I walked into the backyard I’d been locked underneath. Bad and good memories collapsed.
Until I saw her.
A smile forced its way on my lips like nothing ever happened. Like I’d never suffered in that bunker under this very house and neither had she.
She was hunched over the old Challenger, in a blue shirt and jeans, her hair a little longer than I remembered. It swirled behind her shoulders when she twisted and saw me.
This was the first time I’d seen her clearly in daylight when she wasn’t covered in blood and my vision wasn’t blurry with pain and rage. My heart rocketed, and I seemed to have forgotten everything I’d prepared to say. A fucking hard-on ached in my jeans. Sometimes, I hated this power she had over me.
I slowed down, hands in pockets, keeping enough distance between us. I wouldn’t be able to resist crushing her into my arms and kissing her lips if I went any closer. “Hey.”
She wiped her hands with a greasy rag, her eyes alert and darting behind me. “Hey.”
God I missed that rasp.
I nodded at the car, wondering for the millionth time what kind of a diabolical mind she had to come up with the idea of using the Challenger to hide the bunker. “Fixing up this old thing?”
“Um-hum.”
“What? Done kidnapping bad boys?”
She sighed, her lips twitching.
“How did you get me down there? You threw me down the hole and dragged me into that room?”
She cocked a brow at me. “If you’re trying to record this, it’s a pretty lame attempt.”
“Record it? Why now, you think I’ll rat you out to the pigs? That’s offensive. If I wanna retaliate, baby, it won’t be by sending you to the pigs.”It’ll be tying her to my bed where I fill every hole she has for months, years…forever.
“Well, in that case, as you know I had a person. They helped with that one detail. I didn’t wanna risk a concussion.”
Sweet from start to end. I smiled at her, at her beauty and kindness I missed so much. “How’re you doing, Cammie?”
She shrugged, her expression a question mark, her gaze restless. “Okay, I guess.”
I stepped forward, and she backed away.Oh c’mon. She was scared of me now? “I’m here alone, Cammie.”
“Is that so?”
A lump clogged my throat, but I couldn’t stay silent. “You really think I’d come here to hurt you?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“Well, I’d never do that, and you know it.”
She bit her lip, nodding once. “You look good, by the way.”
I swung my cast free arm. “All healed.” I took her in and gestured at her body. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Why are you here, Dusty?”
I smiled again, and she looked away, running from my gaze. “I heard you were going back to school.”
She moved around to the passenger side. “Heard?”
“Um…” I ran a thumb over my brow, following her. “I mean…when you decided to cut ties, you left me no choice but to keep tabs on you for the past couple of months.”
She swallowed, leaning against the car door. “Why would you do that? I’m not a threat anymore.”