Jude held out a hand to me.“It’s nice to meet you, Cressida,” he said politely.No cocky swagger or darkness in his gaze.
I put my hand in his and shook it.“Same,” I replied.
He appeared so … clean-cut and … proper even.Where had she found him?He was nothing like Crosby.
“It was good to see you again, Cressida,” Saylor said.
I forced a smile, wishing I could say the same and mean it.Instead, I lied, “You too.”
Twelve
Cressida
After a day of trying not to worry about it, I felt nauseous when I slowly opened the back door and stepped into the darkness.It was too dark.Where was the security light that was always on out here?I didn’t move once I closed the door behind me.If I was walking out into the dark, I was going to do it once my eyes adjusted.I didn’t know who it was that would be waiting out there, and I wanted to see them.
“Keep walking, Songbird,” Kash’s deep voice said in the blackness in front of me.
Relief came then, and the sick feeling eased.I wasn’t about to be snatched up and shipped off—or worse.Kash might not like me, he might think I’d betrayed him, but he wasn’t going to hurt me.At least not physically.I was certain of it.
I made my way down the stairs as I began to be able to make out more of the backyard with limited moonlight to help me.I didn’t see Kash though.Which bothered me.Was he hiding?
“All the way back to the tree line,” he said from the night, still unseen.
“Why?”I asked, not liking that idea.
“We can’t be seen in the woods,” he replied, sounding amused this time.
I didn’t need to ask why he was worried about being seen.
I continued on and paused just outside the first row of trees and brush.It was too cold for bugs, but there could be other things that I didn’t want to come in contact with.A hand wrapped around my wrist and tugged me, causing me to stumble forward and past the tree I was closest to.It was harder to see now with the moon blocked.
Kash’s hands grabbed my waist and kept me from tripping over a tree root and falling on my face into God knew what.Once I was steady, I moved back, shoving his hands off me.
A deep chuckle sent a tingle through me that I mentally cursed.
“You got feisty,” he said.
“What do you want, Kash?”I hissed.
He said nothing at first, and if I wasn’t afraid he’d grab me again, I’d start back to the house.
“I don’t know.”
I frowned.He didn’t know?
“You had me sneak out at midnight, walk blindly into the woods, and you don’t know why?”
He stepped closer to me, and that scent of his that I used to love met my nose.I refused to inhale deeply.
“You didn’t answer questions that I need answers to,” he said.
“What questions?”I bit out, more angry at myself for my reaction to him than anything.
“Why aren’t you working toward your dream of starting a theatre arts program for kids?”
He remembered.I’d almost forgotten it myself.When I’d had to give up my plans and goals to survive, I had tried to lock them away.Not torture myself with what I’d never have.
“Life sucks, Kash.And we move on,” I replied bitterly.
