“Chloe was probably trying not to scare you. You’re kinda dealing with enough stuff already. Turn here. My car is just around the corner.”
A police cruiser was rushing toward them.
They kept strolling, nice and slow.
The vehicle passed them.
“I’m not scared of that asshole.”
“Good.”
“Why are you here?” Joel asked her.
“Because Chloe sent me to protect you. I was wondering why she didn’t come herself—she said something about you not wanting to be around her.”
I left her. I shouldn’t have left.
“Then I heard that little convo between you and Morgan. Cleared some things up.”
A red sports car waited a few feet away. She directed him straight to it.
“I didn’t need protecting,” Joel pointed out.
She let him go. Beamed at him. “You know, I have to say, your skills impressed me. You might be able to keep up with Chloe, after all.”
“You’re being nice to me. It worries me.” That bright smile made him nervous.
Her laughter rang out. “You just had an alley face-off with Chloe’s crazy ex, and I’m the one who worries you?”
“How did you know where I was? And how are you so good with knives?”
She pointed to the car. “Get in.”
He didn’t want to get in. He wanted to tear off and search for Morgan. Fucking jerk came at me with a gun. Morgan was obviously obsessed with Chloe. Hell, no wonder Reese and Marie had warned Joel that he needed to keep Chloe safe.
And I left her alone.
Now Morgan was on the streets and Chloe…
He yanked open the passenger door. “Get me back to Chloe.”
“Great life choice there, doc.” She slid behind the wheel. Turned the car on and had soft blue lighting filling the interior. Rock music blasted as she got them on the road and maneuvered through the city.
Joel stared out of the window and thought about Chloe. If that bastard is going after her…
“I was going to be just like him.” Marie’s voice was soft. Joel could barely hear it over the pounding radio. “I didn’t want to be. But I’d grown up only with him. He trained me. He taught me. He groomed me to take his place.”
His head turned toward her. “Who did?”
“My father. He killed one hundred men.”
Holy—
“He was a hitman. Knives were his specialty. He wanted them to be mine, too.” She stopped at a red light. Her hands tightened around the wheel. “I was on my first job. I knew what to do. How to do it. It would have been easy. Killing was the only thing I’d ever been taught to do.”
“Marie…”
The light changed—a moment before it changed, she was already surging forward. “Chloe found me. She walked right up to me. I was like two minutes away from completing the kill. She came to me. Said there was still time. Different options were out there.”
“She found you at your darkest time,” he mumbled. “You…told me that once.”
“I thought she was crazy.”
Despite what she was telling him, he almost smiled. “So did I, the first time we met.”
“Told her to get away from me. Told her…there was nothing different. I had no idea how to do anything else. No idea of anything else I could be.” Her attention stayed focused on the road even as she kept talking in her low, soft voice. “And Chloe, she told me…said I could stay with her while I figured it all out. She’d give me a job. I would be safe. All I had to do was just make the call.”
Another turn. The music kept blaring.
“I’ve been with her since then. Want to hear the wildest part? I even started taking cooking classes last fall.”
They were almost home.
Home.
“Turns out,” Marie murmured, “you can use knives for more than just killing. And I’m very, very good with my knives.”
“I can attest to that.”
She didn’t speak again. Not until they were back on the property. Her finger pressed the button to turn off the radio. “Aren’t you going to ask why I shared all that?”
“I’m guessing Chloe told you to tell me the truth?”
“No. Chloe doesn’t tell her friends what to do. That’s not who she is. Haven’t you figured that shit out yet? Stop being slow.” Her head angled toward him.
“Why did you tell me?”
“Because Chloe loves you. If she said it, she meant it. And you’re here right now—instead of running in the opposite direction after meeting that freak Morgan—and I think I know what that means.” A pause. “Do you?”