Tremble (Denazen #3)(37)

Sighing, he said, “I drove.”

“You drove?” I repeated, then bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming when a charley horse attacked my thigh with a vengeance. Apparently Kiernan had taught him to drive. A part of me was jealous. It was something Kale and I planned to do next spring. “As in, the car? How’d that work out for ya?”

His face flushed and he looked away. “I didn’t like it—but I had no choice. I managed to get us here and decided to wait for you to wake up. As I said, I’m not very good at it.” He opened the door and kicked out his left leg. “The car was making odd noises.”

I could have pushed it, but he was obviously embarrassed, thinking he’d forgotten something so elementary. I let it go and slipped from my seat to trade places with him. “What happened?”

He slid into the passenger’s seat and closed the door, thankfully cutting off the gusty supply of icy wind. “You’re clumsy. You walked into one of their darts.” A slight pause. “Tell me how I did that.” There was the smallest hint of panic in his voice. It made him sound so much younger.

I fastened my seat belt—or at least, I tried. Ginger’s driver’s side belt had a habit of sticking when it shouldn’t. I hadn’t tested it and didn’t want to, but I wondered if it would actually stick in an accident. My guess was no. “Did what?”

“Marshal had one of his men teach me a few defensive moves, but that was—”

“Something more?”

His eyes met mine. Intense blue filled up every inch of my vision. “Yes. I didn’t think. Only reacted. Like my body was controlled by some greater force.”

“You’ve been a fighter all your life, Kale. It’s called instinct. You don’t remember, but you’ve fought like that before. Many times.” I snickered and tore my gaze away from his. “You’re actually one hell of a badass.”

“I think I would remember something like that.”

“Obviously not. None of it was familiar? Nothing at all?”

“No,” he said, but I could tell he was lying. His eyes flickered from the building to me several times and he began tapping his fingers against the seat. Just like he’d done after our kiss and at the bridge.

“Why didn’t you…” I held my hand up, wiggling my fingers. “You know.”

“Touch them?”

“Yeah.”

He sighed, and for the first time on our little road trip to crazy, he looked genuinely sad. “Because I liked it. I’m not sure how I was able to fight like that, but I liked it. Using my gift, it would have been too easy. Too fast.”

The tone of his voice nearly killed me. It was something Kale refused to talk about with me under normal circumstances. I knew he didn’t like using his ability to harm people, but I’d seen him fight. Deep down, I knew he enjoyed the rush of it. The surge of adrenalin that came when you were in the thick of it. I knew, because I felt the same way. Maybe not about fighting, but I lived for the rush. Before Kale, it’s all I had. Now he was my rush—and I wanted him back. “Where are we going?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

Not exactly helpful. I reached across and turned the key—for once, the engine started right up—and turned the heat to high. “How did they find us? GPS on your cell?”

“Aubrey said he turned that off.”

I let a few minutes of silence pass between us. Something was bugging me, and when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I gave in to curiosity. “You could have left me there. I’m sure there are more on the way.” I held both hands over the blower vent in hopes of getting some of the feeling back. The heat in Ginger’s old rust bucket was tepid at best, but it was better than nothing. “There are always more.”

“I could have,” he agreed. Suddenly he looked tired. Like he’d gone days without more than a few hours of sleep.

“So why didn’t you?”

“I need to find out the truth.”

“Let’s be honest, Kale.” I threw the car in reverse and backed from the spot. “You don’t need me to find out the truth. You know about Simmons and you know where he’s going to be. You can’t tell me you’re keeping me around to exact your revenge on the off chance I’ve been lying. I think you know I’m not lying—especially after what just happened.”

“I don’t know what’s true.”

“This is confusing. I can’t imagine how hard it has to be. After everything you’ve already been through, this is the last thing you deserve.” I took a deep breath, letting the car idle on the edge of the lot. My heart wanted me to take an awful chance and ask again. I needed to know my Kale was still in there. “Tell me the truth. Why didn’t you leave me?”

I was about to pull from the lot, assuming he wouldn’t answer, but he sighed and said, “I’m not sure.”

“Not sure? Did you remember something?”

“No,” he growled. “Yes. I don’t know? Stop asking questions. You’re worse than Roz.”

That was unexpected. “Worse than Roz?”

A frown slipped across his lips. There and gone in the blink of an eye. “She’s always asking me questions. How am I. What’s on my mind.” He turned to me, expression fierce. In his lap, both hands knotted tightly for a moment before his fingers started to flick. Not tap—flick! “I didn’t leave you behind because I couldn’t. Like, I physically couldn’t. I tried. I made it to the door. But when I looked back and saw you lying there, all I could think was that more would be coming and they’d take you. Marshal would finally have you. For the briefest moment, the thought nearly crushed me.”