Page 129 of The Invite
“What? Finally run out of insults?” He raises a sardonic brow. I purse my lips. He orders, “Get in the car then.”
I ask the question that’s been itching at the back of my head. “Why didn’t you tell the others about me?”
His demeanor turns icy and he closes the gap. “Get in the car, Nessa.”
“Not with you.”
“Would you prefer I leave you here for the guard to catch you?” Checking his wristwatch, he informs me, “He’s about to arrive at any minute now.”
I glance around the street in trepidation. Though I’ve parked the car in a secluded corner. It can be easily seen if one knows exactly where to look. So, I scurry into the driver’s side.
I’m too busy checking the area to notice Augustus round the hood and settle into the passenger seat before I can lock him out.
Man, he’s fast.
He shuts the door, enclosing us in the compact space. His scent swirls with mine, dominating the air until it’s him I’m inhaling straight into my lungs. The silence is deafening as the little noises from outside can’t penetrate. Every sound in the car becomes heightened tenfold.
The scrape of my foot on the floor of the car. My hips shifting on the luxurious leather of the seat. The sighs falling from my lips as I control my beating heart.
Augustus takes it all in but doesn’t say anything. His eyes burn into my profile, raising the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.
His unpredictability makes me nervous.
I don’t know what he’ll do from one second to thenext.
“Where’s your ride?” I ask, breaking the tension. “Didn’t you come with Maverick?”
He waits until I glance at him to say, “Yes.”
I don’t expect him to answer but he surprises me.
“He’s meeting me at your place.”
So they can both punish me for getting them suspended? I can’t be sure that Augustus will leave me unscathed once we get there. My hand trembles and tightens around the steering wheel as he reads my troubled mind.
“Nobody butmetouches you, little prey,” he possessively says. “Now, drive.”
Staying here cooped up inside the car with him in the middle of the woods won’t protect me. With a yielding breath, I turn the ignition. Before I can hit the gas, he stops me with a surprisingly protective command.
“Seat belt, Nessa.”
Shit. It slipped my mind.
Apparently I’m not fast enough because with a sigh, Augustus reaches over and clasps it around my chest himself.
I don’t waste another second in driving down the hill without running into anyone and pull onto the highway.
“What did you think about our plan?” His gravelly voice travels and trickles down my spine in a shiver.
I keep my eyes on the road illuminated by the headlights. “It’s our only option.”
“We could always tell the cops.”
“No,” I say in a panicked breath and immediately regret it. I try covering up the slipup but it’s a last-ditch attempt that will work on anyone but him. “Only because I don’t think they’ll believe it.”
As expected, he catches on my fear like a bloodhound. “Why are you so scared of the cops, Nessa? Had a bad encounter with them? Got arrested for a crime?”
“I just don’t trust them.”
