“No, but kindness will get you a long way, Huckleberry.” The nickname easily rolls off my tongue, and the air around me fills with electrifying energy. “Like, through the kitchen and out the back door.”
Sawyer opens his mouth to say something, then shuts it again, instead looking down at the dark brew in his espresso mug. He picks it up, lifting it halfway, pausing to run his palm over his short dusty-brown hair, my fingers tingling with the memory of raking through it. With a scowl still firmly in place, Sawyer finally completes the motion and downs his coffee like a shot.
It’s ridiculous that something so benign would fill me with such an overwhelming sense of power, but the buzz blazing through my body is undeniable.
I pat the back of his hand, the urge to keep touching him overwhelming. “I’m sorry you made the trip here for nothing.”
Sawyer catches my hand, and it looks so small in his large palm. His hands felt perfect everywhere they touched me, and recollections of his greedy and needy fingers exploring me flood me with desire.
I hate how he still so effortlessly ignites every cell in my body with an almost blinding heat.
“You like that, Maddie?” he asks in a low voice that turns my insides into a quivering needy mess. “One-upping me? Proving how I grossly underestimated you?”
“I do,” I say, matching his seductive tone with a teasing one of my own. He may know how to play on my body’s weakness to him, but he wasn’t immune to me either. “Doyoulike it?”
Sawyer doesn’t return my smile. Instead, his expression is like stone, and just like that, I’m back to feeling small in the presence of this man I once wanted more than anything, only to be made a fool.Maybe I am a fool.
“I’m glad you got your moment of triumph, but I need you to understand this isn’t a game.” His seductive voice is gone, in its place a clear-cut commanding tone. “You may be more than a pampered princess, but you can’t do this on your own, Maddie.”
“And you’re what? Offering to be my knight in shining armor?”
“I’ll be whatever it takes to keep you safe,” he answers with a level voice, the lack of emotion apparent in every motion and gesture, erasing any trace of heady high I was feeling and settling heavily on my chest. “What I’mnotoffering you is a choice in the matter.”
I calmly lift my backpack from the floor and swing it over my shoulder, walking away with measured steps, and my head held high. My stubborn nature wants nothing more than to show Sawyer I’m just as cold as he is. My heart is telling me to put as much distance as possible between myself and Sawyer.
I keep my cool all the way to the next block, and then the emotions hit me all at once. Suddenly people are moving out of my way, following me with a wide-eyed gaze as I stomp and jab at my phone until I find Jonah’s contact info. Every ringtone makes the knot in my stomach wind tighter until Jonah finally answers.
“Maddie?” The untypical attentiveness in his voice makes it clear he wasn’t expecting the call. Then he sighs. “I’m going to guess you know about the security arrangement?”
“Seriously, Jonah?”
“You shouldn’t be calling me, Maddie. The whole point was to make it seem like you and Sawyer were connecting organically. To keep you safe without alerting anyone to the fact there’s anything to keep you safe from.”
“How does calling you change that?” I narrowly avoid a teen with her nose buried in her phone, and it pushes me over the brink. I start silently swearing at the world for all the oblivious people, for stupid helicopter uncles who think they can do whatever they want, for goddamn fucking Sawyer Abernathy daring to act as if he has the right to demand things of me.
The tide of frustration rising inside me forces the next bitter and loaded question out of my mouth. “Why Sawyer?”
“Why not?” Jonah sounds almost offended on Sawyer’s behalf. I wonder if he really doesn’t know. He’s Sawyer’s best friend; I thought they shared everything. Then again, from the little I’ve learned about the Peaks, if any of them so much as suspected my and Sawyer’s sordid past, he wouldn’t have been assigned this mission.
Why would he hide our history?It doesn’t matter. I can’t have him hanging around me, using my past feelings and lingering attraction against me as ifIsomehow wrongedhimwhen he’s the man-whore jerk.
“He’s an infuriating ass,” I respond with more snap than I intended. It’s more than I can contain, the fear for my life, the way my pulse jumped when I first saw him making his way towards me, the anger at this attempted trickery, even if it is for my safety.
“He is,” Jonah agrees. “Sawyer’s also the right person for the job. Maddie, you know I’m right.”
I grumble something to the effect of “super-soldier my ass,” which prompts an exasperated sigh from the other end of the line. I’m getting the distinct impression that everyone sees me as a spoiled, incompetent brat in need of constant coddling. They all know better, so why do I suddenly feel called out and like I’m being burdensome?
“Not just that, Maddie. He also has a viable reason to be in Chicago since he has family there, and he has a connection to you that would explain why you’re on friendly terms considering his best friend is married to your cousin, and you’ve met before.” Jonah’s logic is infallible, which pisses me off because I need reasons whynotSawyer. “There are even photos of the two of you dancing at the wedding. It’s a solid backstory for a hiding-in-plain-sight operation.”
Between Sawyer’s skill set, the geographical affiliation, and the personal connection, it’s hard to disagree, but the mention of the photos serves as a bitter reminder of that awful night and for why I can’t have Sawyer hovering around me, so damn if I won’t try.
“He hates this as much as I do.” His mechanical behavior, once he didn’t have to pretend he wanted to be my friend, made that fact crystal clear. Sawyer is here to do a job. All I ever was for him was a play. The only difference between now and a year ago is that the stakes are much higher this time around.
“Look, he can be immature and annoying, I know.” Jonah goes for a pacifying tone. “But I would follow him into hell if he asked, because when push comes to shove, Sawyer gets shit done.”
Dammit, that’s convincing. Especially coming from a guy who fought shoulder to shoulder with Sawyer.
“He’s a good guy, Maddie,” Jonah says in a voice that suddenly seems laced with pain. “I’m living proof of that.”