She flinched, hurt crossing her eyes. “Did you hate me that much? Did you think that I wouldn’t care to know if you were okay?”
His brows furrowed. “No, that’s not it at all, Red. I just ...” He sighed heavily. “I thought that you had your own life, separate from me. I didn’t want to mess it up with my problems, because you’re the kind of person to drop everything and rush to a friend in need, even if that friend hadn’t been a friend for years.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first, needing to get the words out. “And I didn’t want you coming back because I was hurt. If you came back to me”—he held her gaze—“I wanted it to be because you wanted to, not out of pity or remorse. I wanted you to want us again.”
Her pouty red lips parted in surprise at his use of the wordus.
He bridged the gap between them, nose nudging hers, whispering against her lips, “I wanted you to want this.” And then he pressed his lips to hers, feeling like he’d finally come home for the first time in four years.
CHAPTER 32
Kelsi
3 Days to Trial
Her brain short-circuitedat the first press of his lips against hers. She was frozen for long enough that he started to pull back. But before he could get too far, she grabbed his shirt and yanked him back to her.
Their lips moved together slowly, testing each other, before he took charge, using a hand on the back of her head, tangled in her hair, to angle her. She didn’t think anything could top this moment, here, in Dylan’s arms.
Their kisses slowed, until at last he pulled back. He gave her two soft kisses on her lips, another on her nose, and a lingering one on her forehead.
She was lost now, and there was no doubt in her mind. She still loved him.
They sat on the dock in silence, listening to the fish jumping and frogs croaking in the background. Only once the mosquitos came out in full force did they reluctantly separate and head back up the dock.
They walked out to her car together, hand in hand. She felt like she was soaring, her feet not touching the ground at all.When Dylan kissed her, it felt completely natural. All the pain and insecurities, the angry words and bitter feelings, had fallen away. With his lips on hers, they didn’t matter. Everything narrowed until the only point of her existence that made any impact was him. Now, hand in his, Kelsi imagined that nothing could touch her happiness.
When they got to her car, though, she stopped dead in her tracks, hand tightening its grip on Dylan’s. There, on her windshield, was a note and a small bouquet of three roses. Her breaths were loud rasps. This anonymous person kept finding her in her private life. She didn’t feel safe or secure anywhere. If this person was able to find her at her mom’s house, on the weekend, would they find her anywhere?
“Kelsi?” Dylan’s voice was tense. “What is this?”
She tried to get words out, to come up with some excuse, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Her heart sped up, and she felt her chest tighten, the familiar beginnings of a panic attack encroaching.
Dylan dropped her hand like it was on fire and stalked over to the car. He grabbed the note and waved it in the air. “Is this from Sheridan, Kelsi? You still seeing him? I saw you two together all day.”
Once again, the words stuck in her throat, and she could only frantically shake her head at him as he unfolded the note.
“Let’s see what he has to say.”
Her heart stopped entirely when he started reading, and small tremors shook her body. As he read the short note, he grew more and more rigid, until he got to the end and lifted his head to stare at her, blue eyes burning like two small flames in the dark. She didn’t know what was worse, him believing shewas leading him and Sheridan on, or him realizing she had been hiding the threats from him for weeks.
“What the fuck is this, Kelsi?” he yelled, waving the note in the air toward her.
She flinched, surprised at the level of his anger.
He stepped closer to her. “How long has this been going on?”
“This is the fourth note. It started the week we were assigned the case.” Of course now her voice decided to start working again.
His eyes were hard as he clenched the paper tightly in his fist. “You mean to tell me that this has been happening for weeks—weeks—and you never once mentioned it to me? Did it even cross your mind that I should know?”
“Of course it crossed my mind, Dylan. Whoever it is threatened to hurt you if I told anyone!” she snapped. “But what also crossed my mind was that if I told you, you’d probably go straight to Banksy and I’d be taken off the case!”
“Oh, so you’re saying you think it’s a bad thing that I’d be more worried about your personal safety than a case?” he yelled back at her.
“Yes!” she screamed. “Yes, it’s a bad thing! You’re not my boyfriend!”
He staggered back from her a step, as if those words struck a physical blow.
