“Sara, just answer me this, is there a dead body back in that field? Because if there is, I need to deal with it.” I sighed, dragging my hands down my face. “Preferably tonight.”
She turned to me, mouth agape. “You think I murdered someone?”
“I honestly don’t know what to think. I know you’re lyingabout something, I just don’t know what. The girls said Eric won the bid for your date, you’re saying you weren’t with Eric. Either way, there’s no explanation for why the hell you were in the ditch. Even if you are telling the truth about your period, you’re covered in scrapes, which tells me there’s a high likelihood that you either jumped out of a moving car or you were pushed.” I watched her closely, and she swallowed nervously. “I can only protect you if you tell me what happened. So who the hell were you with, Sara?”
“I don’t need protection.” She swallowed thickly. “Please just let this go.”
“You are not getting out of this car until you give me something. Anything.” I demanded firmly before adding more softly. “You can trust me. I know, you know that. So cut the bullshit and stop trying to do this on your own.”
“Fine. You want the truth?” She snapped. “I’ve been basically alienated on campus! Wanting a normal college experience was nothing but a pipe dream. I’ve somehow finished my first year of college, and I’ve never been lonelier. The photos they got—” She cut herself off, lower lip quivering. “Everything is so fucked.”
She looked me dead in the eye for the longest minute of my life, and then I saw it—the moment she broke.
“Carter, please.” Her voice was a trembling push of air. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
Shit.
She buried her face in her hands, and her shoulders shook with each silent sob.
“It’s okay.” I tried to reassure her, tried to force breath into my own lungs as she cried for reasons that weren’t entirely clear. “We won’t talk about it anymore. We’ll talk about something else.” Except I had no idea what to say.
I swallowed hard, hesitating as I reached for her, not even sure if I should touch her now. Seeing her like this left me feeling panicked in a way that I was completely unfamiliar with. “Sara?” I reached over and tentatively rubbed her back. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah.” A small strangled noise escaped from her.
“Can I hold you?”
“Yeah,” she sobbed, but didn’t move.
I carefully slid an arm under and around her as I pulled her over the console and into my lap, and she immediately buried her face in my chest, hiding it.
Her voice was muffled. “I’ll ruin your suit.”
“It’s already ruined, and I don’t care.” Settling her small frame against my body, I wrapped my arms around her, all while my ears were ringing. “I’m sorry, Sara. I wasn’t mad atyou. You have to know that. Just know—I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
She cried harder, and I wished so badly I could just make everything better tonight, whatever was happening on campus, everything—but all I could do was hold her. So that’s exactly what I did, all the while hating how right it felt.Having her in my arms.
We sat like that for a long while until her sobs eventually quieted, and when she finally pulled back and looked up at me through those thick dark lashes, her eyes were on my mouth.
I tensed as the heat of her breath brushed across my skin like a tempting invitation.
A glimmer of nervous but mischievous sparkle crept across her expression. “Carter?”
“Yeah?” I asked, utterly frozen.
She didn’t quite form a word as she slowly, carefully sat up.
Not like this. Not like this. Not like this.
Her hands settled against my chest, delicate and warm. “Can I ask you something?”
I knew right then and there, no matter what I did, no matter what I said, I was going to be so utterly fucked. I wasn’t prepared for this, and I was pretty damn sure she was about to cross that line we’d always flirted with but never stepped over, and I couldn’t possibly bear to cross that line.Not tonight.Not when I knew it’d crush her.Crush me.
“Sara.” I swallowed hard, her name on my tongue was a mere push of air coming out of me, even as her admission made my skinlight up with want, even as the temptation of claiming her mouth sang to me like the deadly call of a siren.
She was right, everything wassofucked.
“I trust you.” She breathed, referencing my damned speech from earlier. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me, right?”
