AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her eyes are soft when she lifts her head. She’s scared. I can see it. Fuck, I can feel it in the little way her hands shake against my chest. Still, she raises up on her tiptoes and softly, presses her lips not to my mouth, like my body craves, but my cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
It’s the most heartfelt thank you I’ve ever received.
It also pisses me off.
“It’s final.”
I release her, grabbing one of the suitcases and heading toward the door. Savannah’s eyes follow me when I pass them out the front to throw the bag in my truck, but she doesn’t say a word.
Good for her.
Logan’s right. She’s running, but from what? Her past? A ghost? Thisunknownmotherfucker? I’m not even sure she knows.
I need to get to the bottom of it—fast, if I plan on keeping her.
The only problem is I’ve got secrets, too.
Secrets far darker than anything she could imagine.
“I still feel like I smell like him,” Hannah grumbles, stepping out of the bathroom. The marks on her neck have turned an angry purple against her skin and she looks exhausted. I’m exhausted, too, but I know I won’t sleep a wink. Not after everything that’s happened tonight.
“You don’t,” I murmur darkly, polishing off the rest of my beer. Listen—sometimes, you just need one. I’m no alcoholic, but I feel like it, having Hannah in my space. I don’t invite peopleinto my house. It’s the only place I can come and be alone and now . . . it’s full of her scent.
Her bare feet pad across the floor and she stops and I realize I’ve got a newfound foot fetish.
No.
A fuckingHannahfetish.
This was a shit idea.
“Do you have an extra blanket?”
“You’re in my room for the night. I’ll set up the spare tomorrow.”
Alsoa bad idea, but I’m not having her sleep on my old couch while I sleep in the bed and the spare may as well be a warzone right now. No one’s slept in there for years, so there aren’t any sheets on the bed. Not to mention, it’s full of boxes of Mom’s shit I removed from the house when my grandmother signed it over to me. I just didn’t know what to do with it and she didn’t seem to care.
Hannah’s eyes go wide for a moment and I almost laugh.
“No, really,” she protests. “I’ll sleep out here. I can listen in case anyone tries to get in.”
The thought of Hannah on the floor, the man from earlier on top of her as he chokes her fills my veins with venom.
I’m still pissed off he’s alive.
“Hannah.”
“Mason.”
“Go to bed.”
“No, I don’t want to put you out any more than I already have.”
I grit my teeth, standing from the couch and carrying my empty beer bottle to the trash.
“It’s temporary,” I agree, my back to her, so she can’t see the agitation winding through me. “You help keep the house clean. Help with dinner. Groceries. Don’t bug me and don’t bring anyone over. I don’t care what else you do.”
