“Time for you to go,” he growled at Tony before slamming the entry door and hauling me back up the stairs to my apartment. When I reached the landing, I saw the box of pizza lying in the corner on the floor where he’d dropped it to chase me down the stairs. He really did care about me. The thought warmed the chilled chambers of my heart.
“What the fuck was that about?” Maxwell yanked me into my space before I pulled from his grip and darted for the pizza box.
“I’m hungry.” I shrugged when I sauntered back in, determined to stay levelheaded. He might be my new employer, but that did not give him the right to nose around in my business. “And those are family matters.” I tossed the box on the counter and opened it then thought better when I saw the cheesy ooze had stuck across the top of the box. “You ruined my pizza!” I turned on him, prepared to read him my own mini riot act when his expression stopped me in my tracks.
“Fuck the pizza.” He looked furiously angry, raging mad, and barely containable. His fist clenched at his sides, shoulders bunched and tight with anxiety, the hard set of his shadowed jaw line and the clean cut of his dark hair, in contrast to that angry slash of scar tissue decorating his cheekbone. “I’ll take you out for a proper dinner once you tell me what the fuck is going on. No more bullshit.” He advanced a few steps, closing the space between us, his jaw twisting with anger and having that effect down low in my belly that’d only ever been born of him.
“It’s not your business; it’s under control. I’m sure Tony won’t be up here again.” I tried to make light of the subject as I pulled a hunk of cheese off the pizza and plopped it into my mouth.
“Bullshit,” he grit and advanced another step. “Sure you wanna lie to me?” His voice threaded fear through my veins.
“I’m not lying, but we only just met, I have a right—”
“Your rights mean shit to me. You are the only thing that means something, and it seems like you’ve got yourself in a little trouble. Give a man a chance to save a damsel before you get all upset.” He finished, finally reaching me, his hands connecting with my skin, running up my arms and squeezing at my biceps. Jesus, he took my breath away.
“Oo-okay,” I uttered, more flabbergasted and turned on by his nearness than anything else. “My dad has found himself in debt by some very bad men. They show up every once in a while for a shake down, but it’s not anything I can’t handle. I grew up with most of those guys anyway.”
“Loan sharks? You grew up with loan sharks? What kinda shit is your dad in?” He didn’t wait for my answer. “How much?”
“What?” I flubbed before answering. “I don’t remember the number this time. I can’t pay it, so why concern myself with it? It’s one of the reasons I left…” I turned my eyes to the window overlooking the small back alley. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, just took the next train out of town and this was it.” I shrugged, feeling like maybe I’d already said too much. The silence stretched long between us, his eyes narrowing before they flicked around my apartment and then crawled up my body, as if he were warring with himself over a decision that he needed to make.
“Elle?” he said, his voice taking on a tighter tone, laced with near vile. “What made you step into my library?”
Nine
Maxwell
I gripped her creamy elbows in my roughened hands, the dark to her light, the hard to her soft, as one thought played in my head on repeat. One sad fucking thought that I’d been haunted by too many times to count.
She knew who I was before she stepped into my library.
I’d thought since she was the new girl in town, I was safe, could start fresh with a clean slate and a fully stacked deck in my favor, but this evening’s revelations had upset that balance.
“What made you step into my library yesterday, Elle?” I ground through my teeth, the only conclusion obsessing my thoughts.
“I love books, and I was desperate for a job,” she uttered with a confused frown.
Could I trust her? Did I believe her? “How long were you in town before that?” I continued.
“Not even a week.”
A week, definitely enough time to hear a few things in this backwoods town where everyone knew everything and made no bones about talking about it. To anyone. Especially about the latest tragedy to rock this town’s long history.
I sighed and pushed a hand through my hair, giving it a rough tug to will myself back into the here and now. A growl escaped my chest as my racing thoughts calmed and I reminded myself that I had to give her the benefit of the doubt. I couldn’t treat everyone like a monster out to get me. That would leave me living in fear, and in some ways, it felt like I’d already been doing that for thirty-one years. “You need to eat.” I let her go.