Page 16 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
Angling his head toward me, he lowered his voice. “We all need someone to take care of us sometimes, Piper.”
His potency smacked me in the face. The mossy woods and crisp snow and the leather that was coming from the jacket he’d finally donned when we’d arrived at the motel. One that was roughened and distressed from years of use, as if it’d traveled a lifetime of miles with him.
“I was the one who stumbled on you tonight,” he continued. “So in my book, that means I am supposed to take care of you. Any decent person would have picked you up and given you a ride. Plus, it’s a lot closer for my uncle to come here to check you out rather than driving all the way to his office in town, so it wasn’t out of his way. Besides, I can promise you, he would have been pissed if I hadn’t called him. So, I’m going to need you to swallow that pride and accept it, yeah? None of it was a big deal. Now let’s get you a room.”
He turned away while my head spun. Trying to catch up to this whirlwind of a man.
“I can get my own room,” I rasped, needing to put an end to whatever this was.
I couldn’t keep accepting his generosity. Whatever this overbearing care was that he offered. As if he somehow believed that we’d become his complete responsibility.
I needed to get away from him.
Never see him again.
Because he was dangerous to my sanity. To my reserves. To the purpose that drove me forward.
I could feel it like a threat simmering all around me.
How easily he could get under my skin. I couldn’t let him.
He had the audacity to smirk back at me. “I might need to pull a few strings.”
My mouth dropped wide, and I watched in horror as he strode for the counter across the massive lobby.
“My, my, he is one to contend with, isn’t he?” Nelly tsked.
Her voice finally shot me into action, and I mumbled, “Watch my bags,” since my purse and duffel were on the floor next to the couch.
I raced after him, and I barely caught up as he splayed his tattooed hands out on the counter.
It was the first time I noticed the tattoo on the back of his left hand.
For some reason, my attention zeroed in on it.
It had two stacked Ss with an eye sitting directly in the middle. A dagger ran through the entire thing, and sitting on top of the handle was a skull.
Disquiet pulled through my being.
There was something about it that struck me.
Something about it that hit me like a warning.
An omen of death.
Theo looked down at the woman behind the counter.
Her name was Madge, and she was probably ten years younger than Nelly. She’d jumped up when we first came in, flitting around us in distress before Theo had told her not to worry because Dr. Reynolds was on his way.
“I’m so glad to hear you’re all okay,” she gushed, her dyed red hair cut in a long bob that brushed her shoulders. “I might havebeen eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help myself. Your little man is adorable.”
“He is, thank you. And I’m relieved, too,” I told her, trying to keep the trembling from my voice.
Theo leaned farther over the counter, completely casual as he said, “They’re going to need Unit B.”
Madge rocked back for a confused moment before she jolted forward, and her fingers began to fly over her keyboard. “Right, right, of course.”
“I am perfectly capable of getting my own room.” My words were shards.
