17. River

SEVENTEEN

RIVER

It was exactly as I thought.

The little runner was getting ready to bolt.

I should have minded my own fucking business. Stayed away when she'd told me things needed to end right where we'd left them last night.

I'd tried.

I fuckin' tried.

But she'd left me a twisted knot, disquiet ripping through me, unable to sleep a wink because my gut told me things weren't right.

She was in trouble, and there was no way I could just ignore it.

Not after the things she said.

And sure as hell not after that kiss.

So there I stood like a twisted fuck blocking her path.

Cinnamon-kissed eyes went wide in surprise as she stumbled to a stop, body bowing back at my proximity.

"What are you doing here?" The words wheezed from her mouth.

I tucked my hands in my pockets because I didn't trust myself not to reach out and touch her.

Last thing I wanted was to freak her out. Make her feel afraid when I knew whatever was going down in her life had her terrified .

"Came to check on you."

Emotion crested her features, like she was torn between being angry and relieved. Torn between ignoring whatever boiled between us and reaching out and dipping her fingers into it.

I watched her try to put the walls back in place.

"Why would you do that?" she asked as if she hadn't pared herself open for me last night.

I got it. The need to try to barricade who we really were. Too bad I wanted to bash through every barrier she tried to put between us.

"Because you were upset last night. Because I knew you were afraid. And once I finally pried myself away from where I was standing across the street and went home, Raven told me she was worried about you since you'd told her you were going hiking first thing this morning. By yourself."

Such bullshit.

I knew what kind of hike she was planning on taking.

A permanent one.

"Think we both know that excuse doesn't quite add up," I pushed.

Charleigh shifted her weight from foot to foot, and she looked around like she was hunting for the best lie to tell. My stomach kicked when she finally returned her gaze to me.

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Yeah, Charleigh, I think it is. You solidified it when you begged me to make you forget last night."

I watched her flinch and twitch, and I was pretty sure she was contemplating pushing right around me.

I should let her go. It was insane doing what I was doing. Shoving into her space like I had the right to be there.

When she didn't say anything, I pointed to her suitcase. "It's clear to me you aren't intending on a hike. Where are you headed, Little Runner?"

Unease had her gusting out a breath, and she ran a flustered hand over her face. Sorrow filled the movement. "I'm just…leaving."

"Why?" I pushed in closer.

I got smacked in the face with her scent .

The warm, sultry spice. I was never going to get it off my tongue.

"Because it's time for me to go." It was a whisper of helplessness.

She went to angle around me, and I sidestepped her, a protective rage blocking her escape. She startled, and her attention snapped up to my face.

"Please get out of my way," she gritted.

My mouth dipped down close to her ear. "Tell me you're not running scared, and I'll be happy to."

The happy part was a fuckin' lie, but I'd do it.

The flash of turmoil that moved through her expression told me everything that I needed to know, even if she was prepared to let a thousand untruths slip from between her lips.

When she remained silent, I pushed in closer. Pressed in deeper. "Don't be afraid, Charleigh. Don't give in to whatever you're thinking. Don't run . Can feel that you're supposed to stay."

I didn't know why, and I didn't know how.

But I did.

She heaved a disbelieving sound, and those enchanting eyes flicked up to meet with mine. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Not sure. Only thing I do know is I can't stomach the thought of watching you leave right now. Don't know what it is or why, but there's something about you."

My insides were knitted with the need to wrap her up and promise her I'd never let anyone get near her.

That whatever she was running from wasn't too big for me.

I'd pull the stars from the sky if it meant it'd erase the fear that had overcome her last night.

Emotion swam through her eyes, lashes fluttering as she blinked. "I told you last night this needed to end."

"Why?"

I had a thousand reasons myself, but I couldn't listen to one of them right then.

"I…you don't know anything about me." There she went, throwing up more barriers that couldn't quite stick.

"Then how about you let me? Show me who you are. "

She searched my face. "You warned me last night I should stay away from you."

My stomach fisted. "Might not be able to have you the way I want…the way I've been aching to do…but everything about you tells me I'm supposed to be here, right now, in front of you."

The lure she emitted thrummed, stretching tight between us, keening like the roll of a tightly wound drum.

Yielding to it, I edged forward, unable to stay away.

I got near enough to her that I could reach out and run my fingers along her trembling jaw. The words fell low as I murmured, "And if you need someone? If you get scared or want to give into whatever the fuck happened last night? If you want to run like I know you were planning to do? Then you come to me. You understand? You don't have to be afraid."

A shiver streaked through her body, rocking her feet and nearly pitching her into me. Took my all not to loop my arm around her waist and hold her up. Bury my face in her neck.

Take a little more of what I knew better than to be taking.

This woman was dangerous. I couldn't let her slip through the cracks and the fractures lined inside me. But I wasn't sure how to stop it when the only thing I wanted to do was slip through hers.

Invade.

Possess.

Her veil slipped, and her expression turned wholly vulnerable. "And what if being afraid is the only thing I know?"

"Then you give that fear to someone who can hold it."

"Is that what you want? To hold it for me?" It was half a plea. Half a challenge.

I didn't get the chance to respond before a shrill squeal pierced the air.

"Charleigh! What are you doing? I thought you'd already be out on the trails like the masochist you are, contending with the bears with your bare hands!"

My sister's voice rang through the morning air, a full tease, and both of us jerked to look that way. Raven was striding up the sidewalk with Nolan trotting along beside her, their hands twined and swinging between them.

Looking of light and life.

Hope for the hopeless.

Charleigh tried to straighten herself out. Hide the evidence of the trauma I could see stamped all over her.

Concealed but in plain sight.

I shoved my hands back into my pockets to keep myself from making some brazen move like slipping an arm around her waist, staking a claim, and I let a scowl take to my face so Raven wouldn't be getting any ideas in her pretty little head with the way she was looking between the two of us right then.

"Hi, hi, Miss Charleigh!!!" Nolan shouted as they approached. "What are you even doin' here? I woke up and my auntie said my Daddy-O went to the bakery to pick up some goodies, but I told her I wanted to go with him, so we had to leave really, really fast."

It was just then I was noticing my son was wearing his pajamas and slippers, and he was waving that knitted puppy over his head.

It still fucked my head all up that she'd been so thoughtful.

Raven lifted a casual shoulder as she glanced at me. "I tried to text you to let you know we were going to meet you here rather than you picking up breakfast since my favorite little man woke up, but I didn't get a response."

At that, my sister tipped her head like she was making an accusation. The mess of black hair that she had tied up high on her head flopped to the side. She had mascara smeared under her eyes, and I realized she had on slippers, too.

Fuckin' hell. My sister was a damned disaster.

"But I see you might have gotten distracted," she prodded.

Raven didn't need to know Charleigh was the only reason I'd even come down here. Didn't need to know I'd toiled the whole damned night. Set on edge by her fear and her kiss and her words. I hadn't been able to sit still for a second longer, so I'd tossed out the excuse that I was going to run to the café to grab breakfast .

"Oh, yeah, I was heading out and stumbled into him, so he stopped to say hi." Charleigh's words were flustered.

Raven's gaze narrowed, zeroing in on what Charleigh was holding onto. "Why do you have a suitcase?"

"Oh…I…this?" Charleigh tripped all over herself, one worried glance cast at me before she turned back to my sister. "I'd decided not to go on a hike since my feet were hurting from all the fun we had dancing last night, and instead, I cleaned out my closet and took some stuff to donation."

She jostled the suitcase like it was empty.

"At six in the morning?" Raven's brow arched.

"Yeah?" Charleigh issued it like a question.

Raven shook her head. "You really are a masochist."

"Well, you're up, aren't you?" Charleigh punted back at her.

Raven giggled. "Fair. Fair. But there aren't bears around here. I was worried about you taking off into the mountains by yourself, so I have to admit I'm relieved to see you standing here."

Yeah, I was relieved, too.

Relieved I'd been here.

Relieved that I'd made it in time.

She and Nolan made it the rest of the way up, and the kid was beaming his precious smile at the woman, bouncing on his toes. "Well, I think it's really good you woke up so early because that means you gotta have breakfast with us. My belly's been growlin' for twenty hours. Is your stomach growlin'? And look it, I got my favorite puppy."

He waved the dog over his head again.

Charleigh looked down at him, and there was just something about the way she did it that flayed right through the center of my chest.

Something that both soothed the sting and made me altogether petrified.

And I thought I might fully come apart when she reached out and brushed her fingertips down his cheek and whispered, "I'm glad you like it."

His megawatt grin bloomed. "I like it the most! "

"We'd better get to the café then," Raven said.

She covertly glanced between me and Charleigh again, and I was pretty sure my baby sister didn't buy our lie for a second.

Then she grinned directly at Charleigh. "Now get your cute butt over here with us."