Then I remember I left Fallon all alone.
I jog back to the garden and by the time I return, my heart rate is slowed. I can be the man she knows andtrusts.
She may know what I do, but she doesn’t need to see the monster I become.
I’ve figured out the plants are her friends.
Somehow, that comforts me. Because they comfort her.
Because she’s not alone.
And for a flicker of a second, neither am I.
Not anymore.
In the garden, Fallon is on her knees in the dirt, hair piled on her head. With steady hands, she repairs the wreckage like nothing happened. Like she didn’t just watch me drag a man away, when she knows I’m a murderer.
My fingers tremble a tad, and I shove them into my pockets.
After finishing her work, Fallon stands, and I swear, she glows in the nearby lamplight, her skin luminous against the kind of darkness that surrounds everything this time of year. It’s as if electricity threads run under her skin so bright I can see it.
“Thank you,” she says, not looking up to verify if it’s truly me standing beside her.
There’s not a crack of concern in her voice. She knows.
The tight coil in my chest loosens half a notch. Years in the military, then working for a private security firm, a bodyguard for Eoghan O’Rourke, and now an assassin, I’ve honed the skills to see through people.
Down into their souls, where either true evil or pure love exists. I’ve only seen a lot of evil.
Fallon is a pure light I didn’t see coming.
Chapter 10
Fallon
Packing the soil, I smooth and restore order to my plot. When Rhys returns, his face is blank. Too blank for a man with such handsome features.
Without looking at him, I say, “Thank you.”
The two of us are silent for a long while before he asks a question.
“Fal, you okay?”
“Yeah.” I shrug. “Where is that guy?”
“He won’t be bothering you again.”
“What did you do to him?”
When there’s no answer, I look up. His face is twisted now. He’s thinking about what to say.
“It’s nothing you need to know.” He grips the back of my neck. “No one talks to you that way. If anyone else ever treats you like that again, I want you to tell me.”
Nodding, I say, “And you’ll drag them away and hurt them, too?”
He holds my face, his eyes blazing into mine. “Always.”
“Always,” I parrot him.
