37. GRAYSON
37
GRAYSON
Un-fucking-believable.
Daniel had managed to track down my number, leaving me cut off from Seth and everyone else until I could get a new burner phone. Which I couldn’t get until a reasonable hour, unless, by some miracle, we could find a gas station that stocked burner phones rather than rapists.
I pressed the accelerator harder, the engine groaning in protest as the town we’d planned to stay in flew behind us. Beside me, Ivy rummaged tentatively through the grease-stained food bag, probably sensing I was a bomb, one touch away from exploding.
“Do you want your?—”
“No,” I snapped, not even looking at her.
Honest to criminy, could it be any harder to keep this woman alive? As if it weren’t enough to have the CIA after her or the threat of law enforcement hauling us in, now, I had to worry that Rico Suave could post a social media update that he’d just seen Ivy here.
“I don’t think Kyle will tell anyone he saw me,” she assured. “At least not tonight.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Guess you’re safe, then.” Sarcasm dripped from every word.
I knew I was being an asshole, but I couldn’t stop. My grip strangled the wheel as I flew down the road so fast, I had to remind myself to slow down; getting pulled over could end Ivy.
While I drove out of this godforsaken town—which irritated me that I had to drive even further before we could get any rest—Ivy tried to hand me my food again. I refused. She tried to assure me Kyle wasn’t a social media poster, so we didn’t have to worry about him accidentally giving up her location, and she tried to assure me that I’d powered down my cell phone before Daniel could get information, so there was no way he could be tracking it right now.
My answers to her alternated between none at all or short, curt responses. By the time we made it to the new town and I checked into a new hotel and swept the inside of it for any dangers, I couldn’t contain my anger from exploding.
“This place good enough for you?” I snapped.
Ivy crossed her arms over her chest, hurt and anger flashing across the lines on her face. “Why are you so upset?” she spat.
I said nothing.
“You weren’t this upset when Daniel’s call first came in. Is this about the phone?”
I stalked toward her, blood pounding in my ears. “You think this is about the goddamned burner?”
“The gas station, then?” She lifted her chin defiantly, a move that made me want to grab her and?—
I shook my head, trying to clear it. “You’ve been pushing me away since the moment you kicked me out of your hotel room. So, take this as a win, Ivy.”
“Meaning?”
“Object achieved. Consider me pushed.”
Her head snapped back. The girl had the nerve to look offended by my outburst.
The cell phone and the gas station incident were definitely ingredients in my shitty casserole of a mood, but none of them were at the top of the list.
That ass-tart Kyle. With his fancy degree and respectable job, he was everything Ivy deserved. The kind of stable, uncomplicated, nice guy who could give her a safe, normal life. Things I never could.
It made me want to shove his face through broken glass.
Especially with how they’d been looking at each other, right in front of me. Making it clear they had some sort of romantic history—a history they obviously wanted to revisit in the present.
“Fuck someone else when I’m not around,” I snapped.
Her jaw would have fallen to the floor if it weren’t on hinges.
My, look at that rage flashing through her eyes. It was not beautiful , I tried to tell myself.
“You’re being a dick!” she snapped through gritted teeth.
“ I’m being a dick? You were being heartless, flaunting that asshole in front of me.”
She balled her little hands into fists. “I didn’t flaunt him, and I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Eye-fucking your ex-fling, or whoever he was, in front of me—not a smart move, Kitten. Especially with an armed operative.”
Her angry eyes flared wide open. “Is that a threat?”
I leaned down until my face was inches from hers. “I think you know by now, I’d never do anything to hurt you. But him? It took everything in me to not end that asshole.”
I’d prided myself on control my whole career, and now, this woman, she was unraveling me. One thread at a time, until, finally, she pulled the biggest one.
She swallowed, as if only now fully appreciating the danger that could’ve unfolded in that diner.
“I’ve spent years training and perfecting countless ways to end a man’s life. I’m a walking weapon. One wrong move, one slipped thread of control, and hearts stop beating. So, don’t provoke me.”
Ivy’s chest rose and fell faster, like her breasts wanted to tempt me, too.
“You wouldn’t have hurt him,” she said, but there was uncertainty in her voice.
I arched a brow at her challenge. “Before I met you, that would have been a certainty.”
The tension between us was pulled taut, like a tripwire ready to snap.
“I know you hate me for what I’ve done,” I continued, “And if I could change the past, I would, but I’m laying down my life to protect yours. So, do me the courtesy of not flirting with another man in front of me. Because the thought of another man’s hands on you…might literally drive me to murder.”