He blinked in surprise. “Really?”
Maisie scowled up at him. “Yes,really. You think you’re getting off that easy? Just a mysterious ‘Ooohhhh we can’t talk here, who knows who might be listening’-type thing, and off you go? No. No way! I want someanswers. About everything that just happened, and about how you’re even walking around right now at all – not mention wholetyou walk around – and just… this whole situation. So if you want me to drive you somewhere where I can get some solid answers out of you, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Maisie took a deep breath.
She hadn’t really beenintendingto make a little speech – it had just flown out of her mouth.
But she’d meant every word. She definitely wasn’t about to let Rhys Richardson – if thatwashis real name – out of her sight again until she understood more about what even was going on right now.
Rhys swallowed, rainwater dripping down his throat – not that Maisie was staring at his throat.
“All right,” he said, after a long moment of silence. “If you’re sure. I know somewhere we can go to talk.”
Maisie nodded resolutely, even as thetiniestsliver of doubt crawled into her heart.
Is this really wise?her better judgment asked her – but somehow, Maisie knew she could trust Rhys. In a way she’dknownshe couldn’t trust Brent. She’d always known he was slime. But she’d been too hung up on trying tofixhim – fixthem– that she hadn’t wanted to break up with him, even though she’d always known it was an impossible task.
Call me a sucker, I guess.
“Okay, great. Fantastic,” Maisie said. “If you’re fine with getting into a stranger’s car on a rainy night, then I’m parked over there.”
For a moment, Rhys looked somewhat perplexed at her words, but then he said, “Uh, yeah. I’m okay with that. But… areyouokay with just driving me around in your car?”
Yeah, evidently I am, since I already did it once today, even though you were totally out of it at the time,Maisie thought, but what shesaidwas, “I’m fine with it if you are.”
Maisie couldn’t understand the sudden look of hope – andhappiness– that dawned on Rhys’s face at her words. She only knew that her own lips twitched as she had to suppress the sudden, near-irresistible attempt to return the smile, her heartbeat thudding in her chest as she did.
It can’t just be because it’s been a while since anyone lookedthathappy to see me, surely?
“Then… lead the way,” Rhys said, as if he could barely believe she was for real.
Which makes two of us, honestly!
“Okay,” she said, after a moment. “Right this way – your chariot awaits.”
Oh my God. Please, please tell me I didn’t just say that.
Trying to hide her furiously embarrassed blush, Maisie ushered him across the road to her car, trying not to think too hard about just what a weird and potentially dangerous turn she was allowing events to take by letting a strange man who’d just been shot into her car – for the second time today! But somehow she knew that it was the right choice.
Just as long as I remember to catch my plane tomorrow. God, that’d be just my luck.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she let herself in and unlocked the passenger door, wincing as she noticed the still-drying blood on the seat. Not too much of it, at least, but it still wasn’t great.
Still, Rhys didn’t seem to care, sliding into the passenger seat without any apparent concern. At this point, the water they were both dripping everywhere was probably going to cause just as much damage. Her poor old Holden Astra had already been through the wars, seeing her safely through the various turbulences of her life; at this point, a bit of blood and rainwater barely made a difference.
She turned the heater on, rubbing her hands together gratefully in front of the warm air for a few moments until she could feel them properly again.
As warmth started to return to her body, so too did full awareness of her situation. Slowly, she turned to face Rhys, who was looking at her with an intent expression. There was something going on behind his eyes that was beyond her understanding – but whatever it was, it made her shiver with something other than cold.
Just what have you gotten yourself into, Maisie Dawson?
Clearing her throat, she forced herself to speak.
“Well, then. Tell me where you need to go, and we’ll go there.”
Chapter 6
Rhys swallowed, his throat tight.
