Page 51 of Wolf's Chance

Throwing his hands up in the air, he turned away from me. “What kind of question isthat? Do you hear yourself?”

“Do you?” Stepping forward, I moved closer to him. “You know so much more than you tell me, which wouldn’t be hard, you tell me so little. But I know you know what was out there, and why.Tellme.”

“I have nothing to tell you, except maybe…”

“Maybe?”

“You have a really active imagination.”

My sketch pad sailed through the air as I threw it at him, and to my disgust, he caught it easily, packing it with the rest. “This box is full. We should leave soon.”

“Tonight?”

“Do you think we did all this so we could nap?” Caleb picked the box up and carried it to the front door.

“For hours, you’ve said I was too tired to help, and now I’m road-tripping right now?”

Wiping his hands off the back of his pants, he nodded. “Lily had blankets in her truck. I’ve already made a bed in the back for you. You should be fine.”

“You can’t take over my life, Caleb.”

“For fuck’s sake, Willow, I was thinking of you. Not everything has to have an agenda attached to it.”

“This whole entire thing, this, thisinsanitythat my life’s become since I met you, has had an agenda! If I’m suspicious ofeverything, it’sbecauseyou made me this way!”

“No!” He was in my face so fast that I hadn’t realized how close he had been to me. “I haven’t known you long enough tomakeyou anything. If you’re suspicious and untrusting, that’son you, not me. Blame me for what you want, hate me, I don’t care, but everything that’s shit in your life, Willow, it’s not on me.”

He moved away, walking past me to get to the bedroom, and I heard him collect more boxes. When he came back, he dumped a tote bag at my feet. “Pack. We leave in twenty.”

Wordlessly I snatched it off the ground. I didn’t snipe at him that he wasted his time bringing it into the living room, because I was a mature woman. Anadult.Even if he was a tiny-dicked prick who could kiss my ass. I didn’t say a word, just packed my tote for a few nights and grabbed my toiletry bag.

When I came back to the main room, he was waiting for me.

“Ready?”

No. “Let’s get it over with.”

“Perfect.”

He handed me my house key at the front door, and I again bit my tongue and took it off him, never mentioning the fact he had to go into my purse to get it.

As I opened the door, Caleb’s hand slammed against the wood, closing it quickly. He pulled me into his body, his hand over my mouth, his lips at my ear.

“Shhh, we’re not alone.”

My instinct was to speak, and he must have known that, because he pressed his hand firmer against my lips. I nodded to let him know I understood.

Caleb was still as my panic rose, making me feel like I was coming out of my skin. He didn’t react, just holding me tightly. After what may have been an eternity, he loosened his hold.

“Change of plan,” he murmured. “We leave at first light.”

He turned me to face him. The moon shining through the glass partition at the top of my doorway lit his features. “We’ll leave later.” He shook his head as he spoke. “We’ll rest tonight and head off in the morning. Okay?”

His face was telling me one thing, which was contrary to his words. He mouthedsay okayto me, so like the puppet I was, I nodded.

“Okay, sounds good.”

Caleb pulled my unresisting body to the bedroom and guided us both to sit at the end of the bed. There had been some notebooks he had deemed unworthy of including, and he grabbed one and an old stub of a pencil.

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