“Sorry,” I murmured as I shot Lucy a glance. I tucked the gun in the back waistband of my pants and covered it with my shirt.
Lucy didn’t say anything as she leaned against the wall near the entrance to the kitchen. She still looked wiped out, but she seemed steadier on her feet than she’d been. At some point she’d changed her shoes because instead of wet sneakers, she was wearing shoes that looked like some kind of cross between boots and slippers. Her jeans had been swapped out for a pair of leggings.
“He’s still asleep,” Lucy murmured.
I nodded. “I talked to him about twenty minutes ago, so he should be okay for a bit.”
The awkwardness between us grew and I was once again reminded that I wasn’t equipped to deal with a teenage girl.
I wasn’t equipped to deal with a lot of things.
“Can I help?” she asked.
I didn’t relish the idea of the girl joining me in the narrow kitchen, but the fact that she was even willing to interact with me was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. If I could get her to open up about what was going on, at least I’d know what I was dealing with.
“I think I saw some garlic bread in the freezer,” I offered.
I forced myself to remain still as Lucy moved past me. I hated that even the sensation of her body passing in close proximity to mine had me wanting to reach for my gun.
Or the knife in the butcher block that was just in front of me.
I shook my head and tried to focus on getting the spaghetti noodles in the boiling water, but as my body began to lock up, I knew it was pointless. Luckily, it didn’t take her long to grab the bread as well as the soda from the convenience store bag and she seemed clueless to my internal struggles as she brushed past me again and made her way to the counter on the other side of the stove. She was still too close for comfort, but I forced myself to remain where I was.
We worked in silence as she got out a cookie sheet and got thebread in the oven. I already had the sauce and noodles going so she went to sit down at the kitchen table.
“You’re not going to leave us alone, are you?” she finally asked.
Her bluntness was a surprise.
“All we want to do is help you and Ethan,” I said softly.
“Why?” she asked, the doubt in her voice clear.
“Because you need it,” I answered simply.
The girl fell silent. I waited until the noodles were simmering before turning the stove down enough so the water wouldn’t boil over and then I forced myself to go sit down at the table across from her. I liked that she didn’t seem as frightened of me as before, but she was definitely wary as her eyes kept darting up to meet mine as if to prove to me and herself that she wasn’t afraid of me.
Brave girl.
“Who is he, Lucy?” I asked. “Who’s after you and Ethan?”
She shook her head. “Not me,” she murmured. “He doesn’t give a shit about me. He just wants Ethan.”
“Who?”
She didn’t respond right away, but I was caught off guard by the tears that started to slip from her eyes. She tried to dash them away, but they kept coming. “He was going to kill him,” she whispered. “He was on top of him and Ethan couldn’t breathe…he wasn’t going to stop this time.”
“This time?” I prodded, but Lucy shook her head again and stiffened her jaw.
“I should go check on him,” she said softly as she used her sleeve to wipe at her face. I didn’t say anything as she hurried past me.
I forced myself to get up and finish making dinner, but Lucy didn’t return to the kitchen and I didn’t blame her.
My appetite was gone too.
Chapter 4
ETHAN
