Uh…wow.
I didn’t know if I should be turned on or offended.
Visions hit me like a backhand of lust.
Okay, fine.
Definitely turned on, so there I went, easing in, my words rumbled near her ear. “Might like that. Don’t tempt me, enchantress.”
Screeching, she tossed her hands up and stomped the rest of the way to Darius’ truck before she swung back to face me as she opened the door. “Fine, fix my car, Jud, but I will figure out a way to pay for it. I refuse to owe you anything.”
She hopped in and slammed it shut, and I just stood there staring as Darius passed by, the dude eyeing me with outright distrust as he went.
He climbed into the driver’s side and started the truck and whipped out of the lot, the loud engine roaring as he disappeared down the street.
While I stood there wondering what the fuck had just happened.
Laughter ripped from behind. “Whelp, there went your balls, boss.”
I strode back into the shop, not bothering to tell Brock where to shove it.
Not when I had the sinking feeling the motherfucker was right.
FOUR
SALEM
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I peered back at the huge industrial shop as Darius floored the accelerator out of the lot and sped down the road. The hulking man stood where I’d left him, his mouth gaping open in shock and a bit of hurt and something else that slipped beneath my skin like the kindling of flames.
An old-seeded fire that had long died out that threatened to burst back to life.
My stomach was in knots and my pulse thundered like an out-of-control freight train that blew into town. A coming disaster that I wasn’t sure I could derail. Because falling prey to what that man had to offer would likely destroy the bare semblance of any control I possessed.
It was a promise of the type of recklessness I could not afford.
Not to mention the fact that Darius was seething in his seat beside me. He white-knuckled the steering wheel as harsh breaths panted from his nose.
“What the fuck, Salem?” he hissed as the building disappeared from view.
My brow curled as I shifted my head to look at him. “Excuse me? I already told you that my car broke down and he stopped to help me. Do you have a problem with that?”
I couldn’t keep the pissiness from my voice. He didn’t get to do this.
His words were shards. “I was worried about you.”
Uneasily, I readjusted my bag on my lap. “I tried to call you a bunch of times, Darius. Service was out for everyone. I was coming downstairs to ask him if I could borrow his phone to call you.”
A grunt left him, and he pitched me a hard glance. “He’s my boss.”
“Which I didn’t know, considering I just got here last week, and you never told me where you’re working. I thought you were still at the dealership?”
He released a strained sigh, a wash of bashfulness softening his formidable features. “Didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out. Not exactly qualified to be working there.”
Tenderness pulled at my chest. “Of course, you are. Who wouldn’t want you working for them? I thought we didn’t keep secrets from each other?”
He cut me a glance. “Don’t we?”
There was an accusation there.
“Darius.” Frustration laced his name.
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, he’s my boss and he’s—”
“He’s what?” I challenged, defensiveness making a rebound.
No, I might not know the guy, but the one thing I knew was he’d been kind.
The thousand emotions I’d felt last night scattered through my consciousness.
The cornerstone of a man I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Hard and cocky. Sweet and flirty. Overbearing and…dark. I guessed it was that layer hidden beneath that sexy smirk that held the power to knock me from my feet.
It billowed through me then. The memory in the night. The feeling of not being alone when the torment came. Like the man could give me comfort in the storm that hit me night after night.
I shook my head out of the stupor. God knew, those thoughts were dangerous.
I couldn’t go there.
But if I were being honest, I had to admit there was something about him.
Something that compelled me to look closer. To touch and explore and feel. A piece that ached to come alive under those massive hands.
Yeah. Definitely dangerous.
Still, regret fluttered, shame at the way I’d reacted.
Instead of thanking him, I’d blown up in his face.
Darius seemed to war, peeking at me every couple of seconds as he flew down the street, his words controlled as he bit them out. “He’s my boss, Salem, and you need to stay away from him. Simple as that.”
But it was the way my brother looked like he was about to snap the steering wheel from the dash that made me think it wasn’t so simple.
The way his jaw locked, and rigidness took to his spine.
His anxiety ripped through the air and banged through the cab.
Slowing, he made a right into an old neighborhood. Here, the houses were quaint and modest, fronted by lawns and ancient, towering trees.
Darius’ breaths filled the air.
Anguish tightened my chest, but still, granite filled the words. “I took care of myself for four years, Darius. You can’t tell me who I can and cannot see.”
Not with Jud. Not with anyone else.
“And I barely got you back, Salem. You think I didn’t worry about you every second of every day? Do you think I wasn’t terrified? Do you think I didn’t know you were out there, fuckin’ scared and hiding for all that time?”
He blanched with the admission. “Spent years not sleeping through the night. Not knowing how you were or where you were. Desperate for the rare calls you made to let us know you were safe. Having no way to change it or make it better. And now that we brought this family back together? I will do anything—absolutely anything—to make sure you two are safe.”
Sadness swept through my being. “It’s not your responsibility, Darius.”
Foreboding whispered through my consciousness. A warning that I’d been a fool, agreeing to come here. That maybe Darius was wrong. That it would never be time, and it would never be safe, and thinking it would only destroy us in the end.
But there was no question Darius was right on one account. We would never find a normal life if we were running forever. Would never find peace or safety or stability.
I owed her that. Wanted it more than anything.
I had to take the chance.
For her.
Years had passed without a word or a trace, and I had to pray it was enough.
Darius’ brow pinched as he made a left into the single drive of the house he’d been renting for the last three months. “It is my responsibility,” he countered, blowing out a sigh as he put his truck into park and shut off the engine.
But he didn’t make a move to get out. Instead, he shifted, reached out, and set his hand on my arm. His voice tightened with the plea. “I need you to know that I will do anything to keep you safe, Salem. For you to have a good life. No matter the cost. It’s time.”
Tears filled my eyes. Love filled me up to overflowing.
It spilled free with the rush of moisture that slipped down my cheeks.
Marked and true.