"Because letting you in could get us both killed!"
Silence falls like a hammer. Sasha stares at me, his gold eyes wide.
"So there is someone," he says quietly. "Someone looking for you."
I slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the floor, my knees pulled to my chest. "I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
He crouches in front of me, those broad shoulders blocking out the lamplight. "Maya."
"Don't." I shake my head. "Just don't."
"Don't care that you're terrified?" His jaw tightens. "I'm not blind."
"You should be." I push to my feet. "You should focus on healing so you can leave."
"Is that what you want?" He stands too, and God, he's tall. The muscles in his chest flex beneath his shirt as he crosses his arms. "You want me gone?"
Yes. No. I don't know anymore.
"I want you to stop asking questions I can't answer."
"Why? So you can use it against me later?"
His eyes flash, gold turning molten. "You think I'd hurt you?"
"I think you're a dangerous man who does dangerous things for dangerous people." I meet his stare head-on. "I'd be stupid to forget that just because you've been playing nice."
The muscle in his jaw jumps. "Playingnice."
"Aren't you?"
"No, Maya. I'm not playing anything." He moves closer, and I hate that my body responds to his proximity, that heat pooling low in my belly. "I'm trying to be honest with you. But you won't let me."
"Because real gets people killed!"
"So does hiding!" His voice rises. "You think I don't know what it's like to look over your shoulder? I'm certain I’ve lived that life. I am that life. But at least I'm not pretending otherwise."
"Good for you." I turn away, but he catches my wrist.
"Don't walk away from me."
"Let go."
"Not until you stop treating me like I'm the enemy."
I yank my hand free. "Maybe you are."
The words hang between us like broken glass. Sasha's expression shutters, going cold and distant in a way that makes my chest ache.
"Fine." He heads for the door. "You want to be alone? You got it."
"Where are you going?"
He doesn't look back.
"Sasha—"
