I forced myself to smile. “I’m behaving, like you told me to. Showing you what a good little blackmailee I can be.”
“You’re up to something.”
“I’m not,” I spoke through my teeth. Christ, this man was exhausting.
“If you do anything to risk this, I’ll tack another quarter million on, and then you’llneverget rid of me.” His expression turned ominous. “We might even have to getengaged.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “I promise I won’t be a problem.”
Somehow, it was the wrong thing to say. In a flash, Theo was in my space, his hand on my chin, his grip just shy of painful as he stared into my eyes. “Don’t think for a fucking second I’m falling for this act. What are you planning?”
“Literally nothing.”
“I swear to God,Stella,” he seethed, clearly not believing me, “if you fuck with my business, I will burn your entire life down around you. I’m talking scorched-earth, salt the ground, there will be nothing left when I am done level of retribution.”
“Casual.”
“Fuck!” he yelled, releasing me. “This isn’t funny!”
“Yeah, Iget that,” I told him, leaning as far away in my seat as I could. “But it’s either crack a joke or start crying, and my mascara isn’t waterproof. I was just trying to make it easier between us, but you’re such a monumental asshole that it’s obviously impossible!”
The car’s engine roared to life, and then we were tearing out of the parking space into the night. I grabbed the door handle as we raced past shops and pedestrians. One wrong move, and... oh, god.
“Slow down,” I said, fighting back a wave of panicked nausea. Scenes from the night of the accident flashed through my mind.
Theo ignored me, the streets whizzing past as he broke the speed limit and closed in on the sound barrier. Up ahead, a light turned yellow, but instead of braking, he put the gas pedal to the floor, and we passed through the intersection right as it turned red. I curled in on myself, bracing for an impact that, thankfully, never came.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and my voice came out broken. “Please.”
He glanced over at me and swore, but he eased his foot off the gas, and the car slowed to a survivable speed.
Silence descended upon us. I had no idea what to say to him because so far, nothing seemed right. No matter how I acted, it blew up in my face. Or more like,hedid. I don’t think I’d ever met anyone so full of anger, and it made me wonder what made him like this. Was it learned? Or had he been born spitting venom?
“Where am I going?” he finally said.
“Get on the highway and head north,” I answered. Of course he wasn’t going to apologize for threatening and then scaring me. God, I hated him.
He glanced my way. “You seem like you’ve made a regrettably full recovery after slamming your skull into the hood of that car last week. I’m guessing your head is fine?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never had any complaints.”
“Goddamn it, Stella,” he snapped.
“What?” I yelled back, my temper frayed. “Arguing with you hasn’t worked, and neither has being nice. If you’re going to be an asshole all the time, I might as well crack jokes to entertain myself.”
He didn’t reply, just worked the manual transmission through the gears as we made our way east toward the nearest on-ramp. The quiet lengthened until it grew awkward. At least for me. I wanted to say something to break the silence, call a truce between us, but I didn’t know how.
A glance over revealed him studying the road ahead, jaw clenched like he was still on edge. Waves of light and darkness played across his features as we passed under streetlights, a fitting analogy for his volatility. There had to be some way to get on his good side. If he even had one.
I heard a crinkling sound from the back as he took a turn and glanced toward it. There were several boxes of food stacked on the floor behind us. I saw crackers, protein bars, and mixed nuts.
“I think you forgot to unload some of your groceries,” I said, sitting forward again.
“No, I didn’t.” He shot me an ugly look. “Not all of us grew up with the same easy access to food like you did, and that can leave a mark on a person. I always have something on hand, just in case.”
His words made me want to sink through the floor and let the traffic claim me.
Theo had food insecurity. My brain didn’t know what to do with that information.
