Lillith stared at him. “You don’t get to ask me that,” she said, her voice shaking despite her best efforts.
Tank flinched. “Lillith?—”
“Don’t,” she snapped, taking a step back. “Don’t say my name like that, like everything’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he said, his voice rough. “That’s the problem.”
“Yeah,” she laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I’m starting to see that.” Silence fell between them, and the man groaned on the ground, but neither of them looked at him.
“Why are you here?” she demanded.
Tank’s jaw tightened. “Because they didn’t leave,” he said.
Her stomach dropped. “They?” she echoed.
His gaze didn’t waver. “The people I told you about,” he said. “They’re still here.” She wasn’t sure that she heard him correctly, but if she had, then she was in more danger than she imagined.
“How did you know that they would come after me?” she asked.
He shot her a look and she wasn’t sure if he was going to tell her the truth. “Because I never left either,” he said. “I’ve been hanging around to make sure that you were safe. I had a feeling that they wouldn’t take off when I supposedly did.”
“And you never thought to call me or text me?” she asked. “You just stalked me to make sure that I was safe?”
“Yeah, well, when you say it that way, it sounds bad,” Tank said. “Listen, you can be mad at me later. I need to get you out of here before someone comes looking for him,” he said, nodding to the guy who was still lying on the pavement. He grabbed her arm, tugging her over to his truck, and she pulled away from him.
“I’m not going with you, Tank,” she hissed. “I’m going home to Ember’s, and she can help figure this out.”
“If you go back to her house, you’ll be putting her and everyone else around her in danger,” he insisted. “Please, I know that you don’t have any reason to trust me, but I need you to do just that.” She looked him over, trying to figure out if she wanted to trust him or not. She was mad as hell, but if someone was coming after her, she didn’t want to lead them to her sister or Jack. Honestly, she had no other choice but to follow Tank and hope that he’d be able to keep his word and keep her safe. “Fine,” she breathed. “I’ll go with you, but I want to call my sister to let her know that I won’t be home.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll get you a burner phone once we’ve put some distance between us and this damn town.” She wanted to protest, but there was nothing more to say. She’d have to gowith Tank until she could figure out plan B—because there was always a plan B.
TANK
This situation was exactly what he’d been trying to avoid. Tank gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessary as the truck tore down the road, Yonkers disappearing in the rearview mirror one mile at a time. The engine roared beneath him, but it wasn’t enough to drown out the thoughts hammering in his head.
You should’ve left. He had, well, sort of. He just didn’t go far enough, fast enough, and now, she was sitting in the passenger seat of his truck, pulled straight into a war she didn’t even understand.
His jaw tightened. “Seatbelt,” he muttered.
Lillith shot him a look. “Really? That’s what you’re worried about right now?”
“Yeah,” he said flatly. “Because if I have to slam on the brakes, I don’t need you flying through the windshield.”
She stared at him for a second, but then buckled her seatbelt. “Happy?” she snapped.
“No,” he said. “Not even close.” Silence filled the cab of his truck, loaded with everything they hadn’t said yet. Tank glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed that no headlights weretrailing them. Well, there was no obvious tail, but that didn’t mean anything.
“They found you fast,” Lillith said finally, her voice quieter now, but no less sharp. Tank didn’t answer right away. He didn’t want to because the truth made this worse.
“They didn’t find me fast,” he said after a beat. “They’ve been here the whole time, and somehow, they found you.”
Her head snapped toward him. “What?”
“I told you,” he said, his grip tightening on the wheel. “I never really left.”
“You watched me?” she demanded.
“Yeah,” he breathed, knowing that made him sound like a class A stalker.
