My heavy boots clomped against the wood as I climbed.
They might as well have been a base drum with the way it drove the intensity higher.
Brinley’s obstinate spirit thrashed in the twilight.
Sparks of energy that glinted and flared.
Wild curls flying around her.
Fuck.
She was a force to contend with.
I caught up as she got to the landing, and I went to reach around her to input the code when she smacked at my hand.
“I can do it myself, so you can just leave me alone,” she hissed.
“Obviously you can do it, but you aren’t staying here.”
She whipped around. The gold in her eyes flashed.
As bright as an emergency flare.
“What? Did the heat get too much for you?” she snarled. “Was that guy too big of a contender? Are you scared of the trouble I bring, and you’re kicking me out?”
Each word was a barb.
She might have been irate, but I could see what was written below the spite.
Hurt.
Like she thought I was just going to abandon her.
Leave her to fend for herself.
Had the sinking sense that was the way it had always been for her, and I was pretty sure her reaction had nothing to do with her dislike of me but was a survival instinct.
With her back to the door, I reached around her and punched in the code.
“No, you’re coming to my house,” I grated.
“What?” she screeched, her expression morphing in a beat.
The door blipped and gave, and I basically picked her up and set her aside so I could get through.
She was a firestorm licking at my heels.
The beat of music from below throbbed through the baseboards. A distant thud of mayhem when I was standing in the middle of the pandemonium.
Wasn’t sure which of us was causing it.
Brinley or me, with her panting these jagged breaths at my backside, and me charging the few steps down the hall and into her room.
I threw open the door. Wood clattered against the interior wall, and I strode for where I knew her suitcases were stuffed under the bed.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” It was a gust of dubiety from where she stood aghast in the doorway. “I’m not staying at your house, Silas.”
“It’s not up for debate,” I growled, pulling out the suitcases and tossing them to the bed.
