her. Immediately, she scolded herself for being silly. Of course he was interested in the necklace. He was a criminal. A double-layered criminal, even, since he’d jumped bail after being arrested for another crime. Even if hewasinnocent of the Masons’ murders, he was doing shady things with Layla. The jewelry was worth a fortune and would’ve been a temptation to even the most sin-free, lawful citizens.
“Of course not. If we did, do you think we’d be hanging on to it, luring every lowlife into our home? Do youknowhow many attempted break-ins we’ve had since this all happened?”
He peered at her suspiciously, and she looked back, holding his gaze, intensely hoping he believed she was sincere. The thought of Henry Kavenski—herskip turned source turned sort-of protector—joining the hordes hunting the necklace filled Cara with bitter disappointment. To her utter relief, he gave her the slightest nod, a bare dip of his chin, but it was enough. He wouldn’t be one of the many breaking into her house in search of the necklace.
Pulling her gaze away from Kavenski, she realized that everything around them had gotten very quiet…too quiet. There wasn’t even a peep from a bird or squirrel in the surrounding trees. It seemed as if the whole area was holding its breath. Her gaze skipped around the partially filled lot as prickles traced up her spine. Every tinted window and cargo van seemed suspicious, and the vehicles scattered around the lot offered too many possible hiding places. She knew she was just freaking herself out by imagining hostile eyes watching them—as she’d been doing ever since this whole thing with her mother began—but she still wanted to leave. The only problem was that she wanted to keep talking to Henry.
“Want to grab some coffee?” she asked impulsively and immediately felt like the hugest idiot on the planet. He was a skip, for crying out loud, someone who was being chased by law enforcement and bounty hunters and who knows who else. He wasn’t just another student who could wander around and go on coffee dates.
