“I don’t give a damn if you’re on the trail or even walking the main road in front of your cabin. There is a sick fucker out there taking women and doing who the fuck knows what with them. Take your safety seriously, Juno.” I flex my fingers, making her breath hitch. “Or I will.”
That did it; those last words of warning pushed the independent woman too far. All the heat in her glassy gaze vanished, replaced with anger I could almost feel burning into me.
“Fuck you, Langston,” she rasped, barely getting the words out around my hold on her throat. “I’m not an idiot, or helpless, or incompetent, or?—”
The passion and conviction in her tone had me locking in on her choice of words. “That’s not what I’m saying, Juno.” My eyes flicked between hers. “Did someone say that to you, that you were?” I demanded.
A blank mask took the place of her shocked expression, and she pressed her lips together, clearly not wanting to answer.
“I’m not saying you are any of those things, more just careless. You walked into the gym, face in your phone, listening to the new Swift shit you love?—”
Her hair slid along the concrete with the tilt of her head, her confusion clear. “How do you know I’m a Swiftie?”
“Not the point.” She didn’t need to know how deep the stalking—I mean recon—went and that I knew a disturbing amount of details about her. Well, except for what she left behind when she moved here.
The corner of her lips quirked upward. “Kind of is…,” she teased.
“Juno,” I said with a frustrated sigh. How could I make her understand what knowing she was potentially in danger did to me? “Our friend is missing. We’re all at a loss on where she is, who has her, or if she’s even still alive.” I slid my gaze to the dented and rusted row of lockers to avoid the pity in hers. “And there is nothing I can fucking do about it. She’s missing, and….” I swallowed hard. “Please be more careful. I can’t….”
“Okay,” she whispered when I trailed off, unable to utter the next words around the lump in my throat. “I promise to be more careful. Hey, look at me, Langston.”
Swallowing hard, I reluctantly shifted my watery gaze down to her.
“I’m worried about her too, but you guys were family. I can’t imagine how hard it is on you, West, everyone at Uplift. Do you have someone to talk to about it?”
Seeing the compassion in her soft gaze had me forcing all those emotions down. Feeling too raw and exposed, I peeled my fingers free from around her throat. That was enough of opening up about the things eating me alive inside.
Sitting back, I crossed my arms. “Who said you were ignorant or incompetent, Juno?”
“And back comes the caveman,” she muttered with a sigh. “No one, okay? Can I please go work out now?”
“Not until you tell me who spewed those lies at you.”
Her teeth sank into her lower lip, a swell of unshed tears suddenly filling her lower lids as she shook her head. “Please, Langston, not now. Maybe never, but not now.”
“Why?”
“Because talking about it means remembering, and remembering means feeling all that shame and self-loathing allover again. Once I do, it’s hard to stop, and I don’t want to go down that path today, and especially not with you.”
I bristled at the last part. “You actually believed that shit you just said about yourself? How?”Idiot,incompetent, and anything else similar were not words I’d ever even think of using about the amazing woman.
Focusing on something just over my shoulder, she slowly nodded. “At one time, yeah, I did. But I’m working to undo it all, little by little.”
“Why did you believe it?” None of this made any sense. She was so strong and self-assured with me, never backing down. I couldn’t imagine her believing any of that, much less listening to someone else say it to her.
She blew out a shaky breath, and I steeled myself for her answer, knowing I wouldn’t like it. “Because when it constantly comes from someone you love and who you think loves you just as much, it becomes your truth.”
Bloodlust pumped through my veins, making me vibrate with unfiltered anger. Someone who said they loved her filled her mind with those lies, which made it worse somehow.
“Who?” I demanded. “Give me a name, and I will rip out their throat so they can’t say that bullshit to you or anyone else again.”
“No need to kill someone and end up in prison for the rest of your life on my behalf,” she huffed with a small grin. “But thanks.”
I angled my head to one side and then the other, stretching out the building tension in my neck and shoulders. “Juno, I would gladly die there with a smile on my face if it meant ending the person who made you question the truth of who you are.”
Her eyes widened in obvious shock. Before she could respond, the locker room door flung open.
“Okay, you two, that’s enough time alone to figure your shit out.” I snarled at the intrusive asshole over my shoulder, whichonly made West’s smile widen. “Hey, don’t give me that look. I’ve held Oliver back from barging in to check on you two, so turn that scowl into a smile and a fucking thank-you.” His gaze shifted down to Juno, his features instantly softening. “You okay, sweet cheeks?”
