Her look hardens. “In a perfect world, you wouldn’t have gone to Chicago and nearly gotten yourself killed.”
In a perfect world, I’d be Rob Davidson and we could have had this. But I’m not. I’m Robert Delgado. I’ll always be on the run. I cemented that when I couldn’t do what needed to be done. If I’d put a bullet into Oliver Savoca’s head, there might be a chance that this would someday be over.
But I couldn’t do it because Adri changed everything for me. My need to prove myself to Pop, my hunger for power, it all seems so myopic and insignificant now. It took Adri to show me there’s more to life.
But trouble is going to find me no matter where I go or who I become. It was selfish of me to put Adri in the middle of it.
She sits next to me. “Turn around.”
It’s a minute before I feel her hands on my skin again. “Ready?”
“If you take a stitch every half inch or so and tie each one off with a knot, that should do it.”
A second later, I feel the sting of a needle sinking through my flesh. By the fourth, the skin is starting to naturally numb and I barely feel it. After six, she’s done.
She washes her hands, then goes back to her bag and pulls out a few Band-Aids. “I don’t have enough to cover the whole thing, but these might help.”
I nod and she stretches them over the freshly stitched gash.
“We should probably try to get some sleep,” I say.
“I’m never going to sleep again.”
She looks totally ragged. I want to hold her so she knows she’s safe, but if she’s afraid of me, which she should be, then the last thing she’ll feel is safe in my arms. “A hot shower might help.”
She nods and moves toward the bathroom.
I turn out the light and shuck off my jeans as the shower turns on. I hear the pound of the water change when she steps in and imagine her in there, her hands in places I want mine to be.
When Adri comes out wrapped in a towel ten minutes later, her blond waves trailing beads of water over her ivory shoulders, I pretend I’m asleep. But the way certain parts of my anatomy respond to the sight, I know I’m not going to get any actual sleep tonight. She flips off the bathroom light and lowers herself into the bed next to me, towel and all.
For what feels like hours, but is probably only minutes, I listen to her breathing.
“Rob? Are you awake?” she asks on a breath.
“I am.”
The mattress dips as sheets rustle on her side of the bed. “Who are you?”
She’s braver in the dark, asking the question that I know she really doesn’t want the answer to.
I turn my head to look at her. She’s rolled on her side to face me. The barest hint of early-morning sun filters through the shades, bathing the room in colorless light. But Adri’s not colorless. Like a pixie, the skin along the curve of her neck and shoulder glows pink. Her blue eyes shine through the gloom and pierce straight into my heart. I roll to face her and resist the urge to trace a finger along the lines of her lips.
She’s the only person I’ve ever met who might be able to see past the façade to the man underneath. I want her to understand. I want her to know me.
But the more she knows, the more danger she’s in. She’s already suffered enough because of me.
I search desperately for the answer—a way for us to work. But there is no answer. Only the truth. And she deserves to know.
Chapter 27
Adri
Despite the hot shower, I’m still freezing. My heart pounds so hard into my rib cage that I’m sure Rob can hear it in the quiet of the room. His eyes drill into mine, as if looking for the key to my soul.
But he already has it.
Finally, he blows out a slow breath. “I told you I killed someone.”
I nod, afraid to speak.
“He was contracted to kill my family. He got past my men and broke into our house. He had a gun trained on Sherm. I acted on instinct. We struggled and he shot me in the leg. I snapped his neck.”
His eyes lift to mine and I can tell he’s thinking about the guy in the hotel. I’ve never seen a look like that on anyone’s face