He threads his fingers through mine. “We all wanted to rescue you, but we couldn’t.”
“I get that now, but you try spending five weeks as a prisoner, surrounded by people so effed up they might as well have been zombies, having no one for company, and dealing with—” My lip wobbles and tears well in my eyes.
“I know, Abby, and I’m so sorry.” Charlie’s face softens, and his tone is gentle as he draws circles on the back of my hand with his thumb.
I squeeze my eyes shut to ward off the pain. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I whisper.
“It’s okay.” He lifts me out of my chair, situating me in his lap. His arms wrap around me, and I bury my face in his neck, needing his comfort. I’m starved of human affection, and it’s been a lonely few weeks.
“He will pay, Abby,” he whispers in my ear, smoothing a hand down my hair. “We’re not letting him get away with it.”
“I just need to pull in for gas,” Charlie says, when I question why we’re pulling off the highway again.
My appetite vanished after my mind drifted into forbidden territory, but I still forced a few mouthfuls of pasta down. Then we hit the road, and we’ve been driving for four hours.
It’s dark now, and we’ve agreed to drive for another couple of hours and then pull in someplace for the night. Charlie entered a town on the GPS that looks suitable, and I’m busy researching motels on his cell.
Charlie pulls into a gas station on the outskirts of town, glancing anxiously around as he kills the engine. I expect him to get out, but he grips the steering wheel tight, looking like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“What is it?” I ask, unbuckling my belt and leaning forward, touching his elbow.
My eyes startle when he turns to me with fierce determination etched upon his face. “I know you love him, Abby. Even after all he’s done,” he says, and I don’t need to be a mind reader to know he’s talking about Kaiden. “But he doesn’t deserve you! And you have options.”
I squirm uncomfortably on my seat, wondering why he’s chosen this exact moment to tell me all this. I drop my hand from his elbow, and he reaches across the console, circling one hand around the nape of my neck. “The night of our engagement,” he says, peering deep into my eyes as he runs the tip of his finger across the diamond ring I’m wearing. “I meant every word I said.” His pulse is throbbing in his neck, and he’s shielding nothing from me now.
I gulp over the panic building at the base of my throat.
“I love you, Abby. I always have and I always will, and I want to marry you for real.”
Before I can voice any response, he smashes his lips against mine, kissing me passionately.
He keeps a hold of my neck when he eventually breaks the kiss, imploring me with his eyes. “Don’t say no until you’ve considered it. I know your head is all over the place, but I promise you everything I’ve done, everything I’mdoing, I’m doing because I love you and I want you in my life. Forever.”
“Charlie. I—”
He kisses me again, and my head spins. “Promise me you’ll think about it. He’s not your only option.”
I want to tell him Kaiden isn’tanyoption, but I can’t lie to myself.
I hate Kaiden.
As much as I hated him when he first showed up to school.
Probably more.
But there’s a fine line between love and hate, and I fucking hate that I still love him too.
“Okay.” I place my hand on his hard chest. “I’ll think about it.”
He rests his forehead against mine before kissing me once again, only this time it’s a fleeting brush of his lips against mine. “I love you. Don’t forget,” he says, climbing out of the car.
My brows knit together as I watch him fill the car with gas, my sixth sense on high alert.
Charlie is acting weird.
He blows me a kiss as he walks toward the store, and unease slithers inside my veins.
He has just reached the door when it flies open, and a guy wearing a black ski mask shoves him to the ground, swinging a bat to the side of his head.
