Page 68 of Secret Gifts
I sigh out and then I shake my head.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to be scared of me. Aria, I would never let anyone touch you.”
I’m shocked. This isn’t the reaction I was expecting. Aunt Angelica smiles, but her eyes shift back to the hellacious mess I’ve made. I don’t even know how I did it.
“You talked to my aunt about it?” I ask, my mind slowly wrapping around the facts.
He tenses up, worried about my reaction, but I just told him I love him. I’m not running unless he makes me.
He almost smiles, and he pulls me to him all the tighter while sitting back down in the car. I curl into his chest, and he strokes my forehead with his lips so softly.
“She actually came to talk to me. She knew I saw them, but I didn’t let anyone else see them. That’s why I forced your head to my chest. That’s why I deterred all other attempts everyone made in your direction.”
Aunt Angelica gets back in, and the car starts back down the long, quiet road still angry with me for fucking up its scenery. Her hybrid eyes meet mine in the mirror as she speaks to me.
“I called him, and he met with me in secrecy, given the importance of the context. I was worried… well, it’s complicated. He told me if anyone else saw it, he’d make sure they never told a soul. Obviously I was relieved, but I didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t even tell Grayson,” she murmurs, her eyes looking around to make sure no one witnessed my explosive release.
This is surreal. My biggest secret has been revealed to him, and I barely know anything about him.
“We’re going off grid for a while. That aerial strike was beyond risky, and we don’t know who the suicide flyers were or how they knew we were there,” Jase interjects, his body pulling mine to his a little tighter to fill my aching need that I didn’t even have to tell him about.
His thumb strums the tops of my fingers as he continues to kiss my forehead. The broken glass of the back windshield allows the cool air to settle against my skin, and he shifts the blanket to be over me a little better.
“When we get to the hotel, I’ll check you in. Just get her inside and-”
“I’ve got Aria covered,” Jase says with a smile, and my aunt’s eyes find mine in the rearview mirror again to offer me a wink.
He grabs his bag from the floor, and then he pulls out his wallet to toss to her.
“I hate small rooms,” he murmurs softly, and she lets out a laugh.
“I’ve noticed,” she snickers out.
He just pulls me tighter, and I curl into his warmth.
“What happens now? Where do we go from here?” I ask.
“Like I said, we’re going off grid for a while. We’ll stay at the hotel and let the electronic drones scour the view from the sky. You can analyze the footage from the room and see if there’s a trail worth sending our drones on. Then, you and I can curl up and get lost in each other for a few days while the interrogators work on new leads. We apprehended several today from a bust not far from here.”
“You look a little… worried,” I murmur hesitantly.
He winces, his eyes moving toward my perfectly healed body that is still stained by my own blood.
“You almost died today. If it hadn’t been for that phone call-”
“Yeah, who the hell was that?” I interrupt.
My mind somehow managed to completely misplace that little tidbit.
“I don’t know. We tried tracing the number, but my men haven’t had any luck. The second that call was made, that phone was washed from the airwaves as though it never existed.”
“That’s high-tech,” I mumble. “Why save us and then hide?”
“I think they were saving you,” my aunt interjects.
“What does that mean?” I ask, bemusement etched in my tone.
