Chapter 10 Lincoln
LINCOLN
DON’T TOUCH
She makes it too easy, which, honestly, makes me feel like an absolute pile of steaming shit.
I don’t mind screwing with people who deserve it, and I have no qualms about making a man bleed if he’s the reason someone else, someone far more innocent, is bleeding.
But Nova Nichols has committed no crimes.
If she possesses the code her brother left behind, I doubt she even knows it.
She has nothing to do with Richard Aster and whatever the last of the five keys unlocks.
She’s just an innocent, thrust into someone else’s war, and left alone in no-man’s-land with no fucking clue how to defend herself.
Worse, she doesn’t even realize she needs to defend herself.
I switch my phone flashlight on and retrace the steps I’ve already walked today, but this time, I do it with a shaking woman on my heels, her fingers wrapped through the loop of my jeans.
Though fuck knows, neither of us mentions them.
I’ll be her safe space in a scary world, and I’ll never tell her I was the one who messed with her power box in the first place.
I needed an invitation into her home, and even if I feel like a fucking douchebag for securing it this way, it’s better than kicking her door in and terrifying a woman already so close to the end of her tether.
If Richard Aster becomes desperate enough, he won’t care about her trauma, and he sure as hell won’t feel bad for sending Tank in to do the job.
“I haven’t always been afraid of the dark, just so you know.
” Nova’s words come out in a whisper, though there’s no real reason for it.
We’re here alone. “I’m not even afraid of the dark right now.
I’m just…” She bumps into my back when I slow down and pretend not to know where to go.
“That way.” She points. “Ya know, when you expect something to be a certain way, and when it’s not, your body goes into a kind of panic mode?
I could be sitting in the dark any other time, and it wouldn’t bother me.
But I was expecting the light to come on, so when it didn’t…
and now the sun is completely gone, and—”
“I understand.” I discover the power box attached to the side of the house, so I adjust our direction and flash the light over the uneven ground to make it look like I have no clue where I am or what I might stumble on.
Opening the heavy steel cover, I offer the phone over my shoulder and smile when she hesitantly takes it. “Can you hold that for me?”
I already know how to fix her problem, but it’s important I take my five minutes of being her hero and buying a little trust, and with it, I may be able to secure an invitation back tomorrow.
“Do you know much about this stuff?” Her hand shakes, which means the light does, too. But I don’t mention it. “Power is for electricians, right? Not a ‘he’s a guy and my neighbor, so he’ll do’.”
“That’s like saying I’d expect you to cook dinner instead of ordering in.
” I pull the breaker free of its little slit and blow on it, just like we blew on Nintendo 64 games back in the day.
“Since you’re a woman and you’ll do.” I peek over my shoulder and smirk.
“I know what I’m doing, within reason. If I electrocute myself, that would be a good sign I messed up, and you should call a pro. ”
“Shut up.” She uses the loop of my jeans to step closer, peering around my shoulder while I tap a few things and wiggle a few others. “Please don’t electrocute yourself. I’m begging you. I can’t handle anything like that right now.”
She just watched her brother die, dickhead.
“I’m sorry.” I hold her eyes and let her see the genuine remorse beating in my blood.
“I’ll be careful, I promise. I was having similar issues with my rental, too.
It’s probably just because the houses are so old.
Since I intend to buy as soon as this chick at the bank gets herself together and approves my loan, I didn’t bother calling the landlord just so he could do a cheap patchwork job.
I want it fixed properly. Not temporarily. ”
“This chick at the bank,” she plays along, “is doing her job, smarty pants. You can’t expect me to give you half a million dollars just because you said so.”
“I mean…” I wiggle something else and buy myself a little more time.
“It would make my life much easier if you did. Renting the house I’m about to pay a mortgage for feels superfluous.
And if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t ask for half a million.
I asked for three hundred thousand. The rest I’ll cover on my own. ”
“It takes time.” She grins in my peripherals, her quivering jaw relaxing and her supple tits resting against my back. I’m not sure she realizes it yet. But I feel her. I’m brutally, dangerously aware of how close she is.
She’s a doe in the wild, and I’m the hunter. But at least in the real world, the doe knows they’re being hunted.
“I wouldn’t mind that meal you mentioned, though.” I grab a perfectly functional breaker and give it a little jiggle. “I got home only a few minutes before you called, and I haven’t eaten since lunch. I’m so hungry I might eat my arm.”
“No need for that.” She releases a shaky laugh and, right after it, my belt loop. Which leaves me frowning. But when I peek back, I find her swiping her phone screen and searching for something to order. “Have you discovered any favorites since arriving in town?”
“Everywhere has been fine so far.” I use her distraction to pull the tampered breaker apart and fix what I broke. “Why don’t you order one of your favorites? You know this town best, and I’d kinda like to know your preference.”
“Reyes makes delicious burritos.” She taps her screen while holding mine mostly steady. “I’ve been craving one all day, so if you’re open to that…”
“I’m open to it. Get me the beef with beans and all the fillings?” I slip the repaired breaker back into place and pray the house doesn’t light up like Christmas too soon. “Medium spice is good.”
“Not spicy?” Smirking, she tap-tap-taps and makes her way through the ordering process. “Ryan probably gave you shit for that, huh? He always thought it was funny to poke fun at anyone who ordered anything less than spicy.”
“Because he thinks to be a man, you’ve gotta burn your taste buds right off?”
She snickers and hits ORDER. “No. He preferred medium, too. But he liked to pretend spicy was important, to see if you’d buckle under peer pressure and order it to save face.”
Locking her phone, she drops it into her pocket and glances up, startling when her nose almost touches my shoulder, and my chin is just an inch from her eyes.
She’s not sure whether she moved or I did.
If she’s still scared, or if this is a romantic flash in the dark.
Hell, her breath comes to a dead standstill, and her brows pinch tight in question, all because I manufacture a moment and make her think it’s something else.
“Uh…”
“Thanks for ordering dinner.” I lower my gaze to her plump lips and examine every tiny movement she makes. Every infinitesimal adjustment of her posture, to see if she’s leaning in or out. If she’s curious enough to throw caution to the wind, or ready to sprint back to the house and lock me out.
For me to complete my job, I need to secure her trust. And to do that, I need her to think she’s making these decisions herself.
“I think I fixed it,” I murmur, sliding my tongue along my bottom lip and swallowing. Like she makes me nervous. Like my heart is pounding, and my entire world revolves around this moment.
Fuck, I’m such an asshole.
“Do you wanna head back inside and test a switch?” I lean half an inch closer.
Testing her boundaries but offering her an out at the same time.
It’s reverse psychology 101, and the fact that I use it against her makes me feel like shit.
“I’ll wait here to see if the breaker pops again.
” It won’t. “Leave my phone here, so I have light. You take yours, so you have some too.”
Her eyes flicker between mine as mosquitoes buzz around our heads. “Honestly?” she gulps. “Without sounding like a brainless cliché, I’d rather you walked back to the house with me. If it trips, we can come out together again.”
“That’s fine.” I release the box cover so it lowers on a groaning squeak, then extending my hand, palm up, I wrap my fingers around my phone, and because I’m fast, my fingertips brush over hers, surprising her into a soft inhalation of air.
When I’m done with this job, I plan to walk into oncoming traffic and wait for a Mack truck to rearrange my face. Anything to feel something other than self-loathing.
“Come on.” I grab her hand and start back toward the house. Get her used to touching me. Create that familiarity and reinforce that nothing horrible will happen just because she lowers her guard a little. “Are the mosquitoes always this hungry around here, or was this summer particularly nasty?”
She exhales a soft laugh and allows me to hold her all the way back to the house. She doesn’t pull away, but she doesn’t twine her fingers with mine, either. That’s where her boundary lies. “The mosquitoes always target me. I can’t tell the difference between this year and every other.”
“I mean… you do smell tasty. We can hardly blame them.” I inch closer and sniff. “Perfume and sweat, all wrapped up in one.”
“Oh, God!” She shakes herself loose and smacks my arm, stomping back up the porch stairs. “I haven’t had a shower since I got home. Pointing out that I’m sweaty means you think I’m smelly. That’s not kind at all.”
“I didn’t say you smelled bad.” I chuckle and drag the wire door open. “In fact, I said tasty. Though I find it interesting you changed without showering.”