Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)(48)

Because she ran.

He should have known she would. That girl didn’t ever do anything for herself, and of course, she would freak out about it. After last night, the way it felt… Man, it was like bombs going off all around them. He knew it would be—she was the sexiest thing he had seen in a long time, but he hadn’t expected for it to feel so damn perfect.

As if he was only made to make love to her. That was a scary and f*cking guilty-ass feeling. What about Ava? She was his soul mate, right? But then he slept with Lucy and it was just different. He couldn’t explain it, but it was easy to say he felt like shit for it. He felt like he was betraying Ava. But was he? It had been twelve years. He had to move on. Didn’t he?

Closing his eyes, he shook his head. He needed to return Lucy’s things and then take a step back. No one feels shit like that after only one time, and he sure as hell didn’t deserve to feel these emotions. But the thought of not having Lucy made him physically hurt inside. He was so tired of moving through life and not being happy. For so long, he had mourned Ava and Leary—and he would always love them, he would—but wouldn’t they want him to be happy?

Fuck, who knows?

All he did know was that Lucy may have skipped out on him, but when she was there, in his arms, beneath him, he had been so f*cking happy, he could have cried manly tears. He didn’t know what that meant for him. Did he chase after her, demand she give him at least a minute of every one of her days? Or did he just hand her her things and walk away?

Why couldn’t she have just stayed so they could have figured this out together?

He shook his head. He had known she was going to be trouble the moment he saw her, yet he still went after her. Still had to touch his lips to those red-hot lips of hers. Feel her body beneath his and hold her in his arms. He just had to. And now, now he was craving her like he used to crave alcohol. The only problem was his thirst for bitter liquid could never come close to the thirst he had for her at that moment. He was pretty sure no matter how much of Lucy he got, it would never be enough.

And while it scared him to no end to have those kinds of feelings again for someone who wasn’t Ava, it also excited him.

It made him feel alive again.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he curled his toes against the tile of his kitchen floor as he hit Jayden’s contact info.

Jayden answered right away. “Bro, what’s up?”

“Hey, man,” he said, grabbing his shirt into a fist at his ribs, his heart pounding against his chest. “Can you send me your sister’s number? She was here yesterday for a consult on my house and left her bag. Something had happened or whatever, I don’t know. She just rushed out of here without her bag.”

Oh God, he was lying. He hated lying.

“Oh, hell. Yeah, her damn apartment flooded and they are starting work on it today. She’s actually on her way here. She’s gonna stay here till it’s done.”

Oh, no wonder she was so upset. “Oh, that blows. I couldn’t get much out of her.”

Except lots of moans. And sass. Yes, lots of sexy sass.

“Yeah, she’s dealing with a lot right now. But, yeah, I can swing by and grab it for her. Or let her know.”

He squeezed his eyes closed. “I’d really like to talk to her, set up another time, and get her the bag.”

Jayden paused. “Okay, and usually, I wouldn’t care, I’d give you the number. But my sister is insane, and if she didn’t want you to have it—not saying she doesn’t, but just in case—she’d kill me,” he laughed and Benji smiled.

“I got you, man, and I get it, but I really need her number. Remember, you owe me,” he said and he knew that made him a dick, but he was on a mission.

“Oh, low blow, dude! I can’t.”

“She won’t mind,” he said uncertainly, but he had to believe she wouldn’t.

“Ha! You don’t know my sister. She’s psycho about who has her number. I don’t even know her designer number, the one for her business cell phone, to give you.”

“That one is in the bag with a dead battery, anyway,” he said, and Jayden made a sound of irritation.

“Shit. Okay. Well, listen, she’ll be here in a few. I can give her your number,” he said and Benji rolled his eyes.

He wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the situation. “We sound like two f*cking high schoolers, you know that?”

Jayden laughed. “We do. But seriously, I don’t like poking the bear, aka my sister.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll come by and drop off the bag and talk to her about my…stuff,” he decided, going to slide his tennis shoes on.

“Um, today? She’s sorta, like, superpissy. I don’t even want to be near her.”

Benji laughed. “It’s fine. I can handle her,” he said confidently.

“Your funeral. Hey, can I get your gamer chair when you die?”





But he wasn’t too sure of himself when he pulled into Jayden’s driveway behind Lucy’s car. Reaching for her bag, he got out of his truck and locked it up before heading for the front door. His heart was jackhammering against his chest and he thought about just leaving the bag and hightailing it out of there, but he stopped himself.

He wanted to see her.

He knocked on the door, and it opened a few seconds later and Angie grinned up at him. “Benji!”