Page 23 of The Wrong Drive

I ignore it, hating that phrase but choosing not to let her know that. She’s got no idea of my life. I scrape my fork across the plate. “What about your family?” Maybe if she just talks about herself, we can avoid the subject of me.

“What about them?” She leans her chin against her hand, her brows creased ever so slightly. The gesture is small, but it catches my attention. My cock strains as my mind flashes with her beneath me, making that exact same face as I press into her pussy.

Sleep didn’t fix that issue, apparently.

“Turner?”

“Sorry,” I grunt. “Uh, I just meant for you to tell me about your family. I don’t know.” I force my eyes down to my food, the sight of it instantly draining my arousal.

“Oh, well, my parents are still together after like forty years of marriage. I think they’re annoyed that I still haven’t met the right person yet. Well, I mean, I thought I had. They thought I had, too…” Her voice trails off, and I tip my gaze back to her, hating what I see.

“This must be the ex-boyfriend?” A pang of envy rattles my chest, and I’m reminded of all the ways that I fall short yet again. My body might be strong, but my mind is a fucking bomb waiting to explode—and take her with me.

“Yeah, Adam,” she gives me his name like I give a shit. “I thought we were going to his family’s cabin for him to fix things.”

“Hmm.”

“Yeah, it was a pipe dream,” she scoffs, shaking her head. “I was stupid for thinking it could be fixed. We’ve been rocky for almost a year, and I was grasping at straws. It’s been so tumultuous, and then my best friend called me on my way here—just to tell me that he told his brother we’re not going anywhere and it was all for looks.”

I nod, trying to empathize with something that sounds so…pitiful.“But you broke up with him, yeah?”

She holds my gaze from across the table. “Yeah. I broke up with him, and then ended up here. He told me he was coming to get me—and that he didn’t mean what he told his brother.”

“Ah, so you’ll be good with him then,” I say the words like they’re poisonous.

“No, I don’t think so. I’m getting too old to deal with the bullshit. I just want someone to really commit. I’m tired of the games.”

“Wouldn’t know anything about that.” I drum my fingers on the table and then push back, grabbing our plates.

She follows my lead. “So you don’t date, I take it?”

I smile with my back turned to her. “Hard to date anyone when you live alone in the woods.”And have an addiction to murder.

“There’s a town like an hour or so from here though, right?”

“I never go,” I chuckle, scraping off the remnants of dinner into Gunner’s bowl. I don’t usually feed him leftovers, but I’m sure as shit not going to be eating anymore of this.

“Why don’t you go?”

I hesitate, choosing my answer wisely. “I don’t like crowds. Or people.”

“But you’re letting me stay here.”

I set the dishes down in the sink, angling my body toward her. “I reallydidn’tlet you stay here. I just chose not to let you freeze to death. Let’s not forget how tense our first meeting was.”

Her eyes flash with what I recognize as fear. “Right.”

“Yeah, so don’t get too comfortable,” I snort, turning on the water and beginning to wash the dishes. Guilt throttles me, but I ignore it.Why am I so fucked up?

“Noted.” Emersyn takes it as a joke, laughing. She grabs a towel and dries the dishes as I wash them, putting them up in their places. Once we’re finished, Emersyn escapes to the bedroom, returning with a silver laptop tucked under her arm.

“I don’t have internet,” I say flatly.

She waves me off. “I know, my computer didn’t pick up any Wi-Fi. But I was thinking we could listen to music? You said you haven’t listened in years, right?”

“Uh…” I hesitate, my stomach feeling knotted. “I guess.”

“Cool.” She sets the computer on the table, and I stand a few feet away, borderline nervous as to what the hell she’s going to play.

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