Page 55 of Sizzling

“I will go when I am done here.”

“Get your shit. Last chance before I throw you over my shoulder and take you out of here.”

UGH! What was I supposed to do now?

“Okay, listen. You have a tracker on my car. I can’t go anywhere without you knowing. Please, I just need to do some things here before I go. This is my day off, and I have a list of things I want to do here.”

Storm’s scowl meant he was as annoyed with me as I was with him. I wasn’t hiding Roger! Why couldn’t they leave me alone? The man was dead, and I was going to relive the moment my bullet had gone into his head and he fell to the ground for the rest of my life. He’d deserved it, but killing someone changed you. It left a mark on your soul. I would do it again, but damn if I’d lie about something like that.

“If you weren’t lying to me right now, then I might believe you. But you’re hiding something. I’m real fucking hard to lie to, Briar.”

My heart beat fast against my chest. Panic. I was starting to panic. He was too close to this. I’d let him get too close. Entirely too close.

Placing my hands on my hips, I tried to think of anything to get him to leave.

“What I am not hiding is Roger. IF I am hiding something else, it isn’t your business. It doesn’t affect you. So, leave me alone!”

He took a step toward me. “You’re working for Pepper. She’s our business. Someone is after you, and you’re leading it right to her door.”

“Then, WHY send me to her house?! Isn’t that leading my danger right to her?” I was yelling. I needed to calm down, but he was making me so mad.

He didn’t answer that one right away. If I wasn’t so angry, I’d relish the fact that I’d turned his own words against him. But seeing as I hadn’t won this yet and he was still in my apartment, I didn’t have time to enjoy anything.

“Do you know who is following you? Is that it? Some spurned lover trying to scare you? Get you back?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I lied. Until now, I had never had a man chase me down like this.

Storm’s scowl deepened, as if that angered him. “Who is it then?”

I threw up my hands. “I don’t know! Jameson?”

“He’s out on bail. If he leaves Atlanta, he’ll be found and put back behind bars.”

Oh. Okay. That was news. Out on bail for what? That was not the point. I didn’t care.

“I do not know!” I couldn’t think of one man from my past who would follow me. But their wives … “Maybe it isn’t a man.”

Storm seemed to understand my meaning without me spelling it out for him. He let out a sigh and ran his hand through his hair, muttering a curse.

“Fine. Stay here. Do whatever you want. But if you’re lying about Roger, then we will find out.”

He was going to leave. I’d done it. I had convinced him to go. We were going to be able to get away from here. From him.

So, why did it feel like he’d just slapped me? Because he wasn’t fighting to protect me.

He wasn’t protecting you, Briar. He was making sure you weren’t hiding Roger.

This was never about him caring about you. He’d made you think that, or you’d let your head go there. You’d wanted it.

“You leaving now?” I snapped.

He studied me for a moment, and I thought I saw something there … something that said this was about me. He was worried about me. He cared.

Then, he stepped around me and headed for the door. I didn’t turn to watch him leave. I closed my eyes when the door clicked shut. He’d left, and I realized just how stupid I had been. I’d come so close to letting him in. Never had that happened. I’d never even been tempted. But that man, he was dangerous. A danger I couldn’t allow.

After I was sure I’d gotten my emotions under control, I headed to let Dovie know it was time to pack. I hated leaving like this. Pepper deserved more from me, but I wasn’t in the position to be a good person. Maybe she wouldn’t hate me.

• Twenty-One •

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