Page 46 of Mine to Protect

Sarah shot me a look of annoyance before falling on the couch. “Seriously, what’s with the fifty questions? Unless.…” Her face lit up in excitement. “Is he here? Did you do it? Did you fuck him?”

I shook my head and propped myself up by an elbow on the counter. “No, he isn’t here, and no, I’m not… you know… with him.”

“Mind if I take a shot?”

Standing tall, I crossed my arms. “Yeah, I do. He’s mine.”

“Easy girl,” she said with a chuckle. “So territorial for someone with your past. Fine, I’ll go for the other one. Is that a gun tucked into your pants?”

Crap, forgot about that. Reaching back, I tugged the 9mm from the waistband and replaced it in the holster by the door.

“Do you always walk around the house armed?”

“No, just when unexpected visitors pop in.” I stretched a wide fake smile to take the bite out of my words. “Benny freaked out, which made me freak out. It’s okay though,” I said through a sigh. “The Xanax is kicking in, so I’m not on the threshold of a full-on panic attack anymore.”

“Good, let’s go, then.”

“Go?”

“Yeah,” she said, moving to stand by the door. “I’m not wearing this getup to look good. Thought you could use a run after your long night. I know it relaxes you.”

My shoulders slumped. What was I doing, doubting my only girlfriend about… what was I even accusing her of? I needed to calm the heck down, or I’d lose her trust, and that was the last thing I wanted.

“Right, sorry. Where do you want to go?” I asked over my shoulder as I locked up the cabin.

“How about Lilly Lake? It’s my favorite.”

Do not read into it.

It’s a lot of people’s favorite.

She’s a friend. A good friend. Stop acting like a fucking lunatic.

“Sounds great. I’ll drive,” I bit out before yanking the truck door open. I started the truck, but Sarah stood in the opened passenger door, not moving to climb in. “You getting in?”

“I don’t know. You’re acting weird. I mean weirder than normal, weird. What’s with you? Do you want me to go?” She hooked her thumb toward the old Civic. “Because honestly, I’m getting an angry vibe.”

Leaning forward, I pressed my forehead against the steering wheel. “Sorry, it’s just you showing up and liking my favorite running spot and—”

“Alta, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re overreacting. This is what friends do. They show up when they’ve heard you had a bad day. They listen to what you say when you’re talking to pick up on little tidbits about you. And yeah, Lilly Lake is my favorite. It’s everyone's favorite. It has the best trail now that the renovations are done.”

She was right.

I was acting like the paranoid freak I was.

With a grimace, I leaned back and looked at her. “You’re right. I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m super bad at this friend stuff. Little out of practice, you know.”

Finally she slid into the passenger seat and shut the door. “I know. Now on the way to the trail, you have to tell me how your pretty little face got jacked up.”

While backing up, something shifted in the rearview mirror. Not wanting to overreact again, I glanced to Sarah to see if she noticed anything strange.

“Hey, did you…?”

“Hmm?” she mumbled while she fiddled with her phone.

“Nothing, never mind.”

It was nothing.

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