Page 85 of Hold Me Until Morning

“That you’re a prick? Yeah, I think I do,” Cody taunted.

Indignation puffed from Pruitt on a heave of air, and he spun and stormed down the walkway and hopped into the black, shiny car that was parked on the street, the tires squealing as he peeled out from the curb.

I knew deep down it was the same car that had been following me the first week I’d been here. When I’d thought I’d found sanctuary and peace. When I’d thought I was letting paranoia settle in when I should have known my ghosts would always catch up to me.

Cody didn’t move until the taillights disappeared down the road. The second the sound of the engine faded in the distance, he turned, a hurricane that flew across the porch.

“Are you okay?” He begged it.

A shiver rolled through my body. “I’m fine.”

I kept saying it, again and again.

I’m fine. I’m fine.

I was desperate to be.

Cody reached out and ran his thumb over the cleft in my chin.

Warmth spread.

A comfort I shouldn’t allow myself to feel. But how could I not when this brute of a man stood over me like a shield?

A tower of safety.

But he couldn’t be. I knew that, even though with him standing there, I wanted to dive into the hope of it.

He studied me, golden eyes flaming beneath the bare light that flooded from the lamp hanging next to the door.

“You’re not okay, Hailey. I can see it.” He whispered it softly, though it was underscored in severity. “He’s hurt you.”

“I’m fine,” I repeated on a shaky exhale, another lie I kept trying to believe.

“Oh, darlin’, I see you’re not. But I promise that you’re going to be.”

Something passed through Cody’s intimidating features.

A steely determination that rumbled the ground beneath my feet.

“Go inside and lock the door. I’ll be back in five minutes. Don’t open it until I return.”

“I—”

His face dropped close to mine, expression fierce. “Just do it, Hailey. For me. Please.”

Warily, I nodded, logic still blurred by the shock of finding Pruitt outside my door.

Cody spun on his heel and strode across the porch, taking my breath with him as he went. I finally got my senses together enough that I pushed myself upright and called his name, trying to stop him from whatever was going through his brain.

He just sent me a smile from over his shoulder and said, “You don’t worry about a thing.”

SEVENTEEN

CODY

Rage blistered my insides, flames fucking eating me alive as I stormed into my house where I went directly into my room and started tossing things into a duffle bag.

Activity was required because if I didn’t do something with my hands, I’d give in to what I really wanted to be doing with them—strangling the life out of that fucking little fucker who’d had Hailey pressed to the wall like he owned her.

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