Page 49 of Even if You Fall

Because I’d been unwillingly falling for the little threat at the front of the office.

But along with confirming her joy was a shield, she’d made me rethink everything I’d thought I’d known about her. She’d all but destroyed the remnants of my suspicions concerning her.

Didn’t change that, for over a decade, it’d been ingrained in me to get every last detail before clearing even the slightest threat.

I glanced at her contented smile and felt everything in me pull toward a girl who wasn’t doing a thing to draw me to her. It was justher. This girl who wasn’t at all my type and was everything I couldn’t look away from. This girl who made me feel like I was losing my mind and who intrigued me a little more with every thought.

Forcing my stare back on the road, a muscle in my jaw twitched as I ground my teeth.

I needed to keep my distance, and I needed to clear her...right?

Once I turned into Old Colorado City, I felt the corner of my mouth tip up at the way Chloe started gushing over how adorable the area was, with its shops and restaurants.

“What are we doing here?” she asked excitedly, turning in her seat to face me.

“Getting you clothes,” I said pointedly. “You’re gonna need a sweatshirt, at least.”

“Right,” she said with a nod as if she’d already forgotten our conversation.

“Besides, I need to run into the bakery up there,” I told her, gesturing to it with a jerk of my chin. “My mom’s obsessed with their muffins, but she refuses to buy them for herself.”

“So, you buy them,” Chloe assumed, her smile softening in a way that had me doing a double take before I focused on the road again.

“We all buy them,” I gently corrected. “Whenever anyone comes over here, we get some for the house and a couple just for her.”

An adoring hum sounded in Chloe’s throat. “That’s sweet.”

I didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure I could when just talking about my family had a nauseating dread slipping through my veins all over again. Because this wasn’t just Chloe—a potential threat—getting close to my family. This was something so much worse than that, and I hated Briggs for putting me in this position.

Not that he was unaware of what bringing Chloe home would mean, he just didn’t care.

He viewed this as a mission, and since Monroe and I were the only ones not from Texas, he’d chosen me to take Chloe since I wasalready keeping such a close eye on her. I hadn’t missed the hidden meaning or the look he’d given me when he’d said that. I’d also lied and told him he was wrong, which only led to him mumbling,“Keep telling yourself that,”as he’d walked away.

“Look, there’s something you need to know,” I said once I’d parked, but instead of looking over at where I could feel her eyes on me, I just stared blankly at the steering wheel. “My family...I come home when I can, but it’s still probably only about once or twice a year. So, when I do make it back, my brother and sisters do what they can to make sure they’re there too.”

A hum of understanding sounded from beside me. “And you don’t want me taking away from that time.”

A huff of a laugh punched from me, but nothing about this was funny. “It isn’t that. It’s...it’s that this is all gonna be so much worse,” I muttered to myself, then leaned back and dragged my hands over my face.

“Drop me off at a hotel or motel...whatever,” she said as if it were as simple as that, all in that bright, joyful tone she so easily forced. “I already told you I wouldn’t mind.”

“I can’t.”

“Well, technically, you?—”

“I can’t,” I said over her, then finally turned to face her. “I also can’t bring anyone home.”

Her head slanted ever so slightly as the most adorable expression of confusion stole across her face. “Okay,” she said slowly, drawing out the word. “So, take me to a hotel or a motel.”

“No, you’re not getting—” My head quickly shook because it wasn’t her fault she wasn’t understanding; I just didn’t know how to explain it to her. Or maybe it was that I didn’t want to. Swallowing past the sudden knot in my throat, I said, “Once any of us turned eighteen, my parents always said we couldn’t bring a bunch of people home, trying to fit them into the family, only for them not to work out. So, if we brought someone home, then it had to be someone we were sure of. So sure, futures had been talked about in depth and engagements were coming soon.”

As I spoke, Chloe’s face fell and drained of color until her freckles stood out against her pale cheeks. “But I...” The words burst from her, but she quickly seemed to lose the ability to speak as she tried wrapping her head around what I was saying.

“You understand why taking you home is so difficult for me?”

“But you aren’t taking me to your home in that way,” she said as if trying to convince one of us.

“That’s the only way they’ll see it,” I assured her.

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