Susan flinched then her gaze narrowed. “You care! You can’t not care! When you come back—”
“I’m not coming back,” he replied. “Goodbye, Susan. I hope to never see you again.” He drew Caley against him, his arm firmly around her waist and turned them towards the door.
“Your parents will care!” she spat out. “They’ll want to know.”
“Good Lord, I’m a grown man and she thinks I care about what my parents think?” he said loudly to Caley, winking down at her. The door closed on Susan’s sputtering.
He led her towards the elevator.
“Good girl,” he murmured quietly. “Not too much further. Just hold it together.”
The elevator dinged open and he stepped inside, drawing her with him. He tapped the B for basement and then once the doors were closed, she collapsed against him.
“Caley, baby, I’m so sorry.” He ran his hand up and down her back. “You’re safe. I have you. You’re safe.”
She knew she was safe. She always w
as with him. Why was he saying that?
Maybe because you’re shaking.
Oh, right.
“Caley? Talk to me, love. You’re not crying, are you?”
She buried her face against his chest.
“Baby, it’s all right. Just hold it together. You’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Papa’s here.”
She tensed. Papa?
Something tickled at the back of her mind. She’d thought it was a dream, though. She leaned back to look up at him. “Papa?”
Red filled his cheeks. “Didn’t mean to blurt that out like that.”
“I heard you call yourself that. At the hospital. But I thought it was part of my dream.”
He ran his hand over her hair. “It wasn’t. Umm, can we table that for the moment and go back to what happened. Are you all right? You’re not upset?”
“I’m not upset. I’m fucking livid.” She’d get back to the Papa stuff soon. “That…that bitch!”
She was vaguely aware of his eyes widening.
“How dare she! Who does she think she is? Where does she get off threatening to tell your parents! I ought to go back there and kick her ass!”
Suddenly, she realized how quiet and still he was. She froze. Had she said the wrong thing? Then he shocked her by throwing his head back and laughing.
“Hey! What’s so funny?”
He wiped the tears off his cheeks. “Forgive me. It’s just…I was expecting you to freak out not threaten to go kick Susan’s ass.”
Her cheeks grew red. “Sorry.”
“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about.” He reached out and tipped up her chin. “You have every right to be mad. And I think in this case, anger is good. A few months ago, how do you think you would have reacted?”
She thought that over as the elevator opened and he took her hand, leading her to his car. He opened the passenger door, even doing up her seatbelt.
When he started up the car, she turned to him. “I might have frozen. Or panicked. Felt ashamed or scared. I did kind of feel like that. But then it turned to anger over her threats. She made me so mad.”