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The van opens and Junie slides out the second we’re in my driveway. She looks up at the house with the strangest expression, almost like she doesn’t recognize it.
Then I get out and she looks at me.
I know her well enough to read her perfectly.
The way her eyes widen, her lips press together, the tendons in her neck standing in sharp relief.
Fear.
That’s what grips her now, and if I had less self-control, it would be mirrored on my face too.
Fear for her.
For everything this nasty discovery means.
I don’t want to be angry, but that’s how my own fear erupts.
Anger slashing through my veins like swords, so potent it scorches.
“How did you find me?” she asks.
“You mean when you didn’t answer my calls? Don’t say that like I wasn’t driving around looking for you.” I’m too close to her now. Close enough to see her freckles, the sharp green of her eyes, the dampness on her eyelashes.
Shewascrying, by the looks of it.
“Only Emmy knew where I was…” She sniffs roughly.
At least she had the good sense to tell someone else, even if that person wasn’t me. That stings more than it should.
“You disobeyed me,” I spit. “I told you not to do anything alone. Itoldyou not to get involved and leave it to me.”
For the first time, she glances away like she can’t stand to look at me.
The hazy light through the trees crisscrosses her cheekbones. All it does is remind me I might not have found her alive. She might never have looked at me again with anger or disgust or anything else.
That’s going to haunt me forever, the nightmarewhat-ifs.
The thought of finding Junie cold and lifeless.
“You barely told me anything,” she says numbly, folding her arms like she’s trying to push her emotions back in behind them. “All this was going on and you didn’t tell meshit,Dexter.”
“I told you about the plates. I showed you proof Haute’s shady as hell.”
“You gave me the bare minimum to make sure I wouldn’t get involved.” When she’s mad, there’s this rasping heartache in her voice. She looks at me, her eyes too bright and glassy. “But whatever he’s up to, this was worth it. Now we know where he keeps his cash and—”
“Cash that’s under surveillance.” I step toward her, my shoes scuffing the asphalt. “You think Haute would use that place as a drop site where any random dumbass can waltz in and grab unguarded money?”
Her nostrils flare and she looks down, tightening her arms around herself. “I understand the dangers—”
“Go inside, Junie,” I clip before she even finishes.
The way she looks at me tells me I definitely look like the asshole here, and I sound like one too.
It’s not like I suspect anyone of being able to overhear us, but there’s something safer about indoors. Less open.
Call me paranoid, but I need to know she’s absolutely safe. I also can’t let things get so heated that she runs, throwing herself at every lurking wolf imaginable.
“Fine,” she snaps, marching through the front door. I follow to see her whirl around in front of the fireplace, the late afternoon sun spinning ruby threads in her hair.
