Page 37 of Broken Promises
I prayed I didn’t scare her with the truth. “I make sure that people who slip through the fingers of justice get the reckoning they deserve.”
“And is that something you do often?” she inquired as she took a step closer to me, her face filled with curiosity.
She was within my reach, and with slow movements, I placed my hands on her hips and tugged her closer to me, expecting her to give me some blowback. I wasn’t expecting her to wrap her arms over my shoulders as I pulled her against me.
“It’s something I do when the need arises, but going forward, I’ll make sure you know so you don’t worry.”
She went to say something, but closed her mouth and turned her head away from me, depriving me of her beautiful gaze. Carefully, I turned her to face me and raised my eyebrows, silently asking what was going through her mind.
“Ask whatever you need, baby,” I said and waited for her to reply.
The silence dragged on longer than I thought it would, and when she said the next statement, I admit I grew deeper in love with her, and discreetly, I pulled my crotch away from her. She didn’t need to know it was taking everything in my soul to not carry her in the house over my shoulder and fuck her until we both passed out from exhaustion.
Chapter 16
Hannah
“Would you . . . would you tell me what it’s like to kill someone?”
Rhys’s eyes grew wide, and he looked at me like I might be a little crazy, but over the last couple days, I felt crazy. I’d been pissed when I went to work yesterday, and Samuel had picked up on my distress. During lunch, he and I sat outside at one of the picnic tables, and he asked me what happened and why I was so upset.
After telling him basically nothing but enough for him to know I hadn’t heard from Rhys, even though he promised to keep in contact, Samuel gave me a look of understanding. He reminded me there were always growing pains in a new relationship and that we often bring baggage from our last into the next.
That wasn’t exactly the case with me, but I got his point. I needed to be more understanding of Rhys.
Samuel suggested I work from home for a few days, and the longer I thought about it, the more I agreed. I would be worthless at the office, so I made the arrangements, and when I woke up this morning, I decided I needed to stop staring at the same four walls in my house. After calling James to see if Lucian had made any progress on discovering who had sent Granny all that money, he suggested I get away for a day or two.
I tried to reason with him that Rhys would worry, and he had the brilliant idea for me to stay at his place until he returned. Itwould free up Lucian’s man for other jobs and make watching me easier. It took a little persuading, but I eventually agreed.
Regan and I hit it off from the start, so James left us to get to know each other, promising to let Rhys know where I was, so he wouldn’t worry. Now, it seemed my question had stumped him.
“Why . . . why would you want to know something like that?” he asked. I stepped back and ran my hand down my face.
“To tell you the truth, I’ve got a feeling deep in my stomach that it’s information I’m going to need to know.”
“What’s going on?” he inquired, and I wanted to ask what wasn’t going on but held my tongue. “And not that I’m not happy to have you in my home, but why did James decide to stash you here?”
“Stash? No one stashed me anywhere. I needed a few days off, and he suggested I wait here for you, so Lucian’s security could have a break. He . . . he said I would be safe here and you’d be okay with it.” I paused, feeling like I was a pawn in a game. “Was that wrong?”
“I called, and he made it seem like you wanted to get away from everything . . . including me.” I turned around, not wanting him to see the look on my face, but he approached me from behind and placed his hands on my forearms as he rested his head against the back of mine. Softly, he pleaded, “Please talk to me.”
“Is there someplace we can sit down?”
He took my hand and guided me into the house. Regan was making something delicious-smelling in the kitchen as we walked through, and to our retreating backs, she said, “I’ll have dinner done within the hour.”
I could hear her giggling as Rhys guided me through a large dining room and down a hallway. There were doors every fifteen feet or so, but it was the bright light shining through glass doors that drew my attention. Rhys turned and walked us out thedoors and into a beautiful enclosed area with lush plants, comfy-looking chairs, and a small fountain.
After walking me to the table, he pulled out a chair and helped me get comfortable before taking a seat next to me. He took my hand back into his and looked deeply into my eyes. I could see madness dancing behind his brown irises, and I wondered if it was always there or if his ‘hunting’ was the cause.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Rhys requested, and I exhaled deeply.
“I’ll admit, I was mad at you for ignoring me.” He went to speak, but I gave him a look that must have conveyed my need to speak without interruption. He sat back and gave me a nod, so I continued. “I now know you were . . . busy, but after you promised to return that night and you didn’t respond to my text or voicemail, the little voices in my head began telling me how you were so much better without me.” My eyes grew watery. “I know they were lying, but it was hard to fight the fear of abandonment. When I went to work yesterday, Samuel asked why I was upset, and I told him without really telling him anything.”
“And what did he say?”
“He reminded me that every relationship has issues when they first start and the only way to make things better is to talk about it.” I added, “And I understand why you couldn’t contact me, but you didn’t even give me an idea of where you were, and I didn’t know when to worry about you being gone too long.”
“Remind me to thank him for the solid advice.” He leaned over slowly and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was simple, and all too soon, it ended. “James said you found something while going through your Granny’s stuff.”
