“I also said I could choose not to discuss something if I had no desire to,” she reminded him.
“I know something is wrong, something other than the murder of Adam Miller and the other man’s disappearance.”
“You know about that?”
“Jake is not as quiet as he thinks when he talks on the phone,” he replied. “But it’s not that, is it? It’s something else.”
She shook her head. “I told you, it’s nothing.”
“Olivia.” He stepped closer, unaware that he was leaning toward her like she was his own personal source of gravity. “Talk to me. Are you worried about what is in the woods by your home? Is that why you don’t want your friend to visit you?”
“Is there anything you don’t know about?” Olivia asked dryly.
“I overheard you and Jake talking about it the first night you brought me here.”
“You know what they say about eavesdroppers.”
“Actually, I don’t.” A small smile played across his lips then faded. “But I am concerned for you.”
“I told you before, Theo, I don’t need saving.”
“I know.” His fingers twitched with the need to reach out and touch her face. “I wish you understood why I feel so protective of you.”
“Then why don’t you explain it to me,” she replied.
He paused, trying to find the right words. “I’ve seen you my whole life, but I thought you were nothing more than a dream. If I had known you were real...” His gaze dropped to her mouth, his voice soft and low. “I would have torn the world apart brick by brick looking for you. I am never going to let anyone or anything harm you.”
She shook her head and pulled back. He was too close, the atmosphere too intimate. He made her feel things she wasn’t prepared to examine right now.
“Theo.”
“Tell me what is in the woods. Tell me what you’re afraid of.”
“I can’t.”
He opened his mouth to interrupt her, but she pressed on.
“It’s not because I don’t want to.” She shook her head. “It’s because I don’t know. I don’t know what it is.”
“Tell me what you do know then.”
“It’s old,” she whispered. “It’s lain dormant for a long time, but even now it stirs, it feels the edges of its power, and it waits.”
“For what?”
“Sorry.” She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “I don’t know why I said that. I must be more spooked than I thought.”
“Do you think it’s the murderer? They did find the body of Adam Miller in the woods.”
“Maybe,” she replied.
She knew it wasn’t, but she couldn’t go into further detail without revealing things to him that she wasn’t sure he was ready for.
Suddenly, the moment was broken with the loud squeal of tires outside. Olivia spun abruptly toward the window. The unmarked cop car that had been following her pulled out from its surveillance spot across the street, did a U-turn, and with sirens blazing tore down the street.
“That can’t be good,” Olivia breathed out. “Those cops have been all over my ass for days. Something pretty big must have happened for them to tear out while I’m still here.”
They both heard the door and a moment later Jake strode in with an unsettling expression.
