Predator - A Stand Alone Suspense Romance(46)

“I still don’t understand any of it,” she whispers so softly I almost miss some of the words.

I can’t hide this from her. Knowledge is power. The more she knows, the better she’ll be able to protect herself.

I thrust a hand through my hair. “Tom and your father got mixed up with the wrong people. These people don’t fuck around.” I get up again and wipe my hands on the back of my jeans. “We’ll have to get new identities again. We can’t go home. Now that they know I’m helping you, they’ll be looking for both of us.”

Her head snaps up and she struggles to get up. Panic flashes over her face and then she rasps, “You need to leave. You need to … go. Go … right now!” She loses her voice and her movements grow more frantic. She manages to get to her feet and then she shoves my bag towards me with her foot. “Leave, Damian!” she begs as tears start to stream down her face.

“Cara,” I say loud and clear so she hears every word, “I’m not leaving you. There’s no fucking way I’m leaving you.”

“Please!” She crumbles to the floor and that’s about as much as I can take. I kneel in front of her and she grabs at my arm, pulling herself closer to me. Her arms go around my neck and she sputters into my chest, “They can’t get you, Damian. Please go. I can’t watch you die. Not you. Please go. Disappear. Just go.” Her breaths are way too fast as she stammers her plea.

I take her face in my hands and lean in closer to her. “They won’t kill me. They won’t find us. I’ve got you, Cara. You’re safe. I’m safe. We’re going to disappear. I’ll make sure they can’t find us.”

She tries to shake her head in my hands, her eyes wild with fear and somewhere deep inside of me it registers that the fear in her eyes is for me.

She doesn’t fear me, she fears losing me.

She cares what happens to me.

I stare hard at her as the thought sinks deep into my heart. She’s not as fucked up as I thought. She’s just in a world of pain, but we can deal with that, as long as she still cares about something.

“You won’t lose me, Cara.”

“I will,” she cries out, and her face crumbles under the weight of her emotions.

I sit flat on my ass and pull her body between my legs. I lean back against the bed and hold her to me. I pepper her head with kisses, and when she looks up, one of those kisses lands next to her eye. She doesn’t move and I feel her hair tickling my cheek. “You won’t lose me,” I whisper again.

She curls her body into me and buries her face in my chest. I feel her fingers dig into my shirt. “I lose everyone I love.”

The words fold around me like a blanket, giving me warmth for the first time since Leah died. I’ve been stuck in a frozen wasteland for so many years, I’ve forgotten what warmth feels like … until Cara.



Cara~

I fell asleep on Damian. When I wake up, I feel groggy and stiff.

Damian doesn’t say a word but gets up, pulling me up along with him. He throws the cover back and then waits for me to get into bed before he gets in behind me. His arms come around me and he curls his body around mine until my back is pressed tightly to his chest. I feel his breath on my hair and I try to focus on it.

I don’t know why I’m still alive. I don’t understand how my heart can still keep beating when it’s been torn to shreds.

I have seen all I’ve cared to see of this unforgiving world. I want to leave it. I wish I could turn time back to before I was conceived. All I can remember of the time before my first memory is nothing, and I want that so desperately – just nothingness.

This life has hollowed me out. There’s nothing left of me. I thought I found some happiness with Annie, but no, that was just life giving me the finger.

Neither of us fall back to sleep. My mind drifts to Damian and how comfortable I’ve become with him touching me. Maybe it’s because he’s saved my butt twice.

As soon as the sun starts to rise, Damian gets up. I glance over my shoulder and watch as he phones someone.

“Jeff,” Damian’s voice is harsh again. There’s no trace of the man who comforted me the night before. “We need to disappear. Don’t even pack your shit. Just go.”

I sit up and watch Damian. “We’ll be fine. We go with the retirement plan. I’ll check in with you once the dust has settled.”

When he tucks the phone back in his pocket I can’t help but ask, “Retirement plan?”

“Yeah.” He nods as he walks to the window. He peeks through the curtain before he turns back to me. “We have one stop to make before we head south.”

I might be a mess right now but I’m not so out of it that I don’t notice that he’s intentionally keeping me in the dark. I let it go for now and slowly get out of bed. I walk to the bathroom and cringe when I see the state of the shower. It’s filthy. No way in hell am I using it.

I turn to the basin and rinse my mouth a couple of times. It does nothing to remove the stale taste from my mouth.

“Here,” Damian says, holding a toothbrush and toothpaste out to me.

I take it and quickly brush my teeth. I make sure to rinse it properly before he takes it back.

I smooth my hair out and then my eyes widen as I watch Damian brush his teeth. I take a step back and just stare. He’s using the same toothbrush.