she lives. She texted me, but it wasn’t like I could do anything. I just told her to stay away from him…but the last I heard from her was three days ago.”
“Thanks,” Rafe says. “If you think of anything else, you know where to find me?”
“Yes.” She glances back, eyeing him warily. “But Gino won’t like it if he hears that I talked to you.” She scurries off, fading beneath the shadow.
“Come on.” Rafe snatches my wrist, but I don’t resist as he pulls me through the alley and down another back road. I sense the route is strategic, returning us to the restaurant district while drawing little attention from anyone else who may be on the main streets.
“What was that about?” I gather the nerve to ask him as the Chan Noodle House comes back into view.
He shrugs. “That was reality, bunny.”
“You knew Faith,” I say, letting my brain put the pieces together. “I think I remember her from your club the first night I was there.” The girl who interrupted while he taunted me. “What happened to her?”
“A monster happened,” he says, his voice low. He’s not exaggerating for once. He means that word in the truest sense. “I tried to protect her, but…”
He crumples the remaining flyers in his fist, then hisses through his teeth, “Why don’t you ask your boyfriend what some of his fellow officers like to do in their spare time?”
I look down at my final flyer, smoothing out the wrinkles with shaking fingers. “What are you talking about?”
He lets me go, lumbering in the opposite direction. By the time I whirl around, he’s already half a block down, his shoulders hunched, the flames of his tattoo consuming his left arm. He’s embodying every ounce of that dragon again, radiating rage like fire.
Chapter Twenty
I don’t know how long I stare after him before I finally manage to leave. In a daze, I wander down the next few blocks, and it seems as though I reach my apartment in record time—but the second I touch the doorknob, I falter. A smell tinges the air near my door, one that sets every nerve in my body alight. Run. I pivot on my heel, my sole focus on moving.
The door flies open before I can even go a step. A hand lashes out, grabbing my arm and dragging me inside.
“Just hear me out,” Branden demands. He lets me go but blocks the door with his bulk. One-handed, he closes it, twisting the lock. “Don’t I deserve that fucking much? Or are you going to stick your nose up at me too? Turn your back on me like everyone fucking else?”
“Branden…you’re shouting,” I croak. The light is on, casting his face in half-shadow. Part brother, part stranger who glowers at me with piercing eyes. “My neighbors will hear you.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He winces, but his jaw doesn’t lose the defensive tilt. He’s not really here to forge a truce. “Get your stuff. Now. You’re coming with me.”
“Branden, it’s late—”
“And you seem to be very busy at night these days, Hannah.” His eyes rake over me with chilling intensity. “You make it seem so fucking hard just to take a picture of yourself lately. Could it be because you’re naked, fucking some asshole—”
“Branden!” I grasp at the nearest wall for balance as the room starts to spin around me.
“An asshole whom you’ve aided and abetted after a crime, Hannah. You sheltered him here. You don’t think I know where you’ve been? His club? His fucking shop?”
Those words… They’re too specific. Too cold.
He knows.
“Deny it,” he goads, his upper lip drawn tight, revealing his teeth. “Go on, Hannah. Like the little lying whore you are—”
“How?” I ask, my voice weak. “Are you following me? Stalking me?”
He scoffs. “I don’t have to.” He cuts his gaze to my bag, and a grim realization freezes me to my core. The phone. Has he been tracking my cell phone all this time? “How can I trust you when you lie?” he demands. “When you fuck around with a criminal? You need me, Hannah.”
“I saw Karen Winacott,” I blurt without realizing why. Maybe it’s like Rafe said? Some sick, twisted part of me can’t stop playing with fire. “I spoke to her.”
“W-What?” Shock makes his jaw go slack, and his hands shake, tearing through his hair. “And what did you tell her?” He cocks his head suspiciously, stepping forward. “What the fuck did you tell her?”