Page 29 of Caught from Behind

I half expect Knox to jump up and stop me…but that’s a silly thought. We’ve never been like that, and I wouldn’t appreciate him trying to control my life, not in this way. So, really, it’s not a surprise that he just waves and calls in a singsongy voice, “Have fun, kids!” I narrow my eyes at him, clocking my brother’s calculating gaze—which sends a blip of suspicion through me.

I also don’t miss the curious glint in Nova’s eyes as Riggs draws me over to the coatrack.

Nothing to be done about either of those things, not right now.

I’m leaving with Riggs and I don’t want to mess it up, not this time.

Boots on, I spend a few seconds scratching Steve and murmuring sweet nothings into his goofy ears when he deigns to make his way to me to say goodbye, then I stand up and reach for my coat.

But Riggs is there already, slipping it onto my shoulders.

He bends and bestows his own scratches on Steve, who huffs out a snotty breath and runs back to Nova, clearly dismissing us.

Smiling, I watch him go.

Then I hear the lock on the front door click, the quiet whoosh as it opens, and feel the cold bite of the winter air.

My eyes drift up to Riggs’s.

He pulls the door wider.

“Let’s go, chérie.”

CHAPTER TEN

Riggs

She’s quiet, which is unlike her.

Staring out the window as the trees whip by.

So quiet that I find myself answering her question from before.

“It’s not the drinking,” I say softly.

Her head swivels, eyes catching mine, and then she’s lifting her brows. “But you say I drink too much.”

“You do,” I blurt.

Fucking stupid.

Her brows pull together, those eyes clouding.

I turn back to the road, exhale sharply through my nose. “It’s not the drinking,” I say again. “It’s that if you drink too much, if you’re not in control…you’re putting yourself at risk.”

I feel her still next to me, the air in the car growing taut.

Reading between the lines.

Putting the pieces together.

“Riggs,” she whispers, setting her hand on my thigh. “Did your girlfriend?—?”

I go stiff and suck in a breath.

And I know she gets it then because she pauses…

It’s long and sorrowful and?—

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