Chapter 1 #3
But Luke moved in tandem, blocking my path. “I got a call from Nathan that you ran.”
“Walked. I walked.” Right out the back door.
His jaw clenched as he glared down at me from his towering height. He stood inches over six feet and I was getting a cramp in my neck trying to hold his scowl. Even irritated, he was handsome.
I hadn’t seen Luke since he’d deposited me at the safe house. The night Jeremiah had committed suicide in my sister’s house.
After the gunshot, a strange man had hauled me out of my sister’s house.
I’d fought hard, kicking and screaming as I attempted to rush to Jeremiah’s body, but he’d dragged me from the scene.
Call it shock or insanity, but I’d thought if I could just touch Jeremiah, I could put the pieces back together.
I could erase the bullet’s path and rewind time.
Except the man who’d had me had been too strong and had hauled me outside into the freezing March night. Then Luke had appeared. He’d stood before me, much like he was now, and had given me something other than blood to focus on.
His gorgeous face.
He’d taken me to his truck, put me in the passenger seat and cranked up the heat. Then he’d told me to sit tight and wait. Maybe I should have run for it that night, but much like today, I had nowhere to go.
After Luke had done whatever cops do after an armed man holds two women hostage before taking his own life, he’d driven me to the police station, where he’d taken me to his office and asked me a sequence of questions.
I hadn’t answered a single one. Instead, I’d noticed how his eyes had a ring so dark around the edge it was like the graphite tip of a freshly sharpened pencil.
I’d studied the shape of his mouth, stern and serious, and wondered what it would look like with a smile.
I’d concentrated on the bob of his Adam’s apple whenever he swallowed.
I’d studied Luke and ignored his questions until he’d given up and gone in search of answers from someone else.
Presley must have enlightened him as to all that had happened with Jeremiah, because after two hours alone in his office, he’d returned and told me it was unsafe for me to be in public. That my life was in danger and he was putting me into protective custody.
That was the moment his words had registered and I’d stopped studying his face.
I’d gone along with it, too fatigued and shaken to argue. But that was ten days ago. Things were different now. Yes, I was still wearied, but the shock of all that had happened in the past nine months was fading. And I’d rather take my chances than waste my days staring at a beige wall.
“Do you mind?” I pointed down the aisle. “I’m hungry and would like to check out.”
He glowered and stood to his tallest. “Give me the basket.”
Maybe another woman would have caved, but there was nothing truly fearsome about Luke Rosen. I knew exactly what frightening men looked like, and it certainly wasn’t him.
“I’m good.” I took another step, but he blocked me again. “Seriously, do you mind? I want to eat and then I’m going to go find my sister.”
“You’re going back to the safe house and I’m locking you inside.”
Rage surged in my chest. “No.”
“Let’s go before someone sees you.” Luke reached for the basket and I yanked it away with a feral snarl. “Scarlett, I will haul you out of here if I have to.”
I tried to sidestep him again, but damn it, those long legs of his were a lot faster than mine. “Move.”
“Give me the basket.”
“Move!” The sleepless nights and the hysteria were catching up to me and the outburst came out as a wailing shriek. It came from the woman who’d been trapped for far too long.
Luke’s eyes darted above my head. A couple stood at the end of the aisle, their cart immobile as they stared.
“Goddamn it, Scarlett,” Luke said, lowering his voice. “Just put the basket down so we can get out of here. You’re drawing attention to yourself.”
And I did not care. Not at all.
“If you’re not going to get out of the way, I’ll just go around.” I spun on my shoes, whirling the opposite direction, but when I went to take a step and carry my basket away, I suddenly found its weight missing from my arm. He’d stolen it from me before I’d had the chance to clutch it tight.
Then the world was spinning. The floors, the ceiling, everything flipped topsy-turvy.
I’d fainted.
No, that wasn’t right.
I was being carried. Hauled. That had been Luke’s threat and damn it, I’d underestimated him. The chief had made good on his word.
His shoulder dug into my belly as he walked. I lifted my face, pushing the hair out of my eyes. My basket of food sat exactly where I’d been standing. My chicken and rolls and cookies and chocolate milk. The items grew smaller with every one of Luke’s strides.
“Put me down.”
He kept walking.
“Put me down!” I shouted.
Still, he kept walking.
I lifted a hand and raised it above my head.
My hair kept falling in front of my face, obscuring my vision, but that didn’t stop me from using every ounce of strength I had left.
I brought my fist down on Luke’s lower back.
Except my aim was shit so I didn’t hit his back.
No, my fist bounced off his firm, perfect ass.
Luke didn’t so much as break his stride. “I promised Presley I’d keep you safe.”
And without another word, without stopping, he carried me in a fireman’s hold out of the grocery store and into the snow.
I was going back to the daisies, whether I wanted to or not.
Hello, Scarlett. I’m rock bottom.