Page 21 of Shielded Secrets

“Kelly?” I asked once we reached my car. I opened the door for her and watched her get in, mute and stiff, not making eye contact with me. Not really pivoting to face me, she stared ahead and offered a hum of acknowledgment.

“Hmm?” No smile. No look up at me.

Fuck.I hated the chance that she only seemed aloof because she forced herself to look so strong that no one would think she needed comfort. If this brave face was all an act, she wouldn’t dupe me with it anymore.

I rested one hand on the roof of the car, standing in the space between her and the open door. Then I lowered my other hand to reach for her chin. She had a perfect heart-shaped face with a little pointed chin below those plump lips I’d thought about way too often. Right now, they were thinned in a fine line of stress. Touching my finger and thumb to the underside of her chin, I encouraged her to make eye contact with me.

“Kelly.”

She faced me and released a long exhale. “Yeah?”

“You’ll be all right,” I said, at a loss for knowing what else to tell her.

“Oh.”

I furrowed my brow, watching her buckle in and break eye contact. That was odd. Did she not believe me? Did she doubt that I could see to her wellbeing and safety? Or did she not want anything to do with me? When she first looked at me, before I shot that man in the head, I noticed the surprise and awe in her expression. She’d seemed happy—grateful, even—to see me.

Now, she was cool. Too aloof.

I shut her door and rounded the car, promising to myself that she would not be able to keep me away again. I wouldn’t let myself stay away from her this time.

“Eva’s been anxious to see you again,” I said, hoping that mentioning her would loosen Kelly up. I started the car and sped out of the lot, trying to figure out how to play this with Kelly. If she was scared and traumatized by being followed then attacked, that would make sense. But that didn’t seem to be the case. She wasn’t numb, like her body had frozen up and shut her down. If she was nervous and hesitant to be near me after a couple of months apart, that would make sense too. We’d allowed too big of a gap to wedge between us to be instant friends or acquaintances now. When I’d first caught a glimpse of her, when Eva started her classes last semester, Kelly and I hadn’t ever really had many chances to truly get to know each other. She knew of me, and that was good enough.

She still didn’t reply.

“I’m taking you there now, so you can see her.”

Her jaw slid as she ground her teeth. “I thought you were transporting me somewhere so you could get answers.”

It sounded too clinical when she said it.

“I am, but you can see Eva first.”

“What’s the point?” she asked.

I scowled. “What do you mean, what’s the point? She thinks you could still be friends.”

“I don’t make a habit of socializing with Mafia members.”

I huffed a laugh. “No? But you allow a habit to form of having men follow you in the dark?” Stopped at a light, I reached over to grip her chin again and make her face me. Her cheek was still pink from that man backhanding her. “You’ll tolerate a habit of strange men hitting you?”

Even though she was safe in the car with me, anger resurfaced. I wanted to kill that man all over again for hurting her.

She didn’t push my hand away but ducked to evade my touch. I hated the troubled look in her eyes as she put up distance between us. “No. I don’t make a habit of inviting any man near me. Ever. I don’t make a habit of letting men think they can follow me or hit me.”

While the news of her not letting any man near her lifted my spirits, I wondered if she meant that about me, too.

“Eva may be a member of the Baranov Family, but that has never stood in the way of her wanting to be your friend.”

She crossed her arms. “And that’s supposed to explain how and why you were near me when I was attacked?”

Not once, but twice.The first man hadn’t reached her to hurt her, but I had no doubt that was what he’d intended to do with her. What I needed to figure out was if they were working together or if those were isolated incidents. “No.” I’d be honest about this. “Eva asked me to come to campus specifically to check on you.”

“Really?” Now she faced me as I drove. In my peripheral vision, I noticed her raising her brows, like she couldn’t believe that.

“Yes. She’s worried about your going no-contact with her. We’re aware of the drugs distributed on campus still, even after Eva stopped her enrollment at the school. She asked me to come check on you. When I did, I heard some news about other Families operating in the area, and the Boss wanted me to head up the surveillance again.”

“So, you came to spy on the drug dealers and other Mafia thugs on campus.”

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