24. Macie

Chapter twenty-four

Macie

R elic met me at the front of my car, handed my keys to me, then linked our fingers together. I adored his warm and strong touch. Loved how I felt with his hand holding mine.

"Are you sure about this?" Relic asked, and I could tell his concern was very real.

I had done it. I had verbally, non-verbally, and stuttered out that I wanted Relic to help me figure out who carjacked me. Because if these people knew me, odds were that I knew them, too. The idea that they could find me made it hard to breathe, but then Relic had said something that had altered it all; " But if you find them, then you can put them in jail and you'll never have to look over your shoulder again. Attempted first degree murder using a deadly weapon is a life sentence, never mind the carjacking charges."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"My dad's a felon. There's a lot of legal knowledge that's good to know."

"Are you going to be okay driving the rest of the way?" Relic's thumb glided over the top of my hand.

Nope. "I can do it." I had to because, otherwise, Mom and Dad would discover my pile of lies. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Helping me. Being there for me. For everything."

Relic grinned, a beautiful slow one that lit me up like a firefly. "Mazie Hutchinson, what have you done to me?"

"What does that mean?"

"I meet you and two extraordinary things happen."

"What's that?"

"One, someone is thanking me for helping them, which has never happened in my life."

"And two?"

"I have never wanted to kiss anymore more than I have wanted to kiss you."

I was also lost in the spell. He stared down at me, I stared up at him, and a gravitational pull propelled me to rise on my toes as he leaned down. Our lips met, his hands moved around to my back, but then my phone rang. My heart thumped so hard it slammed into my chest. I yanked my cell out of my back pocket and answered, "I'm okay and I'm almost home."

"I wanted to make sure you're okay." Mom sounded panicked. "You're not showing up on the driving app."

I rubbed my forehead as I had forgotten about that. "Sorry. I don't know what happened. I had to turn my phone off at work to conserve power, so maybe that tripped something up. I'm in the neighborhood. At a stop sign. I'll be home in a minute, okay?" Good gracious I was becoming too good at lying.

"Okay," Mom sighed with relief and hung up.

Relic had a devilish smile on his face. "I'm beginning to think our families have a conspiracy theory against us kissing."

Sadly, me too. "I have to go."

"Then kissing will wait."

My eyebrow cocked in a "Really?" and Relic chuckled. "Someday, we'll have more than a few minutes to kiss, and believe me when I say I'll make the wait worth your while."

Relic wrapped his arms around me, and I leaned into him, holding him as close as he held me. I breathed in his dark scent and wished I had more time with him. More time to be held like this, more time to be kissed.

He released me and gave me a wink. "See you soon, Mazie Hutchinson."

As he had taken to doing, Relic waited as I eased into the car and started it. Then he watched as I drove away.