Page 25 of Never Say Yes To A Stranger

Then again, even if I hadn’t given him my passwords, he probably would have found a way to discover them all. He’s an evil genius like that.

Beau marches over, picks Aiden up by the scruff again, and practically throws him off the porch. It’s then that I realize the yard is black as night, which makes sense because it is night, but there aren’t any other cars around. No headlights and no flash of a vehicle parked by the house. How the heck did Aiden get here? Has he been watching me for days? For weeks? For how long? Did he park down the road and walk here so I wouldn’t hear him coming?

Goosebumps break out all over my skin, and my stomach churns. I have to swallow repeatedly to keep from hurling.

“You’re going to leave now,” Beau informs Aiden, who picks himself off the ground and brushes himself like he can rub off the injury as well as the insult. “And you’re not going to comeback. This woman is under my protection. You don’t want to end up on my threat lists. Threats get eliminated. You’re just lucky I haven’t destroyed your life yet. Don’t push me. I just might do it for fun in my spare time.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Aiden growls, all brave now that there’s a few feet of distance between him and Beau.

Beau moves so fast that I’m not even sure it’s physically possible to do something like that until he’s down the steps, looking hecking murderous and frothing at the mouth rabid style again.

“My name doesn’t matter, only my intent, and that’s to protect this woman like it’s my job. I’m very, very good at what I do. I’m also incredibly bored with this, and bad things happen when I get bored. I have impeccable control, but I also have a boundless limit when it comes to cruelty and carnage. Unless you’d like to experience both, I would leave, stat.”

Aiden doesn’t stick around to follow that up with so much as anoh shit.Instead, he turns and sprints down the driveway. He trips once and goes sprawling in the gravel, but he doesn’t curse. He doesn’t say anything. He just rights himself and hurtles straight into the dark. I watch his shadow stop and stare back at both of us. He’s probably thinking a few murderous thoughts of his own. Maybe he’s trying to prove he has a bag and the stones to match.

Beau makes one single move forward, and Aiden scampers off, stumbling again. I can just see him hit the ditch and go down on all fours from a dead run. He didn’t see the large, yawning chasm there. He rounds the other side, climbing out, and then his shadow blends in with the dark. All I can hear is the crunching of fast-fleeing steps on the gravel road, and the sound gets fainter and fainter.

Beau isn’t gentle when he turns around. He looks just as angry and feral as before, and even if his anger isn’t directed at me,I take a step back. He blinks at me, stunned, and it’s like that single movement brings him crashing back into himself.

“I’m sorry.” He sticks out his hands, so gentle in comparison to how he did this exact same gesture at Aiden just a few minutes ago. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Most of that was just for his benefit of seeing it and knowing he can’t fuck around.” However, he doesn’t look like any of it was for the benefit of anything. His face is still a storm, even if he calms it down, so I know he will never break over me.

Of course, I know that. Iknowhe will never hurt me.

His hand still feels heavy when it comes down on my shoulder. He doesn’t curl his fingers into me or around my upper arm or anything. There’s nothing forced. It’s just his hand and the slightest pressure. It’s comforting. I want to close my eyes and let him guide me, let him tell me what to do now, and let him inform, plan, order, andsaveme.

It’s all wrong, but I need a minute to catch my breath. No, I need at least an hour before I’m not a wreck. I’m still barely holding it together, and by holding it together, I mean breathing and not barfing.

“Let’s go inside.” His voice is deep and kind, but it’s the tone that gets me. It hits me deep in the belly like an oddly soothing bomb blast, and I know how insane that sounds. “I think you need to tell me everything.”

Why the heck would I do that?

He guides me with that protective hand, and as we walk through the door, I realize he’s angled to completely shield my body with his. He’s in natural protector mode, and I find myself doing more than just giving in. I want to be protected. I want him to be the shield that stands between me and the world until I can pick myself up. It’s not something I’ve ever asked for. I thought being tough was the only way to survive and get throughall this. Even if I wasn’t tough, I thought I could fake it until I was, even if I was just faking it for myself.

Okay, myself and my family.

“How much is everything?” I whisper, my voice coming out all funky and wrong. It’s as wobbly as my legs and stomach.

“I need to know all of it.” He locks the door and double-checks all the locks even after he just slid them into place. The first thing he does is pick my phone off the kitchen counter and check that all the cameras are functioning.

It’s all very levelheaded and…professional.

Like he’s done this before.

Like maybe thisiswhat he does in his other life.

I find just enough of my sass to throw my head back and try and be brave. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”

He nods and checks the cameras one more time before setting my phone down. Then, he crosses his arms so his muscles bulge in that bloody sinful T-shirt. “You don’t have to, but you will because I’m going to keep you safe. I’m going to make this right for you and help you get your life back.”

Chapter eight

Beau

Everything I thought I knew about this woman was wrong. I’m now dead certain of it.

All this time, we’ve been after the wrong person. She didn’t change her identity and run from her old life to lay low until she could make good on her escape. All this time, she’s been the fall guy…err…girl, and the real evil has been out there running wild and free in the world.

Why didn’t I see this coming?

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