“Seriously? Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”
Henry paused. There was nothing going on between them even though every time he saw her all he wanted to do was kiss her. “No, nothing is going on. I’m trying to keep her safe. She doesn’t deserve to be hurt.”
Glancing at the door, he saw her watching him. Her lips were formed in a perfect O as she stared from him to the bed.
“I’ve got to go. If you need me I’ll be at the condo. Find out everything you can from Drake.”
“You’re not hiding, are you?”
“I’m not hiding, but I’m not leaving her alone for the next couple of weeks. It’s what the doctor said for her. You wouldn’t want Donna to be pissed at you.”
“No. Fine, I’ll let Donna know that you’re taking care of her friend. Nothing better not happen to her or I swear it will be you dealing with my wife.”
“Unlike you, Donna doesn’t scare me.” He hung up the phone and started going through her wardrobe, grabbing sweat pants and shirts.
“What are you doing?” She stayed by the door watching him.
“You need rest so you’re all better. If it wasn’t for me being a total bastard to you, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We’re going to my place. It’s a condo within the center of the city. It’s nice and quiet. We won’t be disturbed there.”
“What’s wrong with my place?”
“You’ve got a tiny lock that I could take down with one kick. Anyone can get to us and I don’t trust the new business deal we’ve set up with Bill and Leon.” He threw underwear into the suitcase then looked at her women’s perfumes. Scooping them up, he placed them on the suitcase as well.
“We’re leaving right away. I suggest you grab anything you want. We’re leaving.”
She didn’t put up a fight and moved past him to kneel on the floor. He watched her ass thrust up in the air as she delved under the bed and pulled out a shoebox. His curiosity got the better of him. He looked over her shoulder in time to see the gun glinting up at him.
“What the fuck did you get a gun for?” he asked, taking a step back as she picked it up.#p#分页标题#e#
“After Darren, I got scared. I don’t want to die. I’ve been practicing how to shoot.”
Henry stepped out of her way as she pointed it off in another direction.
“Fuck. Baby, put that gun away. You’re going to shoot my dick off if we’re not careful.” He stepped closer, extracting the gun from her fingers. “Right, I’m going to have that.” He checked the gun and swore as he saw there was no safety on. She’d been storing a gun with no safety on. “This isn’t worth thinking about.”
“You better give me my gun back.”
“I’ll give you the gun back when I think you’re good enough to fucking shoot. Until then, you’re not getting it and I’m not going to stand here and argue about this.”
Once the safety was on, he slid the metal into the back of his jeans. “Let’s go.”
****
They were in the car again, and she didn’t even have her gun. Lydia placed a palm over her side that hurt. The doctor had bound her ribs up tight so she could only just move.
“I can’t believe you got a gun. If you were so scared why didn’t you say anything to Donna?”
Resting her head on her hand, she stared at the man who was turning her entire world upside down. On the outside he was this scarred man with a rude attitude that pissed her off. Within a weekend he’d become something else, someone else. She saw a side of him that she didn’t even think he was capable of possessing.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asked.
“You’re always worried about something.”
“Tell me. I want to know. Has someone been threatening you?”
She saw he gripped the steering wheel tightly. Letting out a sigh, she glanced out of the window. “Nothing and no one has been threatening me. For a long time after Darren, erm, I went a little crazy when you tried to warn him. I had a lot of nightmares about what happened.”
“You’ve never talked about it?”
“No, not even with Donna. Caleb, he’s very … protective of her. He wouldn’t let me near her until he knew I wouldn’t hurt her.” She rubbed her nose recalling the fear that filled her when Caleb came to visit her. “It was strange being used as a shield. You saved me when you didn’t have to. It would have probably been easier to kill me.”
“I was following orders. Caleb didn’t want me to kill you. He only wanted Darren to be given a warning. It was just luck that he’d fucked with enough people. I’m sorry you had to witness what happened.” His grip didn’t loosen from the steering wheel.