Thankfully my wish proves reality. I step into the small bathroom, lock the door and stare at myself in the mirror. The truth is that I don’t like the woman looking back at me right now. Neither does Luke. And there’s nothing I can do to fix either of those things. Nor do I have time to dwell on any of this. I wash up and open the door to find Luke leaning on the wall.
He doesn’t straighten and I step closer to him, which I could pretend is to battle eye-to-eye, but I don’t want to battle with him anymore. Still, the words that come out of my mouth are combative. “Afraid I’ll run?”
“No, Ana. Just making sure you’re safe.”
“You know I can protect myself.”
Now he stands, towering over me. “You’d be dead right now if it weren’t for me.”
He’s right. So very right, and I quickly say as much. “I would be dead without you. There’s no question about it. You saved my life. Thank you. I’m surprised you cared enough to come for me.”
“I would never let anyone hurt you, Ana. Ever.” His voice is a bit gravelly, hinting at emotion he may not want to allow to surface.
I know this because I feel it too, the pinch in my chest, the pull at my heartstrings. We’re familiar, and in a good way. “I don’t like how all the hate between us feels.”
“Me either,” he replies. “But it lives on, a scar from a blade that cut too deep.” He doesn’t give me time to reply. “Let’s get out of here.”
I nod and he follows me out of the store. Once we’re outside, we walk side-by-side toward the SUV. Together. But not together at all.
Chapter Thirty-One
LUCIFER
I can still smell her on my skin. What the hell is this woman doing to me?
We can’t get to the Walker house in Breckinridge soon enough for me, and thank fuck, it’s about seven thousand square feet of breathing room. But it takes fifteen minutes that feel like an hour to travel the back roads that lead to the private property nestled in between mountains and trees.
“Holy wow,” Ana murmurs as she takes in the modern home that’s wood, glass, and stone, with a bit of a Jenga stackable block thing going on. “It puts The Ranch to shame.”
“The Walker team doesn’t do anything in a little way.” I idle in the driveway and call Blake. “We’re here,” I say when he answers.
The doors to the garage immediately open. “Savage and Adam are on the way to you now. I sent Dexter, Smith, and Wyatt to watch Darius and do some digging around. They got there early this morning.”
I pull into the garage. “That’s a lot of firepower. I don’t want to pull them off other things.”
“That’s not enough when one of our own is on the line,” he says. “But it’s a start. Get tucked in and cozy and call me.”
“Check that, boss,” I say and disconnect, as the garage closes behind us, obviously at Blake’s hand. “Savage and Adam are on the way here. We have a team in place monitoring Darius and offering support.”
“Walker takes care of you,” she says softly.
I glance over at her. “And you, Ana. One thing you are not right now is alone.”
She swallows hard and nods. “That’s nice to know,” she says, but she reaches for the door and exits the truck.
Damn it to hell, can this thing between us be any more fucked up? I exit my side of the vehicle and grab both of our bags. Ana opens the door for me and we walk into the kitchen-living room combo with light wood and beams on the ceiling, a fireplace, and killer views. I set our bags on the table right next to a long island. “We’ll be able to load up on supplies, including firepower before we leave.”
“I need to go back and corner Darius. I can make him talk.”
I don’t remind her he most likely set her up to die. No good comes from that, not right now. “Let’s see what Blake’s dug up for us and we can chat it out. I’m not sure which room has clothes that work for you, but feel free to look around. The less time we’re in public, the safer we are.” I walk to the fridge and pull out a bottle of water, offering it to Ana.
She joins me on this side of the island and accepts it. I snag another for myself and down the cold beverage. It seems I’m perpetually hot as fuck and it started when I saw Ana again. When I set the bottle down, she’s just looking at me.
“What is it, Ana?”
She studies me a moment, and then says, “Nothing now. I’ll go find a room and think through what’s going on here.”