“You killed him!”
Koen looks up at me.
“You just shot him, just like that. He—He’s a cop!” I say frantically, pointing down at the dead body in my kitchen. Fuck,he’s a cop.
Koen’s head tilts slightly, assessing my reaction. “Would you have preferred I left him alive?” He frowns, looking down at Daniel’s body. “I don’t think he had the best of intentions.”
He rises, but it only draws my attention to the gun he’s still holding in his hand.He hasn’t put it away. Panic takes over and I stumble to my feet, feeling his dark eyes burning into me. He’s standing there, gun in hand, a dead body at his feet and he’s looking atme.
He killed a cop. He killed a cop, and I just watched it happen.
“Briar—” Koen starts, his voice cautious, reading the look of utter panic on my face.
“No. No.” I back up quickly. “Stay away from me!” I glance around foranythingelse I can use as a weapon, but coming up short.
He takes a step toward me, his brow furrowed. “Briar.” He reaches for me, but I flinch away. “No! Don’t touch me.” His hand falls, but he doesn’t stop following me, and I move faster, backing my way down the hallway, too afraid to turn my back on him.
He stalks after me like a predator would its prey.
“Don’t. Please don’t, Koen.” My hands come up protectively in front of me, and he freezes, staring at me with a blank expression on his face.
I seize the opportunity, turning and bolting the rest of the way down the hallway.
“Briar, stop!”
I don’t wait.I run, nearly sliding past the door, my socks sliding on the slick hardwood. Koen must have come through my window, because it’s cracked open.
I rush around my bed, my fingers close around the handle of the window, pulling it wider, the cool air hits my face, and it feels like a wave of relief right before it’s slammed shut. A tattooed hand is pressed up against the glass, holding it closed.
I scream, terror pumping through my veins, while his arm circles around my waist. He rips me away from the window, tossing me onto the bed. “No!” I yell, thrashing wildly, hitting him. “Let me go! Let me go! Please?—”
“Stop, Briar, juststop—” Before I can scramble away, he’s on top of me, pressing a palm over my mouth while he works to get the rest of me under control. “Stop bloody screaming!”
His palm muffles my sob and I twist, attempting to throw him off of me, but he’s too heavy, tears run down my cheeks, and I really start to lose it.
“Briar! Briar, hey!” He lets go of my mouth, trying to get my attention, but I don’t want to look at him.
“You shot him, you shot him, you shot him, you’re going to shoot me.”
Koen freezes. “I’m not going to shoot you.”
I start hyperventilating, and he grabs hold of my face with both hands, forcing me to look at him. “Briar, breathe. Just breathe. Okay?” There’s concern in his dark eyes. “Listen to me. I’m not going to hurt you. I amnotgoing to hurt you.”
I close my eyes, shaking my head.
“Look at me. Briar,lookat me.” He keeps his grip on my face until my eyes finally lift to his. “You’re safe, okay? That was really scary, what just happened, what he tried to do… But he can’t hurt you.” He shakes his head slowly. “And I promise you, Ipromiseyou, baby, I willneverhurt you.”
He shifts off of me and pulls me up and into his chest, wrapping his arms around me—not to cage, but to comfort me as I’m crying. “I’ve got you, okay? You’re safe.”
“But you killeda cop,and I—I witnessed it. Aren’t you worried about me telling someone?”
“No.” He shakes his head, and there’s not a trace of hesitation in his voice.
“You’re not?” I sniff, looking up at him.
“No.” Koen says, looking down into my eyes. “Because I trust you.”He gives me a light squeeze and then a little wink. “You’remy girl,” he murmurs, like he’s letting me in on a secret.
His words cleave me in two, remembering that night at the bar all those years ago when he protected me from Ben—called me his girl—and the tears fall freely now.
