He might as well have been flaying off layers of my flesh to see what was hidden underneath.
But still, nice.
I knew it made me an outright lunatic for even thinking it, but God, I was so tired of fighting all these battles on my own.
Who could blame me that it gave me a tick of comfort to maybe have someone else in my corner?
Probably every logical person out there, but guess what, there was no logic here.
Not when I was in this mess. Treading dark, dangerous waters that were bound to drag me to their depths.
Demons laughing raucously as they pinned me down so I would drown.
I just hadn’t quite put my finger on whether Silas was one of them or not.
I finally looked his way.
I knew better, and I had to barricade myself against the outright severity that blasted back.
It was truly unfair that he was so obscenely hot.
My stomach that had been in knots of dread flipped with something it shouldn’t.
He arched a sharp brow. “You good?”
An incredulous laugh arrowed off my tongue. “Am I good? I just saw you pull a gun on a man who may or may not have been out to hurt me, then you fly back here like a bat out of hell and throw all my clothes into my bags, demanding that I stay at your house, and you want to know if I’mgood?”
“Yeah.” He offered it with a shrug.
Like it was just another simple hiccup in a regular day as he wound down the gravel lane through the dense thicket of trees.
I blew out a flustered sigh. “No, Silas, I’m notgood.”
Hazel eyes found me again.
A flash of fire and an assuaging of fear.
Maybe I really was in shock because the second he looked at me it was tempered.
“I’m going to see to it that you are.”
“Is that a promise?” I tried to make it come out a taunt, but it was shaky.
Clearly, I was losing my touch.
A big, tattooed hand landed on my thigh, and he gave it a squeeze.
I nearly flew out of my skin.
“Yeah, Brinley. It is.”
Boundaries.
Boundaries.
Boundaries.
I silently chanted it like I could erect them between us.
