Page 29 of Hidden But Not Safe

“Say it again,” she said.

With her watching, it took more effort than before.

“Meg.”

A tear slipped down her cheek that she wiped away. It wasn’t the reaction Naz was going for at all.

She sat next to him, but their shoulders didn’t touch. A wince crossed her face, and she shifted, leaning slightly away.

Naz didn’t like the wince. He woke up his phone’s screen, holding it out for to her to see again.

‘You okay?’

She stared at the words, crossing her arms over her chest. “What do you want me to say?”

He stared at the discoloration on her other wrist.

She shifted again but toward him this time, not away. “It’s not my job to make you feel better. If you feel shitty about locking me up, good.”

He nodded. That was fair.

Naz did feel shitty, though he still didn’t think he’d done the wrong thing. Julio would have been angrier if he’d had to track her down. And he would have tracked her.

Meg had seen too much of the cartel’s business to just let her run free.

The thought sent a chill through Naz.

“Why’d you do it?” Her voice cracked on the question. She took a deeper breath, exhaling it in a shudder. “Why’d you make me stay?”

She met his eyes finally as if she were searching for something.

“Is it because—” Her eyes dropped.

Naz knew exactly why he’d made her stay. He typed out his answer, waiting for her to read it.

‘Running is never good. They’d come after you.’

And then they really would have killed her, or worse—damaged her in the chase.

“Ignacio.” The way she breathed his name made him think she’d understood what he hadn’t said.

Then she shifted again and winced, the pain breaking through her confusion, turning it back to frustration. She bit her lip.

It was hurting her to sit on the concrete. The reason why seeped inside him, bringing more ice to his veins.

He let his phone clatter to the concrete beside her, crossing his legs before reaching for her, pulling her into the circle of them.

She gasped at his contact but then stilled once she sat on his lap. His thighs were much more comfortable than the hard concrete, but sitting cross-legged let just the outside of her ass touch him.

His hand snaked around to encourage her to rest back against his chest. She sighed as she let herself melt into him.

Her hand moved to his arm across her stomach, keeping it there when he would have let go. Her fingers rubbed in a slow circle, and tingles burst across his skin and up toward his shoulder.

“Ignacio, were you going to…defend me?” The words fell between them in a whisper.

Before he could nod, she laughed, the sound false and ugly. “What the fuck am I saying? I’ve already learned my lesson. We’re not friends, are we?”

Naz wasn’t certain how to answer her. He couldn’t be her friend. Besides, their relationship felt nothing like what he had with Diego or even Ramiro, though he didn’t consider him a friend either.

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