He shifts behind me, my nails still digging into his skin. I’m half hopeful I’ll leave painful marks behind, but then that’d just remind him that I didn’t push him away and instead held onto him like he is a lifeline.
“And you think it’s Nick?” he asks, already knowing the answer.
“He has one like it.” I’d know–since he got handsy in the backseat once.
A gust of morning wind brushes past us, and I inhale deeply. My eyes widen, the air lodged inside my lungs, as the window on the SUV begins to roll down…only to reveal someone other than Nicholas.
My chest deflates. “It’s not him,” I say with relief.
The tight grip I have on Cross’s arm lessens, my nails removing themselves from his warm skin. Except, to my shock, he doesn’t let me go.
Instead, his grip tightens.
He tugs me backward through the door before slamming it shut.
“What are you–” My sentence stays on the tip of my tongue.
Cross spins me around hastily, his eyes wild with something I can’t name. He pushes me up against the wall with his hand glued to my hip while the other fiddles with the alarm system right beside my head.
He sets the alarm, the faint beeping noises mixing in with my heartrate, and then slices his fierce, dark eyes over to me. “A black SUV has been following you?”
I open my mouth and croak out a noise. His eyes bounce back and forth between mine, waiting patiently for me to answer him.
“Yes–no.” I shake my head and look away. “I don’t know. I mean, I thought Nicholas was, b–but…” Cross’s free hand grips my chin firmly. He pulls me to look at him again, and I feel my stomach twist with something other than irritation.
“But what?” he snaps.
“But it’s not him. I’m just being…”
The hold Cross has on my hip gets stronger. His fingers brush against the sliver of skin peeking from below the bundling of my shirt, and I’m suddenly at a loss for words. His tongue slips out of his mouth to wet his lip, and my entire body grows warm.
What the fuck.
“I’m just being paranoid,” I blurt.
I try to push off from the wall, but Cross doesn’t move an inch. I’m trapped. I can’t even turn my face away with the tight grip he has on my chin.
“What exactly did he do to you?”
The question draws out of his mouth with slow curiosity. He surveys my expression before his gaze trails down my rapidly rising chest, only to snap his eyes back up once more.
I lie, my cheeks giving me away immediately. “Nothing.”
Cross’s eyes narrow. The brown color that was once warm moments ago turns dark. “You need to learn self-defense.”
I gape at him, a scoff coming next. “I’m fine. Like I said, it's not Nicholas.”
His jaw flexes. “But it’s someone."
Okay, nowhe’sbeing paranoid.
Does he have a point? Yes.
It would at least make me feel better if I had some way to defend myself if, God forbid, I find myself alone with Nicholas, or someone like him, but I’mnotagreeing with Cross.
“Fighting is your thing, not mine,” I argue.
I push on Cross’s arm, and to my surprise, he lets me go. I round the stairs, rushing to escape into my bedroom, but his voice follows me.
