“Why?”
She presses her lips together, hesitating. I’m waiting for a pithy deferral, but instead, she gives me something different. “It’s complicated. I really, really want to tell you why, though. I just ... I’m afraid of how you’re going to react.”
I want to tell her that she can tell me anything right now. That it won’t change a thing. But I’m not sure that’s the truth yet, and I don’t want to give her anything but.
“Tomorrow morning, I want to see you the same way, except still soft and warm from sleep, in my bed. How about you tell me then? No more pretenses. No more lies.”
An uncertain expression crosses her face before she takes a deep breath. “I would really, really like that. It’s time.” The uncertainty morphs into sadness as she pulls her hand back, and I have a feeling I’m not going to like what she has to say.
I double-park in front of her building and shift the Chevelle into neutral. This time, I grab her fingers and tangle them with mine.
“Whatever you’re hiding from, I promise I can handle it. I’ve got strong shoulders. Put your burden on me.”
I don’t know where that came from, but I mean it. I want to make her life easier. Want to ease the worry and edginess that seems second nature to her.Hell, I really am well and truly fucked.
“You might want to hold off on believing that until you hear what I have to say,” she says with her brows knitting together.
“Let me worry about that. I’ll see you at the club. I’ll send Warren over to get you.”
Drew squeezes my hand and leans over to press a kiss on my lips. “You’re a good man, Cannon.”
With a hand slipping into her hair, I take the kiss deeper, memorizing the taste of her lips, until someone honks from behind us. I throw up a middle finger out the window and don’t pull back until I’m good and ready.
“The world can go to hell when I’m with you,” I whisper.
Drew’s entire face softens. “I’ll see you soon,” she replies, fumbling for her purse and her jacket while trying to open the door.
The contents of her purse spill on the floor as she tries to maneuver the old-school handle, and I try not to blink when I realize I was right and she does have two cell phones. I tell myself I’m not betraying everything I just said and thought when I help her gather her things up from the floorboards andaccidentallyshove the iPhone with no case—the one that her mom called on—beneath the seat while she’s climbing out.
“I think you got it all.”
From behind me, the car honks again, and I take it as a reason to get the hell out of there with a wave at the girl I know is hiding something big.
I might be in love, but I’m still a cautious motherfucker.
I’ve learned one cardinal rule from Dom while living under his reign—never walk into a situation you’re not eminently prepared to confront. Otherwise, it might cost you your life.
When I fish the phone out from the seat, I stare down at the screen.
Whatever Drew plans to tell me tomorrow morning, I plan on already knowing it.
44
Drew
Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
That’s all I can repeat in my head over and over, because I have to figure out a way to come clean and not end up with Cannon hating me.
Hating me?Is that what I’m really worried about? I should be more worried about him turning me over to Dom, who probably still encases people’s feet in concrete before tossing them off a pier.
Falling for Cannon has changed everything, though.But how the hell am I going to tell him everything?
I still haven’t come up with an answer four and a half hours later when Warren pulls up in front of my building with the Escalade.
“Good morning, Ms. Carson,” he says, and I try not to wince. My alias grates on my ears when he says it.
“Good morning, Warren. How are you?”