An unreadable emotion, one too quick to decipher, flickers across his face. “I already told you. You’re mine. My witness.”
The possessive pronoun sends an unwelcome shiver through me.My witness.His problem. His responsibility. The words he’d used in my apartment come back to me, heavier now that he’s literally my lifeline.
Engine noise grows louder again as the sedan returns. Alexei’s body tenses, coiling with renewed readiness. One hand stays on his gun while the other curls against my shoulder, keeping me bulwarked behind the cover of the dumpster.
Headlights sweep past our hiding spot, illuminating the alley in harsh white light.
I hold my breath and press myself deeper into Alexei’s chest.
The sedan slows.
Stops.
Through the narrow gap between the dumpster and the wall, I can just discern its back end idling from twenty feet away.
Alexei adjusts his position, angling his body to better shield mine while maintaining a line of sight to the threat.
For several heartbeats, the sedan sits motionless.
Without warning, the vehicle accelerates away, tires squealing against pavement. The sound fades until there’s only the ambient noise of the city, the hum of air-conditioning units, the buzz of passing cars.
Still, the vigilant Alexei refuses to move or relax. His steady breaths on my cheek contrast with my ragged ones.
I’m pressed so tightly against him that I can feel every muscle in his body still tensed for action. The relaxed pace of his heartbeat mocks my racing pulse.
“Are they gone?”
A beat passes.
Alexei peers around the edge of the dumpster.
“For now.” He doesn’t sound convinced. “Could be circling wider. Could be waiting for us to break cover.”
The intimacy of our position—our faces inches apart, his arm around my waist, his legs tangled with mine—hits me.
An unwelcome heat—a reaction I desperately try to suppress—warms me from the inside out.
This isn’t attraction.
It’s adrenaline.
My body’s confused response to danger.
Nothing more. Itcan’tbe anything more.
Minutes pass in uneasy silence. Alexei remains coiled around me, still positioned to absorb any renewed attack. My muscles ache from being held in this awkward position against the cold metal, but I don’t dare move. Not until he says it’s safeand decides to release me from this protective cage he’s formed with his body.
Finally, he shifts his weight, easing back just enough to study my face.
He swipes his thumb over my cheek, causing me to wince. “You okay?”
A cold numbness settles over me. “I’m great.”
Chapter 18
Alexei
She hasn’t spoken a word since we left the alley. Not even when I gave her salve for her cheek or handed her fresh clothes to replace the bloodstained maid costume. We had to leave her packed bag—the salvaged bits of her ransacked life—behind in the chaos.
