Page 136 of Three Irish Kings
And that’s all my fault.
Will he ever call me that again?
I frown as he heads to the front door of the bed and breakfast. “Where are you going?”
“You think I’m going to leave you here now? Who knows what you’ve told?—”
“I haven’t told anyoneanything, Dare. If I wanted to escape again, I would’ve back when you hit that guy who was bothering me. I could’ve run off then. I could’ve escaped the car when you parked. I didn’t. Or I could’ve just not followed you, refused to talk to you, screamed for help. But I didn’t. Because I want to talk to you, baby, tell you what’s going on.”
His green eyes, dark and haunted, shoot to mine. “Don’t call me baby. Not now.”
I swallow hard, and he tears his eyes away from me.
We walk into the bed and breakfast, and the receptionist—who I now know is actually the owner—raises a gray eyebrow again but doesn’t comment as we head upstairs.
He may have been overcharging me for the room, but at least he was minding his business.
I hurry ahead of Dare, nearly running to keep up with him. “I’m upstairs. Room 6B.”
Dare jerks open the door of the staircase and makes it to my door while I’m still hustling to get there, standing in front of it with his arms crossed.
I quickly unlock it, and he pushes in, looking around.
I sigh as he looks under the bed.
“What are you doing? Looking for the guy I supposedly ran away with?”
“Looking for weapons,” he says flatly. “Don’t want you to shoot me.”
“Dare, I would never?—”
“I thought you’d never leave, either, but you fucking did, Isla.”
“I had a good reason.”
“What reason?”
I can’t tell him the truth. Not yet. It wouldn’t be fair for the other two.
I huff out a breath. “Where are Cillian and Liam?”
He rolls his eyes. “Of course, you’d ask that. You can’t play us all, Isla. I sent them on a wild goose chase because Liam is likely to shoot you on sight, with how angry he is.”
I bite my lip. “You really think Liam would hurt me?”
Dare sighs, looking down at the floor. ”No.”
“Then why? Why did you send them somewhere I wasn’t?”
He sets his jaw. “I don’t know.”
I step closer to him.
God, I’ve missed him so much. Missed all of them. I want to ask so many questions, ask about Cillian, Liam, but I know how jealous Dare is, and he’s already so angry.
“You look skinny.”
“Yeah, well, it’s been kind of hard to eat while I’m fucking devastated, Isla.”
