Cade chuckled, low and amused.
My brows went up.Huh?
But Puck did not explain himself. He merely cocked his head toward the open bay and started walking. “I’ve got her in the back. If you want to follow me, I’ll walk you through the worst of it. Tell you what I can do and what’s beyond even my powers. My honest opinion? Might not be worth the cake it’ll take to fix her, but that’s your call.”
Damn and blast.
That wassonot the news I needed to hear, tonight. I needed to get on the road. The longer I was stuck here, the harder it would be to move on. And I had to move on. It was the only way to stay safe, the only way to stay ahead of everything chasing me.
I might not like my fate, but I was resigned to it. Constant motion. Eternally uprooted. For months — for years — I’d been living on a tightrope. Afraid to lean one way or another, knowing if I did I’d fall off. Afraid to look back, to see if my nightmare was gaining on me.
I knew better than to think I could outrun it forever. And I also knew, when that day came…
My eyes pressed closed, fear churning in my gut.
Adrian may’ve been the most recent, but he was also the least of my worries. The demons farther back in my past were infinitely more deadly — and more persistent. Even after a decade, I wasn’t fool enough to think myself free. One day it would all catch up to me. One day…
Hewould catch up to me.
In the meantime, I was going to enjoy my freedom the only way I knew how: adding more stops on the Imogen Warner International Tour of Misery. Keeping that tightrope beneath my feet. Keeping my eyes fixed forward and my feet in motion.
The weight of a large hand settled on my arm. I cracked open my eyes to find Cade had moved close. His head was tipped down to mine and his eyes were intense as they moved over my face. I didn’t know him well enough to decipher the look he was giving me, but it lasted a long time and it was heavy enough to make me shiver.
He saw the shiver — hell, hefeltthe shiver — and did not seem to like it much. His eyes flashed and his voice came out low. “What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing,” I stammered, wiping my expression clear, burying my nightmare back where it belonged — deep, deep down in my head. “I’m okay.”
“You’re not.”
“I just said I am!”
His jaw tightened. So did the hand on my arm — not painfully, just enough to remind me it was there. “You lied.”
“I didn’t!”
“Goldie, you did.”
Now, my hackles were going up. “Let’s get something straight. You seem to think you know me. Why you think this, seeing as we’ve been acquainted for approximatelya day,” I snapped, full of attitude, “will go down as a mystery for the ages. But the fact is, you don’t know me well enough to know when I’m lying. And you definitely don’t know me well enough to demand I share my every thought and feeling with you.”
“You do get that I’m a detective, don’t you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Yes.”
“So you get that I’m pretty fucking good at knowing when someone is being evasive.”
“I’m not being evasive! I’m perfectly o—” My lips clamped shut when his expression darkened.
“You tell me you’re okay one more goddamned time, I swear…” Eyes flashing with frustration, he leaned in another few inches, so his face was right in mine. A few inches closer, his lips would beonmine. All the oxygen seemed to vanish from the air. “You’re not okay. And it’s not just about the car repairs. It’s not just about today, or last night. Something’s eating at you. Something a fuck of a lot bigger than a failing transmission.”
What was this guy, a mind reader? I was supposed to be the clairvoyant one here!
“Fair warning, Goldie, I’m a patient guy,” he continued, face getting even closer. So close, I could see each individual curl of his thick lashes; the rings of deeper indigo around the edges of his irises. So close, I could almost feel his words as he spoke them against my mouth. “I’ll wait. But you’re going to tell me what’s got you going pale and shaky and quiet, chewing your lip and fighting back tears. And you’re going to do it before whatever that is catches up to you, so I can do something about it. If you don’t…” His eyes flared with determination. “I’ll dig and find it on my own.”
My mouth dropped open at his audacity. “You have no right to dig into my past!”
“Second reminder of the evening,” he growled. “I’m a detective.”
“And that badge gives you the right to swoop in uninvited and stick your nose in my private business?”