Page 18 of Cruel Love

She rolls in my direction and buries her face in my chest.

I hold her there until she falls asleep in my arms.

Chapter 6

Dani

“Dani.”

I don’t stop walking. Fox has said my name at least a dozen times since we left that motel, but I haven’t answered him. I can’t even look at him. If I do, I’m afraid I might scream or say something I’ll regret.

He’s leaving me again.

For a moment, I thought he’d do the right thing. I thought he’d turn around in that room, take my hand, and march us outside. Never look back. Take Caleb and Boxcar along with us. Snake Eyes is a thing of the past. He told me that himself. He was done with that life.

But it’s not done with him yet.

I pause by our front door, quickly fishing into my jacket pocket for the key. Boxcar has built quite the security fortress for us. No one gets inside the house unless we let them in. Unfortunately, this means that Fox has all the time in the world to catch up to me before I find and swipe my keycard. I put in the code. I twist the lock.

“Dani.”

His fingers brush my arm as I cross over the threshold. Just one light touch fires up my skin, igniting me as it always has.

I ignore it and rush toward the stairwell, peeling my jacket off as I go.

My steps echo throughout the silent foyer. I turn my head slightly to see him standing at the bottom in my peripheral vision. He watches me walk away from him. The tension between us builds, but I’m not ready to talk to him yet.

I walk into our bedroom and look at the mirror hanging on the wall, eyes instantly drawn to the wound on my shoulder. Fox shot me and the bullet went right through me to strike Mercer Black in the heart. I don’t remember anything after that except for a few flashes and sounds. My father screaming. Mrs. Clark’s stone-cold concentration as she held a hot iron to my skin. Fox cradling me in the backseat of a car with one hand pressed against my pulse.

Look at me, Dani. Stay with me.

You’re going to be okay.

I believed him. Why wouldn’t I?

He swore to protect me. He promised that nothing would hurt me ever again.

I believed him.

I won’t make that mistake again.

Fox appears behind me in the mirror. He stands in the doorway as if waiting for permission to come in. “Dani.”

I hold up a hand. “Stop saying my name like that, Fox.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the one who’s wrong.”

“I don’t mean it like that.” He takes a step into the room. “I just want you to look at me.”

I fill my lungs until it feels like they might burst. Finally, I turn and look into his handsome face. Even with the broken line along his cheek, he still has that boyish charm he’s walked around with since our days at Belle Academy. Maybe that’s what made him so good at his job. No one saw him coming and if they did, they didn’t expect it.

“There,” I say. “I looked at you.”

He sighs. “I’m sorry. This isn’t something I want to do.”

I turn away from him again. “Leave me alone, Fox.”

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