“Being the keeper of my secrets is just more to carry. You sure you want that right now?”
She tilts her head, causing wild waves to fall askew over one shoulder. “Yes.”
“My life will be in your hands, Ave,” I say with mock gravity. “You’ll have to protect me.” My attempt to lighten the mood doesn’t land.
With continued seriousness, she licks her pale lips and nods. “I can do it.”
My smirk fades. “I know you can.”
So for us, trust must cut both ways, dangerous or not. My hand catches hers, and I guide her upstairs and into the middle room.
Inside, I show her blank labels for bootleg liquor and start to explain how I lead people to pay me a thousand times what a bottle’s worth.
Without warning, her attention wanders to an old scarred laptop on a stand in the corner. It doesn’t turn on anymore, but the hard drive has spreadsheets from my first business on it, so I’ve kept it until I have time to destroy it.
Her fingertips drift over the cracked logo. “It’s like an eye. That’s broken.” Her lids drift down, and she winces. I can guess which memory is projecting onto the backs of her closed lids.
“Come here, baby. Let me show you how I decide on the blend. I just bought a distillery to take this to the next level.”
Nothing will persuade me to add to the blood she sees when she closes her eyes, so there will be no mention of the fight club or the pit right now. But I can talk about whiskey and my white collar crimes all day.
My mention of the distillery doesn’t entice her back to me. Instead, her teeth sink into her lower lip as she turns. Eyelids at half mast, she murmurs, “I’ll take some air.” And she slips from the room as though she’s made of whispers not flesh.
Stepping out and locking the door, I draw a deep breath. Back in apocalypse territory without a doubt. My gaze shifts to watch her descend the stairs.
She stops halfway down and looks over her shoulder. “You’re coming with me, right?”
Yeah, anywhere and everywhere. Until I’m certain it’s safe to take my eyes off you.
“Yeah. We can catch some fresh air on the walk to car. We’ve gotta go to Boston, remember?”
“Oh right. Boston.”
On and off, my baby is still walking through the New Hampshire snow, trying to find the stream where she washes off blood from her battle. I can’t keep her from going, but nothing will stop me from meeting her there to take the knife from her hand. One more time or a thousand, it doesn’t matter.
Avery exhales with an exaggerated grimace. “Could we skip Boston for a few days?”
“Not really.” My dad and Sheri flew home in a panic. I’ve held them off as long as I can. If I don’t produce Avery in Boston in the next hour, they will be on my doorstep in two.
“All right.” Her gaze rakes over me as I come down the stairs to stand next to her. “How will you make it up to me?”
My brow cocks, and the corner of my mouth tips up. “What did you have in mind?”
Her fingertips touch my lips. “Things.”
“Yeah, sure.” Leaning down, I kiss her. “I’ll doallthe things.”
“Not now though?”
My king-sized bed calls to me like a trumpeting bugle.
“No, baby. Later,” I force myself to say.
She nods and resumes her trek down the stairs, peach of an ass within reach. My cock curses me as a fucking idiot. I ignore it. Tonight when we’re alone, I’ll nail Avery to my mattress, fucking her so long and hard she’ll lose her memory.
Like I said. Later.
As I drive her to the city, Avery stares out her window to watch the trees. “He’s not taking the woods from me. If we were at the cabin, I would ski those trails today.”
