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“I’ll let you know as soon as I decide.” I release her, and this time, she lets go of me. “If you want to freshen up I grabbed you all your favorite things.”
“My favorite things? Because you know me.”
“Yes, baby, I do. Knowing you was a choice, but it's also one that helps us stay alive. Know everything about everyone around you. The smallest detail could matter in ways you don't expect.”
She studies me a moment and then nods, before turning away. “Ashley,” I say, not wanting her to read me wrong.
She turns and faces me. “Yes?”
“Every time I learned something about you, I wanted more. So damn much more.”
The shadows in her eyes melt away. “Good. Because you seem to be stuck with me.”
“Never. Every moment I'm with you is a choice, the right choice. I'm going to make you believe that.”
“I hope so,” she says, and this time when she turns I let her go. I spend the next few minutes contemplating her safety, when I want to be thinking about winning her trust, but safety has to come first. When she returns, her lips are glossed, her face lightly touched with makeup. She looks fresh and beautiful, a natural beauty, that has always left me hanging on every word she speaks for no reason but she's the one speaking.
“You weren't kidding,” she says. “You even got my makeup color right. When did you have time to do this?”
I meet her at the door. “I used a delivery service. I have a fake name and debit card with that name as well as backup names and debit cards.”
“Oh,” she says. “I see.”
That’s the problem. She does see and there’s nothing I can do to save her from that now. It’s not even in her best interest, that I try. I grab a jacket and toss her the one I bought her.
Once she puts it on and joins me at the door, I pause and turn to her. “Be aware of everything around you, but don’t make it obvious. You have to learn this skill. I’m going to push you to know everything around you. I’m going to question you, train you to be fully aware.”
“Okay. I can do that. I’m pretty observant.”
“No. You’re not. If you were, you would have figured out more about me and us.”
Her expression tightens. “Right.”
I cup her face. “Baby, I have to keep this real with you. I need you safe. I need you alive and with me.”
“I know. I know. I’ll get over the past once we’re in the future.”
Once we’re in the future. Not now. I have no choice but to accept that answer. I open the hotel door and check the exterior hall before glancing at her. “You leave or enter no space without checking it first.”
“Yes. Okay.”
I study her, making sure she understands before I exit to the hallway and then allow her to exit. I lock the door and offer her a key. She shoves it in her pocket, and together, we head down the hallway about to take a risk and let an outsider into our world. A man who Ashley trusts. A man who wants to fuck her, and I’m not sure she really understands that yes, I can live with that. But if he fucks us in the process, he dies.
Chapter nineteen
Ashley
Aaron and I take the subway in so many different directions that I barely know if we’re coming or going. Finally, with our fingers linked together, we walk up the stairs from the tunnel to enter Times Square. “Remember what I’ve been telling you.”
“Be aware of everyone around me at all times. I know.”
“Who’s behind us?”
“Behind us? Are you serious? How do I know who’s behind us?”
“Because you plan it. You move to ensure you know exactly who is directly at your back. You need—”
“To be more aware. I know. I will.”
