I Just Need You - J. Nathan Page 0,29

protect themselves.”

“Like me?” She held my gaze as if trying to read my expression.

I shrugged.

“Has anyone under your protection ever been shot?” she asked.

My eyes shifted away, and I felt anger flaring up inside me. “If you’re worried that I can’t properly protect you—”

“I didn’t say that,” she cut me off. “It was just a question.”

“Then yes. Two people under my protection were shot.” I pressed my lips together, cursing myself for admitting that to her. That was my business. Not hers.

She was quiet for a long time, and I wondered what my honesty elicited in her. Fear? Disgust? Anger? “Let’s get something straight,” she said, her voice taking on an I-can-say-what-I-want-because-I’m-a-rich-girl tone. “Unless I say something outright, don’t assume what I might say. Let me say it first.”

My hand tightened into a fist at my side, pissed she was trying to put me in my place after I’d been honest with her numerous times.

“Maybe that’s where our problems stem from,” she continued. “You think you know me, but you don’t.”

Ah, but I do. On the surface, despite nearly being raped and kidnapped, she was strong and confident—making friends easily and opting to volunteer on her Sundays. But underneath the surface, what people didn’t know, what they couldn’t know because she was too proud to admit it, was that demons haunted her dreams keeping her awake at night.

Kresley

Rain began to drop from the sky as I took the old German shepherd for the final walk of the day. Knowing thunderstorms were on the way, I tried to hurry the slow dog along, giving him a gentle tug. “Come on, buddy. It’s starting to rain.”

The dog rebelled, sitting down and staring up at me.

Tristan snickered nearby.

I gave the dog another light tug. Still, he wouldn’t budge. Just then, the sky opened up and rain poured down through the trees. I lifted my face to the heavens and uncontrollable laughter tumbled out of me. How was I even able to laugh after what Tristan had told me? But there I stood laughing with rain soaking every inch of me.

“What’s so funny?” Tristan asked.

I kept my eyes closed as I breathed in the rain-filled forest air. “I’m just appreciating the things around me.”

“Come on,” he called over the pitter-patter of the hard rain on the trees and ground.

I finally looked to him

Tristan was just as drenched as me. His hair hung over his forehead and raindrops dangled from his long eyelashes making him look so much younger than he usually did. He took the leash from my hand, giving the dog a slight tug.

Instantly, the dog stood.

“Seriously?” I shook my head then took off running through the woods, my feet splashing in muddy puddles as I ran.

I could hear Tristan’s footsteps, as well as the dog’s, slapping the mud behind me.

Back at the shelter, I threw open the door and rushed inside. Tristan was only a few steps behind me. We dripped rain all over the floor.

“Oh, no. You got caught in the downpour!” Doris said as the German shepherd shook the rain off his fur, sending water flying everywhere.

I continued to laugh as I dried him off and got him back into his cage. “See you next time, you stubborn old dog,” I whispered to him.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kresley

When we returned to the SUV, I slid into the front seat, loving the fact that Tristan didn’t tell me to get in the back. He dragged his fingers through his wet hair as I unzipped my drenched hoodie and tossed it onto the floor in the backseat. He started the engine and cranked the heat.

We were quiet as we drove back toward campus. I wondered if Tristan had resorted back to his silent self from earlier or if he was wishing he hadn’t told me what he’d told me—about the money being exchanged and the two people shot under his watch. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry,” I said, suddenly not in a rush to get back to the dorm.

Tristan turned to look at me. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Ice cream.”

“It’s lunch time.”

“Best kind of lunch,” I assured him.

His lips twitched. “Fine. But we’re only hitting the drive-up.”

I smiled. “Perfect.”

We took a detour to find an ice cream shop with a drive-up window. I ordered a chocolate cone and Tristan got a strawberry shake. It almost felt normal. Like we were just two college kids driving around SoCal eating ice cream for lunch. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I was