1
LUC
How I didn’t hithim, I’ll never know.
It was dark, and he was dressed in black, and this bend on the tree-lined lane was unlit. I mentally chalked it up to a miracle. I slammed on the brakes so hard I feared for my ability to remain on the road. My SUV didn’t let me down, and I came to a halt no more than an inch from the stranger. His hand shot out to steady himself on the bonnet, and I caught sight of his eyes from under the low brim of his hoodie. Haunted, wide, untrusting. He was young too, younger than my twenty-four. He also looked vaguely familiar.
Before I could overthink, I flicked on the hazards, engaged the handbrake, and leapt out. “Hey, are you all right?” He patently wasn’t, but as I hadn’t hit him, I didn’t want to assume he’d want anything from me. He looked jumpy enough to run straight back out across the remainder of the lane, and although it wasn’t generally busy, Sod’s Law said he’d get mown down in front of me. He smelled entirely too fresh to have been pelting through the countryside at the speed he had been, a fact which piqued my curiosity. He was also anxious, but not truly scared. Interesting.
He sucked in an audible breath. Raised his head a fraction. Shook it. If I’d not been watching carefully, I’d have missed it. “I’m fine. Thanks for stopping.”
“Mate, if I hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
At this he chuckled like I’d made a joke. “Maybe,” he conceded, “but probably not. Thanks anyway.” He glanced over his shoulder at the way he’d come. “Shit, I can hear them.”Nowhis pulse kicked up a notch.
There was definitelysomethingheading our way, but it was a bloody long way off, moving across the fields. How the hell was his hearing as sharp as mine? He was human. Wasn’t he? I inhaled again, as subtly as I could, but I couldn’t get a read on him.
“You can hear that?”
His glance at me was hurried and full of irritation. “Course.”
I made a snap decision. I didn’t sense any hint of a threat coming from him. “Get in,” I said. “If you’re running away, this’ll go faster than you can manage on foot.” When he hesitated, I huffed. There was the beginning of a sharp frost, and even though I wasn’t generally too bothered by the cold, I didn’t tend to stand around in my shirt sleeves in winter. “Well? You really want to wait for whoever it is to catch up with you?”
“Yeah, no.” He winced, shot a last glance behind him, and jerked his chin. “Okay.”
Once decided, he was inside with the door closed within seconds. “Thanks.”
I locked the car and sped off, eager to put some distance between us and whatever had my temporary companion so spooked. As the road widened and the bends straightened to curves, I risked a glance at him. There wasn’t much to see, as he was shrouded in baggy clothing, but I had the feeling from the way they hung on him that he was underweight. He was taller than my five ten, although not by much. The skin of his hands — all that was visible — was pale, blue veins evident against his milky pallor. One single lock of dark brown hair peeked from his hoodie.
I concentrated on not steering us into a ditch, and paid attention to my other senses now we had a vehicle between us and the outdoors. His heartbeat was still calm and steady, not what I’d expect from a guy who’d been running full tilt to escape someone or something. Perhaps he was an athlete. Except my gut said no. His smell? There was a tinge of fear, maybe exasperation or frustration too. But again, not the hot, sharp scent of terror I’d have expected. Was he resigned to whatever was coming? The thought didn’t sit easily with me. Everyone deserved a chance. Especially young blokes like him, who’d surely not been around long enough to truly fuck up.
My passenger cleared his throat. “Would you mind…Could you drop me at home? I’m on the other side of Tratton, on the big residential estate off the by-pass.”
I mentally calculated where I’d need to turn and gave a brief nod. “Sure, no problem.” After a beat, I added, “Are you in danger? You ran out in front of me without even looking.”
There was a weighted pause. Then, “I saw you. I figured I’d either go clear or get killed in the attempt.” An even longer pause. “I don’t think it matters now. They won’t stop.”
A chill shuddered through me at his blank delivery. Hard on its heels was a hot blast ofare-you-fucking-kidding?I knew first-hand how tough it could be to find yourself on the wrong side of a mob, but he wasn’t much more than a kid. From my brief glance I doubted he’d even taken his A levels. That level of cynicism was way too much, even for a damp November night.
Words failed me, so I kept quiet until we reached the turn off for the estate. “You’ll have to direct me. This estate is a maze.” Fog was drifting between the buildings now, wisps of dirty grey tinged yellow under the dull glow of ancient street lamps. I wasn’t one for seeing ominous signs, but I felt suddenly sure menace was lurking around every corner.
Biting back a snigger at my overzealous imagination, I pulled into the driveway of a sizeable but otherwise unremarkable suburban bungalow, and killed the engine. The interior light came on, and the guy flinched, so I quickly switched it off. “Thanks,” he said again.
“You’ll be all right now?” For some reason, he’d already got under my skin, tendrils of doubt tugging at me, urging me toprotect, care, nurture.I tried to ignore the voices and concentrated on what I knew. Which was barely anything.
The guy shrugged. “Hopefully. I was getting out of town anyway. Guess a foggy night is the ultimate cliché time to disappear. Not like anyone in Tratton’s gonna miss me.”
I spared a glance at the house. “This is yours?” I wasn’t overly familiar with this estate, but the properties were of above average size, and tended to belong to older couples and families. None of my beeswax; perhaps he’d been a teen lottery winner.
A dry wheeze of a laugh startled me. He turned to face me, amusement dancing in his eyes, which I noticed were an intense, pretty sapphire blue. “Fuck no. But I do live here — for the next ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? What, you’re packing up and getting the hell out straight away? Won’t those…Well, whoever was after you, won’t you be an easier target if you head back out now? Can’t you stay home tonight and see how things look in the morning?”Walk away, Luc.But I stayed, searching those gorgeous eyes for some truths.
I heard him swallow. Saw the tension in his face, which was as pale as his hands. Did this guy ever see sunlight? I watched as he appeared to battle with whether he could, or should, trust me.
In the end he sighed. “They know where I live, man. I’ve been planning to get away for a while, but now I’m out of time.” He gave a soft, unamused huff. “Not that my folks have been stellar examples of great parenting, but I don’t want their home fucked up, or worse. If they know I’m not here, I don’t think they’ll touch it. It’s me they want, not my parents.” He said ‘parents’ as if the word was distasteful.
I thought quickly. It wasn’t as if I had anywhere special to be — tonight or any other night if I was honest. I had a fast car, unlimited funds, and no one to spend it on or to head home to. Life had been dull for months…a regular poor little rich kid problem. I had my wallet, my phone, and my wheels. Everything else could be purchased if and when I needed it. Hell, I even had a case and a holdall in the boot from the conference a week ago. Yes, I was a slob, but my wardrobe was extensive enough I hadn’t missed the dirty stuff. Shout out to the lazy!
