Page 30 of Twisted Hearts

Telling this woman I didn’t want to stay in a town and watch the woman I’d wanted for so long fall in love with another man didn’t seem like it’d go in my favor. I wasn’t a heartbroken, lovesick fool. I’d taken my shot and lost to a great guy, and Lauren was incredibly happy.

I was happy for her—I just didn’t want to see it every day, or see them together with Noah’s niece, the girl they were raising together after his sister and her husband died in a tragic accident and left the little girl in Noah’s care as her guardian.

“I think as I grew older and started watching all my friends I’d known all my life settle down and start having kids, I wanted what they had, but I also wanted more out of life. I wanted more experiences, more adventure. It occurred to me that I was a thirty-year-old man and, outside of a few ski trips to the mountains, I hadn’t really experienced much. I wanted to protect and love the people I cared about, but I also figured on a larger scale, there were a lot more different ways I could do that than in my hometown of a few thousand.”

She made a choking sound that sounded like she was trying to smother a laugh.

Not exactly the reaction I expected, but when it came to Addi, I figured I should toss expectations out the window. “Was something in that funny?”

“No,” she said and pointed to a corner up ahead. “This way.”

“You’re laughing.”

She had her bottom lip between her teeth, and if it’d been lighter out, I swore I’d have seen humor dancing in her eyes.

“It’s not funny. I’m surprised.”

“That I’d want to help people? See more of the world outside of Kansas?”

I wasn’t yet offended, but women laughing at me was a new experience. Back in Carlton, they tended to throw themselves in front of me even after I made it clear I wasn’t interested.

“No.” Her smile flatlined, and she stared straight ahead. The heels of our shoes clicking and thumping on the asphalt were the only sounds for a moment until she quietly finished her thought. “That you’d so easily admit to wanting what your friends have and wanting a family.”

A cold and eerie sensation seemed to follow her words. She meant that.

Good God.Who’d hurt her? Treated her so poorly the idea of a guy genuinely wanting that surprised her?

My steps slowed as we reached an alley and she started to turn down it. “Hold on,” I said, straightening my arm in front of her. Ahead of us, it was practically pitch black. A few yellowed lights were blinking, hanging outside steel doors. I assumed they led to some of the businesses on either side, but other than those lights that looked like they could flicker out at any moment, there was very little illumination.

“Why?”

“Because before you head down this way, ever, you should always stop and listen for sounds. You never know what could be hiding behind dumpsters. Or in them.” Or crouched, waiting to attack. I didn’t finish my thought but scanned the darkened area, a pulsing low in my gut.

God I hoped she never walked this alone at night, especially without something more than her keys in hand.

“You need pepper spray. Or mace.” Or a gun, but I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone not familiar with them or trained well enough to carry by themselves. An inexperienced gun handler in the dark could be more dangerous than the predator who might be waiting for them.

She grinned up at me, and this time, her laugh was even better,louderthan before. “Malcolm has told me the same thing.” She shrugged and stepped forward. This time, I dropped my arm and slowed my steps, giving her no choice but to slow hers as well unless she wanted to take off away from me. The alley seemed safe, quiet, but this was a city and not a small town, and even there I’d have been alert with a woman walking alone at night.

“As far as what I want out of life,” I said, trying to remain casual and not let my worries about who had hurt her seep into my tone, “I don’t think there’s anything surprising about a man who knows what he wants. I think the only weak thing about a man could be him wanting something and being ashamed or embarrassed to admit it.”

She huffed and shook her head. She still didn’t believe me, but I wasn’t going to grill her for information on what kind of losers she’d dated in the past, although someday I did want to know.

I wanted to know everything about her. What had brought her here. Why she was so quick to change the subject when it came to me asking about her.

Hopefully, she’d be more willing now to give me the chance.

We reached a set of metal stairs that looked barely stable enough to hold her weight, and I curled my hand around the railing. “Thank you for asking me to walk you home. I don’t like the idea of you being out here alone.”

“I wouldn’t have been, but I’m glad you waited for me tonight.” She chewed her bottom lip and her face paled, as if the admission cost her something she was trying to hold back.

At least the lights to the doorway of this building were nice and bright, not flickering like the others. Behind her there was a metal door I assumed led to Stamped, and at the top of the rickety metal stairs, there was another heavy door. Keypad locks were on both.

I felt vaguely better about her safety. Beneath the stairs there was a locking mechanism, and my gaze narrowed in on it.

“Can you raise these stairs?”

“Yeah. I don’t normally. It’s a pain in the ass to get them lowered, but it’s possible.”

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