I snort and rake a hand down my face. “Figures. She gets the talkative ones.”
Then I see it, a simple shift in one plant’s leaves. The smell of soil drifts up from the pot, earthy, alive.
Maybe this one is listening…
“Okay,” I say to the basil plant, feeling like a lunatic. “I’m in a bit of danger now. Someone who is clearly adept at fighting got away. Saw my face. And is probably coming for me. When he does, he won’t knock politely. He might even burn down this whole building and everyone in it. Just to get to me.”
If I’m in trouble, and Fallon is telling anyone who will listen that I’m her boyfriend, thenshe’sin trouble.
What a mess.
“Any advice?” I pick up the plant Fallon told me is the loud one.
The plant does nothing.
I wait another beat.
Still nothing.
“Thanks for the help.” I drag a hand through my hair, half-laughing, half-ready to put my fist through the wall. “She says you talk back.”
The plant keeps being a plant.
I grab the pot and bring it closer. “Can you just give me a sign if I should keep her close or push her away. How the fuck can I keep her safe when this life I chose keeps putting a target on my back?”
Nothing but the hum of my refrigerator breaks the silence.
I shove the basil plant back onto the stand and pace around the living room with an ice pack pressed to my side until the pain in my ribs from tonight’s fight goes away. I’ve never cared about collateral damage before. Never cared if someone saw me covered in blood, never cared if someone got caught in the crossfire. I didn’t have the luxury to care.
But tonight, something gnaws at me.
Not guilt. Not fear.
Her.My her. Not the ‘her’ Ares and the so-called stranger selling drugs exchanged about.
Fallon’s wide hazel eyes and soft smile flash at me.
For the first time all night, my heartbeat slows. But it doesn’t help. Because all I can see isFalloncaught in the crossfire, that smile of hers slipping away.
If anyone sees her near me… If they think she matters, they’ll use her to get to me. Or kill her just to make me want to die alongside her.
My chest tightens until it feels like there’s a fist around my heart.
If Fallon gets even a scratch because of me, I might not survive that guilt.
No. I can’t let that happen.
No matter what it costs me. All my free time for one, because every night, I have to look for this man and kill him before he figures out where I live.
Even if it means locking out Fallon completely.
Even if it means burning down whatever the hell is growing between us before it can explode into something I can’t control.
Chapter 14
Fallon
Acompulsion I can’t control has me out on this ledge every night, even though I nearly fell. Each successful trek strengthens my legs, and my brain memorizes every step. Eyes closed, I count the twenty-six steps until the building turns, and then it’s fourteen more until I reach Rhys’s kitchen window.
