Page 21 of Furever Loyal
“We didn’t set anything up, Haley. I swear to you.”
“Right. Why the hell else would you laugh and tell me everything is under control after you slam into a table, and then say not to freak out when a giant wolf, or whatever that was, is set free to run out of the warehouse.” She looked around. “And where is your friend anyway?”
“He’s not my friend,” Kincaid ground out. “Not in the slightest. Now, if you would just come back to the warehouse, everything will be okay.”
“You mean the warehouse you forced me to break into?”
Kincaid bounced from side to side, raising his shoulders slightly. “Actually, I didn’t force you to do anything. You were the one who ran inside.”
She opened her mouth to tell him that was not what she meant, but then just slumped in defeat. Then an idea came to her. “I’m going back to the office now, Kincaid. You’re going to drive me, then you’re going to leave me alone. Otherwise, I’m going to tell Kaelyn about all the shit you put me through just for a practical joke.” Crossing her arms, she stared at him victoriously.
Kincaid’s face didn’t change. “The Queen will know full well it wasn’t some sort of practical joke. She’s well aware of these things. And she’ll probably just tell you to stop freaking out and over-reacting.”
Haley knew the last two were thrown out there just to goad her, to entice her into flipping out some more. Despite all that, she almost caved, almost gave the arrogant ass exactly what he wanted.
“I’m leaving now,” she said calmly as they reached the road and she started heading up it, eager to get back to the busier areas where she could more easily hail a cab or make the Uber drive cheaper. Either or.
“This is ridiculous. Come on.”
“No. I told you. I’m leaving. I never want to see you again, Kincaid. You’re an arrogant piece of shit, and how you convinced Kaelyn you’re not some traitorous asshole is beyond me. I can see through you clearly, and you don’t give a shit about anyone other than yourself. Now leave mealone!”
She shouted the last word loud enough that it bounced off several of the buildings, echoing for a moment. Kincaid was clearly pissed, but he didn’t say anything right away. For several long moments, she thought she was going to get away with it. Until they started to pass the Granted Holding warehouse.
That was when he abruptly snatched her up, tossed her over his shoulder and ran across the street.
11
He stole her breath away with the suddenness of the movement. It wasn’t until they were back inside the fateful darkened room, with its metal siding walls and concrete floor, that she even thought to suck in another breath to scream for help.
“Stop it,” he said, setting her down gently. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Haley watched him as he backed away, giving her some room, though he was still between her and the rear door. She glanced at the front, but it was far. He would catch her before she even got to the offices.
“I didn’t want you to have to see what you saw.”
“You mean a man transform into a wolf somehow? Even for an illusionist, that was…intense.” She shivered, looking over to the pile of tools and racking on the floor where she’d seen it happen.
The room was dark, but not so much that she’d missed what had transpired.
“So, you did see it all,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t sure how much you’d noticed.”
She frowned. “You’re acting like that actually happened, Kincaid.”
He didn’t respond, and her fear only increased. What was she involved in?
“I didn’t want to expose you to this side of things, Haley. I really, truly didn’t. That wasn’t my plan, but I don’t really have a choice now, do I?”
Watching him, studying his face intently, she came to the slow realization that she was indeepshit. Kincaid was about to tell her something bad. Was he going to tell her she was in the middle of some sort of criminal undertaking? Her mind ran wild with various scenarios of what she’d stumbled upon, and just how screwed she was because of it.
“I want to show you something,” he said, pulling at the sleeves of his shirt, retracting his arms inside.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, watching with irritated interest as he removed his shirt, revealing the rock-hard body underneath.Holy shit he’s in good shape. Just look at all that muscle…
The show served to distract her for a few brief moments as she followed the “v” of his abs down to his belt. But reality has a funny way of not going away, and it returned with crashing clarity a second later.
“Stop stripping. A lap dance isnotgoing to make this any better. It’s just going to earn you a sexual assault charge.”
Truthfully, watching as his pants came undone, she doubted her ability to file that charge, if all he did was strip down.
