I feel the lump tighten in my throat. I know there could be something underlying his kindness, but the way he speaks, it’s hard not to believe that he means it.
I swallow hard. “I…I would…”
“I can bring you back down here to pick up your car in the morning,” he says. “I know a place nearby that would have it fixed by the end of the day.”
I bite my lip. It’s not as though I have much in the way of money to my name, not after Thom all but chased me out of every job I tried to hold on to.
“Sure,” I reply. This stranger, as kind as he is, he doesn’t need to hear my life story right now. Shit, maybe he’d take it badly if he knew the real reason I’m out here. How many times did Thom tell me that nobody would believe me if I tried to tell them what was going on? That I would look like the crazy one for trying to bad-mouth a man who had done nothing but support and care for me these last few years…?
“You want to text someone?” he suggests. “Let them know where you are?”
It’s a sensible thought. I don’t know this guy, and if I accept his offer to stay in his guest room, I’ll be far from anyone who might be able to help me if something goes wrong.
“I don’t have any signal,” I mutter, holding my phone up to check. “Can I do that when I get to your place?”
“Anything you need,” he replies, and he pushes open the back door. “Here, there’s room for you and anything you want to bring back there.”
I grab my stuff from my car, and shoot one last look at it before I climb into the back seat. I hate leaving it here, but what choice do I have? I prayed that someone would come by who was willing to help me, and now that help has arrived, I’m not going to turn my back on that aid. God knows, life has been hard enough for me as it is, and maybe this is the break I’ve been waiting for.
In the car, I study his face as he pulls away from the side of the road. In the dim light, I can make out some flecks of silver in his reddish-brown hair, green eyes glinting in the mirror as he looks back at me.
“Not many people out on these roads at this time of night,” he remarks. There’s a careful tone to his voice, like he’s aware he might be getting a little too close to the truth.
“I…I guess I got lost coming out of the city.”
“You lived there long?”
“A while.”
I hate being so evasive, but a part of me is still waiting for the penny to drop, for the floor to crumble out from beneath my feet. I know it’s ridiculous, but I can’t help but wonder if this man is actually something to do with Thom. Sent by him to see if I would accept help from another man, as proof that I’m nothing more than the vile, cheating bitch he has always made me out to be.
But this stranger doesn’t seem to take my answer badly; he just nods, fixing his eyes back on the road, his hands firm on the wheel. And as the engine purrs beneath us, I finally let out a sigh of relief. I’m not out on the road anymore, at least. This might not be ideal, but the chances of Thom being able to track me down to this random man’s house are next to nil.
For a moment, I look out the window, gazing into the dark trees around me. I never liked the forest when I was growing up—it always seemed too dark, too dense, like it stretched on for a lifetime and I might never be found if I set foot in it. But now, I don’t want to be found. I want to vanish into this place and never be seen again. I want to forget everything that has ever led me to this moment, and pretend that everything that came before is nothing more than a bad dream.
I lean against the window to get a better look outside, and wince as I put pressure on one of the marks Thom left on my arm. I suck in a sharp breath and draw back quickly, hand flying to my arm, and the man notices.
“You alright?”
His accent—it sounds Irish, or at least some memory of it on his tongue. It’s comforting. Sounds like something out of a fantasy movie or a fairy tale, at least to my American ears.
I nod. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply, forcing a grin onto my face. “Must have just slept a little funny last night, that’s all.”
He nods. I’m over-explaining, giving him more reason to doubt me than ever. I keep the smile fixed on my face, though it feels more like a rictus grin than anything else by now.
Finally, he takes a turn off the road, and we head up a long, winding path through the trees, separated from the highway by alarge gate. He reaches out of his window to key a code into a box, and my eyebrows rise. Okay, so he is a man of some means, if he can live in this gated home…
The gate swings open smoothly and we continue up the road. I shoot a look behind me one last time, making sure that we’re not being followed, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else for miles around. Which should really freak me out, given that I’m alone with a man I have never met before.
But, given that the last few years of my life have been spent with a man I know all too well, maybe what I need is a stranger to make things right. Because trusting in Thom has brought me here. And I would do anything to leave it all behind.
2
MARTIN
She percheson the edge of the couch, back rigid, eyes fixed straight ahead, chewing on her bottom lip like she’s trying to take the damn thing off. I might not have trained as a psychiatrist, but I know at a glance when someone is in a bad way, and this girl? It’s hard to imagine anyone doing worse.
“You want something to eat?”
