Page 57 of Lured By Shadows

“Misunderstanding?” I repeated, keeping my tone cool despite how tightly wound I felt. “I mean exactly what I said. I don’t wanna be your friend.”

His fingers at my hip remained heavy and unyielding, making tension ripple beneath my skin.

“And there is nothing I can do to change that?” His voice had softened now, less certain than before.

I despised that he asked. I hated how directly the question pressed against the weakest part of my resolve. A small, bitter breath escaped me.

“It’s not like I really get a choice,” I said. “You’re my ma’s boss. I have to be nice.” I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, letting the sarcasm slip through. “So congratulations. You win. I’ll smile and play nice, but that doesn’t mean I want anything real from you. Not that you’d give it to me anyway.”

He went quiet for a moment.

Then, in the same maddeningly calm tone, he said, “What I want is real, Ira.”

His eyes searched mine while his hand pulled me closer, tightening slightly at my hip.

“I thought… what we shared was already real. Are you saying that it was all fake?”

The worst part was how convincing he sounded. If he’d been anyone else, I might’ve brushed it off as smooth talk. But Culver carried himself with the sort of quiet control that made every word feel purposeful, every glance impossible to ignore.

I couldn’t let myself believe him. I couldn’t let hope settle back into places I’d barely managed to shut down.

“You’re such a good liar,” I muttered. “Just take me to school, bring me home, and do that until you get bored of me. When you do, I won’t cry about it or beg you to stay.”

That should’ve shut him down completely. Instead, he leaned closer.

“Little lamb,” he said softly, and the nickname slid beneath my skin, undoing me more than I wanted to admit. His fingers threaded through my hair while he leaned near my ear again, his voice moving through me, slow and steady.

“I truly do not understand what you have convinced yourself of, but I will say this as many times as necessary.” His hand tightened gently against my hip. “Let me show you with what I do, not with what I say.”

A fierce shiver rolled through me as his breath traced the curve of my ear. My hand lifted on instinct, pressing flat against his chest. Not to push him away, but to steady myself against the chaos he stirred inside me. I had to keep him from hearing the violent rhythm of my heartbeat, from sensing how easily his voice unraveled me.

His chest stayed firm beneath my palm, tension bleeding through the fabric of his hoodie. His hand slid higher along my hip, settling just beneath my breast before he pulled me closer until my trapped hand pressed between us.

No. I couldn’t let this happen. Which made it even worse that part of me still wanted it to.

My fingers tightened in his hoodie, wrinkling the expensive fabric as I clung to him for stability. The jacket probably cost more than everything I owned combined, but in that moment I couldn’t bring myself to care. I just needed something solid while he dismantled me so effortlessly.

When he finally leaned back and gave me space, I took a shaky breath and forced my expression neutral, pretending I was anywhere near okay.

“My sister already mentioned it,” he said quietly, his tone calm and unreadable, “but I wanted you to hear it from me.”

I tilted my head slightly, acting unaffected even while heat lingered stubbornly in my cheeks. God, why did he always have to look at me that way?

“Yeah?” I asked, keeping my voice casual through sheer force of will. “What’s that?”

I took another bite of my food just to give myself something to focus on that wasn’t him, even though I was hanging onto every word anyway.

He let out a small breath, glancing briefly toward his siblings before looking back at me.

“My family and I are leaving tomorrow,” he said evenly. “We will be gone for a bit. Three days, perhaps. I simply did not want you to be confused by my absence.”

I blinked, my chewing slowing as the meaning settled in. Gone for three days.

Relief came first because I desperately needed space from him and everything he stirred up inside me. Then came the dread. Somehow, in barely any time at all, I’d grown used to his presence. Worse, a quiet sense of security had started attaching itself to him without my permission, and now he was leaving just as suddenly as he’d appeared.

I swallowed carefully, forcing all of it down before it reached my expression.

“Oh,” I said evenly, lowering my gaze back to my plate. “Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”