Keira:Come home.
16
“Hurry up, let’s go,” Zander said impatiently as Eli and Ammo fucked around.
“Jesus, what put you in a mood?” Eli asked. “Or should I say, who?”
“I just want to go home. You know I hate being away from the compound.”
Eli and Ammo shared a look.
“You’ve never been this bad,” Eli said.
Zander glared at him. “Will you just hurry up? We’ve got a twelve-hour drive to get home.”
“You’ve been distracted,” Ammo said suddenly.
“What? What the fuck are you talking about?” Zander snapped. “I did the job.”
“Yeah, but usually you live and breathe the job,” Eli explained. “Not this time.”
“Because of her,” Ammo added.
“I am not fucking distracted.”
“We get why you did it. But eventually, you have to let her go and the longer you force her to stay with you, the more she’ll resent you. Take it from someone who knows,” Eli told him.
Was that right? Would she resent him? But he was only trying to protect her. Surely, she’d see that.
But what if she didn’t? What if she came to hate him? Was he becoming like the very people he hunted down?
Fuck.
* * *
Keira woke up suddenly.
Something was wrong. Her breath came in sharp pants. Was it a nightmare? Was that why she felt so on edge?
She glanced around. Where was she?
Was it Carl? Was he back? Was he angry?
No. Wait. She wasn’t with Carl anymore. Taking a deep breath in order to attempt to quell the fear rushing through her, she looked around again.
And froze as she saw someone sitting next to the bed. The soft light from the bathroom illuminated the room, chasing away the inky darkness.
The person had pulled over the armchair and was just sitting in it, watching her. As the first rush of fear left, she realized she knew who it was. A hint of the ocean hit her, grounding her.
“Zander?”
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” he told her in a low voice.
She glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. It was two in the morning. What was he doing? Why was he just sitting there, staring at her?
“I don’t think you did,” she found herself saying. “I think I was having a nightmare.”
“Do you have those often?”