Oh, I didn’t expect that.
“That’s fucked up, right?” he asks, but he doesn’t expect an answer. “I’m not a good man. And that’s who you chose to save.”
“Did he die?” I’m afraid of the answer.
He shrugs. “Don’t know.”
“But you shot him defending yourself,” I say, explaining to him why his actions were justified.
“Stop,” he says. “Whatever you’re looking for, I’m not it.”
His hand comes up and closes over mine, the one resting on his ribs. Not hard. Just there.
I don’t pull away.
We stay like that, my hand trapped under his.
“You should go,” he says. He doesn’t let go of me.
“I should.” I don’t move right away.
And when I finally make myself, I drag it out—packing the saline, the tape, the torn wrappers, every excuse to stay near him one more second.
He stands when I do. For one breath, we’re close enough that I have to look up to hold his stare, and he looks down at me like he’s holding himself back from kissing me.
But he’s not going to kiss me.
I shouldn’t want him to kiss me.
Then I step around him, and I walk out.
Downstairs, a couple of guys are already eating the casseroles.
The blond guy says, “You can bring food around here anytime, sweetheart. This is fucking delicious.”
Viper scowls at him before following me out to the porch.
“You can’t come back,” he says.
I’ve got my keys in my hand. I stop on the bottom step and turn.
“Is that what you really want?”
He doesn’t look away from me, and I don’t look away from him, and the answer takes its time.
“No,” he says.
“Neither do I.”
He nods, but neither of us talks about what comes next.
I get in my car and drive toward home. Toward my father’s house, his rules, and the good, quiet girl I have to become again before I walk through his door.
I smile the whole way there.
CHAPTER 4
VIPER