I point. “That way.”
He pulls onto the highway. “Now, about those burgers. You didn’t answer.”
I take a deep breath and face him. “Cannon, I don’t have a clue. I haven’t eaten fast food in over four years. Before that, sometimes my foster family got it for us, but they didn’t take individual orders. They just came in with a bag of burgers, and we ate them. I’ve never made a choice like that.”
I realize I’ve just dumped a ton of information on him. More than I intended, but none of it really spoke to what I’ve experienced. All he knows now is that I was in the foster system. It’s all I manage to share. It has to be enough for now.
He licks his lips and then nods. “Then we’ll just stop at the first one we come to, and you can order whatever you want. We’ll try a different one every day if you want. That way, you can make an informed decision.”
I suck in a breath and hold it. Every day… He can’t mean that. Surely he is only inviting me to stay for the night.
Chapter Five
Cannon
* * *
It’s rare for me to get choked up, but I’m having to breathe deeply through my nose to maintain control. This sweet girl doesn’t need me to fall apart next to her. She needs someone to hold her up.
I can’t begin to fathom what she’s been through, but I suspect what happened to her this morning is just one item in a long list of shit. I’m doing some math in my head. She said she hasn’t had fast food in four years and that she was with a foster family at the time. Maybe she aged out about that time, which would make her about twenty-two.
Where has she been for four years?
I spot a car on the side of the highway and pull onto the shoulder. When I stop the SUV and turn to her, she’s staring at the vehicle. She makes no move to get out. She shudders and crosses her arms as if she’s cold before whispering, “I can’t believe I let him take me.”
I reach over and gently grip her shoulder. “You couldn’t have known, angel. Guys like him can con anyone. In fact, I know a lot about that particular asshole. I’ve been watching him for two weeks. My team dug into his past, angel. He was a very bad man. You’re not the only person he lured into his home.”
She looks over at me. “June. His wife.”
“Yes, but she’s just one of many, and she left him three years ago. She’s been in hiding all that time, afraid he would find her. When she found out he was holding you hostage, she did everything in her power to get to you in time.”
My girl gasps. “She came here for me?”
“Yes. If we had discovered she’d taken off to get to you even one minute later, things might not have turned out the way they did. We stopped her just outside the house.”
My angel’s eyes go wide, and she covers her mouth. “She doesn’t even know me.”
“She didn’t need to know you. She’s got a heart of gold.”
“She would have come back to her abuser and traded her life for a stranger?”
I slide my hand up to stroke her cheek with my thumb…and take a risk. “Wouldn’t you go back to your abuser to save a stranger?”
Her jaw tightens. She stares at me for a long time. Finally, she licks her lips. “Yes.”
I smile at her. “It’s human nature.”
“Not for everyone,” she points out.
“No. Not for everyone. Some people are plain evil. But good people like you would do nice things for others.”
“How do you know I’m a good person?” Tears return to slide down her cheeks.
I set my other hand over my heart. “I can feel it…in here, angel. I know you’ve been dealt a very fucked-up hand in life. I also know none of it was your fault. You deserve a break. That piece of shit, Stark, may have scared the fuck out of you for several hours today, but it’s over. I’m here now. Today, you get a new start.”
Her tears flow harder. She sobs. “You can’t mean that. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know everything I need to know about you, angel. I’m good at figuring people out.”
