Page 13 of He is… Creed: Part Three
I’m about to say as much when a sudden rush of nausea seems to merge with my emotions in a punishing collision, and my knees wobble with the impact.
Instantly, Creed is there, his arm wrapping around my waist. “Addie.” He scoops me up, carries me to my oversized, comfy blue couch, and lays me down. He’s on a knee beside me, studying me, his attention probing. “The lifebond illness.”
“Don’t read into it. I’ve been sick, but sometimes sick is just sick.”
The look on his face is shaken, and he pulls me close, pressing his forehead to mine. “Addie—”
My hand presses to his face. “It’s not that. I’m stressed and exhausted.”
“I never meant to hurt you, Addie.”
He never meant to hurt me. He thinks bonding to me is hurting me. I keep forgetting his distance is about self-hate, not me. And that’s kind of selfish of me. “You’re not hurting me, Creed.” I ease back to meet his stare. “You save me over and over. You know that, right?”
“I think it’s the opposite.”
“Maybe we save each other,” I suggest, trailing my fingers over his lips. I love his lips. Love kissing him. So, I do. I press my lips to his and then ease back and slide the hard drive from my pocket.
He arches a brow, and I smile. “I knew if he tried to get it from my person, you’d kill him. I was kind of hoping he’d try. Care to do the honors while I pack?”
He accepts the hard drive from me. “Pack light. We’ll be traveling by motorcycle through Sunrise Canyon. You’ll be able to get anything you need there.”
Fifteen minutes later, with a small bag packed, I’ve changed into jeans and sneakers and returned to the living room to find Creed sitting on my couch with my laptop open. “Any luck?”
“Encrypted,” he says with frustration, shutting the lid on the computer. “We need Jensen’s hacking skills. He’s meeting us on our way out of town to pick up the drive. He’ll have it decoded by the time we get to Sunrise City.”
A moment of trepidation flutters through me at the lack of control that offers me. I know Julian is after Red Dart. I know the Renegades doubt my father, but they won’t be once I prove he was not against them. That hard drive might be the answer to doing that.
Either way, he’s right. We need Jensen. The sooner that data is decoded, the sooner we can all work together.
Chapter Fifteen
Creed
We exit Addie’s condo, and I pull her close, sheltering her from the onslaught of an attack with my body. The need to do so is a reminder that lifebonding will sustain her in many ways and weaken her in others.
She won’t die easily.
But she will die if I die.
The stifling early evening heat wraps around us, the smell of rain touching the air. A distant rumble of thunder promises the trip through the canyon will be a wet one.
Reaching out to the wind for any warnings, I listen to the whispers only I can understand and then order it to seek out trouble.
Glancing at Addie, I incline my head toward the side of the building, to a row of parking meters that face another building and more meters. “I’m over here,” I say, leading her toward the less-than-discreet spot I’d parked the Ford F-150 I’m driving, scanning the perimeter with feigned nonchalance and noting four vacant cars across the street. A fifth car sits empty two spaces in front of the truck.
“I thought we were traveling by motorcycle?”
“It’s in the back of the truck,” I tell her, guiding her toward the passenger’s door, then inside the cabin.
“I can’t believe you traded in Carrie for a pickup truck,” she says as I join her, claiming the driver’s seat.
“Carrie’s waiting at home for her next ride,” I say, softening my voice to an intimate rumble as I add, “or ours,” remembering all too clearly a night we’d made love in that car. It had been a feat, considering it was small and I am big, but a pleasurable feat. From the pink flush on Addie’s pale cheeks, I know she remembers that night as well. “She’s missed you,” I tease.
Her lips part, full and tempting, and the only thing stopping me from kissing her was the need to get her to safety. “Then why isn’t she here?”
“We’re headed toward some hard desert terrain. Carrie doesn’t like it. I can’t exactly windwalk amongst the general population, so believe me, I’d take her speed and agility any day over Frank here.” I pat the truck’s dash.
She gives a delicate snort. Cute. Damn, I love everything about this woman.