Page 41 of Damaged

One I gave in to without thought.

“We’re okay,” he stated even as his fingers tightened around the steering wheel.

“Okay,” I whispered before returning my attention to the road. The traffic was steadily building, so Dalton’s eyes remained focused on maneuvering the SUV smoothly between the lanes as more and more cars began to pull onto the fast-moving road.

“We’ve still got another hour to go, maybe more with this traffic. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” Dalton suggested.

I nodded rather than responding verbally. I really wanted to believe his reassurances but, in my gut, I knew I was anything but okay.

Chapter 13

DALTON

My hands were shaking by the time I pulled into the bus station’s busy parking lot. I knew I could have just dropped Silver off at the entrance to the bus station, but I’d chosen to find a parking spot instead just so I could have a few more minutes with him.

My actions didn’t really make any sense because as I’d gingerly climbed the steps after Silver had nearly launched himself off the boat and run for my car, I’d sworn to follow through on the young man’s need to escape my presence. Unfortunately, in the time it had taken to reach the bus terminal, I’d been unable to shake the feeling that we’d picked up a tail as soon as we’d hit the highway. I hadn’t seen the black Mercedes again, so I knew I should just let it go, but my gut was screaming at me not to ignore it. The problem was that my gut had been wrong a lot lately, and this wasn’t the first time I’d let my paranoia get the best of me. Jace had needed to talk me down a few times when the ghosts in my mind had been talking too loud. It was one of the reasons I rarely left my house unless it was on my boat.

Maybe my mind was overreacting because I didn’t want to have to watch Silver get out of my car and walk into that busy terminal so he could make some money the only way he knew how.

My brain was screaming at me to close my fingers around Silver’s arm as he reached for the door handle. Only this time it wasn’t because of my paranoia about the car that had followed us from the time we’d left my house to the time we’d hit the main highway.

“Silver—”

“Dalton—”

It should have been cute or at least awkward the way we spoke each other’s names at the same time, except it wasn’t.

Nothing about the situation was cute or awkward.

This whole thing just felt… wrong.

“You first,” I said. My chest hurt, overriding the pain in my back.

Silver didn’t say anything for several beats. He still had his fingers curled around the door handle, but he had yet to open it.

“You were never really gonna do it, were you?” he asked. Before I could ask him what he was talking about, he continued without prompting. “That deal you made with me when you first picked me up.”

I realized he was talking about when I’d offered him cash in exchange for sex. Remembering the ugly words I’d spoken to him about the different ways I’d use his body made my chest grow tighter. It felt hard to breathe, so I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t want to answer him. I needed him to go… to get out of my car and disappear into the crowd so I wouldn’t have to think about how quickly I’d become entangled in his life.

And he in mine.

I stayed away from people for a reason. I’d only picked him up because of his connection to Jace. Silver had proven several times that he didn’t trust me, and I should have been okay with that. The way he’d accused me of leading him into a trap when we’d stopped for gas, the moment he’d stripped off my sweats in the parking lot, not caring that he was naked, how he’d curled his fingers around the countertop in anticipation of me fucking him right there in front of the sink.

No, not just fucking him.

Raping him.

It had taken everything in me not to let my rage spill out then and there. Even though he’d had every reason to put me in the same category as the fucker who’d bought him for the price of a bag of drugs, it still hurt that he had.

“Thank you, Dalton,” Silver murmured. “For the ride,” he added as he released his seat belt and began to open the door. His voice sounded shaky and hoarse.

I told myself to let him go.

It was the only way to get my old life back.

My silent, comfortable life.

Once again, my gut kicked in, but I didn’t know why it made me do what I did. I had no explanation for why my hand shot out to wrap my fingers around Silver’s slim wrist.

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