"No," I whisper.
After eyeing me for a few minutes, he leans his shoulder on the tree beside me. "Maybe we start with this. Hi, I'm Erik."
"I'm Cassidy."
I glance at him and catch my first good full look of his face as the light from the lanterns bounce around the spaces between the trees. I try not to stare, instead focusing over his shoulder, but the scars that are etched into his cheek and jaware hard to ignore. He might have been attractive once, but now he's uncomfortable to look at.
He grins. "Something spook you?"
A twig snaps and I whirl around to see Max striding quickly towards me. I run at him and jump into his arms, relief washing over me. He stills and envelops me, rocking me slightly from side to side. His chest heaves against mine.
"Leave before I finish Konnor's work!" Max barks over my shoulder, and the sound of my brother's name ignites my blood. My arms tighten around him as he holds my weight with one thick, strong arm. The other is tight by his side, hand clenched and pumping.
Erik's voice is snide. "I wasn't gonna touch her."
"Leave!" he barks over my shoulder.
I lean back in his arms, stare into his eyes, and I see it—betrayal lightly veiled. "What do you know?"
Max doesn't shy away from my accusing stare. Instead he just says, "I shouldn't have let them bring you here."
Guarding a bunny
My feet landon the forest floor and Max squats to stare at me, his face firm and authoritarian. "Did you see that guy’s face?"
I squeeze my eyes shut and nod.
"Konnor did that to him."
My eyes fly open. "Konnor did that?"
His brows draw as he seems to wrestle with words. "That's all I'm saying about this. Don't ask me anything else. Ask Konnor next time you see him. Erik and your brother hate each other. Stay away from him... As for Dustin," he growls, "he shouldn’t have approached you."
"How do you even know all this? And why is Dustin Nerrock here?" My hands shake violently. "He raised my brother for the first four years of his life and then paid to have him kidnapped!"
He presses his cheek to mine. "You're too small to be feisty and you don't know anything for sure. Don't go aroundstating that."
My lips begin to quiver as I stare into cloudy grey eyes. "What doyouknow?"
There is a flash of something like disappointment in his eyes and then it's gone. I'm not even sure I saw it. "I don't know anything," he states. "I promise you that. I promise I'm not keeping any secrets from you in regard to Konnor and my family."
"And Konnor and that guy?"
"Not my business to share."
A string of questions claw at my tongue, but when I gaze up into those dark, penetrative eyes of his, the open space of the woods slowly becomes suffocating. He's not going to tell me anything tonight. Tonight he's Luca's son, not simply my beautiful boyfriend. He stands for something else right now. Stands against something... I don't know...
Several beats of silence pass between us.
"And Dustin? Why is he here?"
"He's very close friends with Jimmy, Cassidy."
"He didn't want Konnor. I just can’t even fathom that." I want to tell Dustin how amazing Konnor is. Howhe'smissed out on knowing the man Konnor has become. How muchwelove him.
Max studies my face. "Talk to me about this. Just don't talk to anyone else."
I sigh. "Konnor is amazing, but I know you don't think so."
